"Book from your country" thread

Tell us about a book from your country.

I will go first:

The Devil's Apprentice is a Danish fantasy-book about Filip Engell, an all-around good boy who always acts nicely and never lie or misbehave in any kind of way.

So it's quite the surprise for the poor kid when he is run over by a car and then ends up in hell, greeted by Satan himself.

A terrible mistake has been made, since the one who were suppose to be killed was Filip's bully from school. Satan is dying, and he needs someone to take over the command of hell. But since time is something Satan is running short of, he is forced to make Filip his apprentice, teaching him the art of being evil and make him a more or less suitable successor to take the mantle as ruler of his wicked kingdom.

.

Skulduggery Pleasant series written by Irish author Derek Landy. It's about a girl and a centuries old living skeleton, both being mages, as detectives in the magical community. It's really funny, has great fights and is just really really awesome.

@deathstroke52: What?

Artemis Fowl written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. It's about a teenage criminal mastermind trying to exploit the world of magic. Alfred reads it in Grant Morrison's Batman run, so you know it must be good. ;)

Catcther and the Rye.

It's about a Boy with a peterpan complex who travels around new york city, suffering from depression and loneliness.

The End.

@comicace3: Cheerful

@waezi2: it is a bit in the end.

Right, this is not really "a" book, rather it's a series. And it's not exactly from my home country (im swedish), it's from a neighbouring country (Norway). But since scandinavia is under represented on this site and norwegian and swedish happens to be nearly identical anyway i'd like to talk about my favorite book series.

The Legend of the Ice People!

"Once upon a time, many centuries ago, Thengil the Evil went out to the wilderness and sold his soul to the Devil. He became the forefather of the Ice People. For wealth and power, one of his descendants, in every generation, would be cursed to serve the devil and perform evil deeds. Their distinguishing feature would be yellow cat eyes and they would possess magical powers. Some say they will never be free of the curse until they unearth the urn containing the potion that Tengel the Evil used to summon the Devil. It is said one day a child of his blood will be born, gifted with knowledge and wisdom the like of which the world has never known before who will end the family curse. So says the legend but no one knows if it’s true."

The thing that's really interesting about this series is that it focuses on a new character for each book. Like the above synopsis explained one person is cursed per generation, every book tells the story of this individual, so each book is a new generation. The story starts out somewhere in the mid 1500's and end in modern society as it is a 47 part book series. The story while having some fantasy elements is mostly down to earth and historically correct. The length of the series really works in it's favor here as well as towards the end you really feel like a part of this family, and you'll feel like god in a way knowing every generation extending centuries back, each book also comes with a complete family tree on the inside which I thought was really fun and there are som really neat twists that I wish I could spoil.

I want to cheat and say Life of Pi. It's written by a Spaniard but stars an Indian protagonist, with half the book set in the southern state that my parents are originally from. I think the movie (which is pretty great, but the book is even better) might have made a lot of people more or less familiar with the general plot, but for those who don't know it's about a zookeeper's son whose family emigrates to Canada during the Emergency of 1975, but on the way there a storm sinks their ship and only Pi survives, stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only a Royal Bengal tiger for company. Tigers make everything great

Under the Yoke. This book is a century and almost a half old and it is centered around a typical Bulgarian village in times when we were under Ottoman rule. It tells the story of the people living there who are trying to live a normal life while trying to gather a riot to get our country back for ourselves. While in the mean time they face many problems in the face of traitors, turkish soldiers learning about their plans and trying to prevent them and plain fear. The book is filled with intense moments, lots of character development and some really, really dramatic moments. The book is amazing and every Bulgarian has read it because it is probably one of the most bulgarian books ever.

Wombat Stew is about a very clever Dingo who catches a Wombat and proclaims his desire to make a stew of the beast. What follows is an assortment of interactions with the other wildlife, each weighing in on the situation by making various culinary suggestions to Dingo.

A gripping tale of intrigue, deception and survival of the fittest with a twist ending you'll never see coming.

Also works as a satirical cookbook.

Year of the rabbit.

Man divorces himself from society. Grabs a rabbit from somewhere, and has adventures. Drinking booze during a forest fire, hunting a bear, living drifters life and otherwise breaking the law.

bump

I Am America (And So Can You!)

Home to Harlem. It wasn't made in Jamaica but its author was a native so that should count, right? Anyway, it's basically a display of African American struggles and life in the Harlem during the early 20th century.

Green eggs n ham. It's similar to 50 shades of grey

Not going to lie, this is way too easy :P

But I'll get the extra @bumpyboo brownie points and say BFG by Roald Dahl :)

I was born Canada, but I can't really remember any books from there, so I'll just recommend a book famous in Nigeria(Where my family is from), Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It's pretty much considered one of the pinnacles of African literature.

Is that a good thing, or...

Nice choice! More a Revolting Rhymes kinda girl though if I had to choose a Dahl :)

My A-Level coursework was inspired by that book.

And one of my favorite Nigerian Actors (Pete Edochie) starred as the main character in a film adaptations

@bumpyboo: Dude, what the heck was that?! :D

@waezi2:

I am digging this thread so hard. Great submissions.

I guess for me I could suggest anything by Mordecai Richler, or Margaret Atwood, but I'll stick with a classic and say a little book by Lucy Maud Montgomery titled Anne of Green Gables. It's a Canadian treasure.

On the Italian side of things, Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Go hard or go home.

I'm a huge fan of Jeffrey Thomas (Westborough, MA) and Edward Lee (Washington, D.C.). They are both horror / NSFW authors.

Letters from Hades

A man awakens in Hell where he is schooled in the ways of the damned. And once educated, he is released to wander Hell on his own. He journeys from one city to the next, dodging demon patrols and avenging angels hunting the damned for sport. Along the way to the city of Oblivion, he discovers a band of rebellious damned have left a tortured and beautiful demon to rot. He rescues her and sets in motion a series of events that could lead to the final battle between Heaven and Hell, angel and demon, demon and damned.

City Infernal

WELCOME TO THE MEPHISTOPOLIS

Hell is a city. It stretches, literally, without end–a labyrinth of smoke and waking nightmare. Just as endlessly, sewer grates belch flame from the sulphur fires that have raged beneath the streets for millennia. Clock towers spire in every district, by public law, but their faces have no hands; time is not measured here in seconds or hours but in atrocity and despair. In the center of this morass of stone and smoke and butchery and horror stands the 666-floor Mephisto Building, where Gargoyles prowl the wind-blown ledges and from whose highest garrets the innocent are hung from gibbets and left to rot for eons. The lone occupant of the very top floor looks down upon his dominion and smiles a smile that is brighter than a thousand suns. Here, yes, everyone is dead yet everyone lives forever.

Treasure Island

We all know that one right?

@jonny_anonymous: I do

I heart that so much. :)

That too. :)

Well, Inferno...

@ondskapt666: Those seem interesting, do you personally recommend them or did you just post the first thing you thought of like I did?

@black_wreath: I think it was the first proper book I ever read

@jonny_anonymous: I still carry a little 1925 print of it in my bag at all times, an amazing find for $3 at a local op shop ("thrift store").

@black_wreath: I was going to say Inferno, but it's regarded mostly as a poem so I went with next best thing. Now that you've suggested it, I'm going with Inferno.

@ms-lola: Well to be honest, I've never heard the words "I love Dante's Purgatorio and/or Paradiso" spoken in my life. XD

@black_wreath: It takes a certain mindset, true, haha.

@black_wreath said:

I recommend them if you enjoy fantasy, originality and hell themed literature. These are two books I couldn't put down. I enjoyed them so much that I bought all the books in each series.

Check, check and double-check. Cheers I will add them to the list. \m/

haha. Once you read them, contact me and tell me what you thought. Would love to talk about them with someone.

@ondskapt666: Shall do!

@bumpyboo: We have something similar in Denmark. A author called Rune T Kidde wrote some rather... alternative fairytales. Like one where Cindarella turns into a church organ. And the prince marrying her anyway.

My country probably makes the worst novels. I can only recommend the tetralogies Buru Quarter and The Rainbow Troops.

@saren: Technically, Mahabharat is a book right? Instant win for you guys in India.

It's actually a ridiculously long poem rather than a novel, but we do prefer to think of it as the original, and better, Game of Thrones.