'Best book of the year'-lists continue to be a decidedly Anglo-Saxon newspaper/magazine/weblog space-filler, and one simply doesn't find that many in foreign publications.
More will appear as the year actually comes to an end, but for now here some of the very few I've come across:
- Le Point has had a twenty-five title strong list of Les meilleurs livres de l'année 2012 up for a couple of weeks. It begins with ... a new translation of the Aeneid, but also includes many familiar names and titles; the French ones sound (somewhat) more interesting, but originally-written-in-English works feature quite prominently: Louise Erdrich's Shadow Tag, Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie, books by Jennifer Egan, Amor Towles, and Gary Shteyngart, and even Breaking Away-screenwriter Steve Tesich's 1998 Karoo.
- The Tages-Anzeiger just offers a single best book: Johann Holtrop by Rainald Goetz; see the Suhrkamp foreign rights page.
- Die Welt has prominet folks suggest titles -- including Jeffrey Eugenides (Alice Munro) and Rolando Villazón (Iris Murdoch's Under the Net.
- At El País' Papeles Perdidos weblog you have an opportunity to Vota los mejores libros de 2012 -- from pre-selected lists, in many categories. Among the titles under review at the complete review: translated(-into-Spanish)-nominee Perverzion by Yuri Andrukhovych.
- Le Point has had a twenty-five title strong list of Les meilleurs livres de l'année 2012 up for a couple of weeks. It begins with ... a new translation of the Aeneid, but also includes many familiar names and titles; the French ones sound (somewhat) more interesting, but originally-written-in-English works feature quite prominently: Louise Erdrich's Shadow Tag, Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie, books by Jennifer Egan, Amor Towles, and Gary Shteyngart, and even Breaking Away-screenwriter Steve Tesich's 1998 Karoo.
- The Tages-Anzeiger just offers a single best book: Johann Holtrop by Rainald Goetz; see the Suhrkamp foreign rights page.
- Die Welt has prominet folks suggest titles -- including Jeffrey Eugenides (Alice Munro) and Rolando Villazón (Iris Murdoch's Under the Net.
- At El País' Papeles Perdidos weblog you have an opportunity to Vota los mejores libros de 2012 -- from pre-selected lists, in many categories. Among the titles under review at the complete review: translated(-into-Spanish)-nominee Perverzion by Yuri Andrukhovych.