One thing that soothes the end of the Tournament of Books is the announcement of the Best Translated Book Award longlist. I've not yet managed to read all of any given year's longlist, but I enjoy picking (often at random) titles from it:  they are always good, challenging books that expand my mind. This year might be the one where I break my habit and read them all since I am interested in quite a few!

Only rarely have I read any of the titles on the list before it drops, despite my efforts to mix healthy amounts of translated fiction in to my reading docket. This year, I've read one--Sergei Dovlatov's Pushkin Hills--with another--the Ferrante--waiting on my bookshelf. This year is unusual since so many of the books were already on my mental to-read list:

Edouard Levé's Works: I read Suicide a couple of years ago & while "enjoy" is not the correct word it has haunted me ever since.

The Woman Who Borrowed Memories, Tove Jansson -- I don't prefer short stories, but I do like Jansson's writing, and since I own all of the other NYRB issues of her work I've been planing on picking up this one when I run across it.

Scholastique Mukasonga's Our Lady of the Nile -- I'm eager to read fiction by a Rwandan author + Archipelago Books has yet to disappoint.

The Cortázar -- I've been slowly making my way through Hopscotch and it's a marvel; all and any Cortázar immediately go on my long-term to-read list.

Faces in the Crowd, Valeria Luiselli -- I think I heard about this one from Largehearted Boy and liked the cover enough to jot down the title? I will definitely read it now. 

I will be seeking out a few more immediately:  the two Bohumil Hrabal books (Czech literature is generally great, and Closely Watched Trains is the rare story that is great as a movie and as a book; Jean Echenoz's 1914 because one of the only things I like more than books about WWI are very short books about WWI; Things Look Different in the LIght by Medardo Fraile because the cover is lovely and Pushkin Press puts out gorgeous books; and Adam Buenosayres by Leopoldo Marachal because Cortázar praised it upon its initial publication, the cover is gorgeous, and city novels are the best novels!