Books set in Czech Republic (10)


1.

Cutting it Short ; and The Little Town where Time Stood Still by Bohumil Hrabal EN

0 Ratings
Description:
From the flamboyant and unpredictable Maryska, who scandalises the town when she cuts short her golden tresses, to the eccentric Uncle Pepin, who always has to have a ready supply of furniture to smash when he's angry, Bohumil Hrabal creates a range of enchanting and memorable characters - confirming his status as one of Europe's greatest writers.
Recommended: 23 Aug 2023

2.

Gerta : A Novel by Kateřina Tučková EN

0 Ratings
Description:
The award-winning novel by Czech author Kateřina Tučková--her first to be translated into English--about the fate of one woman and the pursuit of forgiveness in a divided postwar world. 1945. Allied forces liberate Nazi-occupied Brno, Moravia. For Gerta Schnirch, daughter of a Czech mother and a German father aligned with Hitler, it's not deliverance; it's a sentence. She has been branded an enemy of the state. Caught in the changing tides of a war that shattered her family--and her innocence--Gerta must obey the official order: she, along with all ethnic Germans, is to be expelled from Czecho... continue
Recommended: 12 Sep 2022

3.
HHhH

HHhH by Laurent Binet EN

Rating: 4     1 Vote
Country: Europe / France flag France
Description:
Everyone has heard of Reinhard Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague. And most have heard stories of his assassination at the hands of two Czechoslovakian partisans. But who exactly were the forgotten heroes who killed one of history’s most notorious men? In this novel, HHhH (Himmlers Hirn heiBt Heydrich, or Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich), we follow the lives of Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubiš, the Slovak and the Czech responsible for Heydrich’s death. From their heroic escape from Nazi-occupied Prague to their recruitment by the British secret services; from their meticulous preparation and trainin... continue
Recommended: 11 May 2023

4.

How I Came to Know Fish by Ota Pavel EN

Rating: 4.3     3 Votes
Description:
How I Came to Know Fish (1974) is Ota Pavel's magical memoir of his childhood in Czechoslovakia. Fishing with his father and his Uncle Prosek � the two finest fishermen in the world � he takes a peaceful pleasure from the rivers and ponds of his country. But when the Nazis invade, his father and two older brothers are sent to concentration camps and Pavel must steal their confiscated fish back from under the noses of the SS to feed his family. With tales of his father�s battle to provide for his family both in wealthy freedom and in terrifying persecution, this is one boy�s passionate and affe... continue
Genre
Recommended: 05 Dec 2022

5.

I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal EN

Rating: 3.6     7 Votes
Description:
A comic, picaresque novel set against the backdrop of twentieth-century Czech history, about the rise and fall of an ambitious busboy in Prague.
Genre Humor
Recommended: 05 Dec 2022

6.

Le joueur d'échecs by Stefan Zweig FR

0 Ratings
Country: Europe / Austria flag Austria
Description:
Sur un paquebot reliant New York à Buenos Aires, en 1939, le champion du monde d'échecs est mis en difficulté par un inconnu lors d'une partie improvisée. L'homme, qui affirme ne pas s'être assis devant un échiquier depuis plus de vingt ans, confie au narrateur sa terrible histoire : rescapé de la terreur nazie en Autriche, il a été soumis pendant plusieurs mois à la torture psychologique d'un isolement total, auquel seul le jeu d'échecs, qu'il pratiquait mentalement, lui a permis d'échapper... Le Joueur d'échecs, que Zweig rédigea en 1941 depuis l'exil et qu'il acheva peu de temps avant de se... continue
Recommended: 16 Nov 2022

7.

Mendelssohn is on the Roof by Jiri Weil EN

Rating: 4.3     3 Votes
Description:
SS Officer Juliyus Schlesinger is ordered to remove the statue of the Jewish composer Mendelssohn from the roof of the Prague Academy of Music before an official concert. Unsure which of the statues is Mendelssohn, he tells his men to remove the one with the biggest nose. Unfortunately, this is the statue of Wagner.
Recommended: 16 Nov 2022

8.

My Heart Is At Ease by Gerta Solan EN

Rating: 2     1 Vote

9.

Tales from Two Pockets by Karel Čapek EN

Rating: 4.4     5 Votes
Description:
Capek mystery stories from the 1920s are among the most enjoyable and unusual ever written though only a few have previously appeared in English and then only in poor translations. This new collection - admirably translated from the Czech by Norma Comrada - should introduce a whole new legion of admirers to this leading fiction writer, playwright and columnist whose work includes 'War with the Newts'.
Recommended: 05 Dec 2022

10.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera EN

Rating: 5     8 Votes
Description:
A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover—these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.
Recommended: 06 Mar 2022


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