Books : 10 German books you have to read before you die

10 German books you have to read before you die

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Why don't they ever list the books you should read after you die?

Put it on a tripod!

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

The number 1 spot would go to Handbook for the Recently Deceased.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Read 8/10. Just two more and I can finally die.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die





Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die



Any of those eight you would particularly recommend, Jerry?

Needless to say I've read 0/10.




You're my wife now.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

I've read 3, which is more than I would have guessed before looking at the list.
I liked all 3 for what it's worth (Metamorphosis, AQotWF & Perfume).


Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Death in Venice and Metamorphosis are obviously essentials; Berlin Alexanderplatz and Effi Briest I remember better from the Fassbinder movies, so just watch those*; Austerlitz is great, the Tin Drum is good.

*I'm assured by Germans Fontane is a major novelist, so maybe not. Then again, they all loved Mein Kampf, so...

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Cheers guys!


You're my wife now.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

3/10, I've got a long time to go.

Marlon, Claudia & Dimby the cats 1989-2010. Clio the cat, July 1997 - 1 May 2016.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

I've read 4 of the bastards...so what ?
But wait a minute Squeeth...Didn't you kill my brother ?

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Of all of these Berlin Alexanderplatz is the only one I have, and plan on reading in some months, right after another German title (one a little older though), The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller (which I haven't heard much good about but still intend to read).

I don't have Death in Venice but my sister has. Of Thomas Mann I do have however Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain, both which I intend to read next year.

However it's very unlikely I'll be reading books like these soon. Lately I've been on a speculative fiction period, reading and interessing myself only with science-fiction and fantasy books (already read three Nebula Award winning novels on a row), so now one of the books I am currently reading is Michael Ende's Momo, in the original German (I study German already for almost four years but am still having an insane trouble reading this book, specially dealing with unknown vocabulary and having to check a dictionary all the time), and plan on reading another Michael Ende and also Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, the three of them in the original German.

I wish I knew good science-fiction novels in German.

"I know one thing: that I know nothing" - Socrates

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Metamorphosis is the only one I want to read.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Thank God I`ve read only The Tin Drum, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Metamorphosis. I won`t read the others and I`ll live forever!


🇺🇸 Liberty • E Pluribus Unum • In God We Trust 🇺🇸

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

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I've read three (All Quiet on the Western Front, Death in Venice, Metamorphosis) and have seen the movies of two others (The Reader, The Tin Drum). A couple of them I have never even heard of.

I didn't know (or didn't remember) that Berlin Alexanderplatz was a book -- somehow today it's mainly remembered as being an interminable movie. I wonder if the book is really any good.
.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

I've read:
The Tin Drum - Which was horrible. I've read a few things by Gunter Grass now, and I think I'll give up the effort now, and pass on anything else I see.
All Quiet on the Western Front - Probably the greatest war novel I've read, which could be faint praise given how few war novels I read. But it isn't.
Perfume - One of the finest novels of any kind that I've read. A genuine masterpiece.


Rusty chains and armoured pillows stuffed with silver pins

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

I really enjoyed the film of AQotWF - wonderful movie.

Perfume was made into a horrible movie - it contains the limpest orgy ever committed to celluloid!


You're my wife now.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die


All Quiet on the Western Front - Probably the greatest war novel I've read

Have you read Johnny Got His Gun?
I've not read a lot of war novels myself but I think in that I've probably read the best one. It's incredible.

Perfume really is that good, isn't it? It's a beautiful read.


Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy are three excellent war novels.


You're my wife now.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die


Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy

I don't know what happened but after loving Men at Arms (and Vile Bodies) I really didn't like Officers and Gentlemen at all.
I'm about 1/3 of the way through Brideshead Revisted atm and after feeling the first 90 pages or so were a bit uninspired and repetitious it's suddenly really gripping me - once it got into Sebastian's alcoholism it's really taken off.


Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

"Perfume" is just disgusting and depressing in a way, that I don't need in my life. So even though there is a good portrait of 18th century France hidden beneath all the crap, I'm not a fan of this nasty piece of work.

"Metamorphosis" sounds like it's too creepy and absurd for my taste as well. I guess that Frans Kafka simply isn't my cup of tea either.

As for the rest of the list, I simply know too little about them to say anything. But I happened to read about "Effie Briest" on TV Tropes just a few days ago. Am I wrong to say that it's the German equivalent to "Madame Bovary"?

Intelligence and purity.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

Fair does. I can't remember which, if any, of the books of the trilogy I preferred over the other(s).

I did greatly enjoy BR. I actually think the start of the book is my favourite part - made life as an Oxford student sound idyllic, and the prose was beautiful.



You're my wife now.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die


I did greatly enjoy BR. I actually think the start of the book is my favourite part - made life as an Oxford student sound idyllic, and the prose was beautiful.

I think I erred in that it's the third book in a row I've read written first person, I usually try to avoid doing that with even 2 in a row.


Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

I wonder how the Czechs feel about The Metamorphosis being included in a list of German books. Maybe it should be "best German-language books".

I read The Metamorphosis not long ago. It is in the public domain, so I downloaded it as an e-book. Very bizarre, I don't really know what to make of it.



Don't give me songs
Give me something to sing about

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

The only one of those I've read is Metamorphosis, and that wasn't terribly recently. Sometime in the early 80s, I think. Though I am actually reading a German novel at the moment, Nightmare In Berlin by Hans Fallada. Which, while not a laugh a minute, is somewhat lighter in tone and more enjoyable than I expected.

On a less literary note, I'm very fond of the band Effi Briest, who took their name from the book, which apparently seems to be a staple of German theatre too -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhfzJAUSiec

No valley too deep, no mountain too high.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

I didn't realise there was a follow-up to Alone in Berlin. I can see how the cheery nature of that would keep people wanting more.

Rusty chains and armoured pillows stuffed with silver pins

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

I, on the other hand, had never heard of Alone In Berlin previously, but now that I have, I have ordered it from my library. I finished Nightmare... last night, it was very good indeed. It's only just recently been published in English for the first time.

No valley too deep, no mountain too high.

Re: 10 German books you have to read before you die

read 9/10 except Christian Kracht.
Pretty average list - for starters 'Metamorphosis' is not a novel, nor is it German. It was written in German, but if thats the criteria, title should have been changed, and some Austrian, Swiss, etc works included.
Max Frish, Durrenmatt, Elias Canetti, Stefan Sweig all wrote novels much better than Effie Brest or Sebald
but even within German literature - Death in Venice is novella, nowhere as monumental as his Magic Mountain, and why is Heinrich Boll omited ? Herman Hesse ?
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