I'm part Polish and recently decided to read more Polish books, I thought I'd recommend a few & see if anyone has any others...
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem-eerie Sci fi about an astronaut landing at a deserted-apparently-planet)
Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg - I really like this one, it's an autobiographical collection of sketches about a girl growing up in a village in 1980s Poland. I love Colette's writing about her childhood in Burgundy & this was similar in some ways.
Pharaoh by Boleslaw Prus- epic about the life of Rameses
The Doll,also by Prus - panoramic novel showing clash between bourgeoisie and aristocracy in 19th century Warsaw. This blog has a good review :
https://thebookbindersdaughter.com/2023/04/02/on-reading-big-books-again-the-doll-by-boleslaw-prus/
The Promised Land by Wladyslaw Reymont. This is set in the 19th century when Lodz was a booming industrial city, and is about 3 friends, one Polish, one German, one Polish-Jewish who decide to start a factory together and become as ruthless as their competitors. Another blog explains it well here (there's also a good film) :
https://obdg.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-promised-land-by-wladyslaw-reymont.html?m=1
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sinkiewicz - I watched the 50s film first but also enjoyed the book. Another historical epic, this time about Nero's reign.
Ferdydurke and Pornography,both by Witold Gombrowicz. Ferdydurke is a surreal satire about a man suddenly forced to go back to school. Pornography isn't a porn novel (fortunately!), it's a study of 2 disturbed men who decide to psychologically manipulate a young teenage couple and then involve them in a violent crime (I won't say more...)
Cinnamon Shops by Bruno Schulz (usually called The Street of Crocodiles in English). Fantastical stories about a young Jewish boy and his larger-than-life father, living in an old village just beginning to modernise. Arguably early magic realism.
Sorry...that's quite a lot! As you can guess, it's a bit of a passion project of mine. I'd like to read more but my Polish isn't good enough yet and there's not translations yet for all the ones I'd like to read..
Has anyone read any and want to discuss? Or have any other suggestions?