My 2024 "Eurovision" Reading Challengep

[BuffysBigSister]

I came across the "Eurovision" Reading Challenge on the Penguin Books website. The goal is to read a book from each country that competes in Eurovision. The website does give a list of suggested books from each of the 37 countries but not all of them appeal so I'll probably search out a few of my own. I am starting with Ismail Kadare's The General of the Dead Army (Albania) and see how far I get.

Any suggestions are welcome - especially for the smaller countries like Azerbaijan or Cyprus. Anyone else got any reading challenges for 2024?

I'm doing the Read What You Own challenge. Basically I'm reading 100 books from my TBR before I buy anymore.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent or The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson. Both are historical fiction set in Iceland, but not from that country - so maybe not exactly what you are looking for?

I like that idea, I have a pile of books to be read. I am hoping there will already be "Eurovision" books on my TBR pile. Also I am ordering lots from the library and scouring our local community bookshop

The Eurovision list is based on writers from the country but thanks for suggesting The Sealwoman's Gift. I haven't read that and it sounds interesting. Will add it to the TBR pile!

What a great idea OP. I've found the list online and bookmarked it for future use.
There's also this list of highest rated books on Goodreads by country, from local authors which I think is quite interesting: https://bookriot.com/highest-rated-books-from-every-country/

I also have quite a big TBR pile. I've made a good dent in it this year, but I probably shouldn't add to it (even though I bought another book just this morning!)

Great, thanks for sharing. I am really looking forward to this challenge - and hopefully I will knock some books off my TBR pile too

Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov (Ukraine)
The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (Netherlands) - it's a childrens' book but really enchanting
The Garden of the Finzi Continis by Georgio Bassani
or Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi (Italy)

Thanks for the additional suggestions. Andrey Kurkov is definitely on the list. I haven't decided whether to go alphabetically by country or just dive in and read books as I get my hands on them

Oh OP, I love this! I’m going to do this too, I think I have some on my shelves that will already fit.

I am having a book admin day today, catching up with my reviews, things to finish before end of year and plans for 2024. So now I’m going to be super geeky and draw a table in my book notebook to track this.

Island of the Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Cyprus)

Ali and Nino by Kurban Said (Azerbaijan/Armenia)

Sorry Armenia suggestion is the Sandcastle girls by Chris Bohjalian

Thanks @Xiaoxiong for the suggestions. So many books, so little time!

I was going to try reading one book at a time in January. Just need to finish seven of the eight I'm reading before that.

Oh, I keep meaning to work my way round the continents doing this but get distracted. However, I was on holiday in Denmark this year and the books that made it to my shortlist for reading were as follows:

Childhood, Youth, Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen. Translated by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman

The Employees A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn. Translated by Martin Aitken

Island by Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen. Translated by Caroline Waight

The Fall of the King by Johannes V. Jensen. Translated by Alan G Bower

I'll be back with more later!

I like the idea of this! Some suggestions of books I have loved that you might like to try:
Abigail - M. Szabo - Hungary
Miss Iceland - A Olafsdottir - Iceland
East of the West - Penkov - Bulgaria (short stories)
Forbidden Notebook - Alba De Cespedes - Italy
Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead - Tokarczuk - Poland

The last one I havent actually read yet but it is on my TBR pile next to my bed!

@Cappuccinfortwo Drive your plow is great, a really good suggestion for Poland.

Do you have any rules about location of book vs author's background. E.g. Yoko Tawada was born and brought up in Japan but moved to Germany as a student and has lived there ever since and writes in German and Japanese. So would you consider a book she wrote in German and based in Germany as a German book or a Japanese book?

Norway:

Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. Read the modern translation by Tiina Nunnally and not the ye olde worlde one from the 30s.

Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel.

Of course there's lots of Scandi Noir but I don't really read that so can't comment.

Another one I really liked for Italy is:
Eva Sleeps by Francesca Melandri - it is set against a backdrop of border conflicts in the mountainous Tyrol region which I knew nothing about. Fascinating story.

Thanks @Cappuccinfortwo and @JaninaDuszejko for the suggestions. I am keeping notes on everything.

I do like the sound of Island by Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen. I think that might be my choice for Denmark. I was at the library this morning and picked up another Magda Szabo book, Katalin Street.

I have read a couple of books by Yoko Tawada and I like her writing. I think as she writes in German I would probably consider her a "German" option but I have couple of those already on my TBR including Clemens Meyer's While We Were Dreaming and Nino Haratischwili's The Eighth Life.

I've finished the first book in my Eurovision Challenge. I got Paul Lynch's Prophet Song (Ireland) from the library and had to read first as it had to be returned quickly (long reservation list). This won the Booker Prize in 2023. I loved it but suspect it is probably a bit marmite - you'll either love it or hate it. It centres on one woman's struggle to keep her family together as Ireland becomes an authoritarian state and her husband is "disappeared".

At first I found the language a bit of a challenge. Usually I'm a fan of plain writing and this is definitely not plain, perhaps a bit conceptual. But after a few pages I found I couldn't put it down.

Now its back to Albania and Ismail Kadare.