Popular European Memoir Books
Find memoir books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (237)
201.
The Nazis Knew My Name : A Remarkable Story of Survival and Courage in Auschwitz by Magda Hellinger, Maya Lee EN
SlovakiaDescription:
The extraordinarily moving memoir by Australian Slovakian Holocaust survivor Magda Hellinger, who saved an untold number of lives at Auschwitz through everyday acts of courage, kindness and ingenuity. In March 1942, twenty-five-year-old kindergarten teacher Magda Hellinger and nearly a thousand other young Slovakian women were deported to Poland on the second transportation of Jewish people sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The women were told they'd be working at a shoe factory. At Auschwitz the SS soon discovered that by putting Jewish prisoners in charge of the day-to-day running of... continue
202.
The Old King in His Exile by Arno Geiger EN
AustriaDescription:
"How do we keep one another’s company? How might our lives unfold alongside those of our parents with Alzheimer’s nearby? In Arno Geiger’s exquisite memoir, he lets us into the private and sometimes sacred space he found in the company of his father—a relationship nurtured by his own willingness to share a mutual solitude, and to visit those places where his father’s spirit was broken and where it thrived. The tender stories in The Old King in His Exile hold the quiet love between these men, and invite the reader to apprehend more of what it can mean, even in our final days, to be alive." —Adr... continue
203.
The Only Woman in the Room by Beate Sirota Gordon EN
Description:
The vivid account of the life of the woman responsible for drafting the women's rights section of Japan's constitution.
204.
The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting : A Powerful Memoir of Overcoming an Eating Disorder by Evanna Lynch EN
IrelandDescription:
'Gradually, I began to feel this dawning awareness that womanhood was coming for me, that it was looming inevitably, and it didn't feel safe... While those around me tried to expedite it, simulate it, exacerbate it, I tried to strangle it.' A raw and compelling new memoir from actress and activist Evanna Lynch about the battle between perfection and creativity. Evanna Lynch has long been viewed as a role model for recovering anorexics and the story of her casting as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films has reached almost mythic proportions. Yet even after recovery, there remains a conflict ... continue
Scotland206.
The Passionate Nomad; The Diary of Isabelle Eberhardt by Isabelle Eberhardt EN
Country: Europe / 
Switzerland
Switzerland
Description:
Isabelle Eberhardt went to North Africa in the late 1800's, became a fervent Muslim and spent the rest of her short life travelling the Sahara on horseback dressed as a man. Her diaries record her strange, nomadic lifestyle, her love of the desert and her unique understanding of Arabic culture and politics.
207.
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn EN
EnglandDescription:
In one devastating week, Raynor and her husband Moth lost their home of 20 years, just as a terminal diagnosis took away their future together. With nowhere else to go, they decided to walk the South West Coast Path- a 630-mile sea-swept trail from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall. This ancient, wind-battered landscape strips them of every comfort they had previously known. With very little money for food or shelter, Raynor and Moth carry everything on their backs and wild camp on beaches and clifftops. But slowly, with every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, the w... continue
208.
The Sex Lives of Cannibals : Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost EN
Country: Europe / 
Netherlands
Netherlands
Description:
At the age of twenty-six, Maarten Troost—who had been pushing the snooze button on the alarm clock of life by racking up useless graduate degrees and muddling through a series of temp jobs—decided to pack up his flip-flops and move to Tarawa, a remote South Pacific island in the Republic of Kiribati. He was restless and lacked direction, and the idea of dropping everything and moving to the ends of the earth was irresistibly romantic. He should have known better. The Sex Lives of Cannibals tells the hilarious story of what happens when Troost discovers that Tarawa is not the island paradise he... continue
209.
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria A. Trapp EN
Description:
With nearly 1,500 Broadway performances, six Tony Awards, more than three million albums sold, and five Academy Awards, The Sound of Music, based on the lives of Maria, the baron, and their singing children, is as familiar to most of us as our own family history. But much about the real-life woman and her family was left untold. Here, Baroness Maria Augusta Trapp tells in her own beautiful, simple words the extraordinary story of her romance with the baron, their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, and their life in America. Now with photographs from the original edition.
210.
The Tale of Two Horses : A 10,000 Mile Journey as Told by the Horses by Aime Tschiffely EN
Country: Europe / Switzerland
Switzerland
Description:
In the world-famous travel book, "Tschiffely's Ride," the Swiss author recounted how he and his two Criollo horses, Mancha and Gato, set off from Argentina in 1924, bound for faraway Washington DC. Their legendary 10,000 mile ride took them through the mountains and jungles of South and Central America, where they encountered a host of adventures, including rope bridges, vampire bats, sand storms, treacherous mountains, quicksand and hostile natives! Now here is the same story but delivered with a new twist. For the first time in history, the story is narrated by the two equine heroes, Mancha ... continue