Read Around Europe Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Europe.
Best books from Europe (2812)
691.
The Girl With the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac EN
FranceDescription:
'What holds sway over this country without morals, beliefs, or feelings? Gold and pleasure.' Sexual attraction, artistic insight, and the often ironic relationship between them is the dominant theme in the three short works collected in this volume. In Sarrasine an impetuous young sculptor falls in love with a diva of the Roman stage, but rapture turns to rage when he discovers the reality behind the seductiveness of the singer's voice. The ageing artist in The Unknown Masterpiece, obsessed with his creation of the perfect image of an ideal woman, tries to hide it from the jealous young studen... continue
692.
Colonel Chabert by Honore de Balzac EN
Description:
Unlock the more straightforward side of Colonel Chabert with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of Colonel Chabert by Honoré de Balzac, which follows the titular character’s struggle to adapt to life in France after he was for years presumed dead. Chabert, a former war hero and a man of integrity, finds that there is no place for him in France’s new society, which is ruled by greed, selfishness and injustice, and is callously manipulated by his conniving ex-wife. The novel is one of the Scenes of Private Life in Balzac’s The Human Comed... continue
693.
Here's to You, Jesusa! by Elena Poniatowska EN
Description:
A remarkable novel that uniquely melds journalism with fiction, by Elena Poniatowska, the recipient of the prestigious 2013 Cervantes Prize Jesusa is a tough, fiery character based on a real working-class Mexican woman whose life spanned some of the seminal events of early twentieth-century Mexican history. Having joined a cavalry unit during the Mexican Revolution, she finds herself at the Revolution's end in Mexico City, far from her native Oaxaca, abandoned by her husband and working menial jobs. So begins Jesusa's long history of encounters with the police and struggles against authority. ... continue
694.
Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos EN
Description:
The complex moral ambiguities of seduction and revenge make Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European literature. The subject of major film and stage adaptations, the novel's prime movers, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, form an unholy alliance and turn seduction into a game - a game which they must win. This new translation gives Laclos a modern voice, and readers will be able a judge whether the novel is as `diabolical' and `infamous' as its critics have claimed, or whether it has much to tell us about the kind of wor... continue
695.
The Godmother: A Crime Novel by Hannelore Cayre EN
Description:
Meet Patience Portefeux, an underpaid Franco-Arab interpreter for the Ministry of Justice who specializes in phone tapping. Happening upon a particularly revealing set of police wiretaps, Patience uses the secret conversations to intervenes and infiltrate a massive drug deal. She thus embarks on a new career path: she becomes The Godmother.
696.
Nana by Emile Zola DE
Description:
„Aufstieg von der Straßenprostituierten zum Mitglied der Pariser Society: Was heute schon mehr oder minder unmöglich wäre, gestaltete sich 1880 nicht leichter. In Zolas Roman gelingt es Nana dennoch. Als sie ihre Sexualität instrumentalisiert um die höheren Stände aus Politik und Presse zu infiltrieren, muss sie feststellen, dass deren Lasterhaftigkeit und Heuchelei grenzenlos ist.“ Redaktion Gröls-Verlag (Edition Werke der Weltliteratur)
699.
The Breakers by Claudie Gallay EN
Description:
In the Contentin peninsula on the northern coast of Brittany, lies a village that to all intents and purposes might just be at the end of the world. Amid this desolation, a stranger appears in the café and begins stirring up suspicion about the village's lighthouse keeper, now retired. An old grandmother wanders the beaches, looking for a child named Michel. Meanwhile, a woman arrives from the south. The man of her life has just died and she throws herself into her work, cataloguing her surroundings in obsessive detail. The villagers seem to be guarding old secrets about events in their past. ... continue
