European Reading Challenge Signup 2026

 

Time to signup for Gilion's European Reading Challenge for the new year. Hers is one of the best challenges going as far as I'm concerned, and I won't be missing it this year. The idea is to visit unique European countries by book, and I'll sign up at the Five-Star/Deluxe Entourage level once again for five books, but suspect once again I'll go past that. I never know what my books are going to be but I'm pretty sure the first country will be France, because I'm likely to finish Malcolm Cowley's Exile's Return about the Lost Generation authors in France later this evening.

Any European books in your future? 

European Reading Challenge Wrapup 2025

 

I read my last European book a while ago as it turned out, but you never know...

I visited nine countries by review this year, over the five I pledged for the challenge, but not all the countries I did visit--some reviews never got written. But here's the ones that did:

1.) Anabel Loyd/The Dervish Bowl (Slovakia)

2.) Volker Weidermann/Ostend (Belgium)

3.) Angus Wilson/Hemlock & After (U.K.)

4.) Janwillem van de Wetering/Tumbleweed (Netherlands)

5.) Rüdiger Safranski/Goethe: Life as a Work of Art (Germany)

6.) Tim Blanning/Augustus the Strong (Poland)

7.) Ford Madox Ford/Parade's End (France)

8.) Patricia Moyes/Death on the Agenda (Switzerland)

9.) Cesare Pavese/The Moon and the Bonfires (Italy)

 

No new countries visited this year.  The standout visits this year were Germany and France.

 

Now to post the signup for the new year!