63 Foreign-Language Books to Enjoy This Summer

The MosaLingua Summer Reading List: Foreign-Language Books

Finding published texts well-suited to a language learner’s level can be tricky. Intermediate and advanced learners (B2+) are a bit more flexible in terms of what they might be able to handle. But for beginners or those who haven’t done much reading in their target language, it’s important to find books that are accessible.

In our list of foreign-language books, you’ll find a few children’s stories (not ideal, but they can be a great way to include others in your practice), as well as a couple of translations (“The Little Prince,” for example). For each title, we provide an approximate level. The objective is to push yourself, but not so much as to spoil the pleasure!

Books in Spanish 🇪🇸

1. Donde viven los monstruos by Maurice Sendak (translation) (Level: A1)
2. Veinte mil leguas de viaje submarino by Jules Verne (translation) (Level: A2)
3. El principito by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (translation) (Level: A2)
4. El laberinto de la soledad by Octavio Paz (Level: B2)
5. Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez (Level: B2)
6. La sombra del viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Level: B2)
7. La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende (Level: B2)

Books in French 🇫🇷

1. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Level: A1)
2. Le Petit Nicolas by René Goscinny (Level: A2)
3. L’Étranger by Albert Camus (Level: B2)
4. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (Level: C1)
5. Le Mythe de Sisyphe by Albert Camus (Level: C1)
6. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (Level: C1)
7. La Peste by Albert Camus (Level: C1)

Books in Italian 🇮🇹

1. Le avventure di Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (translation) (Level: A1)
2. Il piccolo principe by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (translation) (Level: A1)
3. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (Level: A2)
4. La solitudine dei numeri primi by Paolo Giordano (Level: B1)
5. Il nome della rosa by Umberto Eco (Level: B2)
6. L’amica geniale by Elena Ferrante (Level: B2)
7. La coscienza di Zeno by Italo Svevo (Level: C1)

Books in German 🇩🇪

1. Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt by Eric Carle (Level: A1)
2. Max und Moritz by Wilhelm Busch (Level: A2)
3. Tschick by Wolfgang Herrndorf (Level: B1)
4. Der Prozess by Franz Kafka (Level: B2)
5. Narziß und Goldmund by Hermann Hesse (Level: B2)
6. Die Verwandlung by Franz Kafka (Level: B2)
7. Der Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse (Level: C1)

Books in Brazilian Portuguese 🇧🇷

1. O Alquimista by Paulo Coelho (Level: A1)
2. O Alienista by Machado de Assis (Level: A2)
3. A vida invisível de Eurídice Gusmão by Martha Batalha (Level: B1)
4. Capitães da Areia by Jorge Amado (Level: B2)
5. Vidas Secas by Graciliano Ramos (Level: B2)
6. Ensaio sobre a cegueira by José Saramago (Level: B2)
7. Os sertões by Euclides da Cunha (Level: C1)

Books in Russian 🇷🇺

1. Маленький принц (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (translation) (Level: A1)
2. Short Stories in Russian for Beginners by Olly Richards and Alex Rawlings (Level: A1-A2)
3. Собачье сердце (The Heart of a Dog) by Mikhaïl Bulgakov (Level: B2)
4. Преступление и наказание (Crime and Punishment) by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Level: B2)
5. Мастер и Маргарита (The Master and Margarita) by Mikhaïl Bulgakov (Level: C1)
6. Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy (Level: C1)
7. Доктор Живаго (Doctor Zhivago) by Boris Pasternak (Level: C1)

Books in Mandarin Chinese 🇨🇳

1. 小王子 (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (translation) (Level: A1)
2. 活着 (To Live) by 余华 (Yu Hua) (Level: A2)
3. 解忧杂货店 (The Miracles of the Namiya Grocery Store) by 东野圭吾 (Keigo Higashino) (Level: B2)
4. 追风筝的人 (The Kite Runner) by 卡勒德·胡赛尼 (Khaled Hosseini) (translation) (Level: B2)
5. 白鹿原 (White Deer Plain) by 陈忠实 (Chen Zhongshi) (Level: C1)
6. 围城 (Fortress Besieged) by 钱钟书 (Qian Zhongshu) (Level: C1)
7. 茶馆 (Teahouse) by 老舍 (Lao She) (Level: C1)

Books in Japanese 🇯🇵

1. Japanese Short Stories for Beginners by Lingo Mastery (Level: A1)
2. となりのトトロ (My Neighbor Totoro) by 村上春樹 (Hayao Miyazaki) (Level: A2)
3. Short Stories in Japanese for Intermediate Learners by Olly Richards (Level: B1)
4. 私たちがプロポーズされないのには、101の理由があってだな (101 Reasons We’re Not Getting Proposed To) by 河合 拓始 (Takahajime Kawai) (Level: B1)
5. 騎士団長殺し (Killing Commendatore) by 村上春樹 (Haruki Murakami) (Level: B2)
6. ノルウェイの森 (Norwegian Wood) by 村上春樹 (Haruki Murakami) (Level: B2)
7. 火花 (Spark) by 又吉直樹 (Naoki Matayoshi) (Level: B2)

Books in English 🇬🇧

1. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (translation) (Level: A1)
2. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle (Level: A1)
3. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (Level: A2)
4. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (translation) (Level: B1)
5. 1984 by George Orwell (Level: B2)
6. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Level: B2)
7. Atomic Habits by James Clear (Level: B2)

We’ve reached the end of our selection of 63 foreign-language books to read in 9 different languages. We hope we’ve put you on the path toward finding your next book! And don’t forget that if you’re a MosaLingua subscriber, you also have access to short stories (text and audio) suited for a variety of levels.

Next Steps

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like:

• The Best Books to Read to Improve Your Spanish, French, and German
• How Reading Helps You Improve Your Foreign Language Skills
• Learn a Language by Reading Comics
• How to Read a Book in a Foreign Language [VIDEO]
• Required Reading for Language Lovers: Linguistic Books for All Types of Readers