Reading German Books in 2020 discussion
Level 5: Dufourspitze
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Kuemski's challenge
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2. Eduard von Keyserling: Harmonie (publ. 1905)The melancholy swan song of the baltic nobility, beautifully written.
Two books in the first week already, wow!
Britta wrote: "Two books in the first week already, wow!"Those were two very short novellas, just to have a nice start into the year and to make room for the bigger books later this month. :-D Some of the books on my TBR have been on the shelf for more than 3 decades and I thought now's the time. :-D
Anja wrote: "2. Eduard von Keyserling: Harmonie (publ. 1905)The melancholy swan song of the baltic nobility, beautifully written."
wow, you are going to race to the top
3. Lea Singer: Anatomie der Wolken (publ. 2015)I loved this so much.
Goethe, the arrogant git, the manipulative, randy old lecher. Caspar David Friedrich, socially awkward, unable to communicate other than through his paintings, talking about shit a lot.
They are introduced to each other and everything that follows is just amazing.
Why is this not translated into English? Any other language?
There are sentences in this book that are so wonderful, I wanted to take them home with me, hug them, cuddle them and keep them warm against the cold.
Oh I like your evocative description, Anja! Can't wait to read what those two old gits have to say to each other ;-) 'Anatomie der Wolken' is on my list.
4. Verena von der Heyden-Rynsch: Europäische Salons - Höhepunkte einer versunkenen weiblichen KulturA nice introduction to the literary salon that spread all across Europe in the 18th and early 19th century. A female domain that offered literary and cultural exchange. The book presents an overview of these inspiring salonières.
5. Thomas Mann: Der ZauberbergThis was the second time I read The Magic Mountain and I am still torn between praising Mann's genius and being totally annoyed by his ramblings. I will never love this book as much as The Buddenbrooks or Death in Venice.
Also, I think "37,8" would have been a more appropriate title.
And this completes my visit to Neuendorf-Sachsenbande. See you at Seewinkel. ;-D
6. Victor Klemperer: Man möchte immer weinen und lachen in einem - Revolutionstagebuch 1919Klemperers diary entries combined with his reports to a newspaper about the dramatic events in the spring of 1919 in Germany, specifically in Munich. If you are not familiar with the "Räterepublik" or Victor Klemperer, it is advisable to read the appendix first.
After having visited Munich in 2019, this was an extra incentive to read about the city's history.
Anja wrote: "3. Lea Singer: Anatomie der Wolken (publ. 2015)I loved this so much.
Goethe, the arrogant git, the manipulative, randy old lecher. Caspar David Friedrich, socially awkward, unable to communicate o..."
Ok, I need to buy this
7. Karl-Heinz Ott: Hölderlins GeisterAnother one of Goethe's "victims". Hölderlin was a restless soul, he despaired of the world. He wished for a return of a romanticised version of greek mythology, full of grand pathos. This made him the perfect poster boy for later generations and their radical ideologies. His work was claimed by the very right, the very left, and the very weird.
This very long essay (or rather short book) wants to show how Hölderlin's work was used (and abused) by different ideologies, but not in great detail. But it invites to a lot more digging and rereading of Hölderlin's writings.
Hölderin was indeed considered a bit weird, living in his tower for nearly 40 years. But a man who could write a poem like "To The Fates" deserves to be cherished.
Sabine wrote: "Oh I like your evocative description, Anja! Can't wait to read what those two old gits have to say to each other ;-) 'Anatomie der Wolken' is on my list."Mine too!
8. Werner Bergengruen: Die Drei Falken (publ. 1947)Another one of Bergengruen's novellas that are written in the style of a fairytale, a bit old-fashioned, with a morale at the end.
9. Eduard von Keyserling: Beate und Mareile (publ. 1903)You'd have to kill me in order to stop me from gushing about Keyserling's writing. His style is elegant and evocative, appealing to all the senses.
He demolishes the utterly pointless nobility with a fine sense of sarcasm, his prose is like a watercolour still life. A long summer evening, resting in the shadows under a tree, a warm breeze on your skin, as we all remember it from our childhood (well, at least I do). This man could handle his adjectives alright!
The dialogue in this novella on the other hand was some of the strangest I've ever encountered in any of his novels.
I think, pretty much all of his works had been translated into English at some point but are probably no longer in print. This one was translated as "The Curse of the Tarniffs".
If anyone wants to try a Keyserling novella, the lovely Tony Malone has taken it upon himself, to translate two of Keyserling's stories into English for fun (!) that are available for free. One of which can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
10. Georg Büchner: Lenz (publ. 1839)This time I appreciated this novella more than when I first read it almost 30 years ago. But under the current circumstances Lenzen's downward spiral was especially painful to read and yet on the other hand strangely comforting.
The book should come with a trigger warning for people who suffer from severe depression.
And this brings my visit to Seewinkel to an end. Next stop will be the Zugspitze.
11. Christian Bommarius: 1949 – Das lange deutsche Jahr (publ. 2018) A gripping, fast-paced and witty, sometimes sarcastic, month-by-month rollercoaster ride through the "long" year of 1949, beginning with the blockade of Berlin in 1948 and highlighting moments, people and tiny details, that all together lead to the foundation of both Germanys (with the main focus on West Germany). It made me breathless and angry and it's a miracle that all of what was going on at the time could finally lead to the German Grundgesetz. Every page triggers the desire to dig deeper into biographies and history books to learn more about this period of German history. The style is entertaining but solid at all times. Highly recommend. Unfortunately I don't think it has been translated at all.
12. Sabine Pamperrien: 1967 - Das Jahr der zwei Sommer (publ. 2017)A very entertaining glimpse at events in pop culture and politics in Germany and the western world (with very few exceptions), alternated with the monthly expenses of an ordinary German family, which was a bit of an odd choice. I missed some events, but I guess one has to make some cuts in a book of popular history. I listened to the audio version and quite enjoyed it.
13. Gabriele Tergit: Käsebier erobert den KurfürstendammBreathless, witty and slightly mad. I liked it.
14. Norbert Frei: 1968 - Jugendrevolte und globaler Protest (aktualisierte Ausgabe 2017)The protest movements of the 60s, their origins, their global connections and national differences. I would have liked it to be longer but the extensive bibliography is very useful for further reading on specific countries, personalities and ideas. The book has been translated into Danish, Hungarian, Japanese and Arabian.
15. Annette Dittert: London Calling: Als Deutsche auf der Brexit-InselThe author worked as a journalist in London and her love for the city and the people clearly shows. Always on the lookout for interesting stories, she takes the direct path and asks people about Brexit. Every encounter up and down the country presents her with a variety of reasons why so many people voted Leave despite them knowing it would hurt them. I highly recommend this book to get a deep insight into the british (or mostly english) soul. The 2020 edition comes with an updated preface.
And this ends my visit to the Zugspitze. Next stop: Großglockner.
16. Nele Pollatschek: Dear OxbridgeObservations of a German student at Cambridge and Oxford. A personal view that helps to understand the connections between those two traditional universities and Brexit, among other things.
This is my second book in a row that deals with a german view on recent events in Britain. Apparently I just cannot let it go. xD
17. Andreas Izquierdo: Schatten der Welt
18. Gunnar Decker: Zwischen den Zeiten – Die späten Jahre der DDR
19. Walter Koschorreck: Minnesinger In Bildern Der Manessischen Liederhandschrift
Christiane wrote: "Das könnte spannend sein - oder war es zu "akademisch"? Bitte, erzähle doch davon etwas mehr :)"Es war nicht sonderlich akademisch (hätte ich mir durchaus gewünscht), als kurzer Einstieg in Minnegesang aber sehr gut geeignet. Die Lieder sind im Original und in hochdeutscher Übersetzung abgedruckt und zu jedem Sänger gibt es eine Kurzbio und ein Gemälde, das erklärt wird.
20. Till Lindemann: MesserDeath, pain and sex galore. What's not to like? :-D
Ein Poet, der Lodenmantel mit Hodenhantel reimt, kann kein schlechter Mensch sein.
23. Siegfried Lenz: DeutschstundeOne of the best novels I've read in a very long time. That writing style was something else. The immediacy with which the narrator approaches the story as well as the reader was so captivating.
English title: The German Lesson, also translated into many other languages, and rightly so.
(Although I wonder how it is even possible to translate "Butt pedden" adequately. :-D)
24. Norbert Frei (Hrsg.): Hitlers Eliten nach 1945
25. Rainer Maria Rilke: Das StundenbuchAnd that completes my visit to Dufourspitze. Will go home now.
Thank you, Britta and Mel, for hosting it, I enjoyed it immensely.
I gave it 3 stars, it was a bit too fairytale-like for my taste. Also, the end seemed a bit rushed, as if the author lost interest in telling the other side of the story.