Popular European Biography Books
Find biography books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (93)
81.
The Only Story by Julian Barnes EN
Country: Europe / 
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Description:
**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question. First love has lifelong consequences, but Paul doesn't know anything about that at nineteen. At nineteen, he's proud of the fact his relationship flies in the face of social convention. As he grows older, the demands placed on Paul by love become far greater than he could possibly have foreseen. Tender and wise, The Only Story is a deeply moving novel by one of fiction's greatest mappers of the human heart.
82.
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi, Raymond Rosenthal EN
ItalyDescription:
In these haunting reflections, Primo Levi, a chemist by training, takes the elements of the periodic table as his inspiration. He ranges from young love to political savagery; from the inert gas argon - and 'inert' relatives like the uncle who stayed in bed for twenty-two years - to life-giving car bon. 'Iron' honours the mountain-climbing resistance hero who put iron in Levi's student soul, 'Cerium' recalls the improvised cigarette lighters which saved his life in Auschwitz, while 'Vanadium' describes an eerie post-war correspondence with the man who had been his 'boss' there.
83.
The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman PL
PolandDescription:
The bestselling memoir of a Jewish pianist who survived the war in Warsaw against all odds. 'We are drawn in to share his surprise and then disbelief at the horrifying progress of events, all conveyed with an understated intimacy and dailiness that render them painfully close... riveting' OBSERVER On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outside - so loudly that he couldn't hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from Warsaw: That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air. T... continue
84.
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria A. Trapp EN
AustriaDescription:
With nearly 1,500 Broadway performances, six Tony Awards, more than three million albums sold, and five Academy Awards, The Sound of Music, based on the lives of Maria, the baron, and their singing children, is as familiar to most of us as our own family history. But much about the real-life woman and her family was left untold. Here, Baroness Maria Augusta Trapp tells in her own beautiful, simple words the extraordinary story of her romance with the baron, their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, and their life in America. Now with photographs from the original edition.
85.
The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography by Stefan Zweig EN
Description:
Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) was a poet, novelist, and dramatist, but it was his biographies that expressed his full genius, recreating for his international audience the Elizabethan age, the French Revolution, the great days of voyages and discoveries. In this autobiography he holds the mirror up to his own age, telling the story of a generation that "was loaded down with a burden of fate as was hardly any other in the course of history." Zweig attracted to himself the best minds and loftiest souls of his era: Freud, Yeats, Borgese, Pirandello, Gorky, Ravel, Joyce, Toscanini, Jane Addams, Anatole... continue
86.
FranceDescription:
WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE Shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize Considered by many to be the iconic French memoirist's defining work and a breakout bestseller when published in France in 2008 The Years is a personal narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present—even projections into the future—photos, books, songs, radio, television and decades of advertising, headlines, contrasted with intimate conflicts and writing notes from 6 decades of diaries. Local dialect, words of the times, slogans, brands and n... continue
87.
Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot EN
BelgiumDescription:
Documents the lives of missionaries who sought to convert the Huao Indians of Ecuador.
88.
To Hell and Back : An Autobiography by Niki Lauda EN
Description:
Niki Lauda drove a car for sport, but crossed the line between life and death and fought back to even greater glory. Even people who know nothing of Formula One have heard of his crash at Nurburgring in 1976, when we was dragged from the inferno of his Ferrari so badly injured he was given the last rites. Within 33 days, he was racing again at Monza. His wounds bled, he had no eyelids. He was terrified. A year later, he reclaimed his World Championship title. In To Hell and Back he reveals how he battled fear to stage a comeback that seemed beyond human endurance. Then it's Lauda vs Hunt, an e... continue
89.
Tortured for Christ : 50th Anniversary Edition by Richard Wurmbrand EN
RomaniaDescription:
A timeless and bestselling account of courage, tenacious faith, and unbelievable endurance and forgiveness, this enhanced 50th anniversary edition of Tortured for Christ will inspire believers around the world.
90.
Turkestan Solo : One Woman's Expedition from the Tien Shan to the Kizil Kum by Ella Maillart EN
Country: Europe / 
Switzerland
Switzerland
Description:
A stimulating travel book from a 1932 trip in Turkestan (Central Asia) by Ella Maillart, a single Swiss explorer.