@fionamnt.bsky.social
Translator (NL>EN) | Reader | BookCrosser | Baker | Scottish (and Dutch) | Loves language and history
Book cover for Expelled from Uganda, by Noreen Nasim. Green background with sea and leaves. Title and author in white. In the centre, the shape of the country of Uganda in orange.
Book 29 in 2025: Expelled from Uganda, by Noreen Nasim.
The fictionalised story of the author's father and his family, Asian Ugandans who had to flee the country under Idi Amin's horrific rule. Very interesting to read more about this.
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Book cover for The Falcons of Fire and Ice, by Karen Maitland. Stylised volcano erupting, with falcons flying.
Book 28 in 2025: The Falcons of Fire and Ice, by Karen Maitland.
The landscape in Iceland is really a character in itself, and it was interesting to read about the history and customs, and about falconry. And apart from that, it was also a great story.
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Book cover for Rambling Man: My Life on the Road, by Billy Connolly. A road through a wooded area. Billy in his younger years walking towards us, a bag over his shoulder, and what is probably his banjo case in the other hand.
Book 27 in 2025: Rambling Man: My Life on the Road, by Billy Connolly (audiobook).
Funny and philosophical, Billy recounts his travels around the world as a true "rambling man".
Always a pleasure to listen to him!
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Since 2023, translators and interpreters have seen work dry up, rates plummet and their jobs reduced to editing AI-generated output. Some are leaving the field, others are considering bankruptcy. All despite any major upgrade in translation quality.
This is how AI is killing translation work:
Elena Knows, by Claudia PiΓ±eiro. Translated by Frances Riddle. #WITMonth
21.08.2025 12:54 β π 4 π 2 π¬ 1 π 0
Book cover for Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury. A boy riding on a purple carousel horse, and a man in a black suit and top hat. Both looking at the viewer.
Book 26 in 2025: Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury.
A rather strange carnival comes to town, and sure enough some very creepy things start happening. You'll never look at a carousel or a mirror maze the same way again.
Creepily enjoyable!
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It's great fun, releasing books into the wild! And even better when someone journals a book you've released. But it's also an amazing, friendly community of readers. We chat on the forums, share books, and even meet up all over the world! #Bookcrossing
05.08.2025 10:32 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Book cover for The Women, by Kristin Hannah. Three women, silhouetted, stand on a platform looking out across the jungle. Three helicopters fly past silhouetted against the setting sun.
Book 25 in 2025: The Women, by Kristin Hannah.
Powerful story of the women who served as army nurses in Vietnam, witnessing unimaginable horrors and returning home to zero recognition. And of the deep, unbreakable friendships forged there.
Very good.
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Book cover for The Puzzle Wood, by Rosie Andrews. Bright blue background. A gold circle with the title, surrounded by a wreath of bare branches in black and gold, on which two crows are perched.
Book 24 in 2025: The Puzzle Wood, by Rosie Andrews.
1852, a remote house where the governess has died. Her sister poses as a new governess to join the household and try to find out what happened.
Atmospheric surroundings, strange goings-on. Very good!
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Book cover for Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Black background with spherical shapes of various sizes and colours, one of which is Earth.
Book 23 in 2025: Orbital, by Samantha Harvey.
From the constantly changing vistas and multiple sunrises and sunsets per 'day' to the minutiae of life in space, this was a wonderfully slow and thought-provoking read.
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#BookerPrize
Book cover for The Japanese Lover, by Isabel Allende. A woman, smiling. We can only see her from the top of her nose down. The rim of a hat is visible behind her head. She's holding a white gardenia. On the right, a faint monochrome picture of a large house with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
Book 22 in 2025: The Japanese Lover, by Isabel Allende. Translated by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson.
A beautiful story about the enduring power of love, against a rich backdrop of the very different histories of the characters.
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Book cover for The Watcher in the Shadows, by Carlos Ruiz ZafΓ³n. Bright blue background with a doorknocker with an angel (head, shoulders and wings) on top.
Book 21 in 2025: The Watcher in the Shadows, by Carlos Ruiz ZafΓ³n. Translated by Lucia Graves.
Oddly enjoyable young adult gothic creepiness!
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Book cover for The Extinction of Irena Rey, by Jennifer Croft. Bright pink and green background. Inset, a painting of a forest with blue trees, and fungi growing below.
Book 20 in 2025: The Extinction of Irena Rey, by Jennifer Croft.
As a translator, I loved a book by a translator, about translators, with a narrator who's one of them, whose words are translated by one of the others, including snide footnotes. Indescribable!
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#xl8
Thanks for the reminder @janemunday.bsky.social. Every summer, I repost this article DROWNING DOES NOT LOOK LIKE DROWNING. To date, I know of FOUR kids who were saved after someone who'd clicked on the link learnt how to spot actual drowning. Take time to read and pass on.
slate.com/technology/2...
Book cover for Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies. White background except for a patch in the centre showing various characters from the book, in a kind of soft focus.
Book 19 in 2025: Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies.
Schoolteacher in Canada looks back on his life, with colourful characters and fair amount of tragedy and drama, and a bit of adventure.
Quite enjoyed this.
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"Translation handcrafted without the use of generative AI" Copyright page of one of my forthcoming translations.
09.06.2025 09:35 β π 85 π 21 π¬ 2 π 6
Book cover for A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson. A dead hare (or is it a rabbit?) nailed to a wooden wall by its hind leg.
Book 18 in 2025: A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson.
One of those books I almost didn't want to finish, because I was enjoying it so much and didn't want to have to say goodbye to the characters (except Viola maybe!).
Beautifully written.
Loved it.
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Book cover for The Evergreen in Red and White, by Steven Kay. A grainy, black-and-white photo of Rabbi Howell, facing the camera, arms folded. In the background, outlines of factory chimneys.
Book 17 in 2025: The Evergreen in Red and White, by Steven Kay.
The story of Rabbi Howell, Sheffield United player, in the early days of professional football, faced with some difficult life choices. Well researched, with good backdrop of Victorian Sheffield.
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Ooh, Irena Rey is waiting patiently on my ever-growing pile of to-be-reads! Really looking forward to that one.
01.06.2025 10:30 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0ADD a letter and ruin a movie
Lady Chatterley's Liver
Book cover for Splinter, by Sebastian Fitzek. At the bottom, a single house in a pine forest. A light is on in one upstairs window. At the top of the cover, cracked glass or ice, and a fingerprint in blood.
Book 16 in 2025: Splinter, by Sebastian Fitzek. Translated by John Brown John.
Marc reads about an experiment that might help him forget his wife's death. But then he comes home to find his wife, who's very much alive, but doesn't recognise him.
What's happening to his mind?
Gripping story.
Book cover for Dust, by Charles Pellegrino. Two small human figures running or stumbling towards the viewer through yellow and black dust and smoke.
Book 15 in 2025: Dust by Charles Pellegrino.
What happens to the world if all the insects die off suddenly. Pretty scary stuff. And as in the pandemic, a crisis brings out the very best and worst in people.
We really need to take better care of our planet!
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π And in true Cholmondeley and Beaulieu tradition, it's probably pronounced something like "butter".
15.05.2025 10:11 β π 14 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Book cover for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin. Hokusai's wave set against a rainbow coloured sky.
Book 14 in 2025: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin.
Loved the writing, the flawed characters, the video game industry setting (although I grew up on text adventures π).
Beautiful.
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Denmark's Ministry of Justice has announced that post-editing machine translation (PEMT) does not qualify as "translation" under its legal framework.
#Translation #ProfessionalStandards #AITranslation
Music is joy! #AGoodPlace
Source: www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmil...
This photograph captures Sir David Attenborough seated outdoors on the rugged terrain of Skomer Island. Behind him, the ocean and coastal cliffs form a scenic backdrop under a clear sky. Sir David, dressed in a khaki jacket and light trousers, looks towards the camera with a gentle expression, exuding a sense of warmth, calm, and wisdom. Around him, puffins can be seen flying and perched on the rocky ground, illuminated in rays of golden sunlight as the sun sets behind the cliffs.
Happy 99th birthday to the man who gave voice to the wild. π
Sir David Attenborough, thank you for a lifetime dedicated to the natural world, and for sharing its story with wisdom, wonder, and grace.
You've inspired generations to fall in love with nature.
Book cover for Elena Knows, by Claudia PiΓ±eiro. Bright yellow background. In red and blue, a stylised woman's head in profile and a chair.
Book 13 in 2025: Elena Knows, by Claudia PiΓ±eiro. Translated by Frances Riddle.
Not the Marple-esque crime novel the description might suggest. Instead it deals with some big issues, against the backdrop of a difficult mother-daughter relationship.
Very good.
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Oops, make that book no. 12... ππ
02.05.2025 20:00 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
