Popular European Satire Books
Find satire books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (22)
11.
Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra EN
SpainDescription:
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Don Quixote has become so entranced reading tales of chivalry that he decides to turn knight errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, these exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him astray—he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants—Sancho acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane madman and wise fool, they roam the world together-and together they have haunted readers' imaginations for nearly four hundred years. With its experimen... continue
12.
Harold and Maude by Colin Higgins EN
FranceDescription:
Nineteen-year-old Harold Chasen is obsessed with death. He fakes suicides to shock his self-obsessed mother, drives a hearse, and attends funerals of complete strangers. Seventy-nine-year-old Maude Chardin, on the other hand, adores life. She liberates trees from city sidewalks and transplants them to the forest, paints smiles on the faces of church statues, and "borrows" cars to remind their owners that life is fleeting—here today, gone tomorrow! A chance meeting between the two turns into a madcap, whirlwind romance, and Harold learns that life is worth living, and how to play the banjo. Har... continue
13.
Le passe-muraille by Marcel Aymé FR
Description:
Un essai Etude approfondie d'un grand texte classique ou contemporain par un spécialiste de l'œuvre : approche critique originale des multiples facettes du texte dans une présentation claire et rigoureuse. Un dossier Bibliographie, chronologie, variantes, témoignages, extraits de presse. Eclaircissements historiques et contextuels, commentaires critiques récents. Un ouvrage efficace, élégant. Une nouvelle manière de lire.
14.
Manalive by G. K. Chesterton EN
Country: Europe / 
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Description:
Light-hearted work introduces Innocent Smith, a bubbly, eccentric gentleman of questionable character, into the lives of a group of young disillusioned people -- and the result is inspired, high-spirited nonsense.
15.
RussiaDescription:
A satire about the Soviet space program finds Omon, who has dreamed of space flight all of his life, enrolled as a cosmonaut only to learn that his task will be piloting a supposedly unmanned lunar vehicle to the Moon and remaining there to die.
16.
The Cyclist Conspiracy by Svetislav Basara EN
SerbiaDescription:
The Cyclist Conspiracy tells the tale of a secret Brotherhood who meet in dreams, gain esoteric knowledge from contemplation of the bicycle and seek to move in and out of history, manipulating events. The brothers are part of a conspiracy so vast and so secret that, in many cases, the conspirators themselves are unaware of their participation in it. The novel details the story of these interventions and the important moments where the Brotherhood had made its influence felt.
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18.
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hašek EN
Country: Europe / 
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
In The Good Soldier Svejk, celebrated Czech writer and anarchist Jaroslav Hasek combined dazzling wordplay and piercing satire in a hilariously subversive depiction of the futility of war. Good-natured and garrulous, Svejk becomes the Austrian army's most loyal Czech soldier when he is called up on the outbreak of World War I—although his bumbling attempts to get to the front serve only to prevent him from reaching it. Playing cards and getting drunk, he uses all his cunning and genial subterfuge to deal with the police, clergy, and officers who chivy him toward battle. Cecil Parrott's vibrant... continue
19.
The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde EN
IrelandDescription:
These special fairy tales, which Oscar Wilde made up for his own sons, include 'The Happy Prince', who was not as happy as he seemed; 'The Selfish Giant', who learned to love little children; 'The Star Child', who suffered bitter trials when he rejected his parents. . . . Often whimsical and sometimes sad, they all shine with poetry and magic.
20.
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov EN
UkraineDescription:
In an updated version of the Faust story, the devil and his minions pay 1920's Moscow a visit and wreak havoc on the artistic community. Bulgakov's satire was banned in Russia by Stalin, and only published in England 27 years after the author's death.