Europe through literature discussion

This thread is the result of the online conversation we had tonight which was really interesting and on very diverse topics :)))
In the course of our discussion there were some book recommendations popping up so I thought it was a good idea to have such a thread where to share recommendations for other members ...

April and Jehona,
this is the book I was talking about yesterday:
Peter Pomerantsev: Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia

There have been several book recommendations to come to terms with the current situation in Ukraine in different threads in our group so I thought it a good idea to list them in here.

Feel free to extend it further!

- Catherine Belton: Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West

- Svetlana Alexievich: Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets - a tome but easy to read

books on life in the occupied regions in Donbas since 2014:

- Stanislav Aseyev: In Isolation: Dispatches from Occupied Donbas

- all books by Serhiy Zhadan, e.g. Voroshilovgrad and The Orphanage

books on the development of Ukraine since its independence:

- Oksana Zabuzhko: Your Ad Could Go Here: Stories

- Oksana Zabuzhko: The Museum of Abandoned Secrets

- Andrey Kurkov: Ukraine Diaries

- Andrey Kurkov: Death and the Penguin

a book on the relationship of the West with Ukraine seen from a Ukrainian's perspective:

- Yuri Andrukhovych: Twelve Circles

Thank you so much for this, Orgeluse.

When researching classic literature from Portugal, I came across the author Eça de Queirós. I finished his novella The Yellow Sofa which I can recommend to all those who like 19th century character studies as such with an ironic gaze on the protagonists but also with sympathy for human follies.

I will definitely check out his other works, in particular The Relic and The Tragedy of the Street of Flowers.

Thanks for the recommendation, Orgeluse! I enjoyed the Portugal authors we read and appreciate more recommendations.

Me, too! tysm

Carol wrote: "Me, too! tysm"

Jax wrote: "Thanks for the recommendation, Orgeluse! I enjoyed the Portugal authors we read and appreciate more recommendations."

You are welcome!

For all those who are into "the other Russia", I can highly recommend Other Russias by Victoria Lomasko. This graphic documentary depicts Russian people from the margins of society and has some interesting background information on present day Russia.

I have just discovered that one of the stories in the Bulgarian short story collection we read one year ago as a group read in Jan/Feb 2024 has been turned into a film that is available on Netflix. The title of the story and also of the film is "A picture with Yuki". The title of the short story collection is East of the West: A Country in Stories.
The film can be watched in Bulgarian but of course also in English :).

And there is another film adaptation of a Bulgarian novel that is on our group's shelf: 18% Gray by Zachary Karabashliev. The film is also available on Netflix. Curiously enough, the novel is set in Bulgaria and the US and has the quality of a real road movie, I remember this was what I liked about it. The film adaptation, though, seems to be set in the UK. I will definitely watch it soon and just wanted everyone interested in Bulgarian lit to know about this :))

I read Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes- Quaderno proibito in its original language, Italian. It was so good! A very interesting Cuban-Italian author who is having some posthumous recognition these days with new English translations and reviews in major publications and such.

I read The Death of a Soldier, Told by his Sister. It was so emotional but down to earth. The writer blended personal and political commentary to really question her own beliefs and how the world around her comes to its conclusions without seeing the human cost of war.

Just finished Baba Dunja's Last Love (Baba Dunjas letzte Liebe) by Germany-based Russian author Alina Bronsky- a quick and very entertaining read. 5 stars from me, highly recommend. A tough, no-nonsense but caring and very endearing elderly Chernobyl survivor who returned to her village along with a handful of others narrates this story and perfectly weaves together amusing current happenings and characters in her very rural, off-the-grid village life with stories from her past and long-distance family relations.

I am thinking of reading Colette's My Mother's House & Sido next. Both of these make nice reads to honor Mother's Day :)

Baba Junja's on my list for later this year, I've seen a few recommendations and glad to see you also approve, Jen!

I'm currently reading Bolla for the LGBT task in our Bingo as well as to add Kosovo to my list of places.

Oh! That writer sounds very intriguing, thanks for sharing, Carolien! I’d love to know if you end up liking that book

It's not my usual thing and it took a while to get into it, but I'm getting into it - it's quite fragmentary, so it's fortunately quite easy to read in short bursts. I've got The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp going as well which is much lighter - I do wish I could find more German crime fiction that has been translated into English. I've enjoyed the ones I found to date.

I recently read In Diamond Square / La plaça del Diamant by classic Catalan author Mercè Rodoreda. Incredibly moving and powerful short novel reflecting the Spanish Civil War. It's narrated by a young, poor but vibrant mother. The life of such a person in this era and then caught in war is vividly captured. I think no novel has made me cry as deeply as this one. A powerful work leaving me eager to reread and read others by her.