Der Richter und sein Henker, by Durrenmatt-- cute short little detective novel. I think it is also the only foreign language novel I have made it through.
If drama counts, my first was Captivi in Latin by Plautus.
“The first one I finished in portuguese was “O cartomante e otros cuntos” by Machado de Assis.”
that book sounds dodgy in English!
“Xi You Ji”. kinda like The Odessey (sp?), but in chinese, and with way more magic. forgot who wrote it, though…
Cougarfang, you read Journey to the West? In Chinese? Man, that’s like a gazillion page long epic buddhist journey to the end of the world within a fingernail. And it’s written in a kinda archaic style of Chinese. I’m impressed. I’ve only read the english edition.
well, i was forced into it, and once i started, it got to be pretty interesting. i always think the original is better than the translation… and Sun U Kon (the monkeyguy) is worth the whole thing… 
[sub]but i kept thinking of deep-fried monkey steak all the way through the book…[/sub]
d&r
too late
KERPOW!
Le Petit Prince here as well.
One more L’Etranger.
Does Ulysses count? Even if my first language is English?
In French, the first work I remember reading through completely was Cyrano de Bergerac, but that was in high school for French IV. I tried Verne’s Paris au XXieme Siecle while at Georgetown but I was rustier than I thought.
In Italian, it was Ignazio Silone’s Vino e pane - I understood enough of it to get most of the story and a little of some of the abstract discussions as well.
In Russian I’ve finished off Oblomov and have Doktor Zhivago, Dvenadsat’ Stul’ev, and Zolotoi Telionok waiting in line after I finish translating a book on Bellman’s songs from Swedish and an interesting little work called “Marxism and the Philosophy of Language” by Voloshinov.
I also have a copy of Obabakoak gathering dust on my shelf, but I’m gonna have to really dig back into Basque in order to even think about cracking the cover.
Languages are my life
Oh, and stofsky: Yes.
If so, then my first was A Clockwork Orange!
If not, then De bello gallico in Latin and Turgenev’s Asya in Russian.
Not counting the abridged-and-watered-down versions of Spanish classics we read in my high school classes, mine would be Estas Alli, Dios? Soy Yo, Margaret.
This, by the way, is how I learned the Spanish word for “bra,” and how I found out Judy Blume is deadly serious when you’re ten and freaking hilarous when you’re eighteen.
Thank you, Lark and
Estilicon.
I was having a go on: “Del amor y otros demonios”, but it’s really to hard. 
- that should be *too * hard. ;o
daffodil If you really want to read a beautifull book in spanish I would recommend “los pasos perdidos” by the cuban author Alejo Carpentier. I would also recommend you “Pedro Paramo” by Juan Rulfo. Being an argentinian I would recommend Jorge Luis Borges (he really deserved the nobel prize) It’s difficult but it’s worth the prize I don’t know any other author that can tell a magnificent story in 2 pages. Try finding “El milagro Secreto” (the secret miracle)
Pride and Predjudice
when I was 10.
I THOUGHT 
it was a foreign language. It took me nearly three weeks. As much as I read now, that seems like an eternity to spend on one book.
“Norwegian Wood” (“Noruei no Mori”), by Murakami Haruki. Two fucking volumes, took me two months, and it SUCKED. What is so great about this guy? Why is he the critics’ darling when he releases English translations. Admittedly, the adolescent lesbian scene was a turn-on, but how is it great literature?
Besides, he mistranslated the title of the song (he renders it as “Norwegian forest” rather than “wood from Norway”) and makes it the title of the book. Although the subject matter makes me wonder if he didn’t do it on purpose, as it could reflect his understanding of the lyrics.
Wow, is this more than any of you ever wanted to know, or what?
daffodil: I read Del amor y otros demonios in English (my native language) and struggled with it too. So don’t feel bad
Estilicon: I absolutely agree with you, Garcia Marquez is never really easy. I should have said short and simpler 
than the others, because relatively speaking, it’s the only novel by him that I could think to recommend. The others are even more complex.
Out of curiosity, how familiar are you with Ernesto Sabato? I know that he’s Argentinian, and that he paints as well as writes… I read one of his novels, El tunel and loved it. It’s somewhat difficult to find his work here, in English at least, and I’d like to read more of it.
I dug through a collections of Kafka stories, including The Metamorphosis, and The Trial. I got all the words, but couldn’t see what the stories were about. When I re-read in English, the same thing- I wasn’t seeing that he was talking about alienation and the police state.
Not counting the children’s books I read when, um, I was a child – Se questo è un uomo by Primo Levi.