Reading German Books in 2020 discussion

Post your thoughts and ideas here

As I love numbers I would be very interested to see which books will have had the most readers by the end of the year (apart from the group reads of course). So far I think the Artificial Silk Girl seems to be a strong contender.

Anja wrote: "As I love numbers I would be very interested to see which books will have had the most readers by the end of the year (apart from the group reads of course). So far I think the Artificial Silk Girl..."

Oh that is an interesting question. I wonder how we could track that... hm.

Uh oh, I was about to start Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther and it looks like it was originally published in the UK, meaning it was in English? So this book wouldn’t count, correct?

I am completely new to German literature so I searched for an overview and found a website that others might like that lists famous German literary figures by century and gives their bios. www.germanlit.org. https://sites.google.com/site/germanl...
It’s a site run by a prof at Univ of Glasgow, Scotland.
Listing of 21st C included.

H wrote: "I am completely new to German literature so I searched for an overview and found a website that others might like that lists famous German literary figures by century and gives their bios. www.germ..."

That's such a brilliant resource

Christiane wrote: "Support your local distributor

In Deutschland haben wir das Glück, noch in jeder kleineren Stadt einen Buchhändler zu finden, der uns auch über Nacht fast alle Bücher besorgen kann, die wir suchen..."

Wohl wahr :)

Christiane wrote: "I have a recommention for the third quarter, inspired by the discussions around blm this month: Max Frisch, Andorra

Max Frisch is a white man with many privileges, and it is not a book about black..."

You know, I’ve never read Max Frisch. I’d be up for that.

Mit drei anderen Männern treffe ich mich gelegentlich zu Gesprächen über einzelne Bücher. Aktuell hat jemand das neue Buch von Bernhard Schlink vorgeschlagen, es heißt "Abschiedsfarben". Seit "Der Vorleser" habe ich nichts mehr von Schlink gelesen. Er soll ja sehr erfolgreich und beliebt sein....

Not sure where to post this. There's a new - new to me anyway - spam scam going around on GR. Accounts set up with no friends, reviews, books leaving comments on reviews - mainly on the ones showing on people's profile pages. The comments look as if they're only partially showing so have the green 'more' at the end that usually reveals the rest of the comment, but the green 'more' is fake in this instance and actually a hyperlink to a different site altogether. So if you click on it you get taken elsewhere. The green 'more' in the scam seems to be underlined which the standard GR version isn't so should be possible to tell them apart. Currently seems to link to sales-type sites but could be used to link to malware in future.

Alwynne wrote: "Not sure where to post this. There's a new - new to me anyway - spam scam going around on GR. Accounts set up with no friends, reviews, books leaving comments on reviews - mainly on the ones showin..."
Thanks for the warning Alwynne.
I also recently saw a lot of 'likes' on a random update of mine. Via a quick Google search, I found the following:
https://help.goodreads.com/s/question...
Looks like the only way to report an issue to Goodreads is to use the 'Ask a Question' button.

Thanks Renate, so much strange underground activity on this site!

I have a question for the readers who are reading in German not because it's their native language but because they like German Literature. What is so special or different about German literature that prompts you ? I live in Germany, so my interest is more about reading books in German because I live here. Would be interesting to hear others' motivations :)

That's a pretty tough question :)
For me it is pretty similar, I lived in Germany as a kid, spent most of my childhood in Bremen and started reading in german, then back in Poland I made my Masters in german as a foreign language and now i read in german both, to practice and because i like it. Mostly german lit, but also translations.
As for what prompts me to the german lit, I'm really not sure, read a lot of german books in my youth, then i noticed lots of my favorite authors (Fallada, Hein) are German, so i started digging deeper. I think i especially like the complex structures of the syntax and the long sentences.

Claire wrote: "I have a question for the readers who are reading in German not because it's their native language but because they like German Literature. What is so special or different about German literature t..."

Like kubelot a number of my absolute favourite books by authors
including Christa Wolf, Marlen Haushofer, Jenny Erpenbeck, Walter Kempowski, Irmgard Keun are all in German. I'm interested in 20th-century social and cultural history, and there seems to be a tradition within German literature of the same period that brings together issues of history and the place of the individual in inventive and thoughtful ways, and in ways that seem to be missing from a great deal of British and American fiction. And something I find more absorbing and thought-provoking than yet another British novel focused on relationships in a vacuum. I also think that writers like Irmgard Keun often use imagery in a striking manner. I'm interested too in Weimar Germany, East Germany and other aspects of German history. And that links up with my liking for 'new German cinema' and German Expressionist film, and work by Pabst and Fritz Lang. So lots of work that's appealed to me, not to mention art, have originated in Germany or in German-language work. Why I find those things so fascinating is hard to say, why do people like anything? Possibly because I like the mixture of the aesthetic and the intellectual? The British don't do intellectual in art, writing very well, and often link it to class and other issues. I suppose there's also a radical strand tracing back to writers like Brecht in areas of German culture - that was displaced by National Socialism - and that's something I also appreciate.

Not sure where to post this but people should be aware there's a new software issue on GR, and a number of people are reporting suddenly finding friends and followers removed from their lists, some have lost close to 100 friends overnight. I lost two today but they were good enough friends that they didn't assume I'd dumped them so they sent new friend requests. So something to look out for.

Wasn't sure where to post this but thought others might be interested in this article on Germany's literary scene:

https://www.thedial.world/issue-2/das...

Alwynne wrote: "Wasn't sure where to post this but thought others might be interested in this article on Germany's literary scene:

https://www.thedial.world/issue-2/das..."
This is an excellent resource Alwynne. I have subscribed to some of the links. Thanks!

The Buecherwelt.... group is good because it gives me an opportunity to write some German, but I've only read one book for it and I really want to learn more about German speaking authors.

Maybe if enough people want to, we could breathe new life into this group? I guess we could make this a dual language group too. People can write in German if they want to as long as they add an English translation.

I think I'm in danger of getting carried away, so I'm going to stop typing now!

This group always has been dual-language. This group was founded by a couple of bilingual Booktubers whose channels were in English. They left after the first year or two and a couple of others took over moderation. The conversation here was pretty much always in English, and the 'rules' were to only read things originally written in German but you could read either in German or in whatever language you could read in (which was likely mostly English, but not always).

For me, that meant about 30% of the books I read in German didn't 'count' here, but it was the only group I knew of, and I could still hit the second tier. :D

If you want some ideas for what to read in German, I have a German shelf on my GR page, and I could also point you to some German booktubers who post in German (a great way to practice your comprehension, too!). I've recently been working on Portuguese, and have been finding listening to Brazilian Booktubers a good way to work on my listening comprehension - and find Portuguese books!

What kind of books do you like to read?

I majored in German (along with history) in college, but that was a long time ago. After a long hiatus, I've been trying to bring at least my reading fluency back. It's such a gorgeous language. I have a disability that affects reading, and that means I'm not really reading literature in German yet because the double drag is too much (before the election I was reading some of DeutscheWelle and the occasional Wikipedia article in German, but since the election I've been focused on the threat to democracy (and directly to my life since I depend on programs being cut or threatened to survive), and I have't had the mental space to even try anything in German.

Still, I've never lost my love of German lit, and I came here hoping for ideas of what to read in translation. My library is very thin on German lit in translation-- I expect that is true of many US libraries--though there is some older lit in German, presumably because the western edge of the county was still largely German-speaking into the middle of the 20th century. (At festivals I've heard farmers who are only a little older than I talk about how they spoke German at home into the 1950's, even when it was not cool to speak it in public because of the wars.)

At this point I'm interested in more recent literature. And I continue to be very interested in literature from writers who were born in and at least partly grew up in the DDR (though not so much in the writers of the DDR--that was the single most depressing course I have ever taken in my life).

I'd definitely join in actively if we have enough interest to revive this group.


Most of the writers I read in college were late 19th to mid-20th century.

I guess if we're reviving this group we can decide what rules we want to follow. Whether it's books by German authors in English or German or any authors in German, or some other scheme.

I know of some books I want to try - the Tante Poldi books by Mario Giordano and the Miss Merkel books (David Safier (the ex-German Chancellor starts solving crimes during her retirement). Both of them are available in English and German. I seem to be finding mostly cosy crimes, which is OK because I quite like crimes and mysteries. I'll try anything I can get my hands on though. I'd be grateful for any suggestions although I'm reading Eine Frau erlebt die Polarnacht and I think that's going to keep me busy for quite a few weeks. I'm enjoying it though.

KeenReader wrote: "I guess if we're reviving this group we can decide what rules we want to follow. Whether it's books by German authors in English or German or any authors in German, or some other scheme.

I know of..."

I'd be up for some cosy crime reading from German, though I gravitate more to literary fiction.

I read This House Is Mine a couple of years ago and really really liked it. Last year I read Love in Case of Emergency; it had some flaws but I thought it was interesting as it looked at the long range effects of authoritarianism in the lives of characters who were born in the DDR but were still children (or at most teens) when Reunification happened.

And The Mussel Feast was one of my best reads of 2024.

I really enjoyed Eine Frau erlebt die Polarnacht!
I think you also mentioned you had Vom Ende der Einsamkeit, which I have here on my shelf but haven't read yet.

Das Muschelessen has been on my TBR for ages, keep meaning to get to it! My library has it in German, even! I have read and enjoyed the other book you mentioned, but didn't recognize the English title - it's Altes Land in German.

I'm not sure about reviving this group, as we don't have moderator privileges. We could start another, though!

What would you want the parameters to be? I think we all have slightly different goals, but I'd guess there's a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram! :)

Erin wrote: "I'm not sure about reviving this group, as we don't have moderator privileges. We could start another, though!

What would you want the parameters to be? I think we all have slightly different goa..."

I'm going to put mine in list form, because I think that'll make it easier to collate all our wishes. Here's what I'm thinking for starters.

--I'd like to focus on works originally written in German, or work in English (or translated into English from another language) that is written by writers living in German-speaking places. I'm not sure how to handle the question of geographic boundaries. History makes that a vexed topic.

--If there are group reads, I'd like those titles to be available in English translation, since I am not yet up to reading extended work in German.

--I definitely want to be able to write comments in English, but do not at all object if others write in German.

--I am most interested in literary fiction, but I think a new group should be open to many genres.

--I don't feel a need to limit the time period of the writing, though I personally am most likely to focus on work of the last 30-40 years.

I think those are some good parameters!

There certainly are some writers who wrote in German but aren't from places currently majority German (Czechia, Romania), and lots of non-ethnic Germans who have moved there and now write in German that I'd include (I think that's also what you're saying?)

I've also read a couple of books set German-speaking areas that were not written in German (specifically I just read Herscht and Empusion translated into German, though they're of course also available in English). Thoughts on those kinds of books? (Although I wouldn't want include anything originally written in English).

That’s a fair restatement of what I was saying. I’m glad you mentioned Empusium, because yes, I’d be interested in including books set in German-speaking areas that are written in a language other than German. I actually find the blend of ethnic & language groups in central Europe pretty interesting.

I was thinking of writers like Tawanda, and older ones like Celan and Herta Müller, and trying to describe a parameter that would include them and folks of like background.

I thought I read that Herscht was written in German. I haven’t gotten to it yet, but I remember discussion about that in the Newest Literary Fiction group. I know the author (whose name I still struggle with is Hungarian, but I thought he wrote this one in German.

G wrote: "Last year I read Love in Case of Emergency; it had some flaws but I thought it was interesting as it looked at the long range effects of authoritarianism in the lives of characters who were born in the DDR but were still children (or at most teens) when Reunification happened.

You might be interested in Zonenkinder then. It's an autobiography, written by a woman who lived in East Germany. She was 13 when the Berlin wall fell and it's about how her life changed once East and West Germany were united. It's available in English as After the Wall.

I think G's parameters are good ones.

Maybe we could have regular group reads and very slow reads for people like me who want to start/get back into reading in German. Maybe we could set a target for the slow reads e.g. a chapter a week (the target could change from book to book, maybe be based on number of pages to aim for). I'd be up for reading the regular read in English and another book in German for the slow read.

I haven't got a strong opinion about books not originally written in German but written in German-speaking parts of the world, I'm happy to go along with whatever you decide.

I definitely think we should include a wide range of genres, so there's something for everyone.

Actually, I've just thought, maybe we should think about who our group will be for. I'm thinking these people might be interested

People who are advanced German speakers/readers (including native German speakers?). They want to read, maybe explore German literature, probably modern and classic.

People who are taking their first steps in speaking German (i.e. me) who would benefit from a list of easy/accessible books. I don't mean the dual language books, but what books could you move onto next? I'm at this stage of reading in German.

People learning German but not ready to read in German yet (so will want German books translated in English - which G has already specified). NB I'm not saying we should try to teach, but we could have a section about what books are available if people are starting out - I mean dual language books, André Klein's books etc.

People who don't speak German but are interested in German literature.

Do we want to cater for all of these groups? Or do we think we'll be more effective if we choose a subset and focus on them?

G wrote: "That’s a fair restatement of what I was saying. I’m glad you mentioned Empusium, because yes, I’d be interested in including books set in German-speaking areas that are written in a language other than German. I actually find the blend of ethnic & language groups in central Europe pretty interesting.

I also find it fascinating - and I tried reading those two books I mentioned in English first but found I just couldn't - they'd say someone was saying something in German and I couldn't stop translating it into what I think they might've actually said or nitpicking the English, and heck, I cannot read German place names in English without pain. Thuringia instead of Thüringen? Oh, my eyes and ears!

I was thinking of writers like Tawanda, and older ones like Celan and Herta Müller, and trying to describe a parameter that would include them and folks of like background.

Yes, Tawada and Herta Müller and even Kafka!

I thought I read that Herscht was written in German. I haven’t gotten to it yet, but I remember discussion about that in the Newest Literary Fiction group. I know the author (whose name I still struggle with is Hungarian, but I thought he wrote this one in German."

Nope, written in Hungarian, German translation by Heike Flemming

KeenReader wrote: "Actually, I've just thought, maybe we should think about who our group will be for. I'm thinking these people might be interested

People who are advanced German speakers/readers (including native ..."

Hmmm... I mean, there could be different subsets of the group focusing on folks with different goals.

I've never set up a group here, just been a member - either of you have any idea how it all works?

People who are taking their first steps in speaking German (i.e. me) who would benefit from a list of easy/accessible books. I don't mean the dual language books, but what books could you move onto next? I'm at this stage of reading in German.

I might suggest trying some children's/YA books in German -Germans are quite prolific in this area, and there's some quality stuff. Cornelia Funke, Michael Ende, Erich Kästner are good suggestions. Heck, I just bought myself the 4th book in the Tintenwelt series, which just came out after a gap of 16 years(!)

Or plays - back in the mists of time when I was taking intermediate level German, I remember reading a lot of Dürrenmatt - I still have the books, which is why I'm torturing a friend I've been helping with German by reading through Der Besuch der alten Dame with her. It's a big step up from André Klein's books (which she has been reading on her own), but she's getting there! I find taking big swings leads to the fastest gains.

In Portuguese, I went right from a graded reader to tackling Clarice Lispector and Fernando Pessoa - after that, everything else seems easy! (but confess I am also fluent in Spanish, so I can interpolate a lot through context). But yeah, high intermediate (not even advanced) German classes used to regularly read Dürrenmatt.

I'd be pleased to see the group revived or a new group. I don't read German but read a lot of German authors in translation from contemporary like Aria Aber to Christa Wolf, find German literature much more interesting than many others - American for example. I'm also very interested in German history particularly Weimar and the postwar period in East and West Germany. Also love German cinema from Fassbinder, von Trotta, Christian Petzold.

Great to see you here, Alwynne! I've got a bunch of German history books here I've been working through!

Erin wrote: "Great to see you here, Alwynne! I've got a bunch of German history books here I've been working through!"

I'm currently reading In the Shadow of the Magic Mountain: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story the writing's not great but fascinating subject matter. Obvs more cultural history than history proper but interesting to get different angles.

But you might like The Alienation Effect: How Central European Émigrés Transformed the British Twentieth Century which is about the positive impact of emigrants on British culture, art and architecture and features a great deal about people who left Germany for Britain in the 1930s.

Alwynne wrote: "I'd be pleased to see the group revived or a new group. I don't read German but read a lot of German authors in translation from contemporary like Aria Aber to Christa Wolf, find German literature ..."

ANYTHING is. more interesting than American literature, at least the stuff from the last few decades, which all sounds like it came out of the same MFA seminar!

G wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I'd be pleased to see the group revived or a new group. I don't read German but read a lot of German authors in translation from contemporary like Aria Aber to Christa Wolf, find Ge..."

Agreed, places like the Iowa workshop haven't ended up being positive influences. I do like writers like Mona Awad and Garth Greenwell but so many just don't make much of an impression. Then again don't read much contemporary French lit either.

Erin wrote: "Hmmm... I mean, there could be different subsets of the group focusing on folks with different goals."

Me: I think that was what I was trying to work towards. Also maybe two group reads? One a book of the month, another a slow read, maybe a chapter or two per week (depending on the size of the chapters). Or maybe a story a week if we are reading short stories. I'm not sure how to split up plays, I'd not thought of reading them.


Erin: "I've never set up a group here, just been a member - either of you have any idea how it all works?"

Me: I'm friends with a mod in another group who has set up groups. I could PM her if everyone else is OK with that.

Me: People who are taking their first steps in speaking German (i.e. me) who would benefit from a list of easy/accessible books. I don't mean the dual language books, but what books could you move onto next? I'm at this stage of reading in German.

Erin "I might suggest trying some children's/YA books in German -Germans are quite prolific in this area, and there's some quality stuff. Cornelia Funke, Michael Ende, Erich Kästner are good suggestions. Heck, I just bought myself the 4th book in the Tintenwelt series, which just came out after a gap of 16 years(!)

Or plays - back in the mists of time when I was taking intermediate level German, I remember reading a lot of Dürrenmatt - I still have the books, which is why I'm torturing a friend I've been helping with German by reading through Der Besuch der alten Dame with her. It's a big step up from André Klein's books (which she has been reading on her own), but she's getting there! I find taking big swings leads to the fastest gains."

Me: Thanks for the tips. I've been wondering about getting children's books and YA. I never thought of plays though.

I think I've just found out how to start a new group. There's a tiny button on the right of the screen where you search for new groups. It says "Create group". I guess we click on that and answer a bunch of questions.

I'm not sure how much I'd participate in group reads - I've been averaging about one German book a month, but I've already got an entire physical shelf to get through, so don't feel like I can commit to another 'reading assignment' every month - but if we get a critical mass of folks going, that could certainly be a thing. And if you all read something I've been wanting to get to, I'm in!

Lately I've been participating in almost more group reads than I can handle, the only ones I've done in German have been with others reading them in English; I've found Spanish group reads where I'm the only non-native speaker, but haven't found them in German yet, at least not with books I want to get to.

I tried to get a buddy read going with Dschinns over on the NLF group, but it never got off the ground. That may be my next German read.

I think I just assumed we'd have group reads because all the other groups I'm in have them. But that's a really bad reason to have them! Maybe we just want to be able to set up threads like here and chat about whatever we choose to read. It's our group after all, we can organise it however we want. We could also start simply and add features as we go.

Hi everyone, I'm going away today for Easter. Back next Thursday. I won't have an internet connection, so I might not be able to comment until I get back. I'm still interested in starting a new group though.

Maybe we could start off gently with an informal buddy reads approach? Members could say what they're planning to read/hope to read and see if anyone else wants to join them?

Hi everyone, Sorry I came back from holiday and had a work problem that needed sorting out, but here's my ideas for the group, which I think take into account everyone's suggestions, but let me know if I've misinterpreted anything or missed anything out.

I'm thinking of having 4 sections to start with, but all of this is up for discussion and we can also change and adapt as we see how things work out:

General section (4 threads): a thread for new members to introduce themselves, a thread to chat about life in general, thread for group rules and a thought/ideas/suggestions thread

German Books Section: One Thread to talk about German books and authors generally e.g. to ask for recommendations, another thread for buddy reads and maybe a third to share links to our reviews

Other books section (basically the same as the German books section, but for books not written originally in German). I'm not so sure about this section, but the "specific" book groups I belong to often have this section, so I'm thinking of including it and seeing how it goes.

Our challenges. This is where we each specify how many German books we want to read each year (which can be read in German or in translation or a mixture). I don't want to get too specific about this - I think everyone should decide for themselves what their challenge should be. If people just want a thread to record what they've read without setting up a goal or aim that's also OK.

I've had a look at the rules for other successful groups I belong to and I think these might be good rules for our group, but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts and suggestions.
1. adults only (i.e. 18 years old or older) - I don't want to discriminate on age, but I'm not able to monitor a thread for internet safety for youngsters.
2. Our focus is on books originally written in German, but it's OK to read translations.
3. People can post in English or German.
4. Treat others how you would like to be treated.
4. Please participate. If you join, please introduce yourself to the group in the welcome fellow club member thread.
5. Please refrain from making any critical or negative personal comments about another group member. In addition, we do not allow personal comments of a political, racist, anti-religious or sexist nature, and the moderator may delete any which are considered to be offensive.

I've realised I assumed I'd be the moderator, Since It's my idea it only seems right that I take responsibility for it. If anyone else wants to moderate as well as or instead of me, just let me know. I won't be precious about it.

KeenReader wrote: "I've had a look at the rules for other successful groups I belong to and I think these might be good rules for our group, but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts and suggestions.
1. adults only (i..."

This all sounds awesome, Keen!

The only tiny preference I'd have that you didn't include would be to exclude translations into German from English (as that might turn the group into something similar to the other one you're on - books originally written in English tend to take over as there are just so many...), but if no one else wants that restriction I'd be fine with not having it.

And happy to have you moderate!

Thanks for your work on this, Keen. I second Erin's comment about excluding English into German translation. I too am happy to have you moderate. If you decide you need a co-moderator I'd be willing to give it a go (though I'm not sure I'm the best person for the job--I just don't want you to wind up being stuck with all the work when/if it becomes burdensome), but I feel no need to take that on if you're up to doing it.

Sorry, when I was writing the rules, I didn't mean translations from English (or any other language) into German. I meant that it will be a club for books originally written in German, but people could read the book translated into any language they want. I'll have to think how to reword it so it's clearer.

Thanks for offering to be a moderator G. For now, I am happy to start as the sole moderator and see how it goes. I think we will be a select group of about 5-6 people so I don't think it will be too onerous. If I start struggling, I'll yell for help.

Now for the group name. I'm pretty OK with "Reading German Books" or maybe "German Book Group". I thought of "German book club", but there's another group with that name. It's been inactive since 2023 but I suspect we can't use a name that's already "taken".

I'm keen to exclude the word "literature" from the title. I don't want people to think they have to read classics. I may specialise in the many cosy crimes (written in German) that are appearing in my Goodreads recommendations at the moment and work my way up to some classics. If anyone else wants to specialise in classics, that's fine of course.