Read Around Europe Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Europe.
Best books from Europe (2978)
2001.
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov EN
RussiaDescription:
In this moving, amusing story of a seeming born loser at odds with the New World, there is all the pathos of a generation cruelly and irrecoverably severed from its past.
2002.
Lolita by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov RO
Description:
Poveste a iubirii obsesive si blestemate a lui Humbert Humbert pentru nimfeta Dolores Haze, capodopera lui Vladimir Nabokov a fost, pe rind, carte interzisa, roman scandalos, obiect de cult, pentru a deveni apoi un roman clasic al secolului XX.
Din cauza subiectului sau extrem de socant – pasiunea morbida a unui barbat matur pentru o fetita de doisprezece ani –, romanul Lolita a fost respins de editori, fiind publicat in Statele Unite abia dupa aparitia sa in Franta. Construita pe schema mitologica a povestirilor cu fauni si nimfe, Lolita este insa, inainte de toate, un poem ... continue
2003.
The Sandman by E. T. A. Hoffmann EN
Description:
"Strange man, how can you have eyes for sale? Eyes? Eyes?" '
The disturbing tale of a young man's obsession with the Sandman, stealer of eyes, which has inspired writers from Sigmund Freud to Neil Gaiman.
2004.
The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia EN
Description:
Just released from a mental hospital, Galina, a young translator and recovering schizophrenic, doesn't quite believe her eyes when her pregnant sister abruptly gives birth and changes into a fleeing jackdaw. Yet others across the city witness similar transformations, including Yakov, a neighborhood detective assigned to investigate a disturbing epidemic of missing-person cases. When street artist Fyodor stumbles on a surprising clue to the avian mystery, Galina and Yakov follow him through a magic portal visible only in window reflections and into an underground world of forgotten misfits and ... continue
2005.
Crime and Punishment : A Novel in Six Parts with Epilogue by Fyodor Dostoyevsky EN
Description:
Hailed by Washington Post Book World as “the best [translation] currently available" when it was first published, this second edition has been updated in honor of the 200th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth. With the same suppleness, energy, and range of voices that won their translation of The Brothers Karamazov the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky offer a brilliant translation of Dostoevsky's astounding pyschological thriller, newly revised for his bicentenniel. When Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in the St. Petersburg of the tsars, commit... continue
2006.
Description:
Awe and exhiliration--along with heartbreak and mordant wit--abound in Lolita, Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love--love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.
2007.
Weiße Nächte by Fjodor Dostojewski DE
Description:
"Es ist wahr, wenn ich vor einer Frau stehe, bin ich stets schüchtern und, ich gebe es zu, nicht weniger aufgeregt, als Sie (...). Jetzt bin ich erschrocken. Es ist mir, als ob alles ein Traum wäre; ich habe mir aber auch im Traume niemals vorgestellt, daß ich imstande wäre, mit irgendeinem weiblichen Wesen zu sprechen..." (Dostojewski, Zitat auf S. 8 aus "Weiße Nächte"). Die Geschichte über den schüchternen Außenseiter, der sich in eine junge Frau verliebt, gilt vielen als die schönste Novelle des russischen Autors. Fjodor Dostojewski. Weiße Nächte. Ein empfindsamer Roman (Aus den Erinnerunge... continue
2008.
2009.
An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West by Konstantin Kisin EN
Description:
The book sets out to discuss themes including free speech and cancel culture through the perspective of a non-Western immigrant. It particularly addresses why the West has a negative view of itself, and why that is self-destructive.
One of the themes of the book is the history of slavery and the way it is taught in American schools. By talking about the life of his great grandfather as a serf in the Russian Empire, the Soviet gulags, Barbary corsairs and slavery in African kingdoms Kisin pushes back against the notion that slavery was unique to the West and makes a case that slavery in Afri... continue
San Marino