Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 175 posts

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

#151

Post by BrandoElFollito »

lappet wrote: post #138
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

The Nobel prize winner W Szymborska wrote some beautiful poems.

I usually find poetry self-adoring and usually completely unreadable by what I read of Szymborska was feeric.

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

#152

Post by BrandoElFollito »

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've never seen Asterix in English and just checked the Wikipedia page you linked.

I was wondering how they translated the characters' names. Since the chief is Vitalstatistix, then it must be good. Nothing to do with the French name but still funny.

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

#153

Post by jxub »

lappet wrote: post #138
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

> Any idea if the english translation of Witcher by Danusia Stok is good?

I've just doublechecked that the official English translation is good indeed, I haven't got first hand knowledge though https://www.quora.com/I-intend-to-read-the-Witcher-books-but...

My knowledge of Slavic literature limits mostly to the Polish and some Russian authors, despite that I can recommend a Czech satire book that I liked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk

Other than that, Czeslaw Milosz for the poetry, Henryk Sienkiewicz has some great novels about the history of Poland (The Trilogy and The Teutonic Knights are damn hooking and intense), Zofia Kossak Szczucka (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zofia_Kossak-Szczucka) is another solid historical writer. I am aware however that my tastes in literature are somewhat eclectic.

Russian Lit: Nikolai Gogol for the stories, Solzhenitsyn for the Gulag Archipelago, and of course War and Peace (Tolstoy) and Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky). Reserve some weeks for the last two though, heh ;)

Any help you need, just shoot me an email (in the profile), but I'm not an expert by any means :P

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

#154

Post by the_greyd »

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…

Giving my 2 cents here: Mahabharat was the first epic which I fell in love with. It is fair to draw parallels with the Trojan War in terms of scale & sheer amount of narrative. It's ultimately about a war, there are gods & demigods involved, and it's tragic. Many complex storylines, plot twists, motives are intertwined. The centrestage is set to 5 demigod brothers who fight a war for their birthright, to rule their kingdom. There's Krishna involved; if you ever wanted to know the context of Dharma and Karma (Bhagvat Gita) this is where you'll find it. Characters act out of greed, lust, power, pride; you won't be so sure about who are the good guys (which IMO is the best kind of story). My favorite character is Karna, the 6th brother who was separated at birth and has to fight against his brothers for his friendship. 10/10 would recommend.

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

#155

Post by vmilner »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #152
vram22 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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've never seen Asterix in English and just checked the Wikipedia page you linked. I was wondering how they translated the characters' names. Since the chief is Vitalstatistix, then it must be good. Nothing to do with the French name but still funny.

Idefix to Dogmatix is a gem.

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

#156

Post by x0x0 »

jxub wrote: post #153
lappet wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> Any idea if the english translation of Witcher by Danusia Stok is good? I've just doublechecked that the official English translation is good indeed, I haven't got first hand knowledge though https://www.quora.com/I-intend-to-read-the-Witcher-books-but... My knowledge of Slavic literature limits mostly to the Polish and some Russian authors, despite that I can recommend a Czech satire book that I liked: https://en.…

Don't miss _A Hero of Our Time_ by Lermontov. Plus, it's short!

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

#157

Post by vram22 »

vmilner wrote: post #155
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen Asterix in English and just checked the Wikipedia page you linked. I was wondering how they translated the characters' names. Since the chief is Vitalstatistix, then it must be good. Nothing to do with the French name but still funny.

Idefix to Dogmatix is a gem.

Ha ha, just googled that. A gem indeed. Idée fixe (fixed idea, obsession) to Dogmatix (Dog / Dogmatic).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogmatix

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

#158

Post by vram22 »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #152
vram22 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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've never seen Asterix in English and just checked the Wikipedia page you linked. I was wondering how they translated the characters' names. Since the chief is Vitalstatistix, then it must be good. Nothing to do with the French name but still funny.

Right :) Some other names I like are Bacteria (wife of the fishmonger, Unhygienix), Cacophonix, the bard, Getafix, the druid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters

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

#159

Post by lappet »

jxub wrote: post #153
lappet wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> Any idea if the english translation of Witcher by Danusia Stok is good? I've just doublechecked that the official English translation is good indeed, I haven't got first hand knowledge though https://www.quora.com/I-intend-to-read-the-Witcher-books-but... My knowledge of Slavic literature limits mostly to the Polish and some Russian authors, despite that I can recommend a Czech satire book that I liked: https://en.…

Thank you! I will definitely check those out :)

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

#160

Post by lappet »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #151
lappet wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The Nobel prize winner W Szymborska wrote some beautiful poems. I usually find poetry self-adoring and usually completely unreadable by what I read of Szymborska was feeric.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will check out her work.
Post reply on HN