Back by popular demand, faculty members from UBC’s Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies (FHIS) have compiled a list of recommended summer reads that were originally published in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. So pick your favourite park bench, soak up the sun and get lost in these books!
Chanson douce | The Perfect Nanny (2016) by Leila Slimani
When Myriam, a French-Moroccan lawyer, decides to return to work after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their two young children. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family's chic apartment in Paris's upscale tenth arrondissement, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau.
Vies minuscules | Small Lives (1984) by Pierre Michon
Explore the act of writing through the intimate portraits of eight interconnected individuals in the author's native village of Creuse. In this evocative poetic narrative the quest to breathe life into the stories of these individuals becomes an exploration of the author's own voice. Michon does not deny the autobiographical nature of this haunting and seminal work, which only serves to heighten and empower the writing.
No et moi | No and Me (2007) by Delphine de Vigan
Parisian teenager Lou has an IQ of 160, OCD tendencies, and a mother who has suffered from depression for years. But Lou is about to change her life—and that of her parents—all because of a school project about homeless teens. Whilst doing research, Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their friendship grows, Lou bravely asks her parents if No can live with them, and is astonished when they agree. No’s presence forces Lou’s family to come to terms with a secret tragedy. But can this shaky, newfound family continue to live together when No’s own past comes back to haunt her? Winner of the prestigious Booksellers’ Prize in France, No and Me is a timely and thought-provoking novel about homelessness that has far-reaching appeal.
Les os des filles (2019) by Line Papin
This is a novel about three generations of women who have gone through three fights: that of war, that of exile and that of illness. How do historical events affect personal relationships? How can the emotional bond between a daughter and her mother be broken by a bomb, a plane or a hospital? What are the bones that support us made of?
Le premier homme | The First Man (1994) by Albert Camus
The unfinished manuscript of The First Man was discovered in the wreckage of a car accident in which Camus died in 1960. Although it was not published for over thirty years, it was an instant bestseller when it finally appeared in 1994. The 'first man' is Jacques Cormery, whose poverty-stricken childhood in Algiers is made bearable by his love for his silent and illiterate mother, and by the teacher who transforms his view of the world. The most autobiographical of Camus' novels, it gives profound insights into his life, and the powerful themes underlying his work.
Distancia de rescate | Fever Dream (2014) by Samanta Schweblin
Film adaptation by Claudia Llosa (2021)
A captivating novel that combines horror and beauty through the use of mystery and popular culture. Narrated as a conversation between two voices, this unsettling story invites the reader to reconstruct the characters’ recent past in order to identify the specific details that led to the current state of physical and mental deterioration. In contrast to its minimalist prose, it addresses broad notions, such as fear, guilt, (ab)normality, and affect within the context of today’s ecological crisis. Without a doubt, its original style and insightful reflections on the pervasiveness of toxicity may haunt the reader long past the final page.
Un hipster en la España vacía (2020) by Daniel Gascón
Enrique, a hipster from Madrid, moves to a small village in the province of Teruel where he tries to impose his views, for instance, by trying to change the heteropatriarchal structure of the hen house, renaming a back street “Gramsci St” (he is surprised that people in the village refuse and –for obvious reasons- still call it “the Piss alley”), or persuading the children not to count the goals, suppressing the notion of two teams when they play soccer. The novel combines in a hilarious way the quixotesque pattern of presenting a character that is out of touch with reality with Berlangian situations (the episode when two members of the far-right tried to stop the filming of a movie about the Spanish Civil War in the village, thinking that the revolution has started, is hysterical…). A satire of present Spain that, nevertheless, invites the Left to a necessary and serious reflection on where adopting ideologies from North American campuses and abandoning the working class can lead, as well as the limitations of power when in charge…
Cuentos de amor (2019) by Emilia Pardo Bazán
Vacillating always between expectations and transgressions, romanticism and modernism, Emilia Pardo Bazán’s Cuentos de amor brings together 43 short stories on love, that though published originally in the 19th century, align with feminist thought today. From First Love, wherein an adolescent boy falls in love at first sight with a beautiful woman in a photo he finds while rummaging through his elderly aunt’s drawers while she's at church, only to discover later that the snapshot captured none other than his old, asthmatic, hairy-chinned, and gout-ridden aunt! to Torn Lace, where the well-off Micaelita abandons her fiancé at the alter for no particular reason at all, the author shines her characteristic naturalistic spotlight on situations that both define and put into question the moral, political, and cultural structures of 19th century Spain, engaging the reader in vivid reads that encourage us to examine our own expectations and moral codes in today's global society.
Free version is available at the Cervantes Virtual Library
Los llanos (2021) by Federico Falco
Los llanos is a novel—in fragments—that tells the story of a man who experiences the end of his romantic relationship with Ciro, his partner of several years. To deal with his grief, the protagonist, a writer who lives in Buenos Aires, rents a vegetable garden in Zapiola, la pampa. With an intimate and poetic writing, the author shows a difficult extensive landscape that overwhelms the protagonist. However, it is the routine and difficult care of the garden that allows him to reflect on himself, love, and writing. Without idealization, the novel reveals to us emptiness and the search for meaning.
La solitudine dei numeri primi | The Solitude of Prime Numbers (2008) by Paolo Giordano
The novel tells the story of the love relationship between Alice and Mattia, who met in their compulsory school days. A childhood marked by traumatic episodes brings them together and haunts them as they grow up. Mattia’s twin sister, as a child, disappeared while playing in a park. Alice, on the other hand, became lame as a result of a skiing injury. Mattia and Alice’s story revolves around their continuous encounters and separations. They follow different paths, have their own experiences, yet the story tells of these two parallel lives.
Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini | The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1962) by Giorgio Bassani
"Giorgio Bassani’s acclaimed novel […] is a richly evocative and nostalgic depiction of prewar Italy. The narrator, a young middle-class Jew in the Italian city of Ferrara, has long been fascinated from afar by the Finzi-Continis, a wealthy and aristocratic Jewish family, and especially by their daughter Micol. But it is not until 1938 that he is invited behind the walls of their lavish estate, as local Jews begin to gather there to avoid the racial laws of the Fascists, and the garden of the Finzi-Continis becomes an idyllic sanctuary in an increasingly brutal world."
Il sentiero per il nido dei ragni | The Path to the Nest of Spiders (1947) by Italo Calvino
“Pin, an orphaned cobbler's apprentice in a town on the Ligurian coast, lives with his sister, a prostitute and spends as much time as he can at a seedy bar where he amuses the adult patrons. After stealing a pistol from a Nazi sailor, Pin searches for an identity with an Italian partisan group. All the while, the people he meets mock him without his knowing. The title refers to Pin's secret hiding place, directions to which he touts as a prize to any adults who win his trust.” What makes this book particularly interesting is that it is narrated from the perspective of the child Pin.
I Nostri Antenati | Our Ancestors Trilogy (1952-1959) by Italo Calvino
The trilogy includes three fantasy novels.
In The Cloven Viscount, the Viscount Medardo di Terralba rides across the plague-ravaged plain of Bohemia en route to join the Christian army, in the Turkish wars of the seventeenth century. On the first day of fighting, he is split in two by a cannonball and becomes two people: Gramo (the Bad) and Buono (the Good).
In The Baron in the Trees, a young baron, Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, after a silly quarrel with his father, climbs the trees of the home garden and promises never to come down again in his entire life. Cosimo's life takes place in the trees and is full of adventures, from friendships with fruit thieves and bandits to days spent hunting or reading.
The Nonexistent Knight explores questions of identity, integration with society, and virtue through the adventures of Agilulf, a medieval knight who exemplifies chivalry, piety, and faithfulness but exists only as an empty suit of armour.
Casa-Grande e Senzala | The Masters and the Slaves (1933) by Gilberto Freyre
In this work, Freyre discusses the formation of Brazilian society. The “casa-grande” refers to the slave owner's residence on a sugarcane plantation, where large estates were owned and managed by one man. The “senzala” refers to the dwellings of the black slaves. Discussing history, sociology, cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, law, architecture, gastronomy, clothes, curiosities, medicine, and the intimacies of colonial private life, one of the goals of this book was to respond to the racist theses that strongly prevailed in Brazil in the 20s and 30s. Freyre's romanticism fueled the myth of “Brazilian racial democracy”, which is fundamental to understand the current Brazilian society.
Livro do Desassossego | The Book of Disquiet (1982) by Fernando Pessoa
The greatest Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, well-known for his multiple literary personas, wrote this masterpiece under his heteronym Bernardo Soares in the 1920s. This evocative and brilliant collection of poetic fragments is melancholic and existential. The book offers poignant reflections which are treasures to be cherished in times of uncertainty and when we need hope.
Contos Completos de Machado De Assis | The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis (2018) translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson
Considered the most important writer from Brazil, Machado de Assis was ahead of his time. He lived and wrote in the late 19th century and very early 20th century, but his concerns are easily considered contemporary. In stories that question identity, hierarchy and social habits, the author offers kaleidoscopic perspectives on what constitutes reality. His sharp social observations, irony and rich sense of humour can be a healing balsam during isolation.
Terra Sonâmbula | Sleepwalking Land (1992) by Mia Couto
Perhaps the most well-known writer from Mozambique, the great Mia Couto weaves tales of colonial struggles and human fragility in this 1992 novel. This prize-winning book tells a story of sickness and of civil war unrest. The book reveals power struggles, and how important relationships are during moments of crisis.
Complete Stories (2015) by Clarice Lispector, translated by Katrina Dodson
This is a prize-winning translation of possibly Brazil’s best writer, Clarice Lispector. In the collection of her complete short stories written from the 1940s to the 1970s, there is something for everyone. Lispector’s unique style and existential themes leave lasting impressions. The stories poetically and boldly ask questions about life and death, suffering and pleasures, and ultimately about what it means to be human.
