What have I read in Oceania and Europe?

I’m answering this question again with a few caveats:

• This is ADULT fiction only
• These are only books I’ve read since the last readathon.
• I’m leaving out all the books set in England since for some reason I usually don’t consider them foreign.  Maybe because I read so many of them that they seem normal to me.

Finland

The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Only nine people have ever been chosen by renowned children’s author Laura White to join the Rabbit Back Literature Society, an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back. Now a tenth member has been selected: a young literature teacher named Ella.

Greece

The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Oxford lecturer Diana Morgan is an expert on Greek mythology. Her obsession with the Amazons started in childhood when her eccentric grandmother claimed to be one herself—before vanishing without a trace. Diana’s colleagues shake their heads at her Amazon fixation. But then a mysterious, well-financed foundation makes Diana an offer she cannot refuse.

Ireland and all over Europe

The English Spy by Daniel Silva
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Master novelist Daniel Silva has thrilled readers with seventeen thoughtful and gripping spy novels featuring a diverse cast of compelling characters and ingenious plots that have taken them around the globe and back—from the United States to Europe, Russia to the Middle East. His brilliant hero, Gabriel Allon—art restorer, assassin, spy—has joined the pantheon of great fictional secret agents, including George Smiley, Jack Ryan, Jason Bourne, and Simon Templar.

Italy

Deadly Election by Lindsey Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is part of Lindsey Davis’ series about a female private investigator in ancient Rome. I love her books. In this one Flavia is helping her friend and potential love interest dig up dirt on political candidates. At the same time she is dealing with a problem at her family’s auction business. A large chest that was consigned turned out to contain a body.

Poland

Necessary Lies by Eva Stachniak
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Set during one of the 20th century’s most tumultuous decades, it tells the story of Anna, a lecturer in English from the University of Wroclaw, who arrives in Montreal in the fall of 1981. When martial law is declared in Poland, she chooses to remain in Canada, although emigration means abandoning her husband, an activist in the political opposition, and deserting her homeland as it reels from the shock of being betrayed by its own people.

Spain

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written.

Sweden

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

79-year-old Martha Anderson dreams of escaping her care home and robbing a bank. She has no intention of spending the rest of her days in an armchair and is determined to fund her way to a much more exciting life-style. Along with her four oldest friends – otherwise known as the League of Pensioners – Martha decides to rebel against all of the rules imposed upon them.

Sweden and Diego Garcia

The Swede by Robert Karjel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At a remote military base in the Indian Ocean, the CIA is trying to get a prisoner to confess. But the detainee, a suspect in an Islamist-inspired terror attack in the United States, refuses to talk.

Ernst Grip, a Swedish security officer, gets dispatched to New York, without knowing why. FBI agent Shauna Friedman, who meets him there, seems to know a little too much about him. Though when he arrives at his real destination, the American authorities have just one question for him: Is their terror suspect a Swedish citizen?

Australia

Lost & Found by Brooke Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Millie Bird is a seven-year-old girl who always wears red wellington boots to match her red, curly hair. But one day, Millie’s mum leaves her alone beneath the Ginormous Women’s underwear rack in a department store, and doesn’t come back.

Where to Start

Like magical realism or want to try some translated literature?  Try The Rabbit Back Literature Society

Like thrillers? Definitely read The Swede. This is also translated. The English Spy is great but you need to read the rest of the series.

Other Recommendations

Europe is More Than the Big Four