Favourite International Books

This month sees us celebrating World Book Day, so we've put together a list of a few of our favourite books by international authors. All come highly recommended by our staff - read on for more and give us your own recommendations below!

If This Is a Man by Primo Levi (Italy)
Primo Levi’s account of his survival as a prisoner in Auschwitz is a compelling one, depicting everyday life in the camps and the steady, brutal de-humanising of the prisoners. What sets it apart is the way Levi uses very simple, detached language and focuses on his fellow prisoners rather than the horrors they were subjected to. This makes the book very readable and is also one of the reasons it is such a powerful record of the Holocaust. Finding out that Levi later committed suicide was particularly poignant and highlighted for me the complex guilt and disgust felt by survivors. (Marion Bourbouze)

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (USA)
You know that type of book, the one that you’ve been reading all day and just as you’re falling off to sleep that night you suddenly wake yourself up with a fit of tear-inducing laughter. Yeah, this is one of those…
 
Biff, or "Levi bar Alphaeus", is Jesus’  best childhood friend and his travelling companion as Jesus attempts to learn what it is be the Messiah during the 'lost years' between his birth and beginning of ministrations. Ohio-born author Moore lives up to his reputation as an absurdist with this incredibly funny tale of what Joshua ("Jesus" as Biff helpfully points out is Greek) might have been up to in the first thirty years of his life. While Joshua is true to form and without sin, literally and figuratively, Biff on the other hand is not – much hilarity ensues, particularly the trouble he finds himself in as he attempts to go through enough harlots for the both of them. (Michael Merillo)

The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer (Netherlands/Dutch)
This is a brilliant little book which can be read and enjoyed by 8 year olds and adults alike. Thomas sees things that no one else does – like tropical fish in the canal or angels who weep when his dad hits his mum. Thomas finds an ally in Mrs van Amersfoort, the 'witch', who teaches him to overcome his fears and shows him that there are lots of people willing to help him. The beginning of the book is as dark as the end is uplifting – a wonderful gem by one of the Netherland’s most famous children’s authors. (Jasmine Fassl)

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami (Japan)
I stumbled across this book quite a few years ago and have since read it three times and gone on to seek out anything and everything Murakami has written! South of the Border... is a perfect starting place for those who’ve not read the critically-acclaimed Japanese author: although relatively short it manages to touch on all the themes that crop up time and again within his writing. It’s both a mystery and love story although there is nothing sentimental about this tale. It’s a story of love and predominantly loss, following the questioning Hajime from childhood through to adulthood, with Murakami capturing the world of the middle class urban dweller quite perfectly. Murakami loves to ponder how and why we wind up where we do based on the decisions we make, and as with all his novels, he here creates a melancholic atmosphere that lingers. A perfect read for one of those uninterrupted late winter afternoons. (Clare Rodgers)

Budapest by Chico Buarque (Brazil)
José Costa is a married ghostwriter from Brazil who, returning from the "Anonymous Writers Congress" in Istanbul, finds himself stranded in Budapest because of a bomb scare on his flight back to Rio. He ends up watching local TV all night, starting an obsession with the Hungarian language ("rumoured to be the only tongue in the world the devil respects") which will bring him back to Budapest, leaving his wife and child behind and falling for the irresistible Kriska.

Beautifully written by Chico Buarque, one of Brazil’s most famous musicians (and acclaimed novelist), Budapest is many things at the same time: A love story about words and language but also a great guide to the Hungarian capital. A must read of world literature! (Olivier Joly)