Europe through literature discussion

B1 = a fantasy novel Carmilla Completed 4 January 3.5 stars
B2 = from a country in the Alps Camille Completed 21 July 4 stars
B3 = originally written in a Finno-ugrian language Her Enemy Completed 3 September 4 stars
B4 = a title written by a Nobel Prize winner Planned Gösta Berling's Saga
B5 = a group read Mona in Three Acts Completed 6 June 4 stars

I1 = a crime novel The Iron Chariot: The Original Scandinavian Crime Novel Completed 29 June 3.5 stars
I2 = free choice The Dog Completed 25 February 4 stars
I3 = from a country with shores along the Atlantic Ocean The Country Girls (Ireland) Completed 10 November 4 stars
I4 = originally written in a Scandinavian language A Doll's House Completed 24 February 4 stars
I5 = a title second in the polls of 2021 Madonna in a Fur Coat Completed 28 July 4 stars

N1 = originally written in a Slavic language The Gambler Completed 27 February 4 stars
N2 = a poetry collection Sappho Completed 7 December 4 stars
N3 = a non-fiction title House of Fiction: From Pemberley to Brideshead, Great British Houses in Literature and Life 4 stars
N4 = a science fiction novel We Completed 19 June 4 stars
N5 = from the Balkans Danilo Stackpole: The Fool Who Outwitted the Devil 4 stars

G1 = a(n) (auto)biography Testament of Youth Completed 23 December 4 stars
G2 = originally written in a Roman language The City of Blood 4 stars
G3 = a book with a reference to a European The Dangerous Age 4 stars
G4 = from a country with shores along the North Sea Roseanna Completed 12 August 4 stars
G5 = a historical novel The Long Ships Completed 30 May 5 stars

O1 = a non-fiction referring to European history Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy 4 stars
O2 = from a country along the shores of the Danube Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex Completed 29 June 3.5 stars
O3 = originally written in a minority language (e.g. in Gaelic) Planned Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha De Danaan and the Fianna of Ireland
O4 = a children's book The Children of Noisy Village Completed 3 June 4 stars
O5 = a graphic novel Planned La Grande Traverse


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You were quick creating this list!! I am fascinated by your choice for G2, I am thinking of reading some medieval stuff for this category as well :))

I have a project to read a book published in each century of a millennium plus a century of Scandinavian literature. Between those two projects, this was reasonably easy.

O3 had me scratching my head. And I5 is part of my MENA challenge. Looking forward to this one!

I see :))
I guess to get hold of titles for O3 is indeed not easy for non-Europeans - I did not consider this... So all the better you found a title that fits!

Orgeluse wrote: "I see :))
I guess to get hold of titles for O3 is indeed not easy for non-Europeans - I did not consider this... So all the better you found a title that fits!"

What would be really useful is an idea of some European minority languages. I ended up in Celtic and Gaelic because it's the only ones I could think of. In any case, it will be good for me to read something Welsh!

Carolien wrote: "Orgeluse wrote: "I see :))
I guess to get hold of titles for O3 is indeed not easy for non-Europeans - I did not consider this... So all the better you found a title that fits!"

What would be rea..."

I found myself in the same 'limited choices' boat Carolien, so looking forward to a rapid expansion in that area based on members' choices.

I came across this website in my search, hopefully it is helpful -
https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-c.... I think our biggest source though is going to be the members' choices, so looking forward to possible new reads.

I would guess that one's options, especially traditional printed material, will be limited by the size of the reading population of a particular language, but who knows, I might be surprised, and hopefully proven wrong.

My initial search was for books translated from Basque or Sami, but was unsuccessful or did not like what I found. I have previously read Flann O'Brien (Myles na Gopaleen), so went back to the familiar. An interesting aside is that the author ran into some criticism from the language 'gatekeepers' for daring to publish without seeking their consent (or something along that line, I need to read a bit more). So a possible further constraint on reading material. Anyway, let us enjoy what we have found so far, a book in the hand, and all that ;,>)

This website it very useful. I found another option Tales of the Tuatha De Danann: A Dual Language Collection of Irish Myth this morning which may just win this one as it is 60 pages compared to 580 in the other one.

At least I found my French copy of Asterix. I have to go and get a box down from a shelf in the garage to see what else lurks there from my mother.

Came across this just now in The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean

“Spain is not a country,” Antonio said. “It is many different countries, with many different languages. Andalusia is so different from Castile and Galicia. Yet, somehow, Andalusian culture got exported — the guitar, the dances, the songs, all that. Foreigners think that Spanish culture is Andalusian only. But this is many nations.”

So who is a foreigner then? The Galician in Castile, or the English person in Ibiza? ;,>)

Wayne wrote: "Came across this just now in The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean

“Spain is not a country,” Antonio said. “It is many different countries, with many different ..."

Now I want to know more about Spain. This sounds fascinating.

I hauled the boxes down in the garage and found one Dutch book which turns out to be Jan van Riebeeck's ship's journal. Don't think I will tackle that one! I thought my mother had a copy of De kleine Johannes, but apparently not. May have to use the Project Gutenberg version.

Carolien wrote: "Wayne wrote: "Came across this just now in The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean

“Spain is not a country,” Antonio said. “It is many different countries, with m..."

I actually read Volume II of his journal. Which volume do you have? There is not a lot of written material from that era, which makes it important source material if one is interested in the establishment of the settlement at the Cape.

I read Michener's Iberia, and have have read a few 'foreigner (read British) settles in Spain' type books. Also have a few more 'outsider looking in' listed, including one by Jan Morris (Spain, but the only Spanish author I read as far as I can recall was Don Quixote.

Let's see whether we can find a Spanish author for a buddy read, for the latter part of the year.

Carolien wrote: "Orgeluse wrote: "I see :))
I guess to get hold of titles for O3 is indeed not easy for non-Europeans - I did not consider this... So all the better you found a title that fits!"

What would be rea..."

European minority languages are defined by the Council of Europe as follows:

“Regional or minority languages”, as defined by the Charter, are languages traditionally used within a given territory of a state by nationals of that state who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the state’s population; they are different from the official language(s) of that state, and they include neither dialects of the official language(s) of the state nor the languages of migrants.

You can find the list of European languages that are considered "minority languages" here:
https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-c...

There are some languages that are considered minority languages in country A due to the small number of speakers living in A but are official languages in country B due to the large number of speakers in country B.
So the term minority language is always dependent on one's perspective...

There are languages such as Gaelic, Frisian or Romansh (just to name a few) that can be official languages in the respective countries but that are nontheless not widely spoken so I have to admit, for a non-European (and to some extent also for a European) it might pose a problem to get hold of titles... In that case I would recommend to stick to the definition of "minority language" as given further up.

All in all I reckon this category leads us down the rabbit hole of the language situation in Europe as such and makes us aware of the fact that language areas and national borders are two completely different concepts which might be an interesting side effect :))

A title I can recommend on European languages is Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe by Gaston Dorren.

Many inspiring choices here, Carolien - for starters I "borrowed" The Wreath and The Longships from your list. Enjoy your bingo reading!

I've managed to make a start. I've used our buddy read of A Doll's House for a book originally written in a Scandinavian language.

The Gambler covers a book written in a Slavic language. It was my first by the author and I found it an interesting read.

A lovely surprise was The Dog written completely from the dog in question's perspective. A puppy gets lost in the snow and spends the next year living wild. Beautifully written.

I used Carmilla for the fantasy category, one of the earliest vampire stories.

I've managed 3 Bingos thus far. I have 3 books underway that will fill some of the spaces, but suspect we'll end up short of a Black out.

Bingos across the first two columns and three rows done. I finished Testament of Youth for autobiography. When I started it, I didn't realise I would actually be reading it on the anniversary of Vera Brittain's fiance's death on 23 December 1915. I highly recommend this one, not only for its perspective on WWI, but especially as it chronicles social change during and after the war.

I suspect that will be it for 2022 here.

Carolien wrote: "Bingos across the first two columns and three rows done. I finished Testament of Youth for autobiography. When I started it, I didn't realise I would actually be reading it on the ann..."

You did really well, Carolien, congratulations! I'm thinking of putting Madonna in a Fur Coat on my TBR for 2023...