Recently, Ivor made the great suggestion that the book club management team should showcase our top recommended reads from around the world & we can’t believe we didn’t do this sooner!
So moving forward on a biannual basis, each of us will be highlighting our top 5 favorite recent recommendations compiled from our personal reading lists as well as the group reads. Hope you enjoy!
side note
You’ll also notice that we renamed some of the book tags in the global Reading List for clarity:
“book club - current read” -> “*current group read”
“book club - monthly book” -> “*previous group reads”
“books - beth’s fav foreign reads” ->“*staff recommendations - Beth/Mia/Ivor”)
Happy reading!
about Beth, the club co-founder
She devours science fiction & fantasy interspersed with scuba diving books, historical fiction, food-based books, detective novels, travel books, literature, & poetry. Beth possesses a penchant for Arthurian legends & stays on top of trends by amusing herself with tech/business books.
A Book From russia
“Despite a slower start, Survival Quest soon blasts off into one of the best books I've recently read because it blends in the top elements of Russian fantasy (with a dash of sci fi) into a marvelously engaging & action-packed adventure. (I highly recommend the audio version though the book version is fantastic as well.)” - Beth
4.5 stars on both Amazon & Goodreads with 5,400+ reviews on Goodreads!
#1 bestseller in audiobooks
The unrelenting #1 LitRPG bestseller in Russia since 2012
”Barliona. A virtual world jam-packed with monsters, battles - and predictably, players. Millions of them come to Barliona, looking forward to the things they can't get in real life: elves and magic, dragons and princesses, and unforgettable combat. The game has become so popular that players now choose to spend months online without returning home. In Barliona, anything goes: you can assault fellow players, level up, become a mythical hero, a wizard or a legendary thief. The only rule that attempted to regulate the game demanded that no player was allowed to feel actual pain.
But there's an exception to every rule. For a certain bunch of players, Barliona has become their personal hell. They are criminals sent to Barliona to serve their time. They aren't in it for the dragons' gold or the abundant loot. All they want is to survive the virtual inferno. They face the ultimate survival quest.”
A book From Ukraine
“Vita Nostra is like a breath of exquisitely fresh & cold air with its unique take on magic & urban fantasy.” - Beth
Vita Nostra — a cross between Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.” -The Washington Post
“Vita Nostra has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves.” - Lev Grossman
Winner of Best Book from both Amazon & Paste Magazine
“The definitive English language translation of this internationally acclaimed novel—a brilliant dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way.
Our life is brief . . .
Sasha Samokhina has been accepted to the Institute of Special Technologies.
Or, more precisely, she’s been chosen.
Situated in a tiny village, she finds the students are bizarre, and the curriculum even more so. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, it is their families that pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want.
A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Ukrainian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction—brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey—is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.”
a book From Germany
“Engaging characters create an epic tale in the tradition of the Lord of the Rings. I adored escaping into a wonderfully-crafted world & was shocked to find out the Elven was a translated novel—the writing & descriptions are just beautiful.” -Beth
“An international bestseller and epic adventure!
A fierce and merciless demon has been unleashed on the world, spreading destruction and bloodshed in both the human and the elven realms.
Northlander Jarl Mandred witnesses the ruthless attack on his men, and he seeks vengeance with the help of the elf queen, Emerelle. Despite Mandred’s barbaric human nature, the queen orchestrates an elfhunt joined by the two strongest warriors in Albenmark to pursue the beast. Farodin, the fiercest fighter in the land, and Nuramon, the healer, seize the opportunity to make history alongside Mandred in a life-defining series of battles waged in parallel universes.
The Elven is an international bestseller and epic tale, bringing heroes together across the boundaries of their worlds to avenge past losses and influence fates yet to be decided."
a book From Australia
“I was surprised by this one. If you’re looking for action, Lexicon is a smart & unconventional thriller with such a clever premise.” - Beth
Awarded Book of the Year among other accolades from 16 major media sites including Time, Goodreads, Vogue, & NPR
“A novel of international intrigue and weaponized linguistics,” it's about “as close you can get to the perfect cerebral thriller: searingly smart, ridiculously funny, and fast as hell.”
“Stick and stones break bones. Words kill.
They recruited Emily Ruff from the streets. They said it was because she's good with words. They'll live to regret it.
They said Wil Parke survived something he shouldn't have. But he doesn't remember. Now they're after him and he doesn't know why.
There's a word, they say. A word that kills. And they want it back . . . “
Beloved by a variety of authors the likes of Hugh Howey, NY Times bestselling author of Wool who titled it “A masterpiece!”, Kirkus notes this is “an up-all-night thriller for geeks who want to see their wizards all grown up in the real world and armed to the teeth in a bloody story.”
a book From Poland
“The whole Witcher series is an exquisite combination of Slavic mythology & classic high fantasy in a creatively-detailed world with Eastern European flair. I loved it for its dry humor, fascinating protagonist with great characterization, & lovely writing.” -Beth
"Like a complicated magic spell, a Sapkowski novel is a hodgepodge of fantasy, intellectual discourse, and dry humor. Recommended." -Time
The New York Times bestselling series that inspired the international hit video game!
“Geralt of Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin. And a cold-blooded killer.
His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world. But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good. . . and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.”
"The universe of The Witcher is one of the most detailed and best-explored in modern fantasy, offering endless opportunities for fresh ideas. Complex character relationships enrich this already complex world; this is the sort of series fantasy fans will cherish." -B&N
About Mia, the club co-founder
She reads for pleasure, but also to expand her mind often preferring literature, memoirs, & philosophical books. Mia also likes to dabble in historical fiction & biographies.
a book From Italy
“This quartet of novels has stuck in my mind as no other book has before. I love the style of writing, the story of two friends through the span of 50-60 years, & the political climate of Italy in the 1050s & beyond. A brutal story of female friendship & the love mixed with jealously that binds two women for life.” - Mia
"'Nothing quite like this has ever been published before,' proclaimed The Guardian about the Neapolitan novels in 2014.
Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous and a world undergoing epochal change, Elena Ferrante tells the story of a sixty-year friendship between the brilliant and bookish Elena and the fiery, rebellious Lila with unmatched honesty and brilliance.
The four books in this novel cycle constitute a long, remarkable story, one that Vogue described as 'gutsy and compulsively readable,' which readers will return to again and again, and each return will bring with it new revelations."
A book From Guatemala
“I couldn't put down this offbeat story—the love of books, a certain mysterious woman, & the obsession of both kept me riveted.” - Mia
"'Right from the start I picked her for a thief, although that day she didn’t take anything. . . . I knew she’d be back,' the narrator/bookseller of Severina recalls in this novel’s opening pages. Imagine a dark-haired book thief as alluring as she is dangerous. Imagine the mesmerized bookseller secretly tracking the volumes she steals, hoping for insight into her character, her motives, her love life. In Rodrigo Rey Rosa’s hands, this tale of obsessive love is told with almost breathless precision and economy. The bookstore owner is soon entangled in Severina’s mystery: seductive and peripatetic, of uncertain nationality, she steals books to actually read them and to share with her purported grandfather, Señor Blanco.
In this unsettling exploration of the alienating and simultaneously liberating power of love, the bookseller’s monotonous existence is rocked by the enigmatic Severina. As in a dream, the disoriented man finds that the thin border between rational and irrational is no longer reliable. Severina confirms Rey Rosa’s privileged place in contemporary world literature."
A book From Brazil
“I loved the young boy in this story: he was amazing and I delighted at his spiritual hi-jinks while living in a hopeless town.” - Mia
"A 2017 LA Times Book Prize Finalist
A quirky story of love, mischief, and forgiveness from Brazil’s foremost award-winning author for young readers.
14-year-old Samuel is newly orphaned and homeless in a small town in Brazil. He lives in a giant, hollow, concrete head of St. Anthony, the lingering evidence of the village’s inept and failed attempt to build a monolith over a decade ago. He didn’t know what it was when he crawled into it, seeking shelter during a storm, but since coming there, he hears beautiful singing, echoing like magic in the head twice a day. So he stays.
Miraculously, he can also hear the private prayers and longings of the villagers. Feeling mischievous, Samuel begins to help answer these prayers, hoping that if he does, their noise will quiet down and he can listen to the beautiful singing in peace. Ironically, his miracles gain him so many fans that he starts to worry he will never fulfill his own true longing and find the source of the singing.
Filled with beautiful turns of phrase and wonderfully quirky characters, The Head of the Saint is a riotous story of faith and magic that won’t soon leave your thoughts."
A book From Zimbabwe
“This book was a good way to peer in on the post-colonial effects onto each segment of society, as experienced by a white African. I was on the edge of my seat watching the true-life scenarios pan out.” - Mia
"Thrilling, heartbreaking, and, at times, absurdly funny, The Last Resort is a remarkable true story about one family in a country under siege and a testament to the love, perseverance, and resilience of the human spirit.
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Douglas Rogers is the son of white farmers living through that country’s long and tense transition from postcolonial rule. He escaped the dull future mapped out for him by his parents for one of adventure and excitement in Europe and the United States. But when Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe launched his violent program to reclaim white-owned land and Rogers’s parents were caught in the cross fire, everything changed. Lyn and Ros, the owners of Drifters–a famous game farm and backpacker lodge in the eastern mountains that was one of the most popular budget resorts in the country–found their home and resort under siege, their friends and neighbors expelled, and their lives in danger. But instead of leaving, as their son pleads with them to do, they haul out a shotgun and decide to stay.
On returning to the country of his birth, Rogers finds his once orderly and progressive home transformed into something resembling a Marx Brothers romp crossed with Heart of Darkness: pot has supplanted maize in the fields; hookers have replaced college kids as guests; and soldiers, spies, and teenage diamond dealers guzzle beer.
And yet, in spite of it all, Rogers’s parents–with the help of friends, farmworkers, lodge guests, and residents–among them black political dissidents and white refugee farmers–continue to hold on. But can they survive to the end?”
A book From Estonia
“This was an easy read for me. I loved the fantastical story of dying traditions and their importance to a society.” - Mia
Winner of the Eduard Vilde Literary Award.
“The Man Who Spoke Snakish is one of those important books that speaks to your soul in its own language and which marks a milestone in your personal reading history.” - des Bouquins
“A bestseller in the author’s native country of Estonia, where the book is so well known that a popular board game has been created based on it, The Man Who Spoke Snakish is the imaginative and moving story of a boy who is tasked with preserving ancient traditions in the face of modernity.
Set in a fantastical version of medieval Estonia, The Man Who Spoke Snakish follows a young boy, Leemet, who lives with his hunter-gatherer family in the forest and is the last speaker of the ancient tongue of snakish, a language that allows its speakers to command all animals. But the forest is gradually emptying as more and more people leave to settle in villages, where they break their backs tilling the land to grow wheat for their ‘bread’ (which Leemet has been told tastes horrible) and where they pray to a god very different from the spirits worshipped in the forest’s sacred grove. With lothario bears who wordlessly seduce women, a giant louse with a penchant for swimming, a legendary flying frog, and a young charismatic viper named Ints, The Man Who Spoke Snakish is a totally inventive novel for readers of David Mitchell, Sjón, and Terry Pratchett.”
(A special thank you to book club member, Linda Varick-Cooper for the suggestion.)
About Ivor, the club moderator
He enjoys crime novels along with fiction, sci fi, poetry, history, science, & memoirs.
Inspired by his mother, Ivor has also always had a soft spot for foreign authors.
A book From Germany
“A post war coming-of-age story for the main protagonist as a young man & a country facing its past. I was engaged by the description of post-war Germany, & the moral & emotional challenges the main character faced.” - Ivor
“Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.
When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover—then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.”
A book From Finland
“Personal & global loss, & hope, loom large in this thought-provoking Finnish speculative fiction. I found it absorbing & still think about it when bees & extinction are mentioned in the media.” - Ivor
"Another haunting novel of eco-speculation from Johanna Sinisalo, the award-winning author of Troll and a powerhouse of the Finnish science fiction and fantasy scene.
It is claimed Albert Einstein said that if bees disappear from the earth, mankind has four years left. When bee-vanishings of unprecedented scale hit the United States, Orvo, a Finnish beekeeper, knows all too well where it will lead. And when he sees the queen dead in his hives one day, it's clear the epidemic has spread to Europe, and the world is coming to an end. Orvo's special knowledge of bees just may enable him to glimpse a solution to catastrophe: he takes a desperate step onto a path where only he and the bees know the way but it propels him into conflict with his estranged, but much-loved son, a committed animal activist. A magical plunge into the myth of death and immortality, this is a tale of human blindness in the face of devastation—and the inevitable."
(A special thank you to book club member, Caity Greig for the suggestion.)
A book From Sweden
“Societal changes mean the retired, ageing, & childless have to make a moral choices to balance quality of life with their perceived usefulness. Reading this as a middle aged man in an ever-changing society, I was drawn to how the character developed emotionally within the Unit’s strict confines & the choices she made.” - Ivor
“I liked The Unit very much...I know you will be riveted, as I was.” -Margaret Atwood
A modern day classic and a chilling cautionary tale for fans of The Handmaid's Tale. Named a Best Book of the Month by GQ.
“Echoing work by Marge Piercy and Margaret Atwood, The Unit is as thought-provoking as it is compulsively readable.” -Jessica Crispin, NPR
”Ninni Holmqvist’s uncanny dystopian novel envisions a society in the not-so-distant future, where women over 50 and men over 60 who are unmarried and childless are sent to a retirement community called the Unit. They’re given lavish apartments set amongst beautiful gardens and state-of-the-art facilities; they’re fed elaborate gourmet meals, surrounded by others just like them. It’s an idyllic place, but there’s a catch: the residents—known as dispensables—must donate their organs, one by one, until the final donation. When Dorrit Weger arrives at the Unit, she resigns herself to this fate, seeking only peace in her final days. But she soon falls in love, and this unexpected, improbable happiness throws the future into doubt.”
A book From Italy
“An entertaining & intriguing police investigation revealing Italy’s underbelly. I found the main character engaging, the plot believable & entertaining, & it was a satisfying whodunit.” - Ivor
"The Shape of Water is the first book in the sly, witty, and engaging Inspector Montalbano mystery series with its sardonic take on Sicilian life.
Silvio Lupanello, a big-shot in Vigàta, is found dead in his car with his pants around his knees. The car happens to be parked in a part of town used by prostitutes and drug dealers, and as the news of his death spreads, the rumors begin. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Vigàta's most respected detective. With his characteristic mix of humor, cynicism, compassion, and love of good food, Montalbano battles against the powerful and corrupt who are determined to block his path to the real killer.
Andrea Camilleri's novels starring Inspector Montalbano have become an international sensation and have been translated from Italian into eight languages, ranging from Dutch to Japanese."
A book from South Africa
“A fictional insight into racial injustice and a police state which Andre brought to life the thin veneer of civility that the sanctioned violence apartheid promoted. As the reader I was invested in the main characters and drama that unfolded and it’s resemblance to real life events was portrayed well.” - Ivor
“As startling and powerful as when first published more than two decades ago, André Brink's classic novel, A Dry White Season, is an unflinching and unforgettable look at racial intolerance, the human condition, and the heavy price of morality.
Ben Du Toit is a white schoolteacher in suburban Johannesburg in a dark time of intolerance and state-sanctioned apartheid. A simple, apolitical man, he believes in the essential fairness of the South African government and its policies—until the sudden arrest and subsequent ‘suicide’ of a black janitor from Du Toit's school. Haunted by new questions and desperate to believe that the man's death was a tragic accident, Du Toit undertakes an investigation into the terrible affair—a quest for the truth that will have devastating consequences for the teacher and his family, as it draws him into a lethal morass of lies, corruption, and murder.”