Books

We asked our teams to vote for their favourite book in their own language and here are some of their choices.

Italian

Mountain of God (Montedidio)

Erri de Luca
I'm recommending this book, because it has not made waves in the English-speaking world, and certainly not in the UK, so you might easily miss it. I came across it by accident when I happened to "drop in" on a TV interview with its author, Erri de Luca. In his native Italy he is a celebrated author and political activist, even though he still works as a builder on a building site, getting up at 6am to teach himself ancient Hebrew. (He's even started to translate the Bible into Neapolitan dialect.) This book tells the story of a boy growing up in the urban jungle of post-war Naples, and is a rites of passage novel. It's about the misery of everyday life for the economically disadvantaged, but also touches on friendship, human warmth and love, as well as the desperate struggle for parents who want to give their children a better chance in life by making sure they can speak and write Italian, rather than just their Neapolitan dialect.

Two objects prove central to the boy's development and his vision of the world: an Australian boomerang, given to him by his father, and a roll of paper from a printer. The boomerang, which he uses to build his muscles even though he has no space actually to throw it, becomes a metaphor for his moving into the adult world. This is a "quiet", unspectacular book, full of humanity and hope, and is both honest and unpretentious.

Catalan

La Febre d'Or (Gold Fever) (1892)

Narcís Oller
This book describes Barcelona at the end of the 19th century, the period of promoterism, with a portrait which ranges from god-fearing, gullible new-rich families to artful swindlers and merciless speculators. Anyone with money was having a go at the new vogue of buying and selling shares at the Barcelona Llotja (stock market), and everyone seemed to be getting rich with amazing ease. And all of this, remote-controlled by the bourgeois clans.

English

Everything Is Illuminated

Jonathan Safran Foer
This is a totally original, hilarious novel about a young American Jew named J.S. Foer, who travels to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his father from the Nazis. It's basically two stories in one - a funny one and a not-so-funny one (the historical part, about the shtetl of Trachimbrod with the inhabitants' weird and magical adventures). You can be forgiven for finding the funny part more engaging than the more serious one. It is recounted in letter form by Alex, Foer's somewhat naive and totally lovable Ukrainian translator, who craves everything American, especially the language. His letters are pure genius, made up with the help of his thesaurus, and he comes up with the most amazing linguistic feats that should appeal to translators in particular, and anyone familiar with consulting a thesaurus. This is a great book to take with you to the airport - you could even read it aloud to entertain your fellow travellers.

Address Unknown

(Catherine) Kressman Taylor
Amazingly, this book was written in 1938, before the full horror of Hitler's regime unfolded, and certainly long before anyone else wrote about it. It's a series of letters exchanged between two German friends and art dealers between 1932 and 1934, when Martin (the gentile) is back in Germany, while Max continues to run their business back in the US. Almost imperceptibly the character of the correspondence changes, as Martin becomes more and more wrapped up in what is happening in the Third Reich, embracing Anti-Jewish propaganda. This is one of the thinnest books ever published. It takes an hour and a half to read, but it is chillingly dramatic in its effect and amazing in its foresight - as well as in its unexpected twist. (The book was recently re-published in the US, France and Germany.)

Dutch

De eetclub (The Dinner Club), Saskia Noort

I bought this book at the airport to read on a flight. De eetclub (The Dinner Club) gripped me from the word go, and the flight was way too short. I eventually ended up going to sleep far too late one evening, because I just had to find out who'd done it! Yes, the book is a literary thriller. The book's main character is Karen, and the story is told from her perspective. She is a happily married woman with two children. For the sake of the children, she and her husband decide to move from Amsterdam to a village in the neighbourhood, where she doesn't know anyone. At first she feels lonely, but then she meets Hanneke and, through her, three other women. Soon they become friends, and the dining club is set up; husbands are introduced and a close circle of friends is formed. All's well and good. Or is it? Unexpectedly, Evert, one of the men, sets fire to his beautiful house with his wife and children inside. It's said to be suicide, brought on by despair over his ailing business. But was it? As the dining club unravels after this event, it becomes more and more apparent that this friendship was not as unconditional as it seemed. Some people stood to gain from Evert's death. As Karen is drawn in ever further, she faces a choice: to keep up appearances or uncover the truth. Apart from the story, I love the way the writer uses the Dutch language - it's 'strak' (tight), as we'd say in Dutch. The words she chooses and her usage of them are just right, and your eyes zoom over the page - well mine did anyway. Unfortunately, I don't think this book has been translated, yet, but maybe it will be some day, in which case I don't want to reveal too much. Instead I'd read another of her books, Terug naar de kust (Back to the Coast), which I also enjoyed very much.

Mijn vrijheid (My Freedom), Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Another book I'd recommend is Mijn vrijheid (My freedom) the autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She came to the Netherlands as a refugee from Somalia, worked very hard to find herself a place in Dutch society and help others, studied political sciences and ended up being elected for parliament. I found it fascinating to read about many of today's issues from her perspective. I was brought up as a Christian tradition, she in the Islamic tradition, and the energy and drive of this woman are just amazing. I have tremendous respect for her. This book has been translated into English.