Popular European Short Story Books
Find short story books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (188)
Ireland162.
The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie EN
EnglandDescription:
On Tuesday evening a group gathers at Miss Marple's house and the conversations turns to unsolved crimes: the case of the disappearing bloodstains; the thief who committed his crime twice over; the strange case of the invisible will; and the death-bed message about a "heap of fish".
163.
The Tinder Box by Hans Christian Andersen EN
DenmarkDescription:
Andersen's bittersweet fairy tales propelled their troubled author to international fame and revolutionized children's writing.
164.
The Trouble with Happiness : And Other Stories by Tove Ditlevsen EN
Description:
The Trouble with Happiness is a powerful new collection of short stories by Tove Ditlevsen, “a terrifying talent” (Parul Sehgal, The New York Times). A newly married woman longs, irrationally, for a silk umbrella; a husband chases away his wife’s beloved cat; a betrayed mother impulsively sacks her housekeeper. Underneath the surface of these precisely observed tales of marriage and family life in midcentury Copenhagen pulse currents of desire, violence, and despair, as women and men struggle to escape from the roles assigned to them and dream of becoming free and happy—without ever truly unde... continue
165.
The Veiled Woman by Anais Nin EN
FranceDescription:
'What did she expect of him? What was her quest? Did she have an unfulfilled desire?' Transgressive desires and sexual encounters are recounted in these four pieces from one of the greatest writers of erotic fiction. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbin... continue
166.
There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby : Scary Fairy Tales by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya EN
RussiaDescription:
New York Times Bestseller Winner of the World Fantasy Award One of New York magazine’s 10 Best Books of the Year One of NPR’s 5 Best Works of Foreign Fiction The celebrated scary fairy tales of Russia’s preeminent contemporary fiction writer—the author of the prizewinning memoir about growing up in Stalinist Russia, The Girl from the Metropol Hotel Vanishings and aparitions, nightmares and twists of fate, mysterious ailments and supernatural interventions haunt these stories by the Russian master Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, heir to the spellbinding tradition of Gogol and Poe. Blending the miracul... continue
167.
Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims EN
Description:
One apartment building, many stories. A chilling thriller that's perfect for fans of grounded horror like Get Out, Us and It Follows. A dinner party is held in the penthouse of a multimillion-pound development. All the guests are strangers - even to their host, the billionaire owner of the building. None of them know why they were selected to receive his invitation. Besides a postcode, they share only one thing in common - they've all experienced an unsettling occurrence within the building's walls. By the end of the night, their host is dead, and none of the guests will say what happened. His... continue
168.
Those Whom I Would Like to Meet Again by Giedra Radvilaviciute EN
LithuaniaDescription:
Ten stories on the border of fiction and essay, in which the experiences of life “are unrecognizably transformed, like the flour, eggs, nuts, and apples in a cake.” In ten of her best essay-stories, Giedra Radvilavičiute travels between the ridiculous and the sublime, the everyday and the extraordinary. In the place of plot, which the author claims to have had “shot and buried with the proper honors,” the reader finds a dense, subtly interwoven structure of memory and reality, banalities and fantasy, all served up with a good dollop of absurdity and humor. We travel from the old town of Vilniu... continue
169.
Travelling Light by Tove Jansson EN
FinlandDescription:
A professor arrives in a beautiful Spanish village only to find that her host has left and she must cope with fractious neighbours alone; a holiday on a Finnish Island is thrown into disarray by an awkward and critical child; an artist returns from abroad to discover that her past has been appropriated by a former friend.
