This is a selection of classic German books
1

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3.83 avg rating — 85,977 ratings
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2

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3.90 avg rating — 1,424,944 ratings
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3

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3.69 avg rating — 155,008 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 215,238 ratings
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5

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4.04 avg rating — 552,724 ratings
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6

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3.94 avg rating — 394,714 ratings
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7

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4.23 avg rating — 221,221 ratings
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8

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4.08 avg rating — 876,197 ratings
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9

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4.27 avg rating — 172,465 ratings
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10

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4.11 avg rating — 519,847 ratings
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11

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4.20 avg rating — 35,643 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 176,280 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 72,662 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 231,333 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 12,980 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,329 ratings
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17

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3.82 avg rating — 8,927 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 61,562 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 135,531 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 43,262 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,462 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 46,695 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 220,846 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 42,408 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 27,782 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 26,422 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 37,965 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,444 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 9,948 ratings
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30

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4.28 avg rating — 3,408 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 31,475 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,271 ratings
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33

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3.62 avg rating — 22,730 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 5,884 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,084 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 13,887 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 96,061 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 18,803 ratings
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39

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4.02 avg rating — 2,311 ratings
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40

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3.72 avg rating — 2,781 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 21,315 ratings
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42

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3.88 avg rating — 14,450 ratings
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43

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3.05 avg rating — 6,431 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 9,803 ratings
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45

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3.86 avg rating — 359 ratings
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46

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3.35 avg rating — 1,826 ratings
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47

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3.71 avg rating — 17,564 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,043 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,744 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,364 ratings
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51

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3.06 avg rating — 13,107 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,320 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,183 ratings
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54

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3.30 avg rating — 1,658 ratings
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55

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3.77 avg rating — 3,492 ratings
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56

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3.98 avg rating — 2,721 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 7,383 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 12,225 ratings
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59

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3.85 avg rating — 14,208 ratings
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60

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3.47 avg rating — 10,909 ratings
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61

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3.27 avg rating — 2,058 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,120 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 14,929 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 13,747 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,322 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 68,533 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 31,969 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,630 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 114,033 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,061 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,433 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,415 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,441 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,005 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,787 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,803 ratings
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77

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3.91 avg rating — 75,439 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,141 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 936 ratings
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80

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3.74 avg rating — 455 ratings
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81

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3.48 avg rating — 4,669 ratings
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82

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4.35 avg rating — 75 ratings
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83

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3.79 avg rating — 526 ratings
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83

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3.17 avg rating — 8,707 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 391 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 2,692 ratings
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87

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3.86 avg rating — 442 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 56 ratings
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89

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4.44 avg rating — 2,205 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 35,682 ratings
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91

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4.23 avg rating — 344 ratings
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92

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3.98 avg rating — 21,249 ratings
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93

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3.70 avg rating — 247 ratings
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94

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4.07 avg rating — 44 ratings
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95

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3.66 avg rating — 139 ratings
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96

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3.51 avg rating — 2,180 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,362 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,893 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,762 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,692 ratings
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227 books · 151 voters · list created May 24th, 2009 by Malika Schuessel (votes) .
150 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Malika 6 books
16 friends
Ricki 5218 books
1478 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2847 books
353 friends
Erich 781 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 320 books
11 friends
Chanel 1163 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).


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