English books from Europe
Recommended English books (1917)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you speak English here are some English books from Europe for the next part of the "Read Around The World Challenge".
951.
Rilke's Book of Hours : Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria Rilke EN
Country: Europe / 
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
At the beginning of this century, a young German poet returned from a journey to Russia, where he had immersed himself in the spirituality he discovered there. He "received" a series of poems about which he did not speak for a long time - he considered them sacred, and different from anything else he ever had done and ever would do again. This poet saw the coming darkness of the century, and saw the struggle we would have in our relationship to the divine. The poet was Rainer Maria Rilke, and these love poems to God make up his Book of Hours.
952.
Rinconete and Cortadillo by Miguel De Cervantes EN
SpainDescription:
The son of a deaf surgeon, Miguel de Cervantes was born near Madrid in 1547. He became a soldier in 1570 and was badly wounded in the Battle of Lepanto. Captured by the Turks in 1575, de Cervantes spent five years in prison. He was freed in 1580 and returned home. De Cervantes finally achieved literary success in his later years, publishing the first part of Don Quixote in 1605. He died in 1616. For nearly his entire life, Miguel de Cervantes struggled financially. His father, Rodrigo, deaf from birth, worked as a surgeon-a lowly trade at the time. De Cervantes and his family moved around seve... continue
953.
Riot Days by Maria Alyokhina EN
RussiaDescription:
In 2012 Maria Alyokhina and other members of Pussy Riot performed a provocative 'Punk Prayer', taking on the Orthodox church and its support for Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime. They were charged with 'organized hooliganism'. That trial and Alyokhina's subsequent imprisonment became an international cause. For Alyokhina, her two-year sentence launched a struggle against the Russian prison system and an iron-willed refusal to be deprived of her humanity. This book gives voice to Alyokhina's insistence on the right to say no, whether to a prison guard or to the president.
954.
Rituals : A Novel by Cees Nooteboom EN
Country: Europe / 
Netherlands
Netherlands
Description:
In Rituals, Amsterdam of the fifties, sixties and seventies is viewed from the perspective of the capricious Inni Wintrop. An unintentional suicide survivor, the unexpected gift of life returned lends him the curiousity, and impartiality, to survey others' lives and rountines. Inni's opposite, the one-eyed downhill skier Arnold Taads measures his life by the clock, while his disowned son Philip follows Japanese rituals which themselves seem to render his existence meaningless. A novel for those who seek to unravel our mysterious, apparently directionless lives...
955.
Rivers of Babylon by Peter Pišt̕anek EN
SlovakiaDescription:
It is 1989. Across Central Europe, socalism is crumbling, and robber capitalism is being born. Rivers of Babylon tells this story of a Central Europe, where criminals, intellectuals and secret policemen have infiltrated a new democracy, through the eyes of Racz, sociopathic gangster and idiot of genius. Slovak readers acknowledge Peter Pist'anek as their most flamboyant and fearless writer, stripping the nation of its myths and false self-esteem.
956.
Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky EN
Description:
Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those misfits who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. Even the nature of his mutant daughter has been determined by the Zone. And it is for her that he makes his last tragic foray into the hazardous and hostile territory.
957.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe EN
Country: Europe / 
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Description:
During one of his several adventurous voyages in the 1600s, an Englishman becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck and lives on a deserted island for more than twenty-eight years.
958.
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney EN
Country: Europe / United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Description:
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Feeney lives up to her reputation as the “queen of the twist”...This page-turner will keep you guessing.” —Real Simple Think you know the person you married? Think again... Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife. Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts--paper, cotton,... continue
959.
Rock, Paper, Scissors by Naja Marie Aidt EN
DenmarkDescription:
Rock, Paper, Scissors opens shortly after the death of Thomas and Jenny's criminal father. While trying to fix a toaster that he left behind, Thomas discovers a secret, setting into motion a series of events leading to the dissolution of his life and plunging him into a dark, shadowy underworld of violence and betrayal. A gripping story written with a poet's sensibility and attention to language, Rock, Paper, Scissors will greatly expand the readership for one of Denmark's most decorated and beloved writers.
960.
Roman Lives : A Selection of Eight Lives by Plutarch EN
ItalyDescription:
Plutarch introduces the reader to the major figures of classical Rome. He portrays virtues to be emulated and vices to be avoided, but his purpose is also to educate and warn those in his own day who wielded power.