Ismail Kadare's six favorite books

Ismail Kadare was born in Albania in 1936. His first novel, The General of the Dead Army, established him as a major international voice in literature. His work has since been translated into forty languages, and in 2005 he became the first winner of the Man Booker International Prize, for "a body of work written by an author who has had a truly global impact." He is the recipient of the highly prestigious Principe de Asturias de las Letras in Spain.

One of Kadare's six favorite books, as shared at The Week magazine:

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll

Böll's 1974 tale about a young woman who's hunted down and vilified by a tabloid reporter after she's spent the night with a fugitive makes a payment on the debt that men owe for their suppression of women. It should be said that this repayment of the debt is still insufficient and that we, the people of the Balkan Peninsula, may feel this debt more than other Europeans.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue