Hopping into the Year of the Rabbit
According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2023 marks the year of the rabbit. In honour of such an occasion, we thought we’d help you hop into 2023 with some of our top rabbit-related reads from all over the world! Yes, we may sound hopping mad, but we know you’re going to love our selected titles. From classic children’s stories to satirical political statements, we’ve got something for everyone.
1. Watership Down by Richard Adams.
Firstly, to kick start our list we’re staying close to home with an English adventure novel by Richard Adams. First published in 1972, it is unlikely that you’ve never heard of Watership Down. Whether it be via the original novel published by Rex Collings Ltd or via the more modern filmic adaptations, Adams’ work is engrained in our culture as a classic.
If you’ve not heard of Watership Down and are wondering how it relates to rabbits, we wouldn’t blame you! It’s not exactly clear in the title after all!
Set in Berkshire, the story features a small group of rabbits. Whilst they live in a natural wild environment, they are anthropomorphised and possess their own culture, language, proverbs and mythology. The novel centres upon themes such violence, power, home and belonging. Furthermore, it follows the rabbits as they escape the destruction of their warren and seek a new home.
2. Caza de conejos by Mario Levrero.
The second rabbit-themed novel that we’d like to share is a Uruguayan text by Mario Levrero. Made for adult readers and written in 1986, Caza de conejos (best translated as ‘Rabbit Hunt’) presents us with an absurd narrative. Inverting the roles of prey and hunter, Levrero presents a world turned upside down. The animalisation and humanisation of the characters construct a fantastical narrative that both unsettles and entertains. You are bound to be gripped by this narrative.
3. La Famille Passiflore by Genevieve Huriet.
Next, returning to the children’s literature genre, our third title encompasses a French series of children books. The English name for the series is the Beechwood Bunny Tales, and they were first written in 1987. Since then, they have been translated into more than 23 languages. Specifically, the first English translation was released by Gareth Stevens in 1991. The books centre upon the Bellflower family of rabbits who live in Beechwood Grove.
They are simply a charming and beloved family series, and any child would love them.
4. The Yule Tomte and the Little Rabbits: A Christmas Story for Advent by Ulf Stark
Sticking with the theme of children’s stories, our fourth recommendation is a tad bit festive so you may want to save this one for December! This Swedish story follows Grump the Yule Tomte who, after losing his mittens in the wind, decides that he no longer wants to be the Yule Tomte. At the same time however, after finding a pair of mittens in the wind, Binny and Barty, the rabbit children, become very excited about the prospect of Christmas and prepare for it’s arrival. This charming Christmas story consists of twenty-five chapters and is the perfect way to count down to Christmas.
5. The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasinlinna.
We’ll admit that the final piece of literature we’d like to share is technically cheating. After all, we are aware that rabbits and hares are different. Paasinlinna’s novel is so good however that we couldn’t help but make an exception for this title. And anyway… they’re not that different, right?
This Finnish title is a long-time best-seller in Finland and France. It has been translated into a plethora of languages including Italian, Japanese and Hungarian. Moreover, it has twice been made into a movie. It is the tale of a man who finds himself protecting a hare as he lives through a series of unusual misadventures. Poignant and funny, it has so much to say about people, life and love. It is quite simply, Finnish wit at its best.
We hope you have enjoyed reading about these wonderful, if not slightly odd, literary recommendations. We’d love to hear what books you’ll be reading as you enter the Year of the Rabbit though! Be sure to get in touch on social media.
Halloween Reading
It’s almost Halloween! The spookiest and most frightful time of year! In honour of this occasion, we thought we’d share some of our favourite books full of ghouls and ghosts, from around the world.
Check out our top picks below!
1. Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes (English and Spanish) – Children’s Literature
Written by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales, this lively bilingual poem introduces young readers to an array of spooky Spanish words.
Moreover, with verses such as …
‘Las brujas guide their broomsticks high
The witches on escobas fly.
Above the earth, before the moon,
They swoop and swish and swoosh and soon…’
… you can’t help but be captivated by the quirky and dynamic use of language.
Furthermore, it is visually captivating. It won the 2008 Pura Belpre Medal for Illustration and it is beautiful. The perfect Halloween reading for kids of all ages.
2. Hadriana in All My Dreams by René Depestre. Translated into English by Kaiama L Glover (French, Haiti).
Originally published in 1988, Hadriana in All My Dreams explores how humans deal with their fears – particularly the fear of death.
Set in 1930’s Haiti, Depestre’s novel centres upon a beautiful French woman who, on the morning of her wedding, drinks a mysterious potion and collapses at the altar. Subsequently transformed into a zombie by an evil sorcerer, her wedding becomes a funeral.
3. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin. Translated into English by Megan McDowell (Spanish, Argentina).
Fever Dream is an Argentinian novel written by Samanta Schweblin. Creating an ambiance of psychological menace and transcendental reality, Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life.
It centres upon a young woman who is dying in a rural hospital. Next to her, is a boy. However, he is not her son and she is not his mother. Nonetheless, together, they tell a story of broken souls and the power and torment of families.
4. Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba. Translated into English by Lisa Dillman (Spanish.)
Such Small Hands is a chilling ghost story written by Andrés Barba. It tells the tale of a seven-year-old girl named Marina. After being wounded by an accident that killed her parents, she is taken to an orphanage. However, she does not go alone. She takes with her a wide-eyed doll, also named Marina. As Marina struggles to find her place, she invents a game whose rules are dictated by haunting violence.
Written in hypnotic and lyrical prose, Such Small Hands evokes the pain of loss and hunger for acceptance.
5. You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlman. Translated into English by Ross Benjamin (German).
You Should have Left is a short German novella which centres upon a screenwriter who spends a week in a rental house with his wife and daughter. He is determined to complete the sequel to his breakthrough film, yet something he cannot explain begins to undermine his confidence as words start to appear in his notebook; words he did not write.
Described as a ‘literary sensation’ by The Guardian, you are bound to fall in love with this chilling novella. Similarly, if you love this, why not check out the movie adaptation?
6. The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike. Translated into English by Deborah Boliver Boehm (Japanese).
Published in 1986, Koike’s novel tells the tale of a young married couple who move into a new apartment building by a graveyard. A series of terrifying occurrences begin to take place and people in the building begin to move out. Eventually, the young family is left alone with someone… or something.
It is claustrophobic, chilling, and unique. The Graveyard Apartment captures the horror of what it means to be haunted and tells a beautiful story of families and relationships.
7. The Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio de Maria. Translated into English by Ramon Glazov (Italian).
The Twenty Days of Turin is a sinister allegorical novel that depicts the rise and endurance of fascism.
The Italian novel follows a journalist who desires to uncover the secrets of twenty days in Turin – twenty days in which the city’s population fell prey to an insomnia pandemic wherein the streets were plagued with somnambulists and murder.
8. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. Translated into English by Phillip Roughton (Icelandic).
If you want to be truly terrified, then I Remember You is the perfect Halloween read for you! It is an utterly terrifying ghost story from one of the most prominent authors of Icelandic crime, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir.
It combines a traditional haunted house story with a modern detective novel and it is a thriller of immense proportions. In other words, you won’t want to read this pick after dark. Unless you fancy a fright of course!
These are just some of our favourite tales, but we’d love to hear some of your top picks! Why not share your favourites on our Twitter? The spookier the better!!!
Fancy some more literary recommendations? Why not check out our blog listing some of our favourite translated children’s stories? Or our blog listing some of the best works by women in translation?