This is a selection of classic German books
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3.83 avg rating — 87,200 ratings
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3.91 avg rating — 1,480,942 ratings
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3

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3.70 avg rating — 159,106 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 220,385 ratings
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5

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4.04 avg rating — 568,698 ratings
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6

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3.94 avg rating — 407,315 ratings
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7

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4.23 avg rating — 222,465 ratings
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8

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4.08 avg rating — 894,032 ratings
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9

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4.26 avg rating — 181,713 ratings
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10

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4.12 avg rating — 529,387 ratings
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11

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4.21 avg rating — 36,740 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 180,158 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 74,341 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 234,679 ratings
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15

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3.41 avg rating — 13,299 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,719 ratings
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17

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3.82 avg rating — 9,067 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 63,636 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 139,409 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 44,667 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,944 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 47,132 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 224,145 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 43,086 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 28,868 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 27,183 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 39,457 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,895 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 10,117 ratings
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30

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4.28 avg rating — 3,445 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 32,236 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,488 ratings
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33

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3.62 avg rating — 23,139 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 6,034 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,325 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 14,196 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 98,918 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 19,215 ratings
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39

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4.02 avg rating — 2,346 ratings
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40

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3.72 avg rating — 2,827 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 22,396 ratings
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42

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3.87 avg rating — 14,679 ratings
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43

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liked it 3.00 avg rating — 7,247 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 10,024 ratings
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45

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3.86 avg rating — 360 ratings
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46

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3.36 avg rating — 1,860 ratings
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47

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3.70 avg rating — 18,116 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,110 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,802 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,621 ratings
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51

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3.07 avg rating — 13,531 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,401 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,239 ratings
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54

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3.30 avg rating — 1,683 ratings
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55

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3.77 avg rating — 3,546 ratings
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56

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3.98 avg rating — 2,787 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 7,515 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 12,246 ratings
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59

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3.86 avg rating — 14,701 ratings
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60

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3.46 avg rating — 10,881 ratings
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61

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3.27 avg rating — 2,095 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,243 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 15,539 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 14,081 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,959 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 70,857 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 32,584 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,731 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 116,889 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,483 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,786 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,474 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,708 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,230 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,948 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,819 ratings
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77

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3.91 avg rating — 77,655 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,511 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 953 ratings
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80

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3.74 avg rating — 461 ratings
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81

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3.48 avg rating — 4,858 ratings
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82

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4.34 avg rating — 76 ratings
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83

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3.78 avg rating — 537 ratings
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83

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3.17 avg rating — 8,916 ratings
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85

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3.89 avg rating — 401 ratings
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85

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3.87 avg rating — 2,837 ratings
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87

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3.87 avg rating — 453 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 57 ratings
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89

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4.44 avg rating — 2,255 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 36,770 ratings
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91

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4.23 avg rating — 343 ratings
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92

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3.98 avg rating — 21,800 ratings
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93

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3.68 avg rating — 259 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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3.67 avg rating — 141 ratings
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96

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3.51 avg rating — 2,210 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,479 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,971 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,861 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,771 ratings
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227 books · 151 voters · list created May 24th, 2009 by Malika Schuessel (votes) .
151 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Malika 6 books
16 friends
Ricki 5266 books
1477 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2851 books
351 friends
Erich 776 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 339 books
10 friends
Chanel 1180 books
169 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

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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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