Reading Argentinian authors

In 2025, it was the first time ever in 12 years here that I have read a full book in Spanish. Indeed, I read more than one, and also short stories, as I was forced to due to school. Some were more interesting, others less. A few authors were beyond my abilities to fully understand (and enjoy) that level of Spanish - especially Borges and José Hernández.

Julio Cortázar was easy enough to read, but I haven't read enough of him to say I like it.

However, I was really captivated by Samanta Schweblin (who was a candidate for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature) and Claudia Piñeiro. Both write quite dark books, with a high psychological content, and have their works brought to the big screen.

This summer, I am dedicating it to Piñeiro. After reading Las viudas de los jueves in 2025, I have read Catedrales, Tuya and now I am reading El tiempo de las moscas.

I wanted to share my enthusiasm with my mother, who only reads Italian, but much to my surprise, when I looked up for those books on Amazon Italy, these authors didn't do well there.

It is either a case of bad translation, or too culturally charged plots or maybe lack of promotion of the translated book in Italy. It is a shame, as Argentinian books and cinema are really superb, but they can't quite get the recognition they are worth oversea.

Perhaps they have had more success in the English-speaking market. I remember reading on Reddit long threads on Schweblin’s “Distancia de rescate” (“Fever dream” on English).
Those threads were by bookworms that had larger than usual knowledge of the reality of Argentina.
It would be interesting to know what forum members think about the English version since they know about Argentina and can catch the cultural issues being hinted in the book.

Even after more 20 years studying English, I still come across readings that are very hard to fully understand and enjoy. Sometimes the effort to just understand what it says takes away from the emotions/processing of the text read.

Recently, I have read Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. Boh, was it a struggle!
Too many cultural references to people and places that only someone from California or NY would grasp (this is where the author lived the first half of her life, and NY the latter)

Sometimes she went on descriptions of streets and panoramas that are known only if you have lived in California, or at least it seemed to me. That said, that book has been a best seller so someone else must have actually enjoyed those details that I mentally filed like voids as I couldn’t imagine what she was describing.

My Spanish is worse than my English in terms of vocabulary, which likely explain why I can’t enjoy many style of books in Spanish, yet.
The fix is reading more, but also making notes of new words, look them up and learn to use them everyday. That’s studying and not reading for pleasure.