Looking at my original list of books for the Europa Challenge 2011, I realized I had a theme going. In fact, the titles read like a night having friends over to dinner– or maybe even a date night. I’ve included the descriptions from the Europa Catalog, in case you’re interested!
- Cooking with Fernet Branca (James Hamilton-Paterson): A delicious comedy of manners nominated for the 2004 MAN Booker Prize.
- The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine (Alina Bronsky): Told with sly humor and an anthropologist’s eye for detail, The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine is the story of three unforgettable women whose destinies are tangled up in a family dynamic that is at turns hilarious and tragic.
- The Proof of the Honey (Salwa Al Neimi): A bestseller throughout the Arab world, a tribute to sex, eroticism, language and liberty, The Proof of the Honey is a superb celebration of female pleasure.
- Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (Amara Lakhous): A shrewd mix of social satire and murder mystery.
- The Woman with the Bouquet (Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt): An exceptional collection by one of Europe’s most beloved authors.
- Bone China (Roma Tearne): A beautifully crafted story of hope and survival set in Sri Lanka and England that will appeal to all readers of White Teeth and The Inheritance of Loss.
- The Goodbye Kiss (Massimo Carlotto): After years on the run, he's back and willing to do anything to claw his way into respectable society.
Feel free to join me for dinner with Europa -- everyone's invited!
Although the titles are new to me, the idea is very exciting! I love this publisher, which I think I recognize as having published The Elegance of The Hedgehog? I like books off the beaten path.
ReplyDeleteLove how you made the analogy of going out to dinner with them, very clever, Col!
I hope you'll join, Bellezza. I love that Europa supports translations, so English speakers have access to a wider range of literature, so I'm happy to support them -- and I know I'll enjoy myself in the process!
ReplyDeleteHave fun with the challenge!
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of the Europa editions. I not only like the stories, but I just plain like the look of the books too :)
ReplyDeleteThey are beautiful books, aren't they? The covers are always so clever!
ReplyDelete