Books from Latvia
24 popular latvian books
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world.
All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Europe Challenge" were written by authors from Latvia.
Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.
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Description:
Carbide explores the underbelly of the Ukrainian smuggling industry in a merciless yet loving parody of Ukrainian nationalism.
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Jacob Bird lives in Riga with his father. Jacob loves maps like his dad, and is fascinated by the legend which warns that no one must say `Riga is ready' or the river will flood the town, tall ships will sail down the main street, and the city will have to start all over again. One day Jacob mutters the fateful words. But all that happens is he is sent to live for the summer with his grumpy cousin Mimi and Uncle Eagle, because his dad is too busy to look after him. But strange things are afoot in the run-down Maskatchaka district of Riga, where Jacob now has to live. Evil Skylar Scraper's sche... continue
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Doom 94 is Jonevs' debut novel, published first as Jelgava 94 in Latvia in 2013 and was quickly proved to be a big hit and bestseller. Translated into 11 languages already, it is here for the first time in English. The story is set in the 1990s in the Latvian city of Jelgava and looks at the burgeoning craze during this decade for the alternative culture of heavy metal music. Jonevs takes the reader deep inside the world of music, combining the intimate diary of a youngster trying to find himself by joining a subculture, as well as a skilful, detailed, and almost documentary-like depiction of ... continue
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Told more or less in reverse chronological order, High Tide is the story of Ieva, her dead lover, her imprisoned husband and the way their youthful decisions dramatically impacted the rest of their lives. Taking place over three decades, High Tide functions as a sort of psychological mystery, with the full scope of Ieva's personal situation and the relationship between the three main characters only becoming clear at the end of the novel. One of Latvia's most notable young writers, Abele is a fresh voice in European fiction, her prose is direct, evocative and exceptionally beautiful.
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In the Shadow of Death by Rūdolfs Blaumanis EN
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Rūdolfs Blaumanis's 1899 short story masterpiece, based on a contemporary newspaper account, tells of several fishermen lost at sea after the ice floe on which they work calves off and drifts away rapidly. One by one, the thirteen men and a boy must deal with the creeping reality that they may not see the mainland -- or their loved ones -- again. There is fish to eat, and two horses if necessary, but the very surface of the floe is eroding steadily ... and the nights are cold and terrible. Without ever moralising or over-elaborating, Blaumanis coolly and efficiently observes the state of each ... continue
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Originally written in 1967 and not released in its uncensored form until 2003, Bels's infamous novel, Insomnia (translated from the Latvian, Bezmiegs) concerns the taboo subject of the Latvian Legion, and the atmosphere of inertia and paralysis in Soviet-era Latvia. The story is told through the thoughts and emotions of the main character, portrayed as an outwardly apathetic man and typical of Bels's characters in the 1960s and 1970s--a period marked by powerlessness and stagnation amongst ordinary people. The protagonist lives by a principle of non-involvement, content with the small material... continue
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En Las hermosas, Inga Gaile intenta comprender cómo ella y sus contemporáneos han sido afectados por dos de las mayores tragedias del siglo XX en Europa: el nazismo y el estalinismo. La novela describe la existencia humana durante y después del totalitarismo, y plantea la pregunta acerca de qué queda de una persona tras esa experiencia. La noción de ‘historia de la violencia’ desempeña un papel importante, refiriéndose no sólo a situaciones específicas de la historia del último siglo, sino a la relación entre mujeres y hombres (y sus hijos) como tal; las personas se convierten en víctimas de s... continue