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Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#131

Post by Pamar »

cromulen wrote: post #29

Alamut by Vladimir Bartol Written in 1030's by a Slovenian, it's a historical fiction novel set in the in 11th century what is now Iran. It tells the story of how a radical leader of an Islamic faction, based in the impenetrable mountain fortress "Alamut", manipulates young men into perfect obedience and turns them against his enemies through the use of drugs and a fake paradise full of women purporting to be heaven.…

I believe it inspired much more than the videogames: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassins

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#132

Post by Pamar »

pavlov wrote: post #35

Francis Spufford is a brilliant English author who should be more widely known. For the HN crowd I would heartily recommend "Red Plenty" (2010). It's a semi-fictional novel about that brief moment in time around 1959 when the Soviets really thought that the dream of Communism was within reach. The characters (most of them real people) include mathematicians, biologists, party officials, computer designers... There's…

Extremely recommended!!!

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#133

Post by hprotagonist »

defen wrote: post #54
hprotagonist wrote: post #4

The Master and Margarita.

I loved this book. Everyone has a different opinion on what the best translation is, so it’s worth briefly scanning a few different ones to see which you like best. I had a really hard time getting into the Ginsburg translation, but really enjoyed the Pevear/Volokhonsky one. Also, this site: http://masterandmargarita.eu/en/ is a great resource if you’re not familiar with 1930s Soviet history and the Gospels (both can…

I like the Burgin and O'Connor translation, personally.

They have a postscript per chapter about "all the references you probably missed", but don't add distracting markup to the text itself to call them out. It's a nice balance, and the language is pretty good.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#134

Post by ivm »

Novels and stories by Victor Pelevin. Only a few of his works are available in English but these are also the best ones:

Buddha's Little Finger – https://www.amazon.com/Buddhas-Little-Finger-Victor-Pelevin/...

The Yellow Arrow – https://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Arrow-New-Directions-Paperbook...

Hermit and Sixfinger (free) – http://pelevin.nov.ru/pov/en-hermit/1.html

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#135

Post by nojvek »

_jgdh wrote: post #120
Arun2009 wrote: post #53

If by "great" you mean influential, then definitely India's epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata would fit the bill IMO. Wikipedia has this to say about Mahabharata: > The Mahābhārata is the longest epic poem known and has been described as "the longest poem ever written".[7][8] Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose pass…

But if by “great” you mean a lot of fun to read, then I’m skeptical. I grew up with these stories since my mother and grandmother told them as bedtime stories. As I learned to read I picked up the comic book versions (known as Amar Chitra Katha) and later the novels. As far as the stories themselves go, they’re pretty drab. The plot is predictable, dialogue is meh, characters (apart from 2) are more like caricatures…

Mahabharata has some fiction and plot twists. However I have to say George R R Martin ruined it for me with Game of Thrones. Nothing beats his plot twists and story telling.

The Weiss brothers and HBO did a decent job with the series as well. It kind of connects and entire generation of viewers and book readers.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#136

Post by nojvek »

vram22 wrote: post #101
gjkood wrote: post #36

Some great comics/graphic novels that are relatively unknown in the US Asterix comics [1] Tintin comics [2] Yes, I know Spielberg's Tintin animated movie is well known but I doubt most people in the US have heard of the entire series of Tintin comics. I couldn't devour these fast enough when I was growing up. [1] https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3... [2] https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no…

The drawings / illustrations in Asterix and Tintin comics are just great. I like them almost more than the stories or characters, especially for the Asterix ones. The drawings of scenery are very evocative, and expressions on the faces of the people in the comics seem very realistic, despite being drawn with just a few lines, relatively speaking. Another great point about Asterix comics (so I read), is that they were…

I grew up on Tin Tin comics. They were available in my school library in Nairobi. That stuff was crack. Such adventures! Really made it fun to read.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#138

Post by lappet »

jxub wrote: post #23

From where I stand, Hispanic and Slavic literature is fairly unknown and underrated on the other side of the pond. Ramón del Valle Inclán's "Lights of Bohemia": A great portrait of Madrid and the dirty guts of the Spain from 100 years ago, written in a gorgeously precise, dark and multifaceted range of vocabulary. Ortega y Gasset's "Rebellion of the Masses". It is centered in the individual "I am me and my circumstan…

Can you please provide more examples of Slavic literature? I am only aware of Russian authors. Any idea if the english translation of Witcher by Danusia Stok is good? I am very curious about Slavic culture and recently blogged about "Slavs"[1], I would love to add a literature section to my post.

[1] https://raviramanujam.com/post/blog/slavs.html

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#139

Post by akashakya »

_jgdh wrote: post #120
Arun2009 wrote: post #53

If by "great" you mean influential, then definitely India's epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata would fit the bill IMO. Wikipedia has this to say about Mahabharata: > The Mahābhārata is the longest epic poem known and has been described as "the longest poem ever written".[7][8] Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose pass…

But if by “great” you mean a lot of fun to read, then I’m skeptical. I grew up with these stories since my mother and grandmother told them as bedtime stories. As I learned to read I picked up the comic book versions (known as Amar Chitra Katha) and later the novels. As far as the stories themselves go, they’re pretty drab. The plot is predictable, dialogue is meh, characters (apart from 2) are more like caricatures…

You should definitely check out different versions. The story they usually use in tv-series and 'parents' tell is the same version which is as you said boring, and plain good guy vs bad guy plot. But many ancient versions excellent[1][2] and they not dragged like the original!, even better if you are into prosody(kavya)[3].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urubhanga

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikramarjuna_Vijaya

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_prosody

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#140

Post by kamaal »

senthil_rajasek wrote: post #61

Tirukkural Excerpt from the Wikipedia page, "Considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and morality, chiefly secular ethics, it is known for its universality and non-denominational nature." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirukkuṛaḷ

Tirukkural is quite famous. Thanks to the massive Tamil and South Indian diaspora living in foreign lands.
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