Books in Translation

Explore titles that have been translated into English! These books demonstrate the breadth and diversity of literature around the world.

This list was curated by the South Pasadena Public Library Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) Committee.

Updated January 29, 2025
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Our share of night : a novel
Enriquez, Mariana
Paper Book
A damaged father battles to save his son from the sinister cult he is destined to serve - from cult sensation Mariana Enriquez, author of the International Booker Prize-shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed.
The shadow of the wind
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos
Paper Book
Entranced by his chosen book, The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax, Daniel begins a quest to find the truth about the life and death of its mysterious author. He starts to fall into a game of mirrors, reflecting strange discoveries about obsession and love, and how they are entwined within...
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? ...
Beartown : a novel
Backman, Fredrik
Paper Book
"You'll love this engrossing novel." --People From the bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and Anxious People, Fredrik Backman captivates readers with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream--and the price required to make it come...
I who have never known men
Harpman, Jacqueline
Paper Book
Ursula K. LeGuin meets The Road in a post-apocalyptic modern classic of female friendship and intimacy. Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only...
A magical girl retires
Seolyeon, Park
Paper Book
A millennial turned magical girl must combat climate change and credit card debt in this delightful, witty, and wildly imaginative ode to magical girl manga. Twenty-nine, depressed, and drowning in credit card debt after losing her job during the pandemic, a millennial woman...
My brilliant friend
Ferrante, Elena.
Paper Book
#1 BEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY - NEW YORK TIMES Now an HBO series: the first volume in the New York Times-bestselling "enduring masterpiece" about a lifelong friendship between two women from Naples (The Atlantic). Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the...
Kairos: Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize
Erpenbeck, Jenny (Y).
Paper Book
From an internationally acclaimed, multi award-winning author: this is a story of love and betrayal set in Berlin during the years before and after the fall of the Wall.
Shubeik lubeik
Muh?ammad, Di?na?
Paper Book
* Winner of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation *Eisner Award Nominee * Hugo Award Nominee A brilliantly original debut graphic novel that imagines a fantastical alternate Cairo where wishes really do come true. Shubeik Lubeik--a fairy tale rhyme that means...
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...
Not a River
Almada, Selva
Paper Book
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE * It's not a river, it's this river. A hot, motionless afternoon. Enero and El Negro are fishing with Tilo, their dead friend's teenage son. After hours of struggling with a hooked stingray, Enero...
Violeta : a novel
Allende, Isabel
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * This sweeping novel from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century. "An immersive saga...
Three
Perrin, Valérie
Paper Book
A June 2022 Indie Next List Pick From the international bestselling author of Fresh Water for Flowers, a beautifully told and suspenseful story about the ties that bind us and the choices that make us who we are. 1986: Adrien, Etienne and Nina are 10 years old when they meet at...
If cats disappeared from the world
Kawamura, Genki
Paper Book
A moving tale of loss and reaching out to the ones we love. Our narrator's days are numbered. Estranged from his family, living alone with only his cat Cabbage for company, he was unprepared for the doctor's diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he...
Convenience store woman
Murata, Sayaka
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award Longlisted for the Believer Book Award Longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation A Los Angeles Times Bestseller The English-language debut of an exciting young voice in international...

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