Read Around Europe Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Europe.
Best books from Europe (2786)
471.
Professor Martens' Departure by Jaan Kross EN
EstoniaDescription:
Professor Martens is an elder statesman who has dutifully served the czarist regime. Near the end of his career and of his life, Martens is once again summoned to St. Petersberg. Traveling by train from his home in Parn?, he recalls his life of public service only to realize the terrible personal price he has paid and that he has helped perpetuate a brutal regime in his Baltic homeland.
472.
The Beauty of History : A Novel by Luik, Viivi EN
Description:
"1968. Riga. News of the Prague Spring washes across Europe, causing ripples on either side of the Iron Curtain. A young Estonian woman has agreed to pose as a model for a famous, sculptor, who is trying to evade military service and escape to the West. Although the model has only a vague awareness of politics -- her interest in life is primarily poetic -- the consequences of the politics of both past and present repeatedly make themselves felt. Chance remarks overheard prompt memories of people and places, language itself becomes fluid, by turns deceptive and reassuring. The Beauty of History... continue
473.
The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk EN
Description:
Unfortunately people and tribes degenerate. They lose their teeth, forget their language, until finally they're bending meekly on the fields and cutting straw with a scythe. Leemut, a young boy growing up in the forest, is content living with his hunter-gatherer family. But when incomprehensible outsiders arrive aboard ships and settle nearby, with an intriguing new religion, the forest begins to empty - people are moving to the village and breaking their backs tilling fields to make bread. Meanwhile, Leemut and the last forest-dwelling humans refuse to adapt: with bare-bottomed primates and t... continue
474.
Description:
Treading Air follows the life of Ullo Paerand through 30 years of violent political upheaval. Abandoned by his father as a child, he grows up to become an electoral assistant to the parliamentary office in Tallinn and it is in this position that Ullo witnesses first the Soviet and then the German occupation of Estonia. Forced out of his honest profession Ullo becomes involved with the Resistance but, when many Estonians flee the country, he chooses to remain. An interlude of a decade shows much has changed since the end of the War; Soviet influence is marked in the style of government and the ... continue
475.
De gek van de tsaar by Jaan Kross NL
Description:
Een man die zijn belofte, de tsaar altijd de waarheid te vertellen gestand doet, wordt krankzinnig verklaard en tien jaar opgesloten.
476.
The Ropewalker : Between Three Plagues Volume I by Jaan Kross EN
Description:
The first part in an epic historical trilogy - The Estonian answer to Wolf Hall - by the nation's greatest modern writer Jaan Kross's trilogy dramatises the life of the renowned Livonian Chronicler Balthasar Russow, whose greatest work described the effects of the Livonian War on the peasantry of what is now Estonia. Like Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell, Russow is a diamond in the rough, a thoroughly modern man in an Early Modern world, rising from humble origins to greatness through wit and learning alone. As Livonia is used as a political football by the warring powers of Russia, Sweden, Pol... continue
477.
Vuelo estático by Jaan Kross ES
Description:
Vuelo estático es, o debiera ser un libro de lectura para todos los estonios (si creyera en el valor de la obligatoriedad de la lectura de literatura).
La estructura es, a primera vista, sencillo: Sirkel, alter ego de Jaan Kross, nos cuenta la vida de Ullo Paerand. Muchas veces narrando las cosas que ha escuchado; otras dandole voz a Ullo en unas entrevistas pautadas para esta biografía.
En el trasfondo, la historia de Estonia, desde su declaración de la Independencia en 1918 hasta la década del '80, cuando se desarrollan las entrevistas; aunque con una mirad... continue
478.
Brecht at Night by Mati Unt EN
Description:
"One of the most influential modernist, and latterly postmodernist, authors in Estonia." Context
479.
Pobeda 1946 : A Car Called Victory by Ilmar Taska EN
Description:
Ilmar Taska's debut novel captures the distrust and fear among Estonians living under Soviet occupation after World War II. The reader is transported to a world seen through the eyes of a young boy, where it is difficult to know who is right and who is wrong, be they occupiers or occupied.
480.
The Poet and the Idiot and Other Stories by Friedebert Tuglas EN
Description:
Nine stories and an essay written during WWI.