Popular European Cultural Books
Find cultural books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (106)
1.
A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare EN
AlbaniaDescription:
Longlisted for the International Booker Prize The Wall Street Journal, A Best Book of the Year Using a sophisticated and literary version of the ever-popular game of telephone to examine the relationship of writers with tyranny, Ismail Kadare reflects on three particular minutes in a long moment of time when the dark shadow of Joseph Stalin passed over the world In June 1934, Stalin allegedly called Boris Pasternak and they spoke about the arrest of Osip Mandelstam. A telephone call from the dictator was not something necessarily relished, and in the complicated world of literary politics it w... continue
2.
A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov EN
RussiaDescription:
A masterpiece of Russian prose, Lermontov's only novel was influential for many later 19th century authors, including Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov. Lermotov's hero, Pechorin, is a dangerous man, Byronic in his wasted gifts and his cynicism, and desperate for any kind of action that will stave off boredom. In five linked episodes, Lermontov builds up a portrait of a man caught in and expressing the sickness of his times.
France4.
All This Belongs to Me by Petra Hulova, Alex Zucker EN
Country: Europe / 
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
"Alta, Zaya, Nara, Oyuna and Dolgorna - a mother, three sisters, and the teenage daughter of one of the sisters - each tell their pieces of the family story, an epic fraught with secrets and betrayals, in All This Belongs to Me, the debut novel of Petra Hulova." "All This Belongs to Me transports the reader from Mongolia's harsh, dusty steppe to the clamor and grime of the capital, Ulaanbantar; from nomanic herding and felt tents to brothels and prefab apartment blocks. With a filmic eye and a dead-on ear, Hulova vividly conveys the landscapes and lives of three generations of women. Two of th... continue
5.
An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West by Konstantin Kisin EN
Description:
The book sets out to discuss themes including free speech and cancel culture through the perspective of a non-Western immigrant. It particularly addresses why the West has a negative view of itself, and why that is self-destructive.
One of the themes of the book is the history of slavery and the way it is taught in American schools. By talking about the life of his great grandfather as a serf in the Russian Empire, the Soviet gulags, Barbary corsairs and slavery in African kingdoms Kisin pushes back against the notion that slavery was unique to the West and makes a case that slavery in Afri... continue
Greece7.
Description:
To make this quintessential Greek drama more accessible to the modern reader, this Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition? includes a glossary of difficult terms, a list of vocabulary words, and convenient sidebar notes. By providing these, it is our intention that readers will more fully enjoy the beauty, wisdom, and intent of the play.The curse placed on Oedipus lingers and haunts a younger generation in this new and brilliant translation of Sophocles? classic drama. The daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Antigone is an unconventional heroine who pits her beliefs against the King of Thebe... continue
8.
Babette's Feast by Karen Blixen EN
DenmarkDescription:
These five rich, witty and magical stories from the author of Out of Africa include one of her most well known tales, ‘Babette’s Feast’, which was made into the classic film. It tells the story of a French cook working in a puritanical Norwegian community, who treats her employers to the decadent feast of a lifetime. There is also a real-life Prospero and his Ariel in ‘Tempests’, a mysterious pearl-fisher in ‘The Diver’ and a brief, tragic encounter in ‘The Ring’. All the stories have a mystic, fairy-tale quality, linked by themes of angels, the sea, dreams and fate. They were among the last t... continue
9.
Bunyoro : An African Kingdom by John Beattie EN
IrelandDescription:
This study examines the conflicts that arise when a feudal and bureaucratic administration struggles against the influences of European and traditional standards of behaviour.
10.
Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan EN
ScotlandDescription:
I loved this complex and nuanced story about responsibility, race, money, gender and power. It’s interesting and beautifully written.