MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
Fiction
A breath of snow and ashes
| 2005
A breath of snow and ashes
Fiction
USA | 2005
A Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his 20th-century wife, Claire. The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution. With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the result will be independence
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
MEP
Dietmar Köster
Germany
Dietmar Köster
Germany
Non-fiction
Unsere Revolution. Wir brauchen eine gerechte Gesellschaft
| 2017
Unsere Revolution. Wir brauchen eine gerechte Gesellschaft
Our Revolution. A Future to Believe in
Non-fiction
USA | 2017
Throughout the Presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders galvanized voters with his progressive platform and vision for America. In the book, Sanders shares experiences from the campaign trail and outlines his ideas for continuing a political revolution.
MEP
Dietmar Köster
Germany
Dietmar Köster
Germany
MEP
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Essay
Hõbevalge
| 1976
Hõbevalge
"Silver White"
Essay
Estonia | 1976
This book focuses on the ancient history of Estonia and the Baltic region. Hõbvalge is based on geographical sources mainly derived from ancient navigators and reveals a careful analysis of the secret of the legendary Ultima Thule. Thule is the name that was given by the Greeks and Latins to the land farthest ever achieved in the North, and found to be situated six-day trip from Britain.
MEP
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Fiction
A gyertyák csonkig égnek
| 1942
A gyertyák csonkig égnek
Embers
Fiction
Hungary | 1942
In a secluded woodland castle an old General prepares to receive a rare visitor, a man who was once his closest friend but who he has not seen in years. Over the ensuing hours host and guest will fight a duel of words and silences, accusations and evasions. They will exhume the memory of their friendship and that of the General’s beautiful, long-dead wife. And they will return to the time the three of them last sat together following a hunt in the nearby forest - a hunt in which no game was taken but during which something was lost forever.
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
MEP
Viviane Reding
Luxembourg
Viviane Reding
Luxembourg
Fiction
Les loyautés
| 2018
Les loyautés
Fiction
France | 2018
Theo, the child of divorce, brings his friend Mathis on dangerous paths. His teacher Hélène - who was abused as a child, worries that Theo might be in danger in his family. Mathis' mother, needs support to protect her son. The loyalties are all the invisible links that connect and chain these four characters one to the other.
MEP
Viviane Reding
Luxembourg
Viviane Reding
Luxembourg
Découverte des démons silencieux
MEP
Monica Macovei
Romania
Monica Macovei
Romania
Memoir
Ocolul Mării Negre în 90 de zile.
| 2016
Ocolul Mării Negre în 90 de zile.
Trip around the Black See. 7 countries, 8 borders and a lived coup d'etat
Memoir
Romania | 2016
In 2015 soldiers were to be seen almost everywhere around the Black Sea. Sabina Fati decided to go for a trip around the Black Sea via Ukraine, Russia, Crimea Abkhazia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania, which resulted in a book that helps us clear our history, geopolitics and world culture in which we are placed.
MEP
Monica Macovei
Romania
Monica Macovei
Romania
After three months traveling around the Black Sea coast, Sabina Fati, writer, academic and Radio Free Europe Correspondent reflects in this book the people and politics of the countries along the Black Sea coast. This reporting trip took her through Romania, Ukraine, Crimea, Russia, Georgia, and Turkey. According to the author the geography of the Black Sea should unite those who live there, but instead politics divide people and they suffer as a result
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
Non-fiction
The Twenty Year Crisis 1919-1939
| 1939
The Twenty Year Crisis 1919-1939
Non-fiction
UK | 1939
E. H. Carr's classic work on international relations was immediately recognized by friend and foe alike as a defining work. The author was one of the most influential and controversial intellectuals of the 20th century. The issues and themes he developed continue to have relevance to modern day concerns with power and its distribution in the international system.
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
MEP
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Non-fiction
Contra el fanatismo
| 2002
Contra el fanatismo
Non-fiction
Israel | 2002
A unique insight into the true nature of fanaticism and proposes a reasoned and respectful approach to resolving the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
MEP
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
Poetry
The Clinic, Memory: New and Selected Poems
| 2017
The Clinic, Memory: New and Selected Poems
Poetry
UK | 2017
Elaine Feinstein has selected poems from the last half century of her writing life. They range widely: tender, early lyrics from ‘In a Green Eye’; elegies for her father and close friends, amused reflections on ageing and longer poems such as ‘Gold’, based on the life of Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart’s librettist, or the lot of refugees in ‘Migration’.
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
MEP
Julie Ward
UK
Julie Ward
UK
Anthology
Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline
| 2014
Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline
Anthology
UK | 2014
Syria Speaks is a celebration of a people determined to reclaim their dignity, freedom and self-expression. It showcases the work of over fifty artists and writers who are challenging the culture of violence in Syria. Their literature, poems and songs, cartoons, political posters and photographs document and interpret the momentous changes that have shifted the frame of reality so drastically in Syria.
MEP
Julie Ward
UK
Julie Ward
UK
Expert pick
Graphic Novel
Toen David zijn stem verloor
| 2012
Toen David zijn stem verloor
When David lost his Voice
Graphic Novel
Belgium | 2012
The moment his granddaughter Louise is born, David learns that he has cancer. But words were never his forte, and he’d rather keep quiet about his illness, the pain and the end that awaits him – much to the frustration of the women in his life. They wait, powerless, for the silent but inexorable end.
Expert pick
MEP
Brando Benifei
Italy
Brando Benifei
Italy
Fiction
Resistere non serve a niente
| 2012
Resistere non serve a niente
Resistance is futile
Fiction
Italy | 2012
This is the story of Tommaso, a former obese child brilliant in maths who turned into a finance juggler full of good intentions. He moves in a world where money commands and deforms, where possession is the only value, the body is like a currency and violence is a commercial advantage. Siti depicts in this book the famous “grey zone” that lays between finance and crime, where yielding bankers, rogue brokers, corrupted politicians and second-generation criminals roam free in their natural habitat.
MEP
Brando Benifei
Italy
Brando Benifei
Italy
MEP
Julia Reda
Germany
Julia Reda
Germany
Memoir
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
| 2016
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Memoir
South Africa | 2016
Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist.
MEP
Julia Reda
Germany
Julia Reda
Germany
An autobiography that passionately deals with themes of injustice, apartheid, poverty and domestic abuse, while still being genuinely funny and heart-warming
MEP
Arndt Kohn
Germany
Arndt Kohn
Germany
Non-fiction
Couchsurfing im Iran
| 2015
Couchsurfing im Iran
Couchsurfing in Iran
Non-fiction
Germany | 2015
A bikini party in the pilgrim town of Mashhad, an overnight stay next to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a sadomasochistic secret meeting in Tehran: In Iran, Stephan Orth experiences adventures that no tour operator would ever write in his catalog.
MEP
Arndt Kohn
Germany
Arndt Kohn
Germany
Unerwartete Einblicke in eine Kultur, deren Diversität und Vielfalt in den Medien nur schwer rüberkommt
MEP
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Graphic Novel
Mikel
| 2016
Mikel
Graphic Novel
Belgium | 2016
The incredible story of Mikel, the candy seller who became a bodyguard in the Basque Country in order to fulfill his dream of being a writer.
MEP
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Helga Stevens
Belgium
About the situation in the Basque country when ETA was still active and murdering people. About a person who is recruited to become a personal body guard. Interesting book! A graphic novel which is something different.
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
Non-fiction
The correspondence of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, Volume 2
| 2011
The correspondence of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, Volume 2
Non-fiction
UK | 2011
In this most political period of her life, Elizabeth devises, often unsuccessfully, ploys to gain financial, moral, and military support for the Palatine cause, frequently in direct opposition to her brother's wishes and demands. Her letters were the principal means by which she could exert her power on statesmen and military leaders.
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
MEP
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Memoir
Shantaram
| 2003
Shantaram
Memoir
Australia | 2003
Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear. Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals.
MEP
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
An extraordinary, colorful and dynamic reading, a journey through life, a story about people who change forever, about love, friendship, sacrifice and courage.
MEP
Viviane Reding
Luxembourg
Viviane Reding
Luxembourg
Essays
La vraie vie
| 2016
La vraie vie
The Real Life
Essays
France | 2016
At Socrate's time, the philosphers were accused of corrupting the youth. Adopting this point of view, Alain Badiou comes to corrupt youth by talking about what life can offer, why it is absolutely necessary to change the world and why it is necessary to take some risks.
MEP
Viviane Reding
Luxembourg
Viviane Reding
Luxembourg
Une relecture de Socrate
MEP
Anna Záborská
Slovakia
Anna Záborská
Slovakia
Children book
Veľká kniha slovenských rozprávok
| 2003
Veľká kniha slovenských rozprávok
Children book
Slovakia | 2003
Fifty of the most beautiful Slovak fairytales in a new collection curated by Slovak poet, playwright, writer, translator and children author Ľubomír Feldek
MEP
Anna Záborská
Slovakia
Anna Záborská
Slovakia
MEP
Agnes Jongerius
the Netherlands
Agnes Jongerius
the Netherlands
Children Book
Tow-Truck Pluck
| 1971
Tow-Truck Pluck
Children Book
the Netherlands | 1971
Pluck has a little red tow truck. He drives it all over town looking for a place to live. Then Dolly the pigeon tells him that the tower of the Pill Building is empty...
MEP
Agnes Jongerius
the Netherlands
Agnes Jongerius
the Netherlands
MEP
Carlos Coelho
Portugal
Carlos Coelho
Portugal
Non-fiction
Ética para um Jovem
| 1995
Ética para um Jovem
Non-fiction
Spain | 1995
Thought and written to be read by teenagers, this book invites the reader to reflect and ask new questions about freedom of choice, responsibility, the value of friendship, love, respect, possession and power.
MEP
Carlos Coelho
Portugal
Carlos Coelho
Portugal
MEP
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Children Book
A maior flor do Mundo
| 2001
A maior flor do Mundo
The biggest flower in the world
Children Book
Portugal | 2001
If children’s stories were required reading for adults, would we be capable of learning that which we’ve been teaching for so long? A beautiful tale for children—and adults—by Nobel Prize laureate José Saramago
MEP
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
MEP
Monica Macovei
Romania
Monica Macovei
Romania
Non-fiction
#rezist. Proteste împotriva OUG 13/2017
| 2017
#rezist. Proteste împotriva OUG 13/2017
#resist. Protests against GEO 13/2017
Non-fiction
Romania | 2017
An album documenting the protests against GEO 13/2017, the largest protest in the history of post-revolutionary Romania, with contributions from photographers, leading journalists, analysts and people of culture.
MEP
Monica Macovei
Romania
Monica Macovei
Romania
This book is a testimony of a moral revolution born out of indignation, a document about the civilization of dignity and the civism of principles. Over 600 people took the streets all over Romania in January-March 2017 against the Gov. decision to change the Criminal Codes to their benefits and escape of criminal sentences.The messages on the planters used by the protesters betray a fabulous creativity, humor, irony, honesty and intransigence. A true proof of the mobilizing power of words.
MEP
Guillaume Balas
France
Guillaume Balas
France
Fiction
Mémoires d'Hadrien
| 1951
Mémoires d'Hadrien
Fiction
France | 1951
Marguerite Yourcenar reimagines the Emperor Hadrian's arduous boyhood, his triumphs and reversals, and finally, as emperor, his gradual reordering of a war-torn world, writing with the imaginative insight of a great writer of the twentieth century while crafting a prose style as elegant and precise as those of the Latin stylists of Hadrian's own era.
MEP
Guillaume Balas
France
Guillaume Balas
France
MEP
Guillaume Balas
France
Guillaume Balas
France
Fiction
Désert
| 1980
Désert
Desert
Fiction
France | 1980
Desert is a novel composed of two alternating narratives, set in counterpoint. The first takes place in the desert between 1909 and 1912 and evokes the migration of a young adolescent boy, Nour, and his people, the Blue Men. The second narrative relates the contemporary story of Lalla, a descendant of the Blue Men.
MEP
Guillaume Balas
France
Guillaume Balas
France
MEP
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Fiction
L'attentat
| 2005
L'attentat
The Attack
Fiction
Algeria | 2005
Dr. Amin Jaafari, an Arab-Israeli citizen, is a surgeon at a hospital in Tel Aviv. Respected and admired, he represents integration at its most successful. But one night there is a deadly bombing in a local restaurant and his wife's body is found among the dead, with massive injuries that suggest she might be the attacker.
MEP
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Non-fiction
In Europa: Reizen door de twintigste eeuw
| 2006
In Europa: Reizen door de twintigste eeuw
In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century
Non-fiction
the Netherlands | 2006
From the First World War to the waning days of the Cold War, a poignant exploration on what it means to be European at the end of the twentieth-century. Geert Mak crisscrosses Europe from Verdun to Berlin, SaintPetersburg to Srebrenica in search of evidence and witnesses of the last hundred years of Europe, locating the smaller, personal stories within the epic arc of history.
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
MEP
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Essay
After Europe
| 2017
After Europe
Essay
USA | 2017
In this provocative book, renowned public intellectual Ivan Krastev reflects on the future of the European Union - and its potential lack of a future. With far-right nationalist parties on the rise across the continent and Brexit, the EU is in disarray and plagued by doubts as never before.
MEP
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Helga Trüpel
Germany
MEP
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Fiction
Darling river
| 2010
Darling river
Fiction
Sweden | 2010
Darling rivers , consists of variations on the story of Dolores Haze (Lolita). It tells the story of Lo, who spends her days seducing men (her ‘brothers’) on the muddy banks of the river of the title, and her nights being driven around in her father’s Jaguar through forest fires, while he runs over animals on the road, has sex in the car with prostitutes and shoots holes in Lo’s mother’s dresses hung up between trees.
MEP
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
MEP
Milan Zver
Slovenia
Milan Zver
Slovenia
Fiction
To noč sem jo videl
| 2010
To noč sem jo videl
That Night I Saw Her
Fiction
Slovenia | 2010
A love story in time of war told from the perspecive of five different characters, this is a novel about a few years in the life and mysterious disappearance of Veronika Zarnik, a young bourgeois woman from Ljubljana, sucked into the whirlwind of a turbulent period in history.
MEP
Milan Zver
Slovenia
Milan Zver
Slovenia
MEP
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Sociology
Resonanz: Eine Soziologie der WeltbeziehungGebundene
| 2016
Resonanz: Eine Soziologie der WeltbeziehungGebundene
"Resonance: a sociology of wellbeing"
Sociology
Germany | 2016
If acceleration is the problem, resonance is perhaps the solution. This is, brought to the shortest possible formula, the core thesis of the new book of Hartmut Rosa, which can be read as the founding document of a sociology of good life.
MEP
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Helga Trüpel
Germany
MEP
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
A Morte de um Apicultor
| 1972
A Morte de um Apicultor
Death of a beekeeper
Sweden | 1972
In the beginning of the winter thaw, Lars Lennart Westin has learned that he has cancer and will not live through spring.The Death of a Beekeeper, is his gentle, courageous, and sometimes comic meditation on living with pain.
MEP
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
MEP
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Fiction
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
| 2017
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Fiction
India | 2017
Anjum, who used to be Aftab, unrolls a threadbare carpet in a city graveyard that she calls home. A baby appears quite suddenly on a pavement, in a crib of litter. The enigmatic Tilottama is as much of a presence as she is an absence in the lives of the three men who love her. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is at once an aching love story and a decisive remonstration.
MEP
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
In the summer it’s worth getting out of Europe for a little while. Roy’s second book isn’t a light read, instead it deals with some of the darkest episodes of modern Indian history, but the excellent narration makes one want to keep reading and not look away.
MEP
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Fiction
Del color de la leche
| 2012
Del color de la leche
The Colour of Milk
Fiction
UK | 2012
Mary is a sharp-tongued farm girl, and she will do anything to learn to read and write. But as she does so through four seasons of one extraordinary year, she discovers that nothing comes for free.
MEP
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
MEP
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Fiction
Hjortronlandet
| 1955
Hjortronlandet
Fiction
Sweden | 1955
This cheerful, sometimes heartbreaking novel, brings the reader in the hard and difficult life of a community of farmers in the north of Sweden. Life pulses in every row and every word becomes a protest against human condition.
MEP
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
MEP
Tanja Fajon
Slovenia
Tanja Fajon
Slovenia
Non-fiction
Žižek's jokes
| 2014
Žižek's jokes
Non-fiction
UK | 2014
An entertaining but enlightening compilation of Zizekisms. This compact arrangement of jokes culled from Zizek's writings provides an index to certain philosophical, political, and sexual themes that preoccupy him.
MEP
Tanja Fajon
Slovenia
Tanja Fajon
Slovenia
MEP
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Classics
Tirant lo Blanc
| 1490
Tirant lo Blanc
Classics
Spain | 1490
A sweeping epic of chivalry and high adventure, Tirant lo Blanc describes with great precision and verve land and sea battles, duels, hunts, banquets, political maneuverings, and romantic conquests.
MEP
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
MEP
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Fiction
Patria
| 2016
Patria
"Homeland"
Fiction
Spain | 2016
The book presents an unforgettable story of two families, taking place in small rural village in the province Gipuzkoa, Basque Country where ETA established their totalitarian regime.
MEP
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
A couple weeks ago friend of mine - a Spanish MEP, gave me the novel "Patria" as a present. It is one of those books you must finish as soon as possible once you started reading.
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
Fiction
Bitterfittan 2
| 2017
Bitterfittan 2
Bitter Bitch 2
Fiction
Sweden | 2017
Ten years have passed since Sara left her husband and children for a week's pause in Tenerife. Family hell had drained her energy, she was bitter and tired. Now she finally divorced from her husband. But to start life as single people is significantly more complicated than she would have imagined.
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
MEP
Hannu Takkula
Finland
Hannu Takkula
Finland
Fiction
Lapinpoika
| 2016
Lapinpoika
"Lapland Son"
Fiction
Finland | 2016
Simo lives in a small village in Lapland, taking care of an ill uncle. One day he meets a brautiful girl by the lake and his life is changed forever. The book follows Simo as he moves to Helsinki, and depicts life in Finalnd and Lapland from the 1970s to the 1990s.
MEP
Hannu Takkula
Finland
Hannu Takkula
Finland
MEP
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Fiction
Alícia en Terra de Maravelles
| 1927
Alícia en Terra de Maravelles
Alice in wonderland
Fiction
Spain | 1927
An excellent translation of one of the most famous children books by the Catalan poet Josep Carner, despite the fact that translating Lewis Carroll is a real challenge, full of funny expressions, puns and cultural references.
MEP
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
MEP
Guillaume Balas
France
Guillaume Balas
France
Fiction
L'hibiscus pourpre
| 2003
L'hibiscus pourpre
Purple Hibiscus
Fiction
USA/Nigeria | 2003
Fifteen-year-old Kambili’s world is circumscribed by the high walls and frangipani trees of her family compound. When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili’s father sends her and her brother away to stay with their aunt. There they discover a life and love beyond the confines of their father’s authority.
MEP
Guillaume Balas
France
Guillaume Balas
France
MEP
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Fiction
Incèrta Glòria
| 1956
Incèrta Glòria
Fiction
Spain | 1956
Uncertain Glory was the first novel to tell the story of the Spanish Civil War from the losers' side. The novel's hero, Juli Soleras, perhaps the most compelling character in Catalan literature, is an anti-hero: half philosopher, half cynic, locked in an eternal struggle with himself. A thrilling epic that was censored heavily for a long time.
MEP
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
Josep-Maria Terricabras
Spain
MEP
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Fiction
The Sorrow of Belgium
| 1983
The Sorrow of Belgium
Fiction
Belgium | 1983
A searing, scathingly funny portrait of a wartime Belgium and one boy's coming of age-emotionally, sexually, and politically. Epic in scope, by turns hilarious and elegiac, The masterwork of one of the world's greatest contemporary authors.
MEP
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Sometimes it feels like the EU bubble segregates us MEPs from the Belgian culture, and my project for this spring has been to read books from Belgian authors. Hugo Claus’ best-known work about the German occupation of Belgium and it’s aftermath is really worth reading.
MEP
Luděk Niedermayer
Czech Republic
Luděk Niedermayer
Czech Republic
Fiction
Na jih od hranic, na západ od slunce
| 2008
Na jih od hranic, na západ od slunce
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Fiction
Japan | 2008
During his childhood, Hajime's sole companion was Shimamoto, also an only child. Together they spent long afternoons listening to her father's record collection. But when his family moved away, the two lost touch. Now Hajime is in his thirties,he has a loving wife and two daughters, and success running a jazz bar. But one day Shimamoto comes back
MEP
Luděk Niedermayer
Czech Republic
Luděk Niedermayer
Czech Republic
For me, Murakami is the Japanese Kundera, I like several of his books, but this one the most
MEP
Julie Ward
United Kingdom
Julie Ward
United Kingdom
Memoir
The Lightless Sky
| 2016
The Lightless Sky
Memoir
UK/Afghanistan | 2016
A gripping, inspiring, and eye-opening memoir of fortitude and survival—of a twelve-year-old boy’s traumatic flight from Afghanistan to the West—that puts a face to one of the most shocking and devastating humanitarian crises of our time.
MEP
Julie Ward
United Kingdom
Julie Ward
United Kingdom
MEP
Romana Tomc
Slovenia
Romana Tomc
Slovenia
Fiction
White panther
| 2018
White panther
Fiction
Slovenia | 2018
203BC. For the Karnian people, in the idyllic mountain passes of Slovenia, the Roman Empire is no longer a distant menace: the legions are massing on their borders. A powerful yet lyrical tale that combines the sweep of history with the human impact of empire and war.
MEP
Romana Tomc
Slovenia
Romana Tomc
Slovenia
MEP
Hannu Takkula
Finland
Hannu Takkula
Finland
Fiction
Di familye Mushkat
| 1950
Di familye Mushkat
The family Moskat
Fiction
USA | 1950
In the topsy-turvy years between the dawn of the twentieth century and the dark days of 1939, the Moskat family battled on. But like many Jewish families in Poland they can no longer turn a blind eye to the dwindling of their fortunes. In Warsaw, where saints mingle with swindlers, tough Zionists argue with mystic philosophers, and medieval rabbis rub shoulders with ultra-modern painters, life is inexorably changing. Secularism and war inch nearer and the family Moskat clings on.
MEP
Hannu Takkula
Finland
Hannu Takkula
Finland
MEP
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Non-fiction
Viņš un viņa. Mīlestība, Attiecības, Sekss
| 2016
Viņš un viņa. Mīlestība, Attiecības, Sekss
"She and he. Love, relationship, sex"
Non-fiction
Latvia | 2016
A comprehensive analysis of human relationships by highly respected Latvian theologian Juris Rubenis.
MEP
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
MEP
Antanas Guoga
Lithuania
Antanas Guoga
Lithuania
Fiction
The Underground Railroad
| 2016
The Underground Railroad
Fiction
USA | 2016
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hellish for all the slaves but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood - where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape.
MEP
Antanas Guoga
Lithuania
Antanas Guoga
Lithuania
MEP
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
História de Um Idiota Contada por Ele Mesmo
| 1986
História de Um Idiota Contada por Ele Mesmo
Story of an idiot told by himself
Spain | 1986
The protagonist of this novel is a twentieth-century idiot. Victim of the zoological folly of the European postwar period, our character is engaged in an eager and monothematic investigation on happiness, which leads him inexorably to ruin.
MEP
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
MEP
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Non-fiction
Sovjetistan
| 2014
Sovjetistan
Non-fiction
Norway | 2014
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Fascinating Central Asian countries that lost their own identity in the Soviet era. What is left of that Soviet influence, now that they have been independent for more than a quarter of a century?
MEP
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Helga Stevens
Belgium
As member of the EP Delegation for Central Asia this book helped me to understand the 5 different Central Asian states better. Also provided me with interesting and useful historical insight regarding Russia and these countries. My parents gave it to me as a Christmas gift.
MEP
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Fiction
Tørst
| 2017
Tørst
Thirst
Fiction
Norway | 2017
Maverick detective Harry Holes is back, inextricably drawn back into the Oslo police force. A serial murderer has begun targeting Tinder daters—a murderer whose MO reignites Harry's hunt for a nemesis of his past.
MEP
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Fiction
Zwei Herren am Strand
| 2014
Zwei Herren am Strand
Two Gentlemen on the Beach
Fiction
Austria | 2014
On the face of it, Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin – two icons of the twentieth century – couldn’t be more different. But they are bound by a dark secret: both suffer from depression. When a chance encounter reveals what they share, an unusual and unlikely friendship ensues. A series of therapeutic meetings across the world, in Germany, England and America, sees each become the other’s confidant as they talk of their ‘black dog days’.
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
You will like this intelligent book about the improbable relationship between two geniuses, Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill, who contrast sharply but who could still have agreed on the essence.
MEP
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Fiction
Livro do Desassossego
| 1982
Livro do Desassossego
The book of diquiet
Fiction
Portugal | 1982
This unique collection of short, aphoristic paragraphs comprises the "autobiography" of Bernardo Soares, one of Pessoa's alternate selves. Part intimate diary, part prose poetry, part descriptive narrative, The Book of Disquiet is one of the greatest works of the twentieth century.
MEP
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
I really recommend you to read this book because it is the most important work of a poet that merges the Portuguese identity with our universal soul.
MEP
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
Fiction
Admirável Mundo Novo
| 2013
Admirável Mundo Novo
Brave New World
Fiction
UK | 2013
Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free.
MEP
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
Liliana Rodrigues
Portugal
MEP
Dietmar Köster
Germany
Dietmar Köster
Germany
Non-fiction
Rückkehr nach Reims
| 2009
Rückkehr nach Reims
Returning to Reims
Non-fiction
France | 2009
A remarkable book of sociological inquiry and critical theory, of interest to anyone concerned with the direction of leftist politics in the contemporary world, and to anyone who has ever experienced how sexual identity can clash with other parts of one's identity.
MEP
Dietmar Köster
Germany
Dietmar Köster
Germany
Expert pick
Graphic Novel
My Boy
| 2006
My Boy
Graphic Novel
Belgium | 2006
A tiny little boy and his single father are the heroes of these unpredictable adventures that soon take a disastrous turn. The kid's small size makes him the ideal prey to crocodiles, the Pygmies' hostage, and in brief, the victim of numerous traps.
Expert pick
MEP
Victor Negrescu
Romania
Victor Negrescu
Romania
Fiction
Historia de Mayta
| 1984
Historia de Mayta
The real life of Alejandro Mayta
Fiction
Peru | 1984
The Peru of the near future is in the throes of an insurgency. A revolutionary army is taking on the failing government and the US Marines, and the cities have become vast garbage-strewn slums. In the midst of this, the narrator attempts to reconstruct the story of his friend, a modern revolutionary. The novel probes the long and checkered history of radical politics in Latin America.
MEP
Victor Negrescu
Romania
Victor Negrescu
Romania
I love this book because, even if the topic is no longer relevant for our global political environment, it capture some aspects that each socialist should consider: pure idealism, pursue of equality or fighting for human rights. Also, another important lesson that one can learn reading this book is that our small ideological differences should not stop us from acting together for common main objectives.
MEP
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Poetry
Epifānijas
| 1978
Epifānijas
Epiphanies
Poetry
Latvia | 1978
A collection of Epiphanies -- peculiar poems in prose, labeled with the ancient Greek name of the genre. Emotional-journalistic dialogues with the reader, philosophical reflections on life by famous Latvian poet Imants Ziedonis.
MEP
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
Fiction
Homegoing
| 2016
Homegoing
Fiction
USA | 2016
Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort, while her sister, Esi, is imprisoned and sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery.
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
MEP
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Short stories
East of the West: A Country in Stories
| 2011
East of the West: A Country in Stories
Short stories
USA / Bulgaria | 2011
A grandson tries to buy the corpse of Lenin on eBay for his Communist grandfather. A failed wunderkind steals a golden cross from an Orthodox church. A boy meets his cousin (the love of his life) once every five years in the river that divides their village into east and west. These are Miroslav Penkov's strange, unexpectedly moving visions of his home country, Bulgaria, and they are the stories that make up his beguiling and deeply felt debut.
MEP
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
MEP
Inese Vaidere
Latvia
Inese Vaidere
Latvia
Fiction
Mātes piens
| 2015
Mātes piens
Soviet Milk
Fiction
Latvia | 2015
A troubled mother-daughter relationship set in the the Soviet-ruled Baltics between 1969 and 1989, which tells the story of three generations of women, and the importance of a grandmother giving her granddaughter what her daughter is unable to provide – love, and the desire for life.
MEP
Inese Vaidere
Latvia
Inese Vaidere
Latvia
Expert pick
Poetry
Kameleon
| 2015
Kameleon
Poetry
Belgium | 2015
The poems in Kameleon consitute a "road trip" around a woman's body, explored through a multitude of memories, landscapes and images.
Expert pick
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
Memoir
En storm kom från paradiset
| 2012
En storm kom från paradiset
A Storm Blew in from Paradise
Memoir
Sweden | 2012
A Storm Blew in from Paradise is both the story of Anyuru's father, P, a Ugandan pilot who deserted, and of Anyuru himself. Both men grew up without their fathers, an emotional void that had a serious impact on their lives. P makes a promising start as a fighter-pilot, but he soon finds himself a refugee, on the run like a hunted animal - while his only dream is to fly. Anyuru, growing up as a first-generation Swede, can't seem to leave the past behind, either.
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
MEP
Julie Ward
United Kingdom
Julie Ward
United Kingdom
Fiction
The Holy Woman
| 2001
The Holy Woman
Fiction
UK/Pakistan | 2001
Set in contemporary Pakistan, London and Egypt, the Holy Woman is a powerful and compelling family drama. A romantic story of love and betrayal set in a wealthy Muslim community, with all the pressures and conflicts that modern life and old traditions bring.
MEP
Julie Ward
United Kingdom
Julie Ward
United Kingdom
MEP
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Fiction
A good year
| 2004
A good year
Fiction
UK | 2004
Max Skinner has recently lost his job at a London financial firm and just as recently learned that he has inherited his late uncle's vineyard in Provence. On arrival he finds the climate delicious, the food even better, and two of the locals ravishing. Unfortunately, the wine produced on his new property is swill. Why then are so many people interested in it?
MEP
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
MEP
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Non-fiction
The Emperor
| 1978
The Emperor
Non-fiction
Poland | 1978
This sensitive, powerful history is Kapuscinski's rendition of Haile Selassie king of Ethiopia, living amidst nearly unimaginable pomp and luxury while his people teetered between hunger and starvation.
MEP
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
MEP
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Fiction
Memorial do Convento
| 1982
Memorial do Convento
Baltasar and Blimunda
Fiction
Portugal | 1982
When King and Church exercise absolute power what happens to the dreams of ordinary people? From the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, a brilliant, enchanting novel of romance, deceit, religion, and magic set in eighteenth-century Portugal at the height of the Inquisition.
MEP
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
Carlos Zorrinho
Portugal
I love this book because it recovers the illusions, fantasies and aspirations of a Portugal that once dreamt of being great and eternal, despite being fragile and delicate.
MEP
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Non-fiction
Yihadismo
| 2016
Yihadismo
Jihadism
Non-fiction
Spain | 2016
What is behind jihadism? From Al Qaeda and the Arab Springs, passing through the creation of the Islamic State, Ballesteros tells the facts chronologically and instructively, with the sole purpose of clarifying a complicated phenomenon.
MEP
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz
Spain
Expert pick
Fiction
Swing Time
| 2016
Swing Time
Fiction
UK | 2016
Two brown girls dream of being dancers--but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, about what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either.
Expert pick
MEP
Brando Benifei
Italy
Brando Benifei
Italy
Non-fiction
World Order
| 2014
World Order
Non-fiction
USA | 2014
Drawing on his experience as one of the foremost statesmen of the modern era—advising presidents, traveling the world, observing and shaping the central foreign policy events of recent decades—Kissinger now reveals his analysis of the ultimate challenge for the twenty-first century: how to build a shared international order in a world of divergent historical perspectives, violent conflict, proliferating technology, and ideological extremism. A deep meditation on the roots of international harmony and global disorder.
MEP
Brando Benifei
Italy
Brando Benifei
Italy
MEP
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Fiction
De kommer att drunkna i sina mödrars tårar
| 2017
De kommer att drunkna i sina mödrars tårar
They will drown in the tears of their mothers
Fiction
Sweden | 2017
One winter evening, three individuals who swear fidelity to ISIS enter a bookstore. A controversial artist's appearance is interrupted by a gun shot, panic breaks out and everyone in the room is taken as hostage. But one of the attackers, a young woman who has the task of filming the violence, has a secret that can change everything.
MEP
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Fiction
Olga
| 2018
Olga
Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free.
Fiction
Germany | 2018
Olga, the protagonist of the new book, is an orphan raised by her grandmother at the start of the 20th century. She falls in love against all the odds with Herbert, a local aristocrat. In her thoughts and letters, Olga stays close to Herbert throughout her life.
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Olga ist ein besinnlicher Roman. Eigentlich ist es eine außergewöhnliche Liebesgeschichte zwischen zwei Außenseitern und zugleich ein Panorama über ein Jahrhundert Deutschland, über die verschiedenen Ideologien, die dieses Jahrhundert geprägt haben und die Art, wie die Menschen damit umgehen konnten und mussten.
MEP
Michela Giuffrida
Italy
Michela Giuffrida
Italy
Fiction
Il Gattopardo
| 1958
Il Gattopardo
The Leopard
Fiction
Italy | 1958
A story of a decadent and dying aristocracy threatened by the forces of revolution and democracy. Set against the political upheavals of Italy in the 1860s, it focuses on Don Fabrizio, a Sicilian prince of immense sensual appetites, wealth, and great personal magnetism.
MEP
Michela Giuffrida
Italy
Michela Giuffrida
Italy
MEP
Ruža Tomašić
Croatia
Ruža Tomašić
Croatia
Fiction
Cardinal of the Kremlin
| 1988
Cardinal of the Kremlin
Fiction
USA | 1988
A classic spy thriller, dealing with with CIA, KGB, spies and counter-intelligence, set in the Cold War during the race to build the first Star Wars missile defense system.
MEP
Ruža Tomašić
Croatia
Ruža Tomašić
Croatia
MEP
Annie Schreijer-Pierik
the Netherlands
Annie Schreijer-Pierik
the Netherlands
Travel guide
Twaalf Twentse tochten
| 2014
Twaalf Twentse tochten
Twelve Twentse Tours
Travel guide
the Netherlands | 2014
Twelve circular walks to discover the Dutch Twente region at its best.
MEP
Annie Schreijer-Pierik
the Netherlands
Annie Schreijer-Pierik
the Netherlands
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Essays
Utopies réalistes
| 2017
Utopies réalistes
Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World
Essays
the Netherlands | 2017
We live in a time of unprecedented uncertainty. We have questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. We need a new movement, an utopy for realists.
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Si vous êtes un homme ou une femme de gauche et si vous avez le moral en berne, lisez ce livre rafraîchissant de Rutger Bregman. Il rappelle que les utopies d’hier sont devenues des réalités aujourd’hui même si souvent il a fallu des siècles avant que des avancées remarquables n’aient été acquises, ainsi de l’abolition de l’esclavage ou encore le vote des femmes. Et donc pourquoi pas imaginer le revenu universel ? Bregman a fait ses recherches, il donne des exemples de projets qui ont réussi et explique pourquoi la pauvreté constitue un piège qui empêche de développer des stratégies de long terme.
MEP
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Fiction
All the Rivers
| 2016
All the Rivers
Fiction
Germany | 2016
When Liat meets Hilmi on a blustery autumn afternoon in Greenwich Village, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Charismatic and handsome, Hilmi is a talented young artist from Palestine. Liat, an aspiring translation student, plans to return to Israel the following summer. Despite knowing that their love can be only temporary, that it can exist only away from their conflicted homeland, Liat lets herself be enraptured by Hilmi
MEP
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Helga Trüpel
Germany
MEP
Victor Negrescu
Romania
Victor Negrescu
Romania
Non-fiction
Dependență și dezvoltare. Economia politică a capitalismului românesc
| 2014
Dependență și dezvoltare. Economia politică a capitalismului românesc
Dependence and development. Political economy of the Romanian capital
Non-fiction
Romania | 2014
Romanian modern economic history unfolds in eight chapters covering the period from the dawn of the local capitalist state, in mid-19th century, to the contemporary state policies, in the aftermath of the 2008 Great Depression.
MEP
Victor Negrescu
Romania
Victor Negrescu
Romania
I really recommend you to read this book because it is offering an impressive perspective on the development of the Romanian economy since the Independence time. Cornel Ban did a great job emphasizing the mechanisms of development and underdevelopment during different ages of the Romanian history like the economic dependence on the Austrian Empire, Inter-War period, Communism and transition to capitalism.
MEP
Monica Macovei
Romania
Monica Macovei
Romania
Fiction
The Spinoza problem
| 2012
The Spinoza problem
Fiction
USA | 2012
By imagining the unexpected intersection of Spinoza’s life with Rosenberg’s, Yalom explores the mindsets of two men separated by 300 years. Using his skills as a psychiatrist, he explores the inner lives of Spinoza, the saintly secular philosopher, and of Rosenberg, the godless mass murderer.
MEP
Monica Macovei
Romania
Monica Macovei
Romania
The Spinoza Problem is a story based on historical facts wherein the heroic philosopher is persecuted in two eras. One governed by medieval superstition describing Baruch Spinoza’s life. The other one governed by totalitarian racism, dealing with the life of a Nazi.
Yalom juxtaposes the story of the seventeenth-century thinker Baruch Spinoza, whose philosophy led to his own excommunication from the Jewish community, with that of the rise and fall of the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg, who ordered his task force to plunder Spinoza’s ancient library in an effort to protect it and deal with the Nazis’ “Spinoza Problem.”
Alternating between Golden Age Amsterdam and Nazi Germany, the book tells the story of the inner lives of these two enigmatic men in a tale of influence and anxiety, the origins of good and evil, and the philosophy of freedom and the tyranny of terror.
MEP
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Fiction
Tiikerinsilmä
| 2016
Tiikerinsilmä
Tigereye
Fiction
Finland | 2016
New York-trained bodyguard, Hilja Ilverkero is back. She’s recruited by 92-year-old business woman Lovisa Johnsonia, who made a fortune in textile and has no children. Who has attempted to murder Lovisa? Tiger Eye is an exciting and funny independent sequel to the crime “Bodyguard” series, by acclaimed Finnish author Leena Letholainen.
MEP
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
MEP
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Fiction
Svina garša
| 2015
Svina garša
"Lead taste"
Fiction
Latvia | 2015
The everyday life in the first years of the war (1939 - 1941) in Riga as seen from the eyes of an ordinary man: Matīsa Birkena, a painter who, in spite of everything, is in search for love. A novel about people, friendship,evil, courage and, of course, about love. This book is part of a novel series called "We. Latvia, XX century", which helps the reader understand the complex history of Latvia in the XX cetury.
MEP
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
MEP
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Biography
De levens van Jan Six
| 2016
De levens van Jan Six
The lives of Jan Six
Biography
the Netherlands | 2016
This is the story of Jan Six, his family and his many lives. His portrait is considered to be the best that his friend Rembrandt ever made, it still hangs - uniquely - in the family house on the Amstel. the story of an Amsterdam elite family through four centuries. But it is also the story of a city and the spirit of the times, of ambitions and limitations, of grandeur and the eternal fear of the decline.
MEP
Helga Stevens
Belgium
Helga Stevens
Belgium
This family history spans a period from mid 16th century until now. It was a rich family of weavers which fled French Flanders during the Contrareformation and Inquisition and found refuge in Amsterdam. Soon the Six family became part of the ‘governing elite’ of Amsterdam. Their “adventures” were intertwined with the history of the city of Amsterdam in particular and the Netherlands in general. A good way to refresh our memory of that part of our common history. The book also shows that actually little has changed over time: persecution on the basis of belief/religion or opinion, migration, corruption, greed (the one percent!), and abuse of power, etc.
MEP
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Poetry
Mūžības skartie
| 1931
Mūžības skartie
Touched By Eternity
Poetry
Latvia | 1931
These twenty-four poems tell the story of Latvian riflemen fighting in the trenches of World War I and Civil War fronts.
MEP
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
Artis Pabriks
Latvia
MEP
Seán Kelly
Ireland
Seán Kelly
Ireland
Fiction
That They May Face the Rising Sun
| 2001
That They May Face the Rising Sun
Fiction
Ireland | 2001
John McGahern brings to vivid life the world and the people of a contemporary Irish village.It is a village flirting with the more sophisticated trappings of modernity but steeped in the traditions of its unforgettable inhabitants and their lives. With deceptive simplicity and eloquence, the author reveals the fundamental workings of human nature as it encounters the extraordinary trials and pleasures, terrors and beauty, of ordinary life.
MEP
Seán Kelly
Ireland
Seán Kelly
Ireland
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Fiction
Charlotte
| 2014
Charlotte
Fiction
France | 2014
The true story of Charlotte Salomon, a talented and gifted painter in love with a brilliant, eccentric musician.But the Nazis have come to power and, a Jew in Berlin, her life is narrowing – she is kept from her art, torn from her love and her family, chased from her country. And still she is not safe, not from the madness that has hunted her family, or the one gripping Europe . . .
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
You will like this poetic novel, powerful and sad, which retraces the tragic life of a female artist painter suffering from family demons and victim of the Nazis.
MEP
Sirpa Pietikäinen
Finland
Sirpa Pietikäinen
Finland
Non-fiction
The Second Machine Age
| 2014
The Second Machine Age
Non-fiction
USA | 2014
A fundamentally optimistic book that alters how we think about issues of technological, societal, and economic progress. In The Second Machine Age MIT’s Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee—two thinkers at the forefront of their field—reveal the forces driving the reinvention of our lives and our economy.
MEP
Sirpa Pietikäinen
Finland
Sirpa Pietikäinen
Finland
MEP
Ivo Belet
Belgium
Ivo Belet
Belgium
Fiction
Le train
| 1961
Le train
The Train
Fiction
Belgium | 1961
When Nazi tanks approach the Ardennes in 1940, Marcel Ferón --a timid and happy man must abandon his home and confront the “Fate” that he has secretly awaited.
MEP
Ivo Belet
Belgium
Ivo Belet
Belgium
Written in 1961, but in a very fresh language. About the journey/escape of a young family that's on the run, through France, the first days after the outbreak of the 2nd World War.
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
Short stories
Любовь пчел трудовых
| 1923
Любовь пчел трудовых
Love of Worker Bees
Short stories
USSR | 1923
Love of Worker Bees consists of a remarkable novel and two striking short stories.The novel is both a moving love story and a rare graphic portrait of Russian life after the October revolution in 1917. The heroine, Vasilia, struggles to come to terms with her passionate love for her husband and the new world that is coming into being around her. The two stories, "Three Generations" and "Sisters," provide more poignant and fascinating insights into the situation of women.
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
Autobiography
Personal History
| 1997
Personal History
Autobiography
USA | 1997
In this autobiography, the owner of the Washington Post has chosen to be remarkably candid about the insecurities prompted by remote parents and a difficult marriage to the charismatic, manic-depressive Phil Graham, who ran the newspaper her father acquired.
MEP
Catherine Stihler
UK
Catherine Stihler
UK
MEP
Seán Kelly
Ireland
Seán Kelly
Ireland
Memoir
The Choice
| 2018
The Choice
Memoir
Ireland | 2018
A profound and inspirational memoir, Dublin footballer Philly McMahon wrote after the loss of his brother John. The book traces his and John’s paths, from his earliest recollections of their childhood through the maelstrom of Ballymun’s heroin epidemic.
MEP
Seán Kelly
Ireland
Seán Kelly
Ireland
The book is a highly moving and gripping read. Philly is insightful and compassionate. As former president of the GAA, I found it very inspiring to read of the strength that he drew from sport in such troubling circumstances.
MEP
Luděk Niedermayer
Czech Republic
Luděk Niedermayer
Czech Republic
Fiction
Žert
| 1967
Žert
The Joke
Fiction
Czech Republic | 1967
Milan Kundera's first novel about a joke that will change forever the main charcter's life. Ludvik Jahn, attempting to show his girlfriend a bit of charm and a sense of humor, wrote in a postcard to her: "Optimism is the opium of mankind! A healthy spirit stinks of stupidity! Long live Trotsky!"
MEP
Luděk Niedermayer
Czech Republic
Luděk Niedermayer
Czech Republic
One of my favourite books, I have read it several times and I plan on reading it once again. I might even add something else from Kundera.
Expert pick
Fiction
Other People’s Countries: A Journey Into memory
| 2014
Other People’s Countries: A Journey Into memory
Fiction
UK | 2014
This book evolved out of stories the author told his children: stories about the Belgian border town of Bouillon, where his mother came from, and where he has been going three times a year since he was a child – first with his parents and now with his son and daughter. A stunning piece of lyrical writing.
Expert pick
MEP
Julie Ward
UK
Julie Ward
UK
Autobiography
My Brief History
| 2013
My Brief History
Autobiography
UK | 2013
Hawking’s improbable journey, from his postwar London boyhood to his years as one of the most brilliant comsmologist and theoretical physicist of our age. Clear-eyed, intimate, and wise, My Brief History opens a window for the rest of us into Hawking’s personal cosmos.
MEP
Julie Ward
UK
Julie Ward
UK
I am in awe of Hawking as I don’t do numbers and he was a Professor of Mathematics. His achievement is far more than intellectual as he managed to confound the laws of probability by living and working for decades following being diagnosed with a rare form of Motor Neurone disease aged 21. He was given 3 years to live but survived to 76. As a disability rights campaigner I know how important it is to have role models and champions. I love that Hawking was so unconfined. He did stuff about stars and space, black holes and gravity. He was also a committed European
MEP
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Fiction
Sandmannen
| 2012
Sandmannen
The Sandman
Fiction
Sweden | 2012
During a cold winter night in Stockholm a man is found walking alongside a railway bridge, suffering from hypothermia and legionella. After he's rushed to the hospital, it's discovered that, according to a death certificate, the man has been dead for over seven years. As Joona Linna investigates where the "dead man" has been all these years, some unexpected evidence leads to the reopening of a cold case. Danger is imminent.
MEP
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
MEP
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Short stories
Too much happiness
| 2009
Too much happiness
Short stories
Canada | 2009
With clarity and ease, Alice Munro once again renders complex, difficult events and emotions into ten superb stories that shed light on the unpredictable ways in which men and women accommodate and often transcend what happens in their lives.
MEP
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
Marita Ulvskog
Sweden
MEP
Brando Benifei
Italy
Brando Benifei
Italy
Fiction
L'amica geniale
| 2011
L'amica geniale
My brilliant friend
Fiction
Italy | 2011
Through the lives of the fiery and unforgettable Lila, and the bookish narrator, Elena, in a poor neighborhood in the outskirts of Naples at the beginning of the 1950s, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists.
MEP
Brando Benifei
Italy
Brando Benifei
Italy
MEP
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
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Fiction
The Circle
| 2013
The Circle
Fiction
USA | 2013
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. She can’t believe her luck - even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
MEP
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Expert pick
Fiction
Sommerfrische
| 2009
Sommerfrische
Summer Resort
Fiction
Germany | 2009
On the endless Hungarian plain it is the hottest summer in memory and everyone in the village dreams of the sweet life in Üdülö, a summer resort on a river. Tales of onion kings and melon pickers, of scrapyards and sugar beet factories, paint a vivid and human picture of their world.
Expert pick
MEP
Antanas Guoga
Lithuania
Antanas Guoga
Lithuania
Non-fiction
Homo Deus
| 2015
Homo Deus
Non-fiction
USA/Israel | 2015
In this vivid, challenging book Yuval Noah Harari examines the implications of our newly upgraded condition, from our dogged pursuit of status and happiness to our constant quest to overcome death by pushing the boundaries of science
MEP
Antanas Guoga
Lithuania
Antanas Guoga
Lithuania
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Fiction
Kindsoldaat
| 2018
Kindsoldaat
Child soldier
Fiction
the Netherlands | 2018
Twins Nol and Max were born in a Ducth castle at the border with Germany at the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the WW1 the brothers leave the castle through different gates, and end up on different sides of history.
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
A beautiful novel set in the border region between the Netherlands and Germany (the region in which I was born). The story covers the entire 20th century and thus touches the heart of the European construction seen through the lens of a family’s personal story (and link to the Dutch royal family).
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Fiction
Die Hauptstadt
| 2017
Die Hauptstadt
The Capital
Fiction
Austria | 2017
Fenia Xenapoulou is facing a career setback. She is to revamp the boring image of the European Commission. Her assistant suggests proclaiming Auschwitz as the birthplace of the European Commission. Fenia is thrilled, but she didn’t take the other EU nations into account. and she can’t count on David de Vriend, one of the last living witnesses, any longer: he runs to the metro station Maalbeek at the wrong time...
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
EU nerds will spot some inaccuracies, but it’s good to read a fiction book set in Brussels for once. The book is a good read in itself, while teaching readers along the way about the history of Europe and the EU.
MEP
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Fiction
Остров Крах
| 2016
Остров Крах
The Crack-Up Island
Fiction
Bulgaria | 2016
The Crack-Up Island presents two women telling their singular stories. They barely know each other, yet a magic liaison exists between them, because one of them is a newly self-initiated amateur astrologer and reads in the stars that a coming crack-up is threatening the other. Each of the women knows only her part of the story and the narrative pieces have to be fitted into one whole by the reader, like in a puzzle.
MEP
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Eva Maydell
Bulgaria
Laureate of the European Literature Prize 2017
MEP
Ana Gomes
Portugal
Ana Gomes
Portugal
Fiction
Sinais de Fogo
| 1978
Sinais de Fogo
Signs of Fire
Fiction
Portugal | 1978
Set in Portugal at the time of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Jorge is a student staying on holiday with his uncle in Figueira. His uncle gives shelter to two Spaniards, fugitives from the Portuguese police. If the two men are captured they will be returned to certain death.
MEP
Ana Gomes
Portugal
Ana Gomes
Portugal
MEP
Igor Šoltes
Slovenia
Igor Šoltes
Slovenia
Fiction
The bridge on the Drina
| 1945
The bridge on the Drina
Fiction
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1945
A vivid depiction of the suffering history has imposed upon the people of Bosnia from the late sixteenth century to the beginning of World War I, The Bridge on the Drina won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961.
MEP
Igor Šoltes
Slovenia
Igor Šoltes
Slovenia
MEP
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Non-fiction
King kong théorie
| 2006
King kong théorie
Non-fiction
France | 2006
Virginie Despentes explodes common attitudes about sex and gender, and shows how modern beauty myths are ripe for rebelling against. A highly charged account of women's lives today.
MEP
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
MEP
Guillaume Balas
France
Guillaume Balas
France
Fiction
The Alexandria quartet
| 1960
The Alexandria quartet
Fiction
UK | 1960
Lawrence Durrell's celebrated tetralogy from the 1950s, was defined by its author as "an investigation of modern love", but has often been regarded by its readers more as an evocation of a city – the Greco-Arab, multi-ethnic Alexandria of its title. Almost infinite variations of love are certainly explored in its 1,000-odd pages, and the presence of Alexandria certainly permeates the work, but the legendary fascination of the quartet is essentially existential. The work itself is greater than its themes, and casts a spell that is neither precisely emotional nor specifically topographic.
MEP
Guillaume Balas
France
Guillaume Balas
France
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
Fiction
Jag heter inte Miriam
| 2014
Jag heter inte Miriam
"I am not called Miriam"
Fiction
Sweden | 2014
When the family gathered around Miriam's bed to celebrate her 85th birthday, they think that she has gone mad. Why does she says she’s not called Miriam? The truth behind the tattoo on Miriam's arm, about how she became Miriam, begin to slowly come up and it's a totally different story than the one family expects. It is a story of self-deception, shame and exclusion, on Europe's painful history, about the situation of Roma and Sweden in the postwar period.
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
MEP
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Non-fiction
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
| 2014
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
Non-fiction
USA | 2014
Forget everything you think you know about global warming. It's not about carbon – it's about capitalism. In her most provocative book yet, Naomi Klein, author of the global bestseller No Logo, exposes the myths that are clouding climate debate.
MEP
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
Merja Kyllönen
Finland
MEP
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Fiction
Puhdistus
| 2008
Puhdistus
Purge
Fiction
Finland | 2008
When Aliide Truu, an older woman living alone in the Estonian countryside, finds a disheveled girl huddled in her front yard, she suppresses her misgivings and offers her shelter. Zara is a young sex-trafficking victim on the run from her captors, but a photo she carries with her soon makes it clear that her arrival at Aliide's home is no coincidence.
MEP
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
MEP
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Non-fiction
De Crisiskaravaan: Achter de Schermen van de Noodhulpindustrie
| 2010
De Crisiskaravaan: Achter de Schermen van de Noodhulpindustrie
The Crisis Caravan: What's Wrong with Humanitarian Aid?
Non-fiction
the Netherlands | 2010
A no-holds-barred, controversial exposé of the financial profiteering and ambiguous ethics that pervade the world of humanitarian aid. In a narrative that is impassioned, gripping, and even darkly absurd, journalist Linda Polman takes us to war zones around the globe: from the NGO-dense operations in "Afghaniscam" to the floating clinics of Texas Mercy Ships proselytizing off the shores of West Africa to show the often compromised results of aid workers' best intentions.
MEP
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
Bogdan Wenta
Poland
As member of DEVE Committee in the European Parliament, “The Crisis Caravan” by Linda Polman is a very interesting reading. Excellently written, very depressing and shocking evaluation of activities taken by humanitarian aid organizations and the whole industry connected with organizing humanitarian aid. It leaves the reader with questions for a long time.
MEP
Sergio Gaetano Cofferati
Italy
Sergio Gaetano Cofferati
Italy
Non-fiction
Il puzzle Moro
| 2018
Il puzzle Moro
The Moro puzzle
Non-fiction
Italy | 2018
A compelling story of unpublished testimonies and documents, offering a new perspective on the most important post-war political crime in the EU: the murder of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro
MEP
Sergio Gaetano Cofferati
Italy
Sergio Gaetano Cofferati
Italy
MEP
Michaela Šojdrová
Czech Republic
Michaela Šojdrová
Czech Republic
Non-fiction
Průmysl lži
| 2017
Průmysl lži
Industry Lies
Non-fiction
Czech Republic | 2017
Alexandra Alvarová has been involved in political propaganda and marketing for 20 years and will show you through this book how unreliable, emotionally labile, and naive is our brain in making opinions. A unique read that goes behind the backdrop of big power games, where billions turn.
MEP
Michaela Šojdrová
Czech Republic
Michaela Šojdrová
Czech Republic
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
Fiction
Heart of Darkness
| 1899
Heart of Darkness
Fiction
UK | 1899
Dark allegory describes the narrator's journey up the Congo River and his meeting with, and fascination by, Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious personage who dominates the unruly inhabitants of the region.
MEP
Malin Björk
Sweden
Malin Björk
Sweden
MEP
Julie Ward
UK
Julie Ward
UK
Non-fiction
In Limbo
| 2017
In Limbo
Non-fiction
UK | 2017
Imagine you left your native country and build a new life somewhere else, where you felt happy and totally integrated. Until the day when your new country decides to vote to leave the EU. A collection of powerful testimonies from EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit.
MEP
Julie Ward
UK
Julie Ward
UK
I have been trying not to read this book because I know it will make me cry. I hear these Brexit stories of distress, bewilderment and anxiety everyday in many different ways - in the emails people send me, in the meetings I attend, in the corridors and waiting areas of public buildings, on the train, on the radio, etc., and they resonate very strongly. In January the In Limbo team were involved in a children’s rights event in Liverpool and for the first time children also gave their testimonies. It was heartbreaking. Recently, I opened the book at a random page and read the words of Fr Graeme Richardson, an Anglican priest, “Leave was a vote against lives like ours, a good old English “Fuck You”.The “baked cake” of modern Britain has been smashed.” Summer is often full of cakes and so I have decided to read “In Limbo” in its entirety, although I will definitely need a lot of tissues.
MEP
José Inácio Faria
Portugal
José Inácio Faria
Portugal
Fiction
Os Maias
| 1888
Os Maias
Fiction
Portugal | 1888
The talented heir to a notable family in Lisbon, who aspires to serve his fellow man in his chosen profession of medicine, and in politics, but enters a society affected by powerful international influences that trouble and frustrate him.
MEP
José Inácio Faria
Portugal
José Inácio Faria
Portugal
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Fiction
Mothering Sunday
| 2016
Mothering Sunday
Fiction
UK | 2016
Twenty-two year old Jane Fairchild, orphaned at birth, has worked as a maid at one English country estate since she was sixteen. And for almost all of those years she has been the secret lover to Paul Sheringham, the scion of the estate next door. On an unseasonably warm March afternoon, Jane and Paul will make love for the last time--though not, as Jane believes, because Paul is about to be married--and the events of the day will alter Jane's life forever.
MEP
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
Esther de Lange
the Netherlands
MEP
Anne Sander
France
Anne Sander
France
Fiction
La Terre
| 1887
La Terre
The Earth
Fiction
France | 1887
When Jean Macquart arrives in the peasant community of Beauce, where farmers have worked the same land for generations, he quickly finds himself involved in the corrupt affairs of the local Fouan family. A fascinating portrayal of a struggling but decadent community.
MEP
Anne Sander
France
Anne Sander
France
MEP
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Fiction
1984
| 1949
1984
Fiction
UK | 1949
Winston Smith works for the Ministry of truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. A terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is slave to a tyrannical regime.
MEP
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
Hugues Bayet
Belgium
MEP
Carlos Coelho
Portugal
Carlos Coelho
Portugal
Non-fiction
Europa de A a Z
| 2018
Europa de A a Z
Non-fiction
Portugal | 2018
A collection of expressions typical of 'European', a 'language' where FADO is not a song, because it means 'False and Authentic Documents Online', where PCP is not a political party, because it means 'Common Fisheries Policy', and where to nationalise means to give back to the Member States competences that were being exercised at European level.
MEP
Carlos Coelho
Portugal
Carlos Coelho
Portugal
MEP
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Fiction
Kun kyyhkyset katosivat
| 2012
Kun kyyhkyset katosivat
When the doves disappeared
Fiction
Finland | 2012
A story of occupation, resistance, and collaboration in Estonia during and after World War II. The novel follows the experiences of three characters: Roland, a principled independence fighter; his cousin Edgar, who will do almost anything to hide his secrets and maintain his connection to those in power; and Edgar’s wife Juudit, who is buffeted in turns by her love for a German officer, her fear of returning to her unhappy, unconsummated marriage, and her bond with the idealistic Roland.
MEP
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
Kaja Kallas
Estonia
MEP
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Biography
Wer war Ingeborg Bachmann?
| 2017
Wer war Ingeborg Bachmann?
Who was Ingeborg Bachmann?
Biography
Germany | 2017
Ingeborg Bachmann is a myth of German-speaking post-war literature. Her divine performances and the early fame, her relationships with Paul Celan and Max Frisch and not least her enigmatic, tragic death provide a glamorous image, brillianly depicted by Ina Hartwig.
MEP
Helga Trüpel
Germany
Helga Trüpel
Germany
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Fiction
Der Abschied des Hofbibliothekars
| 2017
Der Abschied des Hofbibliothekars
"The leave of the court’s librarian"
Fiction
Luxembourg | 2017
The former librarian of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Gaston Mannes, presents nine fictional essays about famous European intellectuals which served as court’s librarians. Based on several biographies and imitating the spelling style of their times he describes an often critical relationship between majesties and their personal librarians.
MEP
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
Mady Delvaux
Luxembourg
You should read this book if you adore the splendid libraries from the old days and if you want to ponder over the torturous relations between power and knowledge.
MEP
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Fiction
Réparer les vivants
| 2014
Réparer les vivants
Mend the living / The heart
Fiction
France | 2014
After a fatal car accident a teenager is declared brain-dead shortly by the doctors, but his heart is still beating.The Heart takes place over the twenty-four hours surrounding the resulting heart transplant, as life is taken from a young man and given to a woman close to death. In gorgeous, ruminative prose, it examines the deepest feelings of everyone involved as they navigate decisions of life and death.
MEP
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri
Finland
MEP
Ana Gomes
Portugal
Ana Gomes
Portugal
Fiction
O returno
| 2011
O returno
The return
Fiction
Portugal | 2011
Rui is fifteen years old. He has lived in Luanda all his life and has never even visited the far-away Motherland, although he has heard many stories. Long after their neighbours have packed and left, his family are accepting that they too must return. But just before they leave for the airport, Rui’s father is arrested, and the family must go on without him.
On arrival in Portugal, Rui, his mother and sister are crammed into a luxury hotel by the sea, along with hundreds of other families. But these families are hardly welcome back in the Motherland, and as he tries to find his way in this new, uncertain life, Rui must also confront his mother’s rapidly declining health and the lingering spectre of his father’s unknowable fate.
MEP
Ana Gomes
Portugal
Ana Gomes
Portugal