Flesh · David Szalay · United Kingdom / Hungary (2026)
Born in Canada and raised in the UK but living in Budapest, David Szalay describes himself as an insider-outsider, a perspective that defines his latest work. He explores the physical and emotional realities of modern life across different European landscapes.
The book analyzes the way contemporary society experiences intimacy and isolation in an increasingly connected yet fragmented world. (Original language: English.)
The Granddaughter (Die Enkelin) · Bernhard Schlink · Germany (2021)
The author explores the deep cultural and political divide between East and West Germany through a personal family story. This book analyzes how historical trauma and different ideologies still influence the identity of modern Europe. (Original language: German.)
Everyone Loves Clara (Tout le monde aime Clara) · David Foenkinos · France (2025)
David Foenkinos explores the life of a woman who appears perfect to others. The novel captures the social atmosphere of modern European cities and the pressure of appearances in today’s society. (Original language: French.)
Moral Ambition · Rutger Bregman · Netherlands (2024)
What if ambition were measured not by salary or status but by usefulness? Rutger Bregman argues that many careers feel empty not because we fail but because we aim too low. In his view, a generation full of talent is often absorbed by comfortable roles while the most urgent problems of the world remain understaffed.
The argument is simple and concrete. Our professional choices matter. If intelligence and energy flow mainly into sectors driven by profit or prestige, society loses the capacity to act where it is most needed. Bregman invites readers to rethink what success means and to see work as a tool for real impact.
The tone is clear and accessible. It is less a moral lecture than a practical call to raise our standards. (Original language: Dutch.)
Technofeudalism · Yanis Varoufakis · Greece (2023)
A provocative analysis of how the modern digital economy is moving beyond capitalism. Yanis Varoufakis explains how a new system, based on digital rent and cloud lords, is reshaping our society and our politics.
Homo Faber (Homo faber. Il ritorno del sapere del fare) · Paolo Benanti · Italy (2023)
An insightful exploration of the relationship between technology and human identity. Paolo Benanti analyzes how digital tools are changing our capacity for creation and the way we understand our place in the world.
Free (Të lirë) · Lea Ypi · Albania (2021)
A sharp and moving memoir about growing up in the final days of communist Albania and the messy reality of the freedom that followed. Lea Ypi provides a fascinating look at the collapse of one world and the birth of another.
Time Shelter (Vremeubezhishche) · Georgi Gospodinov · Bulgaria (2020)
A clinic for the past opens in Zurich, offering Alzheimer patients a chance to relive their safest memories by recreating perfectly detailed decades, including the furniture of the 60s, the smell of the 70s, or the specific light of a lost afternoon.
But soon healthy people want to escape the present too. Entire nations start holding referendums on which decade they want to live in, turning nostalgia into a political tool that threatens to replace the future.
Written by Georgi Gospodinov, this International Booker Prize winner is a beautiful and melancholic exploration of why we are so obsessed with the past, and why it can be a dangerous place to live. It is a brilliant warning for a continent currently trying to find its way between memory and reality.
The Siliconisation of the World (La siliconisation du monde) · Éric Sadin · France (2016)
Éric Sadin explores how the “Silicon Valley spirit” is moving beyond technology to change our society. The book analyzes the way algorithms are slowly replacing human decision-making in our daily lives. (Available in French, Spanish, and Italian.)
Big Tech Must Go! (Big Tech muss weg!) · Martin Andree · Germany (2023)
A bold proposal to break the power of digital monopolies. Martin Andree explains how these large companies dominate the market and offers practical ideas to reclaim a free and open public space for everyone. (Available in German and English.)