HCM CITY — HCM City's bookshops are busy with customers looking for Vietnamese versions of well-known foreign titles to read on Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.
"I like staying home reading rather than going to beach or mountain resort cities which are always crowded on Tet holidays," 25-year-old Nguyen Thi Hoa said.
"Transportation on these days is always expensive and difficult," she said.
"I've bought some new books for the holidays."
Nha Nam Company released Nhung Nga Tu va Nhung Cot Den (Crossroads and Lampposts) by Tran Dan last week. The detective story published 44 years after Dan wrote it and 20 years after his death has received a warm reception from readers.
"I read the 344-page book in one night. I liked the story and the detailed writing style," literary critic, Lai Nguyen An said.
Young HCM City-based writer Duong Thuy's new collection of short stories, Bo Cau Chung Mai Vom (Pigeons Share the Same Dome), about Vietnamese studying abroad and Yeu Bang Tai (Love Through Ears) by Nguyen Huong from the Central Highlands province of Dac Lac have been hits with young readers since Tre (Youth) Publisher released them early this month.
Love Through Ears is a collection of short stories about young blind people, their romances and misfortunes.
Best seller books from South Korea including Kim Young-ha's The Quiz Show and Han Kang's Vegetarian have been translated into Vietnamese and are in stores throughout the country as of yesterday.
Also translated and published by Youth Publisher this week is Tom Plate's Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew, Citizen Singapore – How to build a Nation.
Translations are underway for several internationally popular books including Saul Bellow's Nobel Prize winning Henderson the Rain King, Luc Ferry's Learn to Live and Kurt Vonnegut's A Man Without a Country.
Signs advertising 30 to 80 per cent off are up in many of the city's bookshops since last month to clear the shelves of old stock and attract customers.
"I've bought some books including the Vietnamese language version of Stendhal's The Red and the Black to read on Tet holidays at only a half of last year's prices," third-year student Tran Manh Huy said. — VNS