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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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...
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...
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...
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...
Hope : the autobiography
Francis, Pope
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Pope Francis originally intended this exceptional memoir to appear only after his death, but the needs of our times and the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope moved him to make this precious legacy available sooner. Now, the book stands as his testament; the spiritual,...
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...
Red queen
Gómez-Jurado, Juan
Paper Book
"Pacing of the breakneck variety. Short chapters, funny asides, lethally potent descriptions: They all contribute to a frenetic page-turning momentum... you'll have great fun reading it." --The New York Times Book Review The #1 International bestseller is now...
Ahiahia the orphan
Illuitok, Levi
Paper Book
After his parents are brutally murdered, Ahiahia is raised by his grandmother in a camp surrounded by enemies. His grandmother knows that eventually the camp will turn on Ahiahia, just as it did his parents, so she chants a protection chant over the clothing that she lovingly sews for him, over the...
A river in darkness : one man's escape from North Korea
Ishikawa, Masaji
Paper Book
An Amazon Charts Most Read and Most Sold book. The harrowing true story of one man's life in--and subsequent escape from--North Korea, one of the world's most brutal totalitarian regimes. Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like...
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
Paper Book
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? ...
Under the eye of the big bird : a novel
Kawakami, Hiromi
SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE From one of Japan's most brilliant and sensitive contemporary novelists, this speculative fiction masterpiece envisions an Earth where humans are nearing extinction, and rewrites our understanding of reproduction, ecology, evolution,...
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<...
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...
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....
My lesbian experience with loneliness
Nagata, Kabi
Paper Book
A beautiful hardcover rerelease of the critically acclaimed manga that won the Harvey Award--with a new cover and bonus chapter. My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is a raw and heartfelt account of one young woman's struggles with her sexuality, mental well-being, and...
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...
Saving H'non : Chang and the elephant
Nguye??n, Trang
Paper Book
From the creators behind the Eisner-nominated Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear comes another gorgeously-illustrated graphic novel adventure based on a true story, in which young conservationist Chang overcomes the odds to save and return an elephant to its natural habitat. ...
Suite fran?ise
Nm?irovsky, Irn?e
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...
Snowglobe
Park, Soyoung
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The groundbreaking Korean phenomenon that Entertainment Weekly called "The Hunger Games meets Squid Game"--now in English for the first time! A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR * A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST...
Wild poppies
Saleh, Haya
Paper Book
Two brothers fight to reunite amidst the turmoil of the Syrian War. Since the passing of their father, Omar has tried--and in his little brother Sufyan's eyes, failed--to be the man of his family of Syrian refugees. As Omar waits in line for rations, longing...
The last wish
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, Sofa?
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...
Home
Simler, Isabelle
Paper Book
ALSC Notable Children's Books List - Middle Readers (2025) A 2025 Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book "Unites STEM learning with literary excellence . . . an essential purchase." -- School Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW) ...
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...
Crossing
Statovci, Pajtim
Ebook
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...
Grandma's roof garden
Wei, Tang
Paper Book
Granny may be old, but she's certainly not feeble - or idle! She's built a splendid vegetable garden from scratch on the rooftop of her Chengdu apartment building. She collects thrown-away produce to feed her animals or make compost for the garden. ...
Last rituals : an Icelandic novel of secret symbols, medieval witchcraft, and modern murder
Yrsa Sigura?rdt?tir.
Paper Book
The spellbinding debut and international sensation being published in thirty countries featuring Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, a smart, sexy lawyer and investigator whose hunt for a modern murderer points to a very odd--and evil--chapter in Iceland's past After the body of a young German student-...

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