Europe through literature discussion

Sq 1 = a title from a European country not in the EU
Montenegro - Catherine the Great and the Small Completed 25 February

Sq 2 = a title originally written in a Slavic language Hair Everywhere Completed 4 March

Sq 3 = a group read Small Things Like These Completed 26 January

Sq 4 = a title from a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea Life, Only Better by Anna Gavalda Completed 16 April

Sq 5 = a title displaying LGBTQ character(s) / topic Bolla Completed 14 June

Sq 6 = a title from an EU member state with a currency other than the Euro

(Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria)

Sq 7 = a title by a winner of any prize of literature Singer in the Night Completed 31 March. Olja Savicevic won the prize for the Best young author in Croatia for her debut short story collection

Sq 8 = a title written in the 19th century Uncle Vanya Completed 5 January

Sq 9 = a title from a country bordering the Baltic Sea

Sq 10 = a graphic novel

Sq 11 = a title written after WWII in a European country that does not exist anymore Czechoslovakia - Closely Observed Trains Completed 27 February

Sq 12 = a title originally written in a Romance language A Girl Returned Completed 4 June 2025

Sq 13 = a title from a country with the Euro as its currency The Godmother Completed 18 April

Sq 14 = a title from a country with mountains The Equestrienne (Slovakia) Completed 25 April

Sq 15 = a title published 2020 or even later Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England's Lost Queen Completed 23 November

Sq 16 = a title that can be considered genre fiction In a Place of Darkness Completed 20 October

(children's lit, crime fiction, sci-fi, fantasy etc. etc.)

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Some books that could work:


6. Again let's finally read Life Begins on Friday (kindle)
9. Seven Gothic Tales (shelf) or
10. Alice Oseman?
15. End of Summer (Kindle) or the book I got at Schiphol or The History of Bees (at local library)
16. The Wolf and the Watchman (Kindle), there's a pile of Italian crime on the top shelf and a pile of Fred Vargas

Also to consider:
Ali and Nino
The World of Yesterday
All Quiet on the Western Front


Russia: Other Worlds: Peasants, Pilgrims, Spirits, Saints (Bookshelf) and Solovyov and Larionov (Kindle), Madness Treads Lightly (Kindle)
Denmark: Childhood / Youth / Dependency
Russia/Ukraine: The White Guard (Kindle)
Romania: Forest Of The Hanged (Kindle)
Hungary: Katalin Street (Kindle)
Iceland: Independent People (Kindle),The Flatey Enigma (Kindle)
Wales: Feet in Chains or Rhys Lewis (shelf)
Italy: If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler (Bedroom shelf), Forbidden Notebook
Norway: The Wreath (Kindle)
Georgia: The Eighth Life (Library)
Bosnia: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (Kindle)
Poland: Death in Breslau and Zygmunt Miloszewski (Kindle)
Spain: The Corpse Reader (Kindle)
Finland: Helsinki Homicide: Against The Wall (Kindle)
France: The Perfume of the Lady in Black
(Kindle), Parisian Days (bookshelf), The Hanged Man of Conakry: A Novel (Kindle), Standing Heavy (Kindle)
Italian crime: Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions, Marco Vichi (Kindle)
Sweden: Still Waters (Kindle) or Gösta Berling's Saga (Kindle)
Armenia: Three Apples Fell from the Sky (Kindle)
Greece: A Life In A Moment (Kindle)
Austria: The Vienna Melody (Kindle) The Radetzky March (On the shelf somewhere)
Switzerland: Suspicion (Kindle)
Czech Republic: Gerta (Kindle)

Forbidden Notebook and The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen are among my considerations too.

Carolien wrote: "Sq 1 = a title from a European country not in the EU

(Iceland, Faroe Islands & Greenland, Norway, UK, Switzerland, Bosnia-H., Serbia, Montenegro, North-Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova..."

Carolien, welcome back to this group!
There are quite some titles in your lists that I really like (The Radetzky March, The Wolf and the Watchman, The Name of the Rose, Life begins on Friday, My Name is Red, Gösta Berling) so I wish you all the best for 2025 and enjoy reading!!!

Most of these have been on my list for ages, Orgeluse, because they were group reads here. I know I'll like them, just need to read them!

Oooh, lots of intriguing possibilities, including many that have been on my TBR, some of which I hope to finally get to, and others which I should add. :)
Maybe there will be a group read of The Copenhagen Trilogy? ^_^

Bingo! Top row completed with some books which I probably wouldn't have tackled without this group or challenge. I really enjoyed the two novellas in Life, Only Better by Anna Gavalda, a reminder that happiness should be sought, not just expected.

Catherine the Great and the Small was also a really lovely read.

And The Godmother was enormous fun. especially for women who find themselves in Patience's position caring for elderly parents, kids growing up and trying to find the money for it all.