Read a book from each country in Europe.

[sonjadog]

I was just reading an article about someone who had a goal to read one book from each country in the world and it has inspired me to start my own project to read a book from each country in Europe.

I want to read a novel or a biography or something along those lines and it must be set on the country with an author from the country.

So, do you have a favourite author from your country? Do you have a book recommendation?

I'm thankful for all suggestions, even if you aren't from the country the book is from.

[Igneococcus]

bloody phone
favorite German book would be Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks, closely followed by Sten Nadolny's Selim oder die Gabe der Rede

[MaddAddam]

Poland: Esther Hautzig "The endless steppe" is a Polish book (about being deported to Siberia in ww2, there seem to be a few similar books on the thread). not set in the country though so that might fail the OP's rules. I can't think of any other Polish books.

Czech Republic. Milan Kundera, "the unbearable lightness of being".

Austria "The von trapp family" which is the Sound of Music story. Or Edmund de Waal "The hare with amber eyes". Set in Vienna.

Switzerland - Heidi. If you allow children's books.

Portugal - can't think of anything at all.

[paperclip2]

Great idea!
I've read all of the following (except one) and they are all very very good.

Iceland:
'Angels of the Universe' by Einar Mar Gudmundsson
'Independent People' by Halldor Laxness

Norway:
'Dina's Book' by Herbjorg Wassmo - once you start reading this you can't put it down
'Kristin Lavransdatter' by Sigrid Undset
'My Struggle 1' by Karl Ove Knausgaard - I haven't read this one yet but it is a much talked about, brutally honest autobiographical novel.

Sweden:
'Blackwater' by Kerstin Ekman
'Roseanna' by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo - the first of a series of ten crime novels set in Sweden in the 60s - these were the beginning of Scandinvian crime fiction (and the best of the lot).

Finland:
'The Summer Book' by Tove Jansson

Finland/Estonia:
'Purge' by Sofi Oksanen (she is Finnish/ Estonian and the novel takes place in Estonia)

[Allalonenow]

Bruges la Morte by Georges Rodenbach (Belgium)

[KiaOraOAotearoa]

Ok, see if I can do this (fab idea btw)with only the authosr I personally read.

A
Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Austria: Bernhard and/or Stefan Zweig
Azerbaijan
B
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
C
Croatia:Edo Popovic, Dumbravka Ugresic
Cyprus
Czech Republic:Kafka
D
Denmark:Soren Kierkegaard (philosopher, brilliant!)
E
Estonia
F
Finland
France: I read most Honore de Balzac believe it or not. I had a phase in my youth. Also Jean Jaque Rousseau.
G
Georgia
Germany:Patrick Suskind 'Perfume'
Greece: Plato, Homer... Can't remember any modern ones:(
H
Hungary:Sandor Marai
I
Iceland: Gunnar Gunnarsson
Ireland:Beckett, Swift, joyce
Italy: Goliarda Sapienza : The art of joy (reading atm)
K
Kosovo
L
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
M
Macedonia
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
N
The Netherlands: Cees Noteboom. Love him!
Norway:Knut Hamsun
P
Poland:Sienkiewicz, particularly enjoyed Quo Vadis, do try it.
Portugal:Jose Saramago
R
Romania: Eliade, Camil Petrescu
Russia: Dostoievsky, Tolstoi, Cehov. Really. Most of what they wrote.
S
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain: Borges is my favourite. Beautiful!
Sweden: Astrid Lindgren
Switzerland
T
Turkey: Elif Shafak, she is amazing!
U
Ukraine:
United Kingdom: gosh, lots, but it doesn't count, I live here
V
Vatican City

Hmm....

[paperclip2]

Germany:
'Dark Matter' (English translation, US version is called 'In Free Fall' ) by Juli Zeh

Bosnia:
'The Bridge on the Drina' by Ivo Andric

Albania:
'The Siege' by Ismail Kadare

Portugal:
'Blindness' by Jose Saramago

I've read all of these and they are all very very good.

[KiaOraOAotearoa]

blue thank you so much for reminding me of Kazantzakis, he is absolutely amazing!

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

Kafka - Czech republic
Miklos Banfy - Hungary

[sonjadog]

Great suggestions! I will make a list of countries, look through the book suggestions here and see what I have and what is missing. I'll check out your book suggestions on Amazon and see which one take my fancy.

I'll post my list here, so watch this space...

[sonjadog]

It might take me a few days to finish the list though, so don't spend too much time watching...

[brokenshoes]

Brilliant idea. My reading has pretty much gone out of the window since DD was born, but this is inspiring me to read more.

[sonjadog]

Which book do you think I should read to represent the UK? I think it should be something contemporary, and not something that I have read before (obviously you don't know this, but I'll choose one I know I haven't read).

[Kveta]

maybe something from the town/area you live in?

[sonjadog]

I live in Norway, but otherwise that would be a good idea! I have family in the Lake District. It must have inspired a good few authors.

[sonjadog]

Apart from Beatrix Potter.

[Kveta]

in that case, either the new J K Rowling (her Cormoran Strike novel), or Capital by John Lanchester for London.

A Stuart MacBride for Aberdeen (and because they are brilliant crime fiction novels).

Denise Mina for Glasgow.

um. I haven't read much since the DC arrived...

[KiaOraOAotearoa]

I like how Rose Tremain writes. The long road home is brilliant.

[redexpat]

Denmark:
The visit of the royal physician by Per Olav Enquist. Ok the author is Swedish, but it's a good historical novel.

Number the stars - Lois Lowry. Again she's american, but beautiful children's book about German occupation in WW2.

Smila's Sense of Snow - Peter Høeg

Failing that Hans Christian Andersen or Karen Blixen. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[redexpat]

Oh yes and Rose tremain wrote Music and Silence which is anohter historical novel about Denmark. Beautiful beautiful story telling.

[cardamomginger]

OP - I do a variant of this. Whenever I go away, I try and read a book set in the place I am visiting, preferably written by a native of that country.

The Radetzsky March by Joseph Roth. It features the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so I reckon you could tick off both Austria and Hungary . (It is very readable and not nearly as dry and dull as a book about the decline and fall of the A-H Empire might sound.)

[cardamomginger]

You could do better than Kundera for the Czech Republic (and I guess Slovakia too, as it was Czechoslovakia at the time). Kundera defected to France in 1975 and was not thought of that well by writers who stayed when he kept harping on about how 'Czech' he was. Far better to read something by Vaclav Havel.

[paperclip2]

Denmark:
'Pelle the Conqueror' by Martin Andersen Nexoe (was made into a movie)
'Murder in the Dark' by Dan Turell (Copenhagen noir)

France:
'All Men are Mortal' by Simone de Beauvoir

Romania:
'The Land of Green Plums' by Herta Muller, very literary but very good

Russia:
'Crime and Punishment' by Dostoyevsky

Greece:
if you haven't read Homer, you've got something to look forward to, there is a very good audiobook of the Odyssey read by Ian McKellen

Italy:
'Decameron' by Boccacio

[revolutionarytoad]

Is it easy to enjoy Homer though if you don't have a particular interest in the history of it and don't know what's special about the language? I tried a bit ago and couldn't get through a page, like treacle! They don't seem very 'for the everyman' IYSWIM. I wish I could get it!

[ancientbuchanan]

Zhbniev Herbert Polish poet.

Wonderful children's books, The Good Master, The Singing Tree, Hungary before and then in WWl . Author ended up in the US.

[YolandiFuckinVisser]

Can't remember the author but i loved We The Drowned - its about generations of sailors from a danish seafaring town. Not a subject i would normally go for in a novel but it was beautiful.