,

This is a selection of classic German books
1

by
3.83 avg rating — 87,626 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,505,197 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.13 avg rating — 222,331 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.70 avg rating — 160,549 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.04 avg rating — 574,318 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.94 avg rating — 412,223 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.23 avg rating — 222,883 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.09 avg rating — 901,021 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.26 avg rating — 185,609 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.12 avg rating — 533,322 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.21 avg rating — 37,553 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.07 avg rating — 180,996 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.22 avg rating — 74,978 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.79 avg rating — 235,845 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.42 avg rating — 13,420 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.28 avg rating — 16,838 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.82 avg rating — 9,110 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,392 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.14 avg rating — 141,036 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.89 avg rating — 45,155 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.70 avg rating — 19,115 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.95 avg rating — 47,329 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.18 avg rating — 225,310 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.10 avg rating — 43,358 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.56 avg rating — 29,248 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
2.95 avg rating — 27,515 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.67 avg rating — 40,005 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.31 avg rating — 20,031 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.92 avg rating — 10,176 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.28 avg rating — 3,461 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.68 avg rating — 32,498 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.84 avg rating — 11,577 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.63 avg rating — 23,284 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.08 avg rating — 6,117 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.22 avg rating — 9,414 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.08 avg rating — 14,301 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.34 avg rating — 99,895 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.66 avg rating — 19,345 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.02 avg rating — 2,358 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.72 avg rating — 2,839 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.75 avg rating — 22,725 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.87 avg rating — 14,757 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
2.99 avg rating — 7,458 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.38 avg rating — 10,116 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.86 avg rating — 362 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.36 avg rating — 1,873 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.70 avg rating — 18,304 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.54 avg rating — 5,136 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.85 avg rating — 3,823 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.81 avg rating — 14,706 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.07 avg rating — 13,650 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.79 avg rating — 8,428 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.92 avg rating — 16,254 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.30 avg rating — 1,700 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.76 avg rating — 3,568 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.98 avg rating — 2,823 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.19 avg rating — 7,567 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.08 avg rating — 12,253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.86 avg rating — 14,894 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.46 avg rating — 11,000 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.27 avg rating — 2,109 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.74 avg rating — 9,280 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
2.92 avg rating — 15,730 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.68 avg rating — 14,180 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.73 avg rating — 23,187 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
3.68 avg rating — 71,880 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.93 avg rating — 32,792 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
4.21 avg rating — 5,776 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.02 avg rating — 118,104 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.90 avg rating — 11,677 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.66 avg rating — 13,891 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.64 avg rating — 3,492 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.30 avg rating — 9,838 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.98 avg rating — 12,317 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.31 avg rating — 7,016 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.84 avg rating — 1,827 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.91 avg rating — 78,549 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.16 avg rating — 9,668 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.80 avg rating — 955 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.74 avg rating — 461 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.48 avg rating — 4,903 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.33 avg rating — 75 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.78 avg rating — 541 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.17 avg rating — 9,000 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.70 avg rating — 3,435 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.87 avg rating — 2,887 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.87 avg rating — 455 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.90 avg rating — 59 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.43 avg rating — 2,279 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.12 avg rating — 37,386 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.23 avg rating — 342 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.97 avg rating — 22,036 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.68 avg rating — 262 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.07 avg rating — 44 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.65 avg rating — 142 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.51 avg rating — 2,231 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
4.26 avg rating — 9,513 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.22 avg rating — 5,999 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
4.19 avg rating — 5,881 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.81 avg rating — 2,800 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
227 books · 150 voters · list created May 24th, 2009 by Malika Schuessel (votes) .
152 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Malika 6 books
16 friends
Ricki 5289 books
1477 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2851 books
350 friends
Erich 777 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 293 books
10 friends
Chanel 1192 books
169 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Dec 13, 2013 03:50AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Malika Schuessel
Classic 'German' books, means originally written in German, I assume? (Because there are other nationalities than German on this list as well).


message 2: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Dec 13, 2013 03:25AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) No matter how you look upon it, Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus is not a German classic and as such has been removed.


message 3: by Stefanie (new)

Stefanie Brune @ Booklovinglady
Some of these books were written before there was a "Germany" as we know it today. Borders have shifted many times in the last centuries, and for years during the middle ages and even later there only were numerous German-speaking principalities and city-states. Even the word "Deutschland" is derived from "Deutsch", the language, and not the other way round. German literature has always meant to include literature originally written in German, and is taught like that in German literature classes at German schools today, no matter if the authors lived in what today is Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Prague (f.i. Kafka) or formerly German speaking regions in Poland and the Czech Republic.


message 4: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited May 09, 2019 10:08AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Stefanie wrote: "@ Booklovinglady
German literature has always meant to include literature originally written in German ..."


I agree but that doesn't change the fact that Praise of folly does not belong on this list. It was originally written in Latin, not in German, and Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was not German. The part of the Netherlands were he was born (Rotterdam) during the end of the 15th century was not German. So whichever way you look upon it, the book shouldn't be on this list in my opinion (but do correct me if I'm wrong).

As to my earlier remark, I agree that books written in German do not necessarily have to be from the present day Germany. Of course they don't. Even today German is also spoken and writtten in other countries than Germany. But isn't that just what I said...?


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I have my doubts about Priest Konrad's Song of Roland (#179) being on this list, as La Chanson de Roland was originally written in French. As the introduction says: "The Rolandslied is a Middle High German translation of the French Chanson de Roland, dating from around 1170".
So this work is is definitely a translation, no matter how old (or the book has been combined wrongly to editions of La Chanson de Roland).


back to top



Related News

This collection is one of our favorite regular traditions. You know those “Staff Picks” recommendations you see at your favorite bookstore,...

Anyone can add books to this list.