Read Around Europe Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Europe.
Best books from Europe (4467)
1441.
Jason and the Argonauts by Apollonius of Rhodes EN
GreeceDescription:
The first new Penguin Classics translation of the Argonautica since the 1950s Now in a riveting new verse translation, Jason and the Argonauts (also known as the Argonautica) is the only surviving full account of Jason’s voyage on the Argo in quest of the Golden Fleece aided by the sorceress princess Medea. Written in the third century B.C., this epic story of one of the most beloved heroes of Greek mythology, with its combination of the fantastical and the real, its engagement with traditions of science, astronomy and medicine, winged heroes, and a magical vessel that speaks, is truly without... continue
1442.
Balkan Blues : Geschichten by Petros Markarēs DE
Description:
Commissar Haritos would rather be out on the street with all the other Athenians, celebrating Greece's victory in the European football championships. But he is otherwise engaged. Everywhere he looks, there's something afoot – and even a detective of Haritos' ilk cannot enforce the law everywhere. Most of the characters in these ten stories have to do that themselves – in their own way. They have come from the Balkans in search of a better life: of work, money, a little bit of luck. Hardly any of them dares to dream, however, of finding a new home. Certainly not the ... continue
1443.
Description:
A new verse translation by award-winning poet Alicia Stallings of one of the foundational works of ancient Greece TLS BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2018, selected by Rachel Hadas and Emily Wilson The ancient Greeks revered Hesiod, believing he had beaten Homer in a singing contest and that after his dead body was thrown to sea, it was brought back by dolphins. His Works and Days is one of the most important early works of Greek poetry. Ostensibly written by the poet to chide his lazy brother, it recounts the story of Pandora’s box and humanity’s decline since the Golden Age, and can be read as a cele... continue
1444.
Description:
„Dar ceea ce se cuvine să susţin cu toată dârzenia este că, de vreme ce sufletul, nu-ncape îndoială, e nemuritor, soarta şi sălaşurile lui vor fi cam aşa cum am spus. Crezând asta, cred că merită să iţi asumi oarecare risc. Căci e un risc frumos şi tot ce ţine de el trebuie să ni-l repetăm ca pe o incantaţie. Iată de ce zăbovesc de atâta vreme asupra mitului. În orice caz, ţinând seama de acestea, omul care, de-a lungul vieţii, şi-a luat rămas bun de la plăcerile şi de la podoabele trupului, pe care le socotea străine de el şi dăunătoare, omul care, di... continue
1445.
Description:
Cititorul are aici, in romaneste, o scriere straveche si, prin veacuri, ilustra: Banchetul lui Platon. Tot ce s-a spus despre iubire de la Banchet mai apoi in el isi afla obarsia si intemeierea, cu singura exceptie a iubirii intru Crist. Pe de alta parte, dialogul este una dintre cele mai mari impliniri ale prozei lui Platon, ale scrisului in Grecia veche si ale artei literare in genere. In sfarsit, scrierea, in ciuda aparentei ei transparente, este in multe privinte dificila, atat ca idei cat si ca fond istoric al acestor idei: atat intregul gandirii lui Platon, cu tot ce a precedat-o, cat si... continue
1446.
Iltatähti, häälaulu by Sapfo FI
Description:
Maailmankirjallisuuden suurimpiin naislyyrikoihin kuuluva kreikkalainen Sapfo eli Lesboksessa noin 630-570 eKr. Henkilönä hänestä on säilynyt niukasti tietoja; todennäköisesti hän oli aatelissukuinen, naimisissa ja ainakin yhden tyttären äiti sekä kuului naisten ja tyttöjen yhteisöön, jossa jumalien palvonnan lisäksi harjoitettiin runoutta ja tanssia. Sapfon lyriikassa, joka on vaikuttanut vahvasti länsimaiseen runouteen, on keskeisintä rakkaus - niin luontoon, elämään kuin kanssaihmisiin.
Ai... continue
1447.
HungaryDescription:
One of The New York Times Book Review's "10 Best Books of 2015" An NYRB Classics Original The Door is an unsettling exploration of the relationship between two very different women. Magda is a writer, educated, married to an academic, public-spirited, with an on-again-off-again relationship to Hungary’s Communist authorities. Emerence is a peasant, illiterate, impassive, abrupt, seemingly ageless. She lives alone in a house that no one else may enter, not even her closest relatives. She is Magda’s housekeeper and she has taken control over Magda’s household, becoming indispensable to her. And ... continue
1448.
Abigail by Magda Szabó EN
Description:
A teenage girl's difficult journey towards adulthood in a time of war. "Szabo is skilful at creating moments of heart-rending tension, often through exquisite, evocative prose . . . the novel has a devastating power" Spectator Of all her novels, Magda Szabó's Abigail is the most widely read in her native Hungary. Now, fifty years after it was written, it appears for the first time in English, joining Katalin Street and The Door in a loose trilogy about the impact of war on those who have to live with the consequences. It is late 1943 and Hitler, exasperated by the slowness of his Hungarian all... continue
1449.
Fatelessness : A Novel by Imre Kertész EN
Description:
At the age of 14 Georg Koves is plucked from his home in a Jewish section of Budapest and without any particular malice, placed on a train to Auschwitz. He does not understand the reason for his fate. He doesn’t particularly think of himself as Jewish. And his fellow prisoners, who decry his lack of Yiddish, keep telling him, “You are no Jew.” In the lowest circle of the Holocaust, Georg remains an outsider. The genius of Imre Kertesz’s unblinking novel lies in its refusal to mitigate the strangeness of its events, not least of which is Georg’s dogmatic insistence on making sense of what he wi... continue
1450.
Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy EN
Description:
A haunting Hungarian novel, and a vision of hell unlike any previously imagined.