Reddit mentions of Every Man Dies Alone: A Novel

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada was written at the time and based off an actual nazi file. It follows a husband and wife who begin a non-violent resistance campaign after their son is killed on the front. One of my favorites.

I'm a little late to the party, but I'm a longtime lurker and I just created an account to chime in with a few recommendations:

Maidenhair - Mikhail Shishkin. Shishkin is a contemporary Russian writer whose work is just beginning to find its way into English translation. The narrator of Maidenhead works in the Swiss immigration service, translating hearings for political asylum. Some of these transcripts form part of the text, alternating with the translator's own stories.

A Country Doctor's Notebook - Mikhail Bulgakov. There's more to Bulgakov than the (deservedly) aforementioned The Master and Margarita. This book is part autobiography and part fiction. The title basically says it all: a doctor in the remote Russian countryside recounts his experiences. It's a realistic tale; absent are the elements of the fantastic for which Bulgakov became famous.

Every Man Dies Alone - Hans Fallada. Inspired by a true story, this is the chilling tale of a Berlin couple who advocate civil disobedience against the Nazis. (Fallada, addicted to drugs and alcohol, wrote this novel in twenty-four days after his release from an asylum. He died not long after.) See also Fallada's The Drinker.

Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis. I don't know if this qualifies as "a book not too many people know about" but it's probably worth mentioning here. It's the story of a hapless lecturer in medieval history at a small British university that skewers, with merciless satire, any number of British institutions. See also Amis' The Old Devils.

No Saints or Angels - Ivan Klima. Klima is a legend among Czech authors, and this is his most accessible novel. It's the story of a divorcee in Prague and the lives she is responsible for: her elderly, widowed mother, her terminally ill ex-husband, and her 15-year-old rebellious daughter. It is, at turns, funny and sad, but always poignant. See also Klima's collection of short stories, Lovers For a Day.