Read Around Europe Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Europe.
Best books from Europe (2605)
1171.
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino EN
ItalyDescription:
Introduction by Peter Washington; Translation by William Weaver Italo Calvino’s masterpiece combines a love story and a detective story into an exhilarating allegory of reading, in which the reader of the book becomes the book’s central character. Based on a witty analogy between the reader’s desire to finish the story and the lover’s desire to consummate his or her passion, IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of the same book—IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER, by Italo Calvino, of course—are constantly and comically frustrated. ... continue
1172.
Sometimes the Soul : Two Novellas of Sicily by Gioia Timpanelli EN
Description:
"A Knot of Tears"--the story of a baroness and a sailor and his parrot; "Rusina, Not Quite in Love"--a "Beauty and the Beast" tale of a lovely young woman and a devastatingly ugly man who shows her the true meaning of beauty.
1173.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante EN
Description:
Now an HBO series: the first volume in the New York Times–bestselling “enduring masterpiece” about a lifelong friendship between two women from Naples (The Atlantic). Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting ... continue
1174.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco EN
Description:
In 1327, Brother William of Baskerville is sent to investigate charges of heresy against Franciscan monks at a wealthy Italian abbey but finds his mission overshadowed by seven bizarre murders.
1176.
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante EN
Description:
A powerful new novel set in a divided Naples by Elena Ferrante, the beloved best-selling author of My Brilliant Friend. Giovanna's pretty face has changed: it's turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Into which mirror must she look to find herself and save herself? She is searching for a new face in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, which professes to be a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves between these two cities, d... continue
1177.
The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano EN
Description:
"Mesmerizing...an exquisite rendering of what one might call feelings at the subatomic level." -The New York Times From the author of Heaven and Earth, a sensational novel about whether a "prime number" can ever truly connect with someone else A prime number is a lonely thing. It can only be divided by itself or by one, and it never truly fits with another. Alice and Mattia are both "primes"-misfits haunted by early tragedies. When the two meet as teenagers, they recognize in each other a kindred, damaged spirit. Years later, a chance encounter reunites them and forces a lifetime of concealed ... continue
1178.
The Chimera by Sebastiano Vassalli EN
Description:
Offering a study of hypocrisy and evil, a comic novel of religious corruption and witchcraft in seventeenth-century Italy chronicles the fate of a young orphan named Antonia, who is burned at the stake in the town of Novara in 1610.
1179.
Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg EN
Description:
Natalia Ginzburg wrote her masterful, Strega Prize winning novel Family Lexicon while living in London in the 1960s. Homesick for her big, noisy Italian family, she summoned them in this novel, which is a celebration of the routines and rituals, in-jokes and insults and, above all, the repeated sayings that make up every family.
1180.
Accabadora by Michela Murgia EN
Description:
The award winning Accabadora is an exceptional English–language debut, written with intriguing subtlety reflecting a sensual picture of local Italian life and death in villages during the 1950's. A time where family ties and obligations still decide much of life's ebb and flow. A must read for those who love a touch of the unusual. Formerly beautiful and at one time betrothed to a fallen soldier, Bonaria Urrai has a long held covenant with the dead. Midwife to the dying, easing their suffering and sometimes ending it, she is revered and feared in equal measure as the village's Accabadora. When... continue