Popular European Short Story Books
Find short story books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (62)
11.
Call Me Esteban by Lejla Kalamujić EN
Country: Europe / 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Description:
"With unapologetic vividness, Lejla Kalamujic depicts pre- and post-war Sarajevo by charting a daughter coping with losing her mother, but discovering herself. From imagined conversations with Franz Kafka to cozy apartments, psychiatric wards, and cemeteries, Call Me Esteban is a piercing meditation on a woman grasping at memories in the name of claiming her identity."--
12.
Chess Story by Stefan Zweig EN
AustriaDescription:
Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig's final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological. Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them ... continue
13.
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories: The Nose; the Carriage; the Overcoat; Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol EN
UkraineDescription:
Hailed by Nabokov as "the greatest artist that Russia has yet produced," Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) left his mark as a playwright, novelist, and writer of short stories. Gogol's works remain popular with both writers and readers, who prize his originality, imaginative gifts, and sheer exuberance.
This collection offers an excellent introduction to the author's works. Opening a door to his bizarre world of broad comedy, fantasy, and social commentary, the title story portrays a petty official's mental disintegration as he struggles for the attention of the woman he love... continue
14.
IrelandDescription:
Living overseas but writing, always, about his native city, Joyce made Dublin unforgettable. The stories in Dubliners show us truants, seducers, gossips, rally-drivers, generous hostesses, corrupt politicians, failing priests, amateur theologians, struggling musicians, moony adolescents, victims of domestic brutishness, sentimental aunts and poets, patriots earnest or cynical, and people striving to get by.
15.
East of the West : A Country in Stories by Miroslav Penkov EN
BulgariaDescription:
Collects stories inspired by the author's native Bulgaria, including the tales of a grandson who tries to buy Lenin's corpse on eBay for his grandfather and a boy who meets a cousin every five years on the river that divides their village.
16.
FinlandDescription:
'Fair Play' portrays a love between two older women, a writer and artist, as they work side-by-side in their Helsinki studios, travel together and share summers on a remote island.
17.
Gigi and The Cat by Colette EN
FranceDescription:
In these two stories, Colette reveals her grasp of the politics of love. Gigi is being educated in the skills of the courtesan. However, when it comes to the question of Gaston Lachaille, she does not want to obey the rules. This translation originally published: London: Secker & Warburg, 1953.
19.
How the Marquis Got His Coat Back by Neil Gaiman EN
Country: Europe / 
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Description:
A Neverwhere short story from one of the brightest, most brilliant writers of our generation - the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning The Ocean At the End of the Lane. The coat. It was elegant. It was beautiful. It was so close that he could have reached out and touched it. And it was unquestionably his. *** 'Gaiman's achievement is to make the fantasy world seem true' The Times
20.
I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere by Anna Gavalda EN
Description:
I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere explores how a life can be changed irrevocably in just one fateful moment. A pregnant mother's plans for the future unravel at the hospital; a travelling salesman learns the consequences of an almost-missed exit on the motorway in the newspaper the next morning; while a perfect date is spoilt by a single act of thoughtlessness. In those crucial moments Gavalda demonstrates her almost magical skill in conveying love, lust, longing, and loneliness. Someone I Loved is a hauntingly intimate look at the intolerably painful, yet sometimes valuable consequ... continue