Popular European Cultural Books
Find cultural books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (47)
21.
Juno Loves Legs : A Novel by Karl Geary EN
IrelandDescription:
For fans of Shuggie Bain and A Little Life, Juno Loves Legs is the epic and heartbreaking story of a young friendship set in working-class Dublin in the 1980s Juno Loves Legs is the story of two teens labeled as delinquents. Juno and "Legs" grow up on the same housing estate in Dublin, where spirited, intelligent Juno is ostracized for her poverty and Legs is persecuted for his sexuality; they find safety only in each other. Set against the backdrop of Dublin in the 1980s, a place of political, social and religious change, the friends yearn for an unbound life and together they begin to fight ... continue
Belarus23.
Manon des sources by Marcel Pagnol FR
FranceDescription:
Après la mort du Bossu, et la vente des Romarins, Manon et sa mère s'installent dans la grotte de Baptistine. Quelques années plus tard, Manon trouve l'occasion de se venger... Pagnol s'est souvent adapté lui-mème, passant aisé- ment du théâtre an cinéma. Ici, il fait le chemin inverse, et adapte un film en roman: Manon des sources (1963), deuxième partie de L'Eau des collines, est la mise en roman du film éponyme. tourné dix ans plus tôt. On en retrouve tous les personnages, et on est émerveillé de voir que les dialogues, qui sont souvent, mot à mot., les mèmes, « s'entendent » aussi bien sur... continue
24.
Mesopotamia by Serhiĭ Z︠H︡adan EN
UkraineDescription:
A unique work of fiction from the troubled streets of Ukraine, giving invaluable testimony to the new history unfolding in the nation's post-independence years "One of the most astounding novels to come out of modern Ukraine. Mesopotamia is seductive, twisted, brilliant, and fierce."--Gary Shteyngart, author of Little Failure and Absurdistan This captivating book is Serhiy Zhadan's ode to Kharkiv, the traditionally Russian-speaking city in Eastern Ukraine where he makes his home. A leader among Ukrainian post‑independence authors, Zhadan employs both prose and poetry to address the disillusion... continue
25.
NorwayDescription:
Troubled by an inability to find any meaning in his life, the 25-year-old narrator of Naive. Super quits university in an attempt to discover a raison d'etre. He recounts a series of anecdotes, which culminate in a trip to stay with his brother in New York. He writes lists. He becomes obsessed by time and whether it actually matters. He befriends a small boy who lives next door. He yearns to get to the bottom of life and how best to live it.
26.
Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky EN
RussiaDescription:
A collection of powerful stories by one of the masters of Russian literature, illustrating Fyodor Dostoyevsky's thoughts on political philosophy, religion and above all, humanity. From the primitive peasant who kills without understanding that he is destroying a human life, to the anxious antihero of Notes From Underground—a man who both craves and despises affection—this volume and its often-tormented characters showcase Dostoyevsky’s evolving outlook on man’s fate. The compelling works presented here were written at distinct periods in the author’s life, at decisive moments in his groping fo... continue
27.
Novelle fatte a macchina by Gianni Rodari IT
ItalyDescription:
Un coccodrillo sapiente che si presenta al Rischiatutto, Marco e Mirko contro la temibile banda del Talco, Grillo, il postino di Civitavecchia che solleva navi e Colosseo, Piano Bill, il cow-boy musicale, il sior Tòdaro, che per timore che Venezia possa affondare da un momento all'altro si trasforma in un pesce…: ecco alcuni dei personaggi del nuovo libro di Gianni Rodari, "Novelle fatte a macchina". "Che cosa succederebbe se", chiave magica e apriti Sesamo per penetrare il mondo della fantasia e dell'immaginazione, è l'interrogativo che ... continue
28.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich : (50th Anniversary Edition) by Alexander Solzhenitsyn EN
Description:
The first published novel from the controversial Nobel Prize winning Russian author of The Gulag Archipelago. In the madness of World War II, a dutiful Russian soldier is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to ten years in a Siberian labor camp. So begins this masterpiece of modern Russian fiction, a harrowing account of a man who has conceded to all things evil with dignity and strength. First published in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is considered one of the most significant works ever to emerge from Soviet Russia. Illuminating a dark chapter in Russian history, it ... continue
29.
Description:
A haunting, bizarre short story collection about violence, mental illness, and the warped contradictions of the twentieth-century female experience. A close friend and protégé of Marguerite Duras, Barbara Molinard (1921-1986) wrote and wrote feverishly, but only managed to publish one book in her lifetime: the surreal, nightmarish collection Panics. These thirteen stories beat with a frantic, off-kilter rhythm as Molinard obsesses over sickness, death, and control. A woman becomes transfixed by a boa constrictor at her local zoo, mysterious surgeons dismember their patient, and the author narr... continue
30.
Penance by Eliza Clark EN
Country: Europe / 
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Description:
On a beach in a run-down seaside town on the Yorkshire coastline, sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson is set on fire by three other schoolgirls.
Nearly a decade after the horrifying murder, journalist Alec Z. Carelli has written the definitive account of the crime, drawn from hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research, and most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves. The result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil.
But how much of the story is true?
Compulsively readable, provocative, and distur... continue