Europa Editions: Good Reads From Afar

I have shared this information before but feel I can never stress it enough--I love to read.  Devouring books in the course of a weekend or even a day isn't unheard of in my world.  Actually, we are a family of readers--all bringing slightly different voices into our home library, discussing them at dinner and passing them on to the next reader.  The nice thing about our circulation system, there are no fines.  I'm sure I have built entire wings of libraries in the various towns I have lived in with all my late fees.  Just trying to be a good citizen is all!

Lately, as I wander through the stacks at both Borders and Barnes and Noble, I am completely uninspired by the offerings.  If feels as though even in the world of literature, we are being fed mass marketed stuff that either is the 10th installment  of some mystery series, another murder, rape and pillage novel as I call them, or ANOTHER self help tome aimed at having us read the directives, buy the supplementary journal or workbook and get crackin' on the new and improved us.  I know we are a screwed up nation but there has to be something better to fill our brains with.  

Enter Europa Editions, a small publishing company devoted to a limited number of fiction, non-fiction and children's books with at least two-thirds of them being works of literature in translation.  Yes, the beauty of this company is that they will take best sellers from other parts of the world and bring them to us in English. Not limited to French authors, but choosing to feature them for my purposes, the company based out of New York has an international staff that curates a wonderful collection from the far corners of the world and introduces us to new authors and topics that would remain strangers to us if not for their efforts.  

The titles that I have featured here and will link you to are either written by French authors or take place in Paris.  They are refreshing in the fact that eyes other than our own are revealing their truths through these stories.  It gives those of us living in the states and wanting to understand more of the world we live in a door to venture through in order to  'hear those truths' and be exposed to a new way of looking at things.  For me personally, to have finished a book that has taught me a thing or two about a world other than my own is priceless.  

Perhaps, that is the new self-help!

Additional information:  

Europaeditions

Europa Editions Finds Success Translating Literary Novels (nyt.com)