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)
61.
I Am, I Am, I Am : Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell EN
Country: Europe / 
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Description:
Presents a memoir told entirely in seventeen near-death experiences stemming from a dangerous childhood illness, accidents, an encounter with a disturbed person, and the author's daily efforts to protect her daughter from the vulnerabilities of a high-risk condition.
62.
I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere by Anna Gavalda EN
FranceDescription:
I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere explores how a life can be changed irrevocably in just one fateful moment. A pregnant mother's plans for the future unravel at the hospital; a travelling salesman learns the consequences of an almost-missed exit on the motorway in the newspaper the next morning; while a perfect date is spoilt by a single act of thoughtlessness. In those crucial moments Gavalda demonstrates her almost magical skill in conveying love, lust, longing, and loneliness. Someone I Loved is a hauntingly intimate look at the intolerably painful, yet sometimes valuable consequ... continue
63.
I'd Like to Say Sorry, But There's No One to Say Sorry To : Stories by Mikolaj Grynberg EN
PolandDescription:
An exquisitely original collection of darkly funny stories that explore the panorama of Jewish experience in contemporary Poland, from a world-class contemporary writer "These small, searing prose pieces are moving and unsettling at the same time. If the diagnosis they present is right, then we have a great problem in Poland." --Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize laureate and author of Flights Mikołaj Grynberg is a psychologist and photographer who has been collecting and publishing oral histories of Polish Jews. In his first work of fiction--a book that has been widely praised by critics and was sho... continue
64.
I'm Not Going Anywhere by Rumena Bužarovska EN
Country: Europe / 
North Macedonia
North Macedonia
Description:
Razor-sharp social commentary, Jane Austen for contemporary feminists unafraid to confront a dark world In her latest translated volume of collected short fiction, Rumena Bužarovska delivers more of what established her as “one of the most interesting writers working in Europe today.” Already a bestseller across her native Macedonia, I’m Not Going Anywhere is an unsentimental and hyperrealist collection in which Macedonians leave their country of origin to escape bleakness—only to find, in other locales, new kinds of desolation in theses dark, biting, and utterly absorbing stories.
65.
In the Shadow of Death by Rūdolfs Blaumanis EN
LatviaDescription:
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
66.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino EN
ItalyDescription:
In Kublai Khan's garden, at sunset, the young Marco Polo diverts the aged emperor from his obsession with the impending end of his empire with tales of countless cities past, present, and future.
67.
Jagannath : (stories) by Karin Tidbeck EN
SwedenDescription:
I have never read anything like Jagannath. Karin Tidbeck s imagination is recognizably Nordic, but otherwise unclassifiable quietly, intelligently, unutterably strange. And various. And ominous. And funny. And mysteriously tender. These are wonderful stories. Ursula K. Le Guin Restrained and vivid, poised and strange, Tidbeck, with her impossible harmonies, is a vital voice. China Mieville Enter the strange and wonderful world of Swedish sensation Karin Tidbeck with this feast of darkly fantastical short stories. Whether through the falsified historical record of the uniquely weird Swedish cre... continue
68.
Juego limpio by Tove Jansson ES
FinlandDescription:
Mari es escritora, Jonna es artista. Mari y Jonna comparten la vida desde hace décadas, una vida de trabajo, pero también de deleite y a veces de consternación. Discuten, sobre arte, sobre sus padres. Se critican el trabajo, a veces con amabilidad, otras con dureza. Se ríen, ven películas, recuerdan su juventud, pasan tiempo en la cabaña de la isla, o viajan por los Estados Unidos. Cada una conoce perfectamente los hábitos de la otra y los respeta. Pero de vez en cuando aparecen personas o cosas que alteran el equilibrio. Saben que no todo se puede controlar, incluso en la isla más pequeña. Se... continue
69.
Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue EN
IrelandDescription:
Fairytales with a twist from the Man Booker and Orange prize-shortlisted author of Room. In Kissing the Witch, Emma Donoghue unwinds thirteen fairy tales and writes them anew: Cinderella forsakes the handsome prince and runs off with the fairy godmother, Beauty discovers the Beast behind the mask is not so very different from the face she sees in the mirror, and Snow White is awakened from slumber by the bittersweet fruit of an unnamed desire. In these stories, Emma Donoghue reveals heroines young and old in unexpected alliances – sometimes treacherous, sometimes erotic, but always courageous.... continue
70.
Knots : Stories by Gunnhild Øyehaug EN
NorwayDescription:
A mesmerizing collection of playfully surreal stories from one of Norway’s most celebrated writers First published in Norway in 2004, Knots is Gunnhild Øyehaug’s radical collection of short stories that range from the surreal to the oddly mundane, and prod the discomforts of mental, sexual, and familial bonds. In both precise short-shorts and ruminative longer tales, Øyehaug meanders through the tangled, jinxed, and unavoidable conflicts of love and desire. From young Rimbaud’s thwarted passions to the scandalous disappearance of an entire family, these stories do the chilling work of tracing ... continue