Read Around Europe Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Europe.
Best books from Europe (4411)
761.
The City of Woven Streets by Emmi Itäranta EN
FinlandDescription:
'Where itaranta shines is in her understated but compelling characters' Red star review (for MEMORY OF WATER), Publishers Weekly. Emmi Itäranta's prose combines the lyricism of Ishiguro's NEVER LET ME GO. This is her second novel, following the award-winning MEMORY OF WATER. The tapestry of life may be more fragile than it seems: pull one thread, and all will unravel. In the City of Woven Streets, human life has little value. You practice a craft to keep you alive, or you are an outcast, unwanted and tainted. Eliana is a young weaver in the House of Webs, but secretly knows she doesn't really ... continue
762.
Für eine schlechte Überraschung gut : Roman by Arto Paasilinna DE
Description:
Winter 1942. Finnland und die Sowjetunion befinden sich im Krieg. Zwei sowjetische Soldaten, Savolenko und Kunitsjin, werden in den finnischen Wäldern ausgesetzt. Ihr Spionage-Auftrag, geplant als Heldeneinsatz im Feindesland, entwickelt sich jedoch zu einem skurrilen Abenteuer. Auf ihrem Marsch durch die Winterlandschaft haben sie überraschende Begegnungen: mit einer verführerischen Apothekerin, einem trinkfreudigen Bauern und einem müden Militärpferd. Viel Stoff für einen kurzweiligen Roman aus Finnland!
764.
Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau EN
FranceDescription:
Impish, foul-mouthed Zazie arrives in Paris from the country to stay with Gabriel, her female-impersonator uncle. All she really wants to do is ride the metro, but finding it shut because of a strike, Zazie looks for other means of amusement and is soon caught up in a comic adventure that becomes wilder and more manic by the minute. In 1960 Queneau's cult classic was made into a hugely successful film by Louis Malle. Packed full of word play and phonetic games, Zazie in the Metro remains as stylish and witty as ever. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classi... continue
765.
The Chatelet Apprentice by Jean-Francois Parot EN
Description:
Paris, February 1761. A police officer disappears and Nicolas Le Floch, a young Breton police recruit is instructed to find him ...
767.
Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak EN
Description:
*As mentioned on BBC's Desert Island Discs* 'A fascinating exploration of faith and friendship, rich and poor, and the devastating clash of tradition and modernity' Independent Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three you... continue
768.
Noah's Child by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt EN
Description:
From one of the world's biggest selling authors comes another million-copy worldwide bestseller: A beautiful and tender fable seen through the eyes of a Jewish child living in Belgium under the Nazi occupation. It is 1942 and the Jews are being deported from Belgium. Separated from his parents, seven-year-old Joseph must go into hiding. He is taken in the dead of night to an orphanage, the Villa Jaune, where the benign and enigmatic Father Pons presides over a motley assortment of children. With the ever-present threat of the Gestapo growing closer, Joseph learns that the secret of survival is... continue
769.
Description:
'I finally understand what the poets have written. In spring, moved to passion; in autumn only regret. Oh, will I ever see a man? How will love find me? Where can I reveal my true desires?' For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, the lyrics from the opera, The Peony Pavilion, mirror her own longings. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony too is cloistered and from a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage. Though raised to be obedient, Peony is a rebel, secure in her beauty but wise enough to know it is fleeting. As Lisa See's haunting new... continue
