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While we love reading books that are set close to home, for so many of us, we can use this prompt to stretch our reading to books that are not so close to home. This week, we are looking for books that are written by authors from continental Europe.

Countries included in "continental Europe":
Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czechia
Denmark*
Estonia
Finland*
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland*
Italy
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway*
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden*
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
Vatican City

*Some lists include the Scandinavian countries because they are connected by land to Europe, while other lists exclude it because the Scandinavian peninsula is often reached by sea, rather than land.

ATY Listopia: /list/show/1...

What are you reading? Where is the author from?

Basically, this is every country in Europe other than the UK, right?

I have never read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, so this is my top choice. (Netherlands)

Other choices:
Little Fadette by George Sand (France)
Embers by Sándor Márai (Hungary)
The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury by Marc Levy (Framce)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain)

NancyJ wrote: "Basically, this is every country in Europe other than the UK, right?"

Every country in Europe minus England and Ireland, and the Scandinavian countries, if you don't want to count them. Also doesn't include the Greek islands (although Greece itself would count).

Wouldn't Iceland, as an island, not count? I understand having some choice over whether to include Sweden, Norway, and Finland, but Iceland you would have to reach by sea.

Possible choice: Heidi by Johanna Spyri, or The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald, or Abigail by Magda Szabo or Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andrei Makine, or Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, or Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki

Jackie wrote: "Wouldn't Iceland, as an island, not count? I understand having some choice over whether to include Sweden, Norway, and Finland, but Iceland you would have to reach by sea."

Edited:
As I recall, the original idea was Europe minus the UK, because many of us read British and Irish authors to the exclusion of the rest of Europe. I don’t think it was meant to exclude any other countries. The idea of “the continent�� was suggested as a shorthand for that. I went back to see the original suggestion. FWIW, It said “an author from the continent of Europe�� not continental Europe. They aren’t really the same thing.

Geographically, all of these countries, including the UK and Iceland are considered a part of the continent of Europe, even though they aren’t all connected on land. (Just as Greenland is a part of The continent of North America.) �� European Union�� might have been closer to the original intention. In any event, I suppose I can find another place for an Iceland book.

The Wikipedia entry for Continental Europe says this:

"The most common definition of Mainland Europe excludes these continental islands: the Greek Islands, Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Islands, Great Britain and Ireland and surrounding islands, Novaya Zemlya and the Nordic archipelago, as well as nearby oceanic islands, including the Canary Islands, Madeira, the Azores, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Svalbard.

The Scandinavian Peninsula is sometimes also excluded, as even though it is a part of "mainland Europe", the de facto connections to the rest of the continent are across the Baltic Sea or North Sea (rather than via the lengthy land route that involves travelling to the north of the peninsula where it meets Finland, and then south through northeast Europe)."

I feel like I'm being a bit of a broken record on these threads, because yet again I am here to recommend Magda Szabó, who I am currently obsessed with! I read her beautiful and sad book Katalin Street last year and her haunting and captivating book The Door this year and I thought both were wonderful. She is Hungarian, her books are translated from Hungarian, and both of the above books are set in Budapest, post-WWII.

I will also take a quick moment to praise Elena Ferrante: I've heard from several friends that they've been skeptical of her books because of her intensely "chick lit" covers. The cover designs are very purposeful - they've been described as "dressing a refined story with a touch of vulgarity,�� a theme that's very prominent within her books as well. So if you've been put off, please give My Brilliant Friend a try!

For me, I'll probably be very tempted to give another book by Olga Tokarczuk a try, after I really enjoyed Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. But I might also want to choose an author for a country I haven't read from yet: maybe Troll: A Love Story, whose author is Finnish, or Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, whose author is Ukrainian. Or maybe this would be a great opportunity to read something in French!

Hannah wrote: "The Wikipedia entry for Continental Europe says this:

"The most common definition of Mainland Europe excludes these continental islands: the Greek Islands, Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica..."

It’s funny that we didn’t discuss any of this last summer. The prompt suggestion that we voted on said “the continent of Europe�� not continental Europe or mainland Europe. (See my edited post above.) None of these terms exactly fits the original intention, which in this case was just to exclude Britain and Ireland. Whenever we try to find a concise way to say something, we lose some important nuance of the idea. Oh well.

NancyJ wrote: "Hannah wrote: "The Wikipedia entry for Continental Europe says this:

"The most common definition of Mainland Europe excludes these continental islands: the Greek Islands, Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, Sa..."

Yes, I just saw your edit! I missed the original discussion of the prompt, so I didn't realize the wording had changed. Oh, well! Good thing we're not strict about how people choose to interpret the prompts!

Hannah wrote: "I feel like I'm being a bit of a broken record on these threads, because yet again I am here to recommend Magda Szabó, who I am currently obsessed with! I read her beautiful and sad book ��"

I want to read Szabo too, and perhaps continue the Ferrante books. Here are the authors I originally noted in my plan:
Elif Shafak
Magda Szabó
Tove Jansson
Plus I want to read The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood / Youth / Dependency, and several others from the city of literature list.

Have you read anything by the French author Annie Ernaux yet? I just read The Years which helped her win the Nobel Prize. Her style is different and rather exciting at first.

I'm planning on reading My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman, who is from Brännkyrka, just south of Stockholm in Sweden. Looking at the map that's on an island, so technically it might not qualify. But, maybe because I'm from part of Europe that isn't "the continent", and I'd refer to somewhere being "on the continent" without needing a specific definition, to me anywhere that's part of the big bit counts :)

Hm. So I was going to read The Shadow of the Wind for the UNESCO prompt, and it occurred to me I could read the next in the series for this prompt. But I plan to read in order, which means I'd have to move Shadow of the Wind here (Zafon is from Spain), and read The Angel's Game for UNESCO since it's also set in Barcelona. Ooh! And book 3 works for translated!

Off to shuffle things around!

Can someone who is a librarian fix the Cemetery of Forgotten books series? It has book 4 as the Spanish version, I'm wondering if that can be changed to the translated one like the others.

I've decided to read Don Quixote. I haven't read it since high school -- eons ago -- and I remember it being one of my favorite assigned books to read.

Hannah wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Hannah wrote: "The Wikipedia entry for Continental Europe says this:

"The most common definition of Mainland Europe excludes these continental islands: the Greek Islands, Cyprus, Ma..."

Yes, it’s all good. Even if we use the most narrow interpretation, we still have hundreds or thousands of great options. I can read an Iceland book for the cities of literature prompt. I would like to pick books from countries I never read before, but it would require me to skip over many books I really want to read. So I might decide life is too short for that goal.

I'm going to read The Anomaly, whose author is French.

Hannah wrote: "I feel like I'm being a bit of a broken record on these threads, because yet again I am here to recommend Magda Szabó, who I am currently obsessed with! I read her beautiful and sad book [book:Kata..."

The Door was wonderful! Highly recommend.

I have France (The Three Musketeers), Belgium (Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill) and Ukraine (Suite Française) on my list to choose among.

I am actually from Romania (and live here), so I'll either read something written by a romanian (I have a few of those) or some others that are on my tbr for years.

Here's my list of possibilities:
Cină cu ficat și inimă by Mihaela Apetrei
Necunoscuta din congelator by Rodica Ojog-Braşoveanu
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
��é�ٰ��DzԾ������� by Amélie Nothomb
Primul sange by Amélie Nothomb
Crima contelui Neville by Amélie Nothomb
The Most Beautiful Book in the World: Eight Novellas by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt (or anything else by him I haven't read yet).
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer by Joël Dicker
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
and many others.

Kathy wrote: "I have never read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, so this is my top choice. (Netherlands)

Other choices:
Little Fadette by [author:George Sand|1..."

Embers by Sandor Marai is one of my all time favorite books. It might not be for everyone because but I couldn't put it down.

Tamula wrote: "Kathy wrote: "I have never read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, so this is my top choice. (Netherlands)

Other choices:
Little Fadette by [author..."

That's good to know, Tamula. [book:Embers|783505] has been on my radar for a long time.

I read The Winners. 5 stars.

For this prompt, I read:
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov - 4* - My Review

The author is Bulgarian.

I've read Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq for this prompt. (I started the year with this.) The author is from France.

Ann wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I feel like I'm being a bit of a broken record on these threads, because yet again I am here to recommend Magda Szabó, who I am currently obsessed with! I read her beautiful and sad ..."

You all convinced me. I'm reading The Door and it's as good as you say!

Any good romance or cozy murder mysteries that would fit this prompt? I'm in the mood for some light reading.

I read A Man Called Ove years ago, and highly recommend it, but I'm trying to use all new books for this challenge.

I am really happy someone else did the research for this prompt. When I saw that Fredrick Backman counts as a Continental European author this book was an automatic yes for this prompt.

The Winners ⭐⭐��

I read The Red Notebook (La femme au carnet rouge) by French author Antoine Laurain. I really enjoyed this and appreciated that it felt French. It ended up being pretty short and would work for a novella or if you aren't French a book that has been translated.

I read The Readers' Room by the same author fort the 'book where books are important prompt - also an enjoyable novella.

I’m reading The Story of a New Name (Book 2 of the Neapolitan Novels) by Italian author Elena Ferrante. 🇮🇹

I read (and enjoyed) Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, who is Polish.

Although technically this could be considered a mystery, the real focus seemed to be the philosophical thinking and curiosity of an older woman. I found her fascinating. Not quite a "curmudgeon", but leaning that way.

I have many others on my "possibilities" list for this prompt, but will only suggest Continental European authors I have previously read and enjoyed:

Elif Shafak (Turkish - so could be counted as European OR Asian) - of her many books I've read The Island of Missing Trees

Fredrik Backman (Swedish) - of his many books I've read Anxious People, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, and Beartown

Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spanish) - I've read the first in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, The Shadow of the Wind

This book could also be used for the prompts:
13. A book that has an object that is repeated on the cover (the version I read)
36. A book that has been translated from another language (Polish)
42. A book related to a ghost, spirit, phantom, or specter (includes some, but is not a major plot point)
43. A book that involves a murder
44. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal (the version I read)
46. A title that contains a word often found in a recipe
52. A book with an unusual or surprising title

The Heartstopper Yearbook 3 stars.

I read Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The authors are brothers from Russia.

I read Billiards at the Hotel Dobray by a Slovenian author, Dušan Šarotar.

A poetic and sad novella about a small town in Slovenia at the end of World War II.

I read The Woman Destroyed 13/06/2023 by Simone De Beauvoir who is French

NancyJ wrote: "Hannah wrote: "The Wikipedia entry for Continental Europe says this:

"The most common definition of Mainland Europe excludes these continental islands: the Greek Islands, Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, Sa..."

"The continent of Europe" wouldn't have excluded UK and Ireland though; they're definitely part of the continent. Whereas "continental Europe" means the connected landmass of Europe and is probably the only definition of Europe that definitely excludes both UK and Ireland (for example, using EU countries or Eurozone countries wouldn't exclude Ireland).

Regardless, I've seen more than one book on the spreadsheet by a UK author so I don't think this prompt has been well understood!

What are you reading?
I read Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason

Where is the author from? Iceland

For Round 1 I read
Babette's Feast and Other Anecdotes of Destiny by Isak Dinesen - Denmark
***Abigail - By Szabo - Hungary - for W awards, also Translated - This was one of my favorites
Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home - Nora Krug - German Three Daughters of Eve
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ - German author - for science

For round two I'm considering:
Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak, Turkey
The Postcard - France, translated
The Elegance of the Hedgehog -France translated , also works for apartment house
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler translated from Italian
The Name of the Rose - Italy, also 16th century
Humankind - Dutch author
Chess Story

The author lives in France


Time Was Soft There �� Jeremy Mercer �� 3***
Several bad decision derailed Mercer’s journalism career in Canada, so he ran to Paris, where he stumbled upon Shakespeare & Co on a rainy afternoon and wound up being offered a bed in one of the many rooms of this crowded book shop. I found this very entertaining. I loved reading about his adventures scrounging for the cheapest food, picnics with friends along the Seine, the joys of free museums, and the eccentric residents of the shop, not least of which was the owner.
LINK to my full review

Book Concierge wrote: "The author lives in France



Time Was Soft There
�� Jeremy Mercer �� 3***
Several bad decision derailed Mercer’s journalism career in Canada, so he ran to Pa..."

That sounds good. Every time I see that store mentioned I regret that I didn’t visit it when I had the chance. I was sure I’d make it back to Paris someday.

My author is from France as well. I read The Margot Affair, the impressive debut novel from Sanaë Lemoine. The story mainly centers around a young French woman's relationship with her parents and their unconventional family living in the public eye. I also found it to be somewhat of a coming of age story, as Margot learns about navigating various relationships in her life and how easy it is to get burned.

I've read Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko and it is excellent! It's a fantasy novel that starts out with a normal teenage girl but it gets weirder, creepier, more abstract and philosophical as the story goes on. I don't throw my 5 stars around easily but this is one of them this year. They are from Ukraine and Vita Nostra was originally written in Russian (so could also count for the translation prompt).

I'm now reading Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky, which was also on my list for this prompt, but I'm not sure if I should count it. They are Russian and that does not feel like part of Europe to me (I am from the Netherlands if it makes any difference). Is 'culturally' Europe different from what is meant in the 'continental' Europe sense?

Jackie wrote: "Wouldn't Iceland, as an island, not count? I understand having some choice over whether to include Sweden, Norway, and Finland, but Iceland you would have to reach by sea."

No, it's not part of Europe at all but is in the mid-Atlantic. The historic population is a mix of Norse and Celtic (more of the former than the latter). All of my mother's forbears come from there, some moved there as early as the 9th century.

I've been reading around Europe this year, and Iceland counts as one of the official European countries according to the UN, as does Russia.

I agree it's not part of 'continental Europe' because, as you say, it's an island in the Atlantic.

I think this prompt would have been less confusing if the wording had been 'a book from mainland Europe'.

I read Family Happiness, a novella by Leo Tolstoy

I will be reading Jules and Jim by Henri-Pierre Roche and translated by Patrick Evans. The author is from France.