Read Around Europe Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Europe.
Best books from Europe (2679)
Russia1832.
Description:
Tolstoy’s final work—a gripping novella about the struggle between the Muslim Chechens and their inept occupiers—is a powerful moral fable for our time. Inspired by a historical figure Tolstoy heard about while serving in the Caucasus, this story brings to life the famed warrior Hadji Murat, a Chechen rebel who has fought fiercely and courageously against the Russian empire. After a feud with his commander he defects to the Russians, only to find that he is now trusted by neither side. He is first welcomed but then imprisoned by the Russians under suspicion of being a spy, and when he hears ne... continue
1833.
Notes from Underground and the Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky EN
Description:
'Notes from Underground' (1864) is a study of a single character, 'the real man of the Russian majority', and a revelation of Dostoyevsky's own deepest beliefs. One of his best critics has said of the first part that it forms his 'most utterly naked pages. Never afterwards was he so fully and openly to reveal the inmost recesses, unmeant for display, of his heart.' 'The Double' (1846) is the nightmarish story of Mr Golyadkin, a man who is haunted or possessed by his own double. Is 'Mr Golyadkinjunior' really a double or simply a fearful side of his own nature? This uncertainty is what gives ur... continue
1834.
The Orchard : A Novel by Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry EN
Description:
Four teenagers grow inseparable in the last days of the Soviet Union—but not all of them will live to see the new world arrive in this powerful debut novel, loosely based on Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. “Spectacular . . . intensely evocative and gorgeously written . . . will fill readers’ eyes with tears and wonder.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune Coming of age in the USSR in the 1980s, best friends Anya and Milka try to envision a free and joyful future for themselves. They spend their summers at Anya’s dacha just outside of Moscow, lazing in the apple orchard, listening to Queen songs, and ... continue
1835.
When Ghosts Call Us Home by Katya de Becerra EN
Description:
Never, ever look directly into the eyes of a ghost. Because once you see it, once you see her, once you acknowledge her impossible existence, you can never un-see it. And that's how she gets you.When Sophia Galich was twelve, she starred in her older sister Layla's amateur horror movie Vermillion, which recorded raw footage of her very real reactions to scenes her sister concocted in their old Californian house on the coast - Cashore House.In the years after the film's release, Sophia's memories of the now-infamous house fueled her nightmares. Vermillion amassed an army of fanatical fans who s... continue
1836.
El testamento francés by Andreï Makine ES
Description:
Publicada en 1995, el best-seller "El testamento francés" se coronó con tres de los premios literarios franceses más prestigiosos (Goncourt, Medicis, Goncourt des Lyceens) y es la cuarta novela de este escritor nacido en Siberia y afincado en París, donde enseñó lengua y literatura rusas. Novela autobiográfica, novela de doble exilio, "El testamento francés" reúne dos mundos situados en la Europa de finales del siglo XX: Francia y Rusia. Una inquietante meditación sobre la libertad del individuo, la viole... continue
1837.
Romanul cocainei by M. Agheev RO
Description:
Original si tulburator, Romanul cocainei descrie experientele adolescentului Vadim Maslennikov, un tinar din Moscova anilor 1914-1919. Conventia narativa a jurnalului intim ii permite autorului sa redea, intr-un limbaj direct si, pe alocuri, frust, tribulatiile unei constiinte lucide si sensibile pe drumul sinuos al descoperirii de sine. Asemenea personajului central al unui cunoscut roman semnat de Italo Svevo, acest tinar Zeno inregistreaza, cu acuitatea unui seismograf, vibratiile transmise de evenimentele reale pina la cel mai profund nivel al interioritatii sale, unde se convertesc intr-o... continue
1838.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy EN
Description:
Hailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise he is brought face to face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth? This short novel was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of ... continue
1839.
The New Adventures of Helen: Magical Tales by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya EN
Description:
“One of Russia’s best living writers . . . Her tales inhabit a borderline between this world and the next.” —The New York Times At first glance, the stories in The New Adventures of Helen seems simple, even child-like, but a deep reading reveals satire and darkness manifested through classic fairy tale tropes characteristically upended by Petrushevskaya. These “adult fairy tales” ask deep questions about gender, love, history, memory, and the future, taking place in times between history and the now. These stories, quirky but yet inspired by a confident hopefulness, will inspire and provoke En... continue
1840.
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