2023 European Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

Another year of Rose City Reader’s European Reading Challenge has come to a close. Throughout the year I try to read as many books as possible set in, or about different European countries, or by different European authors. With one country per book and each book by a different author I found myself moving from book to book across Europe, like some modern day armchair traveler’s version of a Bella Époque grand tour of the European continent. I’ve been participating in this reading challenge for years and it’s one of my all time favorites.

Last year I read and reviewed 20 books. This year I’m happy to report I improved my output to a personal best of 26. Just like in past years, there’s a variety of countries represented, ranging from large counties like Russia and Germany to tiny ones like Vatican City.

1. The Traitor’s Emblem by Juan Gómez-Jurado – Spain
2. The Piper on the Mountain by Ellis Peters – Slovakia
3. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak – Cyprus
4. Purge by Sofi Oksanen – Estonia
5. The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal by David E. Hoffman – Russia
6. The Midas Murders by Pieter Aspe – Belgium
7. Deep as Death by Katja Ivar – Finland
8. Saving My Assassin by Virginia Prodan – Romania
9. The Woman From Prague by Rob Hart – Czech Republic
10. Greeks Bearing Gifts by Philip Kerr – Greece
11. The Vienna Writers Circle by J.C. Maetis – Austria
12.  I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the Twentieth Century’s Greatest Forger by Frank Wynne – The Netherlands
13. Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II by Svetlana Alexievich – Belarus
14. The Winter Thief by Jenny White – Turkey
15. My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor – Vatican City
16. Stolen Years by Sara Zyskind – Poland
17. Thanks to My Mother by Schoschana Rabinovici – Lithuania
18. The Girl From Venice by Martin Cruz Smith – Italy
19. 1222 by Anne Holt – Norway
20. Operation Napoleon by Arnaldur Indriðason – Iceland
21. The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook – Germany
22. The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader – United Kingdom
23. Under Occupation by Alan Furst – France
24. The Princess, The King and The Anarchist by Robert Pagani – Switzerland
25. The Good Assassin by Stephan Talty – Latvia
26. Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning by Timothy Snyder – Ukraine

For the last several years it’s been a 50-50 mix of fiction and nonfiction. However, for this year’s challenge for the first time ever over two thirds of the books I read happened to be works of fiction. Many of these novels are works of translation representing a wide array of original languages including Icelandic, Flemish and even Modern Hebrew. A number of these books will also be making my upcoming 2023 Favorite Nonfiction and 2022 Favorite Fiction lists. My goal for 2024 is 30 books and who knows with some hard work and a little luck maybe I’ll pull it off.