Lithuania

The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen (2001). Franzen tells the quirky story of the unraveling of the Lamberts, a modern-day dysfunctional American family spread around the globe, from New York and Philadelphia to Vilnius, Lithuania. He describes Lithuania's bleak side: "For six hundred years the country was passed around among Poland, Prussia, and Russia like a much-recycled wedding present (the leatherette ice bucket, the salad tongs)." This breakthrough novel won Franzen the 2001 National Book Award.

The Earth Remains, ed. by Laima Sruoginis (2002). This English-language anthology of contemporary Lithuanian authors includes the voices of young writers versed in the post-Soviet era to old-timers who spent the bulk of their careers publishing exiled from their homelands. Short stories, memoirs, novel excerpts (including Ricardas Gaveli's renowned Poker in Vilnius) and essays offer perspectives on Lithuania's character and endurance, tested time and again through occupations by the Soviets, the Nazis, and the Soviets again until the country finally declared independence in 1990.