Popular European Adult Books
Find adult books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (210)
61.
Gogol's Disco by Paavo Matsin EN
EstoniaDescription:
In a parallel or future Estonia, whose language has been outlawed and its native population deported after the invasion by the Russian Tsardom, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol is resurrected, Christ-like, bringing phantasmagoric mayhem to the sleepy town of Viljandi. By the end of the story, four evangelists will have emerged from the novel’s ragtag cast of Russian- speaking beatniks, bohemians, booksellers, blaggers, and Beatles- maniacs to write their subversive Gogol Gospels in the local insane asylum, despite efforts to thwart them on the part of the mysterious Murka, heroine of a criminal under... continue
62.
RussiaDescription:
Tolstoy’s final work—a gripping novella about the struggle between the Muslim Chechens and their inept occupiers—is a powerful moral fable for our time. Inspired by a historical figure Tolstoy heard about while serving in the Caucasus, this story brings to life the famed warrior Hadji Murat, a Chechen rebel who has fought fiercely and courageously against the Russian empire. After a feud with his commander he defects to the Russians, only to find that he is now trusted by neither side. He is first welcomed but then imprisoned by the Russians under suspicion of being a spy, and when he hears ne... continue
63.
FranceDescription:
Translated from the French by Tanya Leslie 'Absolutely extraordinary' - Liberation In 1963, Annie Ernaux, 23 and single, realises she is pregnant. Shame arises in her like a plague. Understanding that her pregnancy will mark her and her family as social failures, she knows she cannot keep her child. This is the story, written forty years later, of a trauma Ernaux never overcame. Abortion was illegal at the time and she attempted, in vain, to self-administer with a knitting needle and nearly died. An exceptionally moving account of a tragic experience.
64.
DenmarkDescription:
Comedian Sofie Hagen shares how she removed fatphobic influences from her daily life and found self-acceptance in a world where judgement and discrimination are rife. Sofie conquered a negative relationship with her body and provides practical tips for readers to do the same drawing wisdom from other Fat Liberation champions. Part-memoir, part-social commentary, this book looks at how taking up space in a culture that is desperate to reduce you can be radical, emboldening and life-changing
65.
Herr Katō spielt Familie by Milena Michiko Flašar DE
AustriaDescription:
Den ehemaligen Kollegen hat er immer beneidet. Um den Ruhestand, das Motorrad und die neue Freiheit. Doch jetzt steht er selbst frisch verrentet auf den bemoosten Treppen vor seinem Haus und weiß nicht wohin. Eine Krawatte braucht er nicht mehr, zu Hause ist er im Weg, die Kinder sind längst ausgezogen. Ob die junge Frau, die er jüngst auf dem Friedhof getroffen hat, ihm nur etwas vormacht, vermag er nicht zu sagen. Er ist aus der Übung. Und dennoch nimmt er ihren Vorschlag an, lässt sich von ihrer Agentur »Happy family« mal als Opa, mal als Exmann, dann w... continue
67.
Country: Europe / 
Switzerland
Switzerland
Description:
Der rationalitätsgläubige Techniker Faber muß kurz vor seinem Tod erfahren, daß seine Weltorientierung nicht ausreicht, um menschliche Schuld und schicksalshaftem Zufall zu entgehen.
68.
Homo Faber : A Report by Max Frisch EN
Country: Europe / Switzerland
Switzerland
Description:
Loneliness and despair invade the world of an engineer who comes to realize that he has failed as a friend, husband, and father.
69.
House Mother Normal: A Geriatric Comedy by Bryan Stanley Johnson EN
EnglandDescription:
House Mother Normal is a remarkable study of old age. It is also a major modern novel. B.S. Johnson's achievement in this 'geriatric comedy' was to deploy his prodigious technical skills and inventiveness to explore the minds of the old with precision, humour and unflagging compassion. He recognised its technical difficulties:'What I wanted to do was to take an evening in an old people's home, and see a single set of events through the eyes of not less than eight old people. Due to the various deformities and deficiencies of the inmates, these events would seem to be progressively "abnormal" t... continue
70.
Country: Europe / 
Montenegro
Montenegro
Description:
Building can be seen as a master metaphor for modernity, which some great irresistible force, be it Fascism or Communism or capitalism, is always busy rebuilding, and Houses is a book about a man, Arsénie Negovan, who has devoted his life and his dreams to building. Bon vivant, Francophile, visionary, Negovan spent the first half of his life building houses he loved and even named—Juliana, Christina, Agatha—while making his hometown of Belgrade into a modern city to be proud of. The second half of his life, after World War II and the Nazi occupation, he has spent in one of those houses, looked... continue