Open Books Challenge 2026: Translated from its Original Language

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category of "A book that was translated from its original language."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
RPL Staff
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Celestial bodies : a novel
Alharthi, Jokha
Paper Book
This winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize and national bestseller is "an innovative reimagining of the family saga . . . Celestial Bodies is itself a treasure house: an intricately calibrated chaos of familial orbits and conjunctions, of the gravitational pull of...
We know you remember : a novel
Alsterdal, Tove
Paper Book
"Beautifully elegiac and intricately plotted, this is Nordic noir at its best."--People Winner of the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel * Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year * Shortlisted for the Best Swedish Book of the Year Award * One of People Magazine's Best Books of Fall...
The enlightenment of the greengage tree
Azar, Shokoofeh
Paper Book
LONGLISTED for the 2021 PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE LONGLISTED for the 2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for Translated Literature FINALIST for the 2020 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE From the pen of one of Iran's rising literary stars, The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree is a family story...
I want to die but I want to eat tteokbokki
Baek, Sehee
Paper Book
The New York Times bestselling therapy memoir translated by International Booker shortlistee Anton Hur. PSYCHIATRIST: So how can I help you? ME: I don't know, I'm-what's the word-depressed? Do I have to go into detail? Baek...
On the calculation of volume. 1
Balle, Solvej
Ebook
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2024 A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE Tara Selter, the heroine of On the Calculation of Volume, has involuntarily stepped off...
The diving bell and the butterfly
Bauby, Jean-Dominique
Paper Book
In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young childen, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem.  After 20...
We had to remove this post
Bervoets, Hanna
Paper Book
WHAT IS "NORMAL"? WHAT IS "RIGHT"? AND WHO GETS TO DECIDE? To be a content moderator is to see humanity at its worst--but Kayleigh needs money. So she takes a job working for a social media platform whose name she isn't allowed to mention. Her task: review offensive videos...
Humankind : a hopeful history
Bregman, Rutger
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The "lively" (The New Yorker), "convincing" (Forbes), and "riveting pick-me-up we all need right now" (People) that proves humanity thrives in a crisis and that our innate kindness and...
The good son
Ch ng, Yu-j ng
Ebook
"Ingeniously twisted." --Entertainment Weekly, "Must List" "Will leave even the most seasoned crime fiction readers guessing." --CrimeReads "[Jeong] maintains suspense about her inhuman-seeming protagonist's fate until the bitter end." --The...
Kim Jiyoung, born 1982
Cho, Nam-ju
Paper Book
Truly, flawlessly, completely, she became that person. In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of the frenzied metropolis of Seoul lives Kim Jiyoung. A thirtysomething-year-old "millennial everywoman," she has recently left her white-collar desk job--in order to care for her newborn...
The Meursault investigation
Daoud, Kamel
Paper Book
He was the brother of "the Arab" killed by the infamous Meursault, the antihero of Camus's classic novel. Seventy years after that event, Harun, who has lived since childhood in the shadow of his sibling's memory, refuses to let him remain anonymous: he gives his brother a story and a name--Musa-...
Beyond the door of no return
Diop, David
Paper Book
A Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature | Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award One of The Atlantic's 10 Best Books of 2023 A Financial Times Best Book of 2023 | Named a best book of the year by...
Disoriental /
Djavadi, N?
Paper Book
National Book Award Finalist: "A multigenerational epic of the Sadr family's life in Iran and their eventual exile . . . Full of surprises" (The Globe and Mail). Winner of the 2019 Albertine Prize and Lambda Literary Award Kimiâ Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the...
Chirri & Chirra, in the night
Doi, Kaya
Paper Book
Chirri and Chirra frolic in the moonlight in the latest whimsical adventure of this much-beloved picture-book series from Japan.With the light of their trusty bicycles and a glorious full moon illuminating the darkness, Chirri and Chirra go on a nighttime adventure, accompanied by their new...
Peach blossom paradise
Ge, Fei
Paper Book
An enthralling story of revolution, idealism, and a savage struggle for utopia by one of China's greatest living novelists. In 1898 reformist intellectuals in China persuaded the young emperor that it was time to transform his sclerotic empire into a prosperous modern state. The...
Your second life begins when you realize you only have one
Giordano, Raphaëlle
Paper Book
THE #1 FRENCH BESTSELLER MORE THAN 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE The feel-good #1 bestselling French novel about a woman whose mission to cure her "routine-itis" leads her to lasting joy and true fulfillment, for fans of The Alchemist and Hector and the...
Reina roja
Gâomez-Jurado, Juan
Paper Book
No has conocido a nadie como ella... Vuelve el autor español de thriller más leído en todo el mundo. Antonia Scott es especial. Muy especial. No es policía ni criminalista. Nunca ha empuñado un arma ni llevado una placa, y, sin embargo, ha resuelto...
Stalingrad /
Grossman, VasiliÄ­
Ebook
In April 1942, Hitler and Mussolini meet in Salzburg where they agree on a renewed assault on the Soviet Union. Launched in the summer, the campaign soon picks up speed, as the routed Red Army is driven back to the industrial center of Stalingrad on the banks of the Volga. In the rubble of the...
Will and testament : a novel
Hjorth, Vigdis
Paper Book
Longlisted for the National Book Award Four siblings, two summer houses, one terrible secret--the "prickly, persuasive" bestseller from one of Norway's most celebrated novelists, perfect for readers of Rachel Cusk and Karl Ove Knausgaard (New Yorker) ...
A river in darkness : one man's escape from North Korea
Ishikawa, Masaji
Other
A New York Times bestseller and Amazon Charts Most Read and Most Sold book. A Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Memoir & Autobiography. The harrowing true story of one man's life in--and subsequent escape from--North Korea, one of the world's most brutal...
The moon tonight : our moon's journey around earth
Jung, Chang-hoon
Paper Book
"Exquisite." -- New York Times Follow our moon as it waxes and wanes across the night sky in this informative and stunning nonfiction picture book by an astronomer and award-winning illustrator. Everyone on Earth can look up and marvel at our...
The Kamogawa food detectives
Kashiwai, Hisashi
Ebook
The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. What's the one dish you'd do anything to taste just one more time? Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto...
Before the coffee gets cold : a novel
Kawaguchi, Toshikazu
Paper Book
*NOW AN LA TIMES BESTSELLER* *AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER* The first book in the five million-copy bestselling magical realism series If you could go back in time, who would you want to meet? ...
The Nakano Thrift Shop
Kawakami, Hiromi
Paper Book
This "gentle, humorous novel" follows a young Japanese woman as she yearns for the love of a reluctant coworker (The Wall Street Journal). The objects for sale at the Nakano Thrift Shop appear as commonplace as the staff and customers who handle them. But like those...
The life-changing magic of tidying up : the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing
Kond , Marie
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The book that sparked a revolution and inspired the hit Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo: the original guide to decluttering your home once and for all. ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE--CNN<...
Baron Wenckheim's homecoming
Krasznahorkai, László
Paper Book
Set in contemporary times, Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming tells the story of a Prince Myshkin-like figure, Baron Béla Wenckheim, who returns at the end of his life to his provincial Hungarian hometown. Having escaped from his many casino debts in Buenos Aires, where he was living in exile, he longs to...
Lily the thief
Kukkonen, Janne
Paper Book
In Janne Kukkonen's swashbuckling fantasy graphic novel Lily the Thief, a young girl tries to make a name for herself in a secret and perilous society of thieves. Lily is a young novice who dreams of being a master thief. That's not easy when the Guildmaster of Thieves...
The three-body problem
Liu, Cixin.
Paper Book
The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem! WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL Over 1 million copies sold in North America "A mind-bending epic."--The New York Times * "War of the Worlds for...
Night train to Lisbon
Mercier, Pascal
Paper Book
A huge international best seller, this ambitious novel plumbs the depths of our shared humanity to offer up a breathtaking insight into life, love, and literature itself. A major hit in Germany that went on to become one of Europe's biggest literary blockbusters in the last five years, Night...
Kibogo
Mukasonga, Scholastique
Paper Book
In four beautifully woven parts, Mukasonga spins a marvelous recounting of the clash between ancient Rwandan beliefs and the missionaries determined to replace them with European Christianity. When a rogue priest is defrocked for fusing the gospels with the martyrdom of Kibogo, a fierce clash of...
Novelist as a vocation
Murakami, Haruki
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * An insightful look into the mind of a master storyteller--and a unique look at the craft of writing from the beloved and best-selling author of 1Q84, Norwegian Wood, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running....
Heart Lamp: Selected Stories
Mushtaq, Banu
My lesbian experience with loneliness
Nagata, Kabi
Paper Book
HARVEY AWARD WINNER The heart-rending autobiographical manga that's taken the internet by storm! My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is an honest and heartfelt look at one young woman's exploration of her sexuality, mental well-being, and growing up in our modern age. Told...
The cat who saved books : a novel
Natsukawa, So?suke
Paper Book
AN INDIE NEXT PICK! From the #1 bestselling author in Japan comes a celebration of books, cats, and the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the...
Suite française
Némirovsky, Irène
Paper Book
By the early l940s, when Ukrainian-born Irène Némirovsky began working on what would become Suite Française—the first two parts of a planned five-part novel—she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and...
Blitzed : drugs in the Third Reich
Ohler, Norman
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER A fast-paced narrative that discovers a surprising perspective on World War II: Nazi Germany's all-consuming reliance on drugs The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral...
My name is Red
Pamuk, Orhan
Paper Book
From one of the most important and acclaimed writers at work today, a thrilling new novel--part murder mystery, part love story--set amid the perils of religious repression in sixteenth-century Istanbul. When the Sultan commissions a great book to celebrate his royal self and his...
The employees : a workplace novel of the 22nd century
Ravn, Olga
Paper Book
Funny and doom-drenched, The Employees chronicles the fate of the Six-Thousand Ship. The human and humanoid crew members complain about their daily tasks in a series of staff reports and memos. When the ship takes on a number of strange objects from the planet New Discovery, the crew becomes...
Love
rstavik, Hanne
Paper Book
Love is the story of Vibeke and Jon, a mother and son who have just moved to a small place in the north of Norway. It's the day before Jon's birthday, and a travelling carnival has come to the village. Jon goes out to sell lottery tickets for his sports club, and Vibeke is going to the library. From...
Frankenstein in Baghdad : a novel
Sa?da?wi?, Ah?mad
Paper Book
International Booker Prize finalist Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction "Brave and ingenious." --The New York Times "Gripping, darkly humorous . . . profound." --Phil Klay, bestselling author and National Book Award winner for...
The last wish : introducing The witcher
Sapkowski, Andrzej
Paper Book
Geralt the Witcher--revered and hated--holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures, the first chapter in Andrzej Sapkowski's groundbreaking epic fantasy series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games. ...
The murmur of bees
Segovia, Sofâia
Paper Book
From a beguiling voice in Mexican fiction comes an astonishing novel--her first to be translated into English--about a mysterious child with the power to change a family's history in a country on the verge of revolution. From the day that old Nana Reja found a baby abandoned under a...
The perfect nanny
Slimani, Lel?a
Paper Book
*Soon to be an HBO series starring Nicole Kidman and Maya Erskine* She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her. One of the 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR of...
Where you come from
Stanišić, Saša
Paper Book
Longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award A Washington Post, Chicago Review of Books, Kirkus, and Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Month "Inventive, funny and moving." ―The New York Times Book Review Translated from the...
Crossing
Statovci, Pajtim
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST From the acclaimed author of My Cat Yugoslavia: a stunning, incandescent new novel that speaks to identity, war, exile, love, betrayal, and heartbreak The death of head of state Enver Hoxha and the loss of his father leave Bujar...
In memory of memory : a romance
Stepanova, Marii︠a︡
Paper Book
With the death of her aunt, the narrator is left to sift through an apartment full of faded photographs, old postcards, letters, diaries, and heaps of souvenirs: a withered repository of a century of life in Russia. Carefully reassembled with calm, steady hands, these shards tell the story of how...
The door
Szabó, Magda
Paper Book
One of The New York Times Book Review's "10 Best Books of 2015" An NYRB Classics Original The Door is an unsettling exploration of the relationship between two very different women. Magda is a writer, educated, married to an academic, public-spirited,...
Scattered all over the earth
Tawada, Yōko
Paper Book
Welcome to the not-too-distant future: Japan, having vanished from the face of the earth, is now remembered as "the land of sushi." Hiruko, its former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language Panska (Pan-Scandinavian):...
A country for dying : a novel
Taïa, Abdellah
Paper Book
An exquisite novel of North Africans in Paris by "one of the most original and necessary voices in world literature" WINNER OF THE 2021 PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE Paris, Summer 2010. Zahira is 40 years old, Moroccan, a prostitute, traumatized by her father's...
The remainder
Trabucco Zer?, Alia
Paper Book
A coffin, a camera, a bottle of pisco: three friends embark on a road trip through the Andes to confront a history they can neither remember nor forget. Felipe and Iquela, two young friends in modern day Santiago, live in the legacy of Chile's dictatorship. Felipe prowls the...
Kristin Lavransdatter
Undset, Sigrid
Audiobook
"The finest historical novel our 20th century has yet produced; indeed it dwarfs most of the fiction of any kind that Europe has produced in the last twenty years." -- Contemporary Movements in European Literature, edited by William Rose and J. Isaacs "As a novel it must be...
The neighborhood : a novel
Vargas Llosa, Mario
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE A thrilling tale of desire and Peruvian corruption swirls around a scandalous exposé that leads to murder From the Nobel Laureate comes a politically charged detective novel weaving through the underbelly of Peruvian...
The picture bride
Yi, KÅ­m-i
Paper Book
Winner of the Nautilus Award for Historical Fiction "Lee Geum-yi has a gift for taking little-known embers of history and transforming them into moving, compelling, and uplifting stories. The Picture Bride is the ultimate story of the power of friendship--a must read...
Six four
Yokoyama, Hideo
Paper Book
Named one of the best books of 2017 by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Literary Hub. Winner of the Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year Award. One of Vulture's 10 Best Thriller Books of 2017.
We
Zami︠a︡tin, Evgeniĭ Ivanovich
Paper Book
" Zamyatin's intuitive grasp of the irrational side of totalitarianism- human sacrifice, cruelty as an end in itself-makes We superior to Huxley's Brave New World ."-George Orwell Translated by Natasha Randall .Foreword by Bruce Sterling Written in 1921...

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