List: german

Ronja has had more of an influence on me at the time than most other books. Its effect is lesser now, but that's because it was honestly perfect for me at the time. The strong Ronja, with her wildness and her tenderness and her strength, did her part in carrying me through the less fortunate moments of my childhood. I loved the book to pieces. It taught me about strength and loyalty and self-reliance when I needed them.

Märchen

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1989 · read 2007-05-01

Lindgren is best known for her books for children: They are beautiful, sometimes hauntingly so. They are deep and won't seem cheap after you grow up. They are always grounded in reality, and everybody talks and acts like a real person.

Mio, My Son

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1954 · read 2001-02-01

Mio, my Mio. A book for children, with heart-breaking beauty. The beauty is in how it uses fairytale and lyrical resonance to spin a story that is both familiar and strange. It meant a lot to me: The unhappy boy who runs away from home, only to find out that he's the prince of a magical realm – but the realm is in trouble. There is love in every word. It's This Is How You Lose The Time War, only for children.

Kalle Blomquist

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1946 · read 1998-09-01

My first, own, serious book! Serious in that it was long, and the book I got for my first day at school. Despite its length – it's a collection of three individual books – I got through it within the first week of school.

The Eyre Affair

by Jasper Fforde · published 2001 · read 2007-08-01

Embarassing, or at least a sign of aging: This book did not stand up to a re-read for me.

Das fliegende Klassenzimmer

by Erich Kästner · published 1933 · read 2001-07-01

It's the one German boarding school novel and I loved it to pieces as a kid. As all Kästner books except for Lottchen it features a transparent self-insert, but it's fine, imo. Most boarding school novels do this, to be honest.

Emil and the Detectives

by Erich Kästner · published 1928 · read 2004-12-01

Charming adventures in Berlin of the 1920s? Children taking on adults together? Wild chases and solidarity? All this, and more. Emil is infinitely relatable as he travels to the big city, is robbed and tries to recover the money. Emil is just a good kid in a bad situation, and seeing him grow and manage to muddle through and make friends is heart-warming.

Herr der Diebe

by Cornelia Funke · published 2000 · read 2001-07-01

Possibly my first good magical realism book. I loved this so much that I took the real name of one of the characters as my alter ego name in adventure stories I was writing at the time.

Max und Moritz. Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen

by Wilhelm Busch · published 1865 · read 2000-01-01

Max and Moritz is an extremely quotable gruesome story of two boys and their pranks. It's written in rhymed couplets, many of which have turned into common sayings because they are witty, sarcastic, or just brutal. They are in many ways an integral part of German culture, I suppose, but more importantly they were an inescapable part of my family's culture. Being able to quote Max & Moritz was a survival skill.

Das Jahrhundertkind

by Ralf Isau · published 1999 · read 2005-06-01

Generally, I dislike the way Isau does magic, the way he does characters, the arcs of his stories. They feel … sticky, for lack of a better world, as if he's always trying to do something to the reader, convert us? This is still true for this series, but its scale and awesomeness outweigh the drawbacks. The protagonist lives for exactly 100 years and has to fight forces of darkness, mysterious ones. His life takes him all over the planet, and he gets to see many historic people and situations first-hand while figuring out his life. It's amazing.

The Neverending Story

by Michael Ende · published 1979 · read 2002-03-01

Neverending – oh, if only! I loved this book as a kid, and there are infinite possibilities for tie-ins (though arguably the book is better off without them).

Coraline

by Neil Gaiman · published 2002 · read 2003-02-01

Coraline is a wonderful book. Terrifying, too. Coraline and her parents move to a new place, where there's nothing apart from the other (strange!) people living in the house. Her parents are busy all day, and she's just left to her own devices. So she wanders around and eventually finds a mirror world, where everything is duplicated, only uncanny and weird – and where she finds parents who love her and have time for her. Now if only they were human.

Whose Body?

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1923 · read 2019-09-29

I read and re-read a lot of Dorothy L. Sayers in German when I was a kid, around 10. I loved those books to bits, so I started wondering if they were as good as I remembered. I started my re-read in the beginning, with Whose Body?, and it turns out: yes. The books are as good as I remembered, or even better, now that I get to read them in English and have an Internet at my fingertips to look up all the more and less obscure literary allusions – which there are many of. The writing style is charming, and has a very distinctive voice of its own, and lends very realistic, nearly audible voices to each and every character on cast.

The Nine Tailors

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1934 · read 2005-08-01

I stand by my previous 5 star rating even on the re-read. Of course, this is heavily influenced by the fact that I read this book several times as a kid, but still – I think it is a good book. It's definitely by far my favourite book from Dorothy L. Sayers. Everything fits: characters, dialogue, extreme amounts of atmosphere, and even a plot worth the name. There are some side characters that I'd have loved to see more of, but that's the only criticism that comes to mind.

The Name of the Rose

by Umberto Eco · published 1980 · last read 2021-08-12

Medieval monks? Thinly disguised opportunities to lecture the reader about history and theology? Showing off your knowledge of obscure and less obscure references? It might sound obnoxious, but Eco is obviously just a giant nerd and is having fun, and I fell for his joy more than anything. Though I do love monasteries and medieval backgrounds and libraries and clever protagonists, so that helped.

Die roten Matrosen

by Klaus Kordon · published 1994 · read 2004-05-01

Revolution! This book made me understand, at least a little, what happened in Germany's past. It takes place during the 1918 revolution, and the protagonist is a boy from a worker family in Berlin's Wedding district. It's specific, it's fun, it's well-sourced. It very much stands on the pro-communist side of things (who, after all, did not win the revolution), so he may be responsible for my early dislike of socialists. Regardless, it's an excellent book, and made sure that I could never forget what happened in those days, and who key players like Ebert, Scheidemann and Noske were.

The Cry of the Icemark

by Stuart Hill · published 2005 · read 2009-01-01

One of my favourite fantasy books back in the day. Thirrin, at age 14(?) becomes the warrior queen of the Icemark, and has to find allies and prepare for war and invasion. Thirrin is far from perfect, but ferocious and amazing. Her friends and allies are amazing, both the magical ones (wizards, giant talking snow leopards) and the natural ones. It takes all of her skill to organise a big retreat and then an assault as the ice thaws.

Leisure: The Basis of Culture

by Josef Pieper · published 1948 · read 2020-05-24

This book is A Lot. It's a Christian philosopher arguing for the value of Tao, that is, work-transcending leisure.

Harka

by Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich · published 1962 · read 2003-07-01

This series … weirdly enough, I wouldn't say that it has had a huge influence on me, despite being one of my favourites at the time. And the first part was my favourite among the series (once I got to read it – my introduction was a shortened mashup of volumes 4-6, if I recall correctly). Seeing the young Harka encounter hardship and deal with it with strength and grace was enchanting.

Die dampfenden Hälse der Pferde im Turm von Babel

by Franz Fühmann · published 1978 · read 2000-03-01

Five stars mean a book changed my life. This book changed my life several times, and I'm not sure it's done with me yet. It's about language. It's about philosophy. It's about linguistics. It's about playing with language, and it's about heritage and tradition, and – look, it's perfect for me.

Mimus

by Lilli Thal · published 2003 · last read 2021-01-21

Mimus is the wonderfully cruel tale of Prince Florin. In the struggle of two nations, the baddies use the age-old plot of suggesting peace-talks to come closer to their enemies. They capture the royal family and important court officials. Everybody is imprisoned, except Prince Florin, who is humiliatingly apprenticed to the court jester. That's the short setup. The book follows Florin in his reluctant apprenticeship to Mimus, through hardship, diplomacy, heartbreak and the realisation that life goes on.

The Complete Fairy Tales

by Hans Christian Andersen · published 1913 · read 2002-07-01

Andersen's fairy tales were the first ones I actually owned, and this alone made them special to me. They tend to be brutal and gruesome, but I was nine and loved them for it. The original Snow Queen is terrifying, the original Little Mermaid heart-breaking. Others have not changed much in public perception: The Ugly Duckling, the Princess and the Pea, the Little Match-Seller (😢).

Krabat

by Otfried Preußler · published 1971 · read 2005-07-01

Krabat (English: The Satanic Mill. Yes, really) is unique and I'm having a hard time finding anything similar. The story of a poor orphan during the 30 years war, who signs up for an apprenticeship in a mill and finds himself learning the Dark Arts – it should be cheesy, or cheap, or odd. Instead it's like a deep old fairy tale, complete with violence, love, friendship, death and magic.

Alarm im Kasperletheater

by Nils Werner, Heinz Behling · published 1958 · read 1998-12-31

And this is how I learnt to read: Too early, to general displeasure, and by this book. It's a beautifully illustrated story with the characters of a Punch-and-Judy show. It's grandma's birthday, and Kasperle (the traditional protagonist) buys doughnuts to celebrate. But! the little devil swings by and steals them, with the wonderful reasoning of "I'm sure these are counted, so he'll know if I'm taking one. If I take one, he'll know – so I'll take them all, and he won't be able to count them to see how many are missing!" All the other characters show up – the girl, the king, the policeman, the crocodile, the robber, and unite in chasing the devil.

Das Stunden-Buch

by Rainer Maria Rilke · published 1899 · last read 2022-01-18

One of my favourite pieces of poetry. Probably doesn't translate well (to English, to German that isn't steeped in religion, etc).

The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear

by Walter Moers · published 1999 · read 2006-05-01

This is where Moers proved he was a wizard. It's not his best book, but it's absolutely outstanding nevertheless. The tour through the 13½ lives of Cpt Bluebear is amazing, astounding, sparkling with fantastic ideas as if it had been written by 13 creative geniuses instead of just one.

The City of Dreaming Books

by Walter Moers · published 2004 · read 2007-11-01

The year I got this book, I must have read it five times in a row. It's one of those books that appeal deliberately to any reader's affinity to books – but where stories about magical librarians or book-hopping narrators are cautious about it, Moers goes all in. This is not an appeal, it's unrepentant, happy, blatant pandering. God, I loved reading this book.

1984

by George Orwell · published 1949 · read 2010-02-01

Story time: My mother read 1984 as a teenager, in the German Democratic Republic. It was, of course, forbidden there, so it was passed around illegally, in hand-typed copies. You usually only had one chapter at a time, and not necessarily in the correct order. When I read it for the first time, she told me all that, and added as an aside: "You know, I've never quite understood why people in the free West liked this book so much. It couldn't speak to them as it did to us!"

Lolita

by Vladimir Nabokov · published 1955 · read 2010-09-01

Lolita was an interesting book to read when I was 18: I was used to reading classics with a critical distance, and Lolita never fit either my analytic access nor my "god this is really good" access. It's a tough read, but it's always skillful, never cheap (though often blatant). I think I'm better for having read it, but I can't say why.

Frostfeuer

by Kai Meyer · published 2005 · read 2009-09-01

Snow Queen is a terrifying fairy tale. This adaptation is similarly dark and way more Russian. Our protagonist is a poor orphan who has never left the hotel she was born in. And now she has to help a mysterious guest against a mighty sorceress? All the while discovering a plot on Tsar Alexander's life? Worth a read.

The Water Mirror

by Kai Meyer · published 2001 · last read 2009-07-01

Magical Venice with mermaids (talking, dangerous, rarely helpful, but the exceptions are amazing)! Magical egypt with sphinxes (talking, dangerous, rarely helpful, but the exceptions are amazing)! Magical hell world with demons (dangerous, no exceptions)! Mirror makers, mirror worlds, young orphans, dangerous travels. Betrayal, loyalty. You know the drill. It's not the best and not the most creative YA, and the worldbuilding is a bit iffy in places, but it's creative enough to make it up to me.

The Amulet of Samarkand

by Jonathan Stroud · published 2003 · read 2007-01-01

Even though I was aware that Stroud was using repetetive cheap tricks to get me to enjoy the story, I still enjoyed the story, and that's that.

Rheinsberg: ein Bilderbuch für Verliebte

by Kurt Tucholsky · published 1912 · read 2008-01-01

Tucholsky wasn't much of a novelist – he shines in his newspaper articles, and sometimes, Kästner-esque, in his poems. This is a slightly cheesy (but sweet!) romance. It's cute, and the dialogue is so real it latches onto your brain, but it's not much of anything else.

Emil in the Soup Tureen

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1963 · read 2001-04-01

Adorable book for kids. Emil is wonderful, as is everybody else. As usual, Astrid Lindgren doesn't flinch away from real life, so Emil is for instance regularly locked away because his parents don't know how to deal with him.

Immer dieser Michel

by Astrid Lindgren · read 2001-12-01

Michel is delightful and sweet and a prankster and a rascal. He's never malicious, but always in the thick of it. I liked him a lot, and have always been impressed how much Lindgren can make me feel like I too live on a farm in the middle of Sweden. It's all so real and true.

Pippi Langstrumpf

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1945 · read 2001-11-01

Joyful is what this book is. Thoroughly joyful, and I'd love to blame it for my anarchist tendencies (but that would probably be unfair).

Tomte Tummetott

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1961 · read 2004-01-01

Pure wholesomeness: Tomte Tumtetott is a spirit(-ish) who lives on the farm, and only comes out at night. He talks to the animals (who understand him) and to the sleeping plants and people. He is kind to everybody and has a good word in every situation. He reminds the sleeping people and animals that spring will come, and is generally very laid back. A calm book for younger children.

Die Tante Jolesch

by Friedrich Torberg · published 1975 · read 2008-01-01

Kaffeehauskultur. Tales of the Austrian in-group.

Draußen vor der Tür

by Wolfgang Borchert · published 1947 · read 2007-06-01

Borchert's most famous piece – because he died the year it was published, aged 26, of a fever contracted during WW2. We lost a good one that day. This play has the subtitle "A play that no theatre wants to play and that no audience wants to see". It's about a WW2 soldier who comes home after spending three years as a war prisoner. He finds a changed world that doesn't need him, doesn't want him, and certainly won't take any responsibility for him.

First Among Sequels

by Jasper Fforde · published 2007 · read 2008-06-01

Book Five: Clones! Undercover operations! Tired plots, but good family drama. I'm not sure what happened, but in this book I prefer the plot and even the characters to the worldbuilding, such as it is.

Lost in a Good Book

by Jasper Fforde · published 2002 · read 2008-10-01

Fast moving sequel – more book travels! I liked the book travels, and I liked it enough to be a bit indifferent towards the plot.

The Well of Lost Plots

by Jasper Fforde · published 2004 · read 2008-03-01

More literary gags (jurisfiction meetings waiting for Godot before getting started, you get the drift). There's always more witty worldbuilding, and since that's what I continue to read the series for, I still don't recall much of the plot. Great fun though.

Gedichte

by Erich Kästner · published 1987 · read 2009-10-01

I really really like Kästner's poems. They get dark, they get snarky, they are political, they don't stop for anybody, except for their author's sentimentality. He doesn't do sentimentality very well – but he knows it, and he can laugh about it.

Die Zeit fährt Auto

by Erich Kästner · read 2008-04-01

The first Kästner poems I ever read – overlaps with the others, but reading a Kästner poem twice is good for the soul, anyways.

Das doppelte Lottchen

by Erich Kästner · published 1949 · read 2001-01-01

Das doppelte Lottchen (English: Lottie and Lisa) is exactly what I loved to read as a child. The story of the twins Liese and Lotte, who were split up soon after birth when their parents separated. Once the two very different girls realise they are twins at a summer camp, they decide to switch places.

Doktor Erich Kästners Lyrische Hausapotheke

by Erich Kästner · published 1936 · read 2008-06-01

More Kästner poems, these here designed to help you during your everyday life. And – surprisingly – they do. Well, some of them do, but that's how every collection of poem works.

Inkheart

by Cornelia Funke · published 2003 · read 2006-08-01

Inkheart understood me. It understood my dorky love for books, and how I wanted to jump into a story. It got feeling alone, and it got nerding out with others. And it made other books come to life – and I loved it for it. Some of it follows YA rules and annoyances: it's slow to develop and the protagonist is sometimes grating. But that's perfectly fine when balancing it against the imaginative story.

Inkdeath

by Cornelia Funke · published 2007 · read 2007-03-01

Concluding the Inkworld series, and concluding it well. Like all the books, it's a bit too long with characters who are just a bit too bland. But this book at least has a good share of action and plotting (possibly too much, looking at its length), and a satisfying ending, and that's more than many authors can manage.

Igraine the Brave

by Cornelia Funke · published 1998 · read 2004-02-01

Igraine is a very sweet book for kids. Igraine wants to be a knight, not a boring wizard like everybody else in her family, and she gets her wish – and has to save her family in the process. A bit saccharine in the general tone, possibly, but the execution borders on dry and is just generally sparking joy.

Berlins Drittes Geschlecht

by Magnus Hirschfeld · published 1904 · read 2020-08-12

Berlin's Third Gender (Berlins drittes Geschlecht) by Dr Magnus Hirschfeld is a description of queer lives in Berlin around 1900 (published 1905). Even though it's naturally sad in some ways, it's also encouraging: Berlin was comparatively liberal at the time, and I enjoyed the descriptions of queer groups, events, relationships, and creative side-stepping of general conventions. The descriptions are very vivid and obviously well-researched, and contain lots of amusing facts about everyday life in different social circles.

Blindness

by José Saramago · published 1995 · last read 2014-03-01

Blindness felt really strong – the general vibe of the book is still easy to recall for me years later. The epidemic blindness that befalls everybdoy in contact with a victim is terrifying, but the terror isn't overdone. It's humanized, low-key, loving even. I'm glad I read this book.

Die Physiker

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1962 · read 2007-02-01

Satirical stage play, in a Swiss asylum for the insane. The three inmates think they are Newton, Einstein and Moebius. Or so the initial story goes – there's much more to it than that. The murder mystery is just window dressing – the real questions are about ethics in science and the self-destructive tendencies of humanity, and are mostly informed by atom bombs and the cold war. It's dusty, dated – but still packs a punch though – never underestimate Dürrenmatt. He plays dirty and does it well.

Die Panne

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1956 · read 2021-01-17

Our protagonist has a breakdown and, because the village inn is full, is invited to stay in a local mansion. It turns out that his host is a retired judge, and together with his friends, a retired prosecutor and a retired attorney, they stage a mock-trial of their guest – all in good fun – of crimes yet to be named. The rest is very Dürrenmatt. Short and enjoyable, but always with an edge of unease.

Der Richter und sein Henker

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1951 · read 2009-10-01

Existentialist mystery, is maybe the best description of this book. Do not read if you're not in the mood for dark and dire. The aging detective may be staple, and even some of the plot twists may invite you to think that this is just another mystery, but it goes far beyond that, if you're willing to dive into the subtext.

The Visit

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1962 · read 2009-01-01

Dürrenmatt will always punch you in the face. This time he's talking about corruptability and the corruption brought about by wealth. It's the terrifying story of a man sold out by his entire community for the promise of wealth. It's about ethics and justice and avarice. I loved it. Seeing it on stage when I was 17 was transformative.

Der Verdacht

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1952 · read 2006-11-01

Detective Bärlach's second case concerns a surviving Nazi doctor. As always, it's not – in the end, at least – about bringing about official justice. Dürrenmatt doesn't much care for that, or trust in it, and looking at the publishing date, he was not wrong.

Dick Sands the Boy Captain

by Jules Verne · published 1878 · read 2002-08-01

Verne could write pure adventure stories, too, and didn't need to put in scifi to make them work. I read this book multiple times as a kid and was utterly captivated by it. The vivid nature descriptions of Africa and South America, the young protagonist responsible for the crew, the strong and brutal depiction and condemnation of slavery … This book flinches away from very little. I still can tell you about the characters and the plot today, and it's been nearly twenty years since I've read the book.

Die Verschworenen

by Ursula Poznanski · published 2013 · read 2017-01-09

Rias Gruppe wird dezimiert (sogar eher im ursprünglichen Sinn), und nach einigen Nachforschungen in Jordans Chroniken verlassen drei der vier Überlebenden die Wildnis, um mehr in Erfahrung zu bringen. Bringt leider nicht so viel an Fakten, aber bringt Ria auf die richtigen Gedanken und sie beendet das Buch, wo sie es begann.

Die Verratenen

by Ursula Poznanski · published 2012 · read 2017-01-09

by Ursula Poznanski · published 2014 · read 2017-01-11

Mehr, bitte!

Die Vernichteten

Good conclusion to an excellent series.

Erebos

by Ursula Poznanski · published 2010 · read 2018-03-12

Woah. Unendlich viel besser als Ready Player One oder Epic. Richtig richtig gute und gruselige Fassung eines KI-gesteuerten RPGs, das Auswirkungen auf die echte Welt hat. Hnnng.

Momo

by Michael Ende · published 1973 · read 2002-07-01

Momo is a weird book: It clearly has the potential to be and to feel very profound. But it was never quite that for me. Maybe it's that the capitalism criticism is just too open and too jarring when mixed with the magical elements? Maybe it's that Momo herself, as a character, always kept her distance to me. I don't know. It's a good book, but it never quite reached "great" for me.

Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer

by Michael Ende · published 1960 · read 1999-05-01

Lukas, and Jim, their steam locomotive Emma, and their shared adventures fascinated me a lot. I remember being read these stories (and drawing in the book) when I was three, and I loved them to pieces. Later at the mature age of five I found out about the marionette theatre version – a four part musical by the wonderful Augsburger Puppenkiste, and I … fanboyed.

Murder Must Advertise

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1933 · read 2005-12-01

Murder Must Advertise is such a fun book. Witty, word-play-y, though it works best if you're already familiar with Lord Peter. Great characterisations, and not even that bad of a plot (always the weak point with Sayers). The characters were life-like and good and touching in unexpected places. Keen eye for British class and culture. Loved the banter, missed the Bunter. I'm very happy my re-read arrived here, because Murder Must Advertise and the next book, Nine Tailors, seem to me the best of Sayers' work.

Clouds of Witness

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1926 · read 2006-06-01

This was just as fun as I remembered. Peter's mother appears a lot (always a good thing), and his brother is a total idiot. Peter does his thing and I love everything about it. The story is a bit inconsequential, but we're here for the dialogue, not some pesky murder mystery.

Der Talisman der Macht

by Licia Troisi · published 2005 · read 2007-10-01

Decent conclusion to a decent series.

Im Land des Windes

by Licia Troisi · published 2004 · last read 2021-01-18

Worldbuilding! I forgot about the worldbuilding of this book. For example, there are tower cities where everything is organised by the tower layers.

Vaterland

by Robert Harris · published 1992 · read 2013-08-01

One of the few books that improve by translating them to German. Alternate history where Hitler won WW2 and everything is German. A mystery set in that scenario in the 60s – well-researched, well-paced. It's not a cheap dystopia, it's real and gritty and oppressive without going over the top.

Krokodil im Nacken

by Klaus Kordon · published 2002 · read 2010-05-01

Literary introduction to the horrors of the GDR and the Stasi. I don't remember the book well enough to say anything about its accuracy. Kordon usually tells well-researched stories that support the current narrative about past events, so that's what I'd expect. It's uncharacteristically long, and I don't remember much to justify the length.

Mit dem Rücken zur Wand

by Klaus Kordon · published 1990 · read 2003-03-01

The second book in this series takes place fifteen years after the revolution, during the fall of the Weimar Republic. It's haunting and gives a face to dissidents, to jews, to communists, and of course to nazis and collaborators. I was already emotionally invested in the series, so I didn't see the big turncoat coming (which my mother spotted from a mile away). The book didn't teach me many new things, if I recall correctly, but it cemented a sense of oppression and violence and the general social situation at the time.

Keks, Frau K. und Katastrophen

by Fanny Müller · read 2011-05-01

Fanny Müller was hilarious to me at the time, though I wouldn't want to swear that her books still hold up.

Smilla’s Sense of Snow

by Peter Høeg · published 1992 · read 2010-10-01

For years I've been meaning to re-read this book, because it has made a lasting impression – but like a dream, I can only talk about the feelings and some snapshots I remember. I still look back to these scenes, but I lack both the context and the will to re-read it.

Joseph Fouché

by Stefan Zweig · published 1929 · read 2008-07-01

Stefan Zweig just has a way with words, and his biography of Joseph Fouché taught me more about Napoleon's France (and the France before and afterwards) than my history lessons ever did.

The World of Yesterday

by Stefan Zweig · published 1941 · read 2008-12-01

Autobiographical memories of Zweig's youth in Austrian empire Vienna, as an intellectual jew. Balancing on the line between "elegant" and "overly flowery", late-life Zweig had surprisingly turned into a fan of the monarchy. He's busy romanticising the past, but he does it so well that I can't be mad at him.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

by Douglas Adams · published 1979 · read 2004-12-01

The incomparable, oft-compared, one and only Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's so much of a classic that saying anything about it defeats the point.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

by Douglas Adams · published 1987 · read 2007-02-01

Inevitably, the Dirk Gently books get compared to the Hitchhiker's Guide books. Lacking originality, I'll do the same. Yes, this book is much denser and a bit more absurd despite the fact that the Earth remains standing (er, revolving) and there are no aliens. It's also more geeky, or nerdy, or written to a British academic in-group. Or possibly against it.

Roadside Picnic

by Arkady Strugatsky · published 1972 · read 2020-08-03

Roadside picnic was a good book to read, and I was surprised that I didn't find it depressing. It takes place in a small town in roughly-Canada, where an alien exclusion zone has spawned that is very much like a radioactive dump: People around it experience mutations, people at the site when it spawned lost their lives or were injured in weird ways, you should only enter the zone in a special suit, but of course people do enter without one anyways. This was published 14 years before Chernobyl, mind.

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak · published 2005 · read 2010-06-01

Sensitive, but oddly distant take on childhood in Nazi Germany.

The Diary of a Young Girl

by Anne Frank · published 1947 · read 2003-04-01

Anne's diary was mandatory reading in school. Our edition included photos of Anne and her family. Contrasting Anne's story with the fact that there are six million of these stories – an unthinkable number to me, even now – made me despair of humanity when I was eight. I still find it hard to deal with it.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

by J.K. Rowling · published 1999 · read 2001-09-01

There's nothing left to be said about Harry Potter books. This was the first one that felt like Harry was changing, growing up, getting some agency. The whole book felt like autumn, with the smell of wet leaves clinging to everything. Naturally I liked the whole "finding a new home" arc. And, equally naturally, I felt very seen in the plot arc that introduces time travel for the primary purpose of reading more books and learning more things. This might be my favourite part of the series (either this one or the first).

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

by J.K. Rowling · published 1997 · read 2001-09-01

Harry Potter – look, I can't be objective. I grew up on these books. My friends and I could act out entire scenes by heart. I went through the cycle a generation experienced: Love, obsession, disappointment, detachment (in many cases by growing up, in my case by discovering fanfics).

Twilight of the Idols

by Friedrich Nietzsche · published 1888 · read 2020-05-25

Nietzsche – in this book, he is equally malevolent spirit, joyfully brilliant shitposter, and asshole. The full title is Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer (Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert). It's a dense book – not in that it is complex, but that it is just stuffed with aphorisms and opinions.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

by J.R.R. Tolkien · published 1937 · read 2000-07-01

The Hobbit was my first Tolkien. I read it first when I was eight, but I had already listened to the excellent audio book about a million times – I got that for my fifth or sixth birthday. It introduced me to so many concepts.

The Lives of Christopher Chant

by Diana Wynne Jones · published 1988 · read 2006-05-01

Chrestomanci was my first encounter with the phenomenon that is Diana Wynne Jones. I liked the books – they seemed to strike the tricky balance between whimsy, absurdity, and having an actual plot. I can still remember how Christopher starts going into other worlds, touching things to make them solid. It's a great image.

Howl’s Moving Castle

by Diana Wynne Jones · published 1986 · read 2009-10-01

This book confused me a lot when I first read it (to be fair: it is a confusing book). Then I watched the movie a year or two later, and I didn't connect it with the book at all. It only came to me slowly over the course of months that the two might be connected. It's so weird!

The Winter Queen

by Boris Akunin · published 1998 · read 2008-04-01

Fandorin was fun – I read more than just the first, but was too lazy to add them. Mysteries in Tsarist Russia. The mystery and plot is lame, but the character is alright and the setting is gorgeous.

Die Revolution Von 1918/19

by Volker Ullrich · published 2009 · read 2017-11-16

So viel au :( aber ein guter Überblick.

Der Schimmelreiter

by Theodor Storm · published 1888 · read 2006-02-01

How would you discuss the conflict between old superstitious beliefs ruling the country and scientific enlightenment doing its thing? A ghost story? Well, that's what Storm thought, too.

Aquis Submersus

by Theodor Storm · published 1876 · read 2006-09-01

Theodor Storm: good. Theodor Fontane: ehhhh. This is my qualified German literature opinion.

Night Watch

by Sergei Lukyanenko · published 1998 · read 2010-01-01

Russian Urban Fantasy. Amazing – the characters were alright, but the world building was excellent and the plot was at least above average. I enjoyed the whole series a lot, and the 90s Russia vibes were impressive.

Désirée

by Annemarie Selinko · published 1951 · read 2008-08-01

Désirée got me started on serious historical fiction – this, or Klaus Kordon, but it's a close race. Désirée is the true tale of Désirée Clary, told in the form of her fictional diary.

Matilda

by Roald Dahl · published 1988 · read 2004-10-01

Possibly my favourite book by Dahl. While it is needlessly cruel (like all his books), it catered to the nerdy book-loving kid demographic relentlessly, and that was more than fine by me. And now we even have a great Tim Minchin musical, which is another point in favour of the book.

Die rote Zora und ihre Bande

by Kurt Held · published 1941 · read 2007-08-01

Zora is wild and cannot be tamed. Together with her friends, they live on the streets (and in their own hidden secret castle) of Croatia. They steal to survive and have all sorts of adventures with friends, against the autorities, helping some people, hindering others. It even has a truly positive ending, even if it's forced.

Lassen Sie es mich so sagen: Dombrowski deutet die Zeichen der Zeit

by Georg Schramm · published 2007 · read 2010-12-01

Schramm is much better on screen than his writing, but his writing is decent and readable.

Der Räuber Hotzenplotz

by Otfried Preußler · published 1962 · read 1999-09-01

As Alarm im Kasperletheater, this book is a riff off the usual characters of a Punch-and-Judy show. There's the Robber, Hotzenplotz, who opens the book by stealing(!) grandmother's coffee grinder, which is particularly beautiful and plays a melody while you grind the coffee.

Das Känguru-Manifest

by Marc-Uwe Kling · published 2011 · read 2015-03-01

More of the same – never change a running system.

Dracula

by Bram Stoker · published 1897 · read 2009-04-01

Dracula is over one hundred years old, by now (the book, not the vampire!). It has aged, but not to the point that it is unreadable. It's slow-going and stuffy at times, but I found that much more bearable in an epistolary work than in regular novels. The plot itself is so well-known that I don't think I can judge it very well. Some parts of it (the Texan, oh gods) are hilarious, some parts just annoying (Harker, mostly).

Treasure Island

by Robert Louis Stevenson · published 1879 · read 2004-07-01

The one and only classic pirate adventure. Much better than I would have thought, given that famous and classic stories often were good at the time and then remained unreasonably popular. But no, Treasure Island got to me. To be fair, I was a eleven year old boy, so it was written for me with little way to fail, but still: I couldn't put this book down.

A Wild Ride Through the Night

by Walter Moers · published 2001 · last read 2021-01-13

Walter Moers decided to branch out and do something wildly different. Okay, maybe not wildly: there's still much absurdity going on. But it's not Zamonien. Instead, it's the story of Gustave Doré, the famous painter. Or rather, his paintings. Or rather, all of his paintings, shoved together into a rather trippy (but entertaining!) story.

Rumo

by Walter Moers · published 2003 · read 2009-07-01

Rumo was a lot of fun. Not as grand as Bluebear, not as nerdy as the book city, but a very good take on adventure books noneteless. Hitting all the tropes without being unintentionally cheesy. Probably the closest you can come to The Princess Bride with non-human protagonists.

The Stone Light

by Kai Meyer · published 2002 · read 2008-08-01

The worldbuilding is better, the characters are only slightly worse, and the plot couldn't be worse than the first one, and is possibly slightly better? I don't remember, I was busy being amazed at the worldbuilding.

The Glass Word

by Kai Meyer · published 2002 · read 2007-07-01

Finishing off the series, and not necessarily in a good way: Lots of finishing off characters, too. I thought that was good, because it's somewhat couragous and I never liked plot armour. Not great art, but enjoyable, particularly for teenagers.

Ptolemy’s Gate

by Jonathan Stroud · published 2005 · read 2008-10-01

Stronger than the second part, if only by a bit. A very decent conclusion, without resorting to the cheapest of cheap endings (boy saves world, gets girl).

The Golem’s Eye

by Jonathan Stroud · published 2004 · read 2007-05-01

Repeating the formula that works, this book is a bit more tiresome but still alright.

Madita

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1960 · last read 2021-01-12

Madita is a somewhat less intense Pippi: she has a younger sister and is up to all sorts of ridiculous nonsense, but doesn't go to society-breaking extremes. Well, usually.

Lotta on Troublemaker Street

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1958 · read 2003-06-01

Lotta and her siblings are some of Lindgren's most adorable characters. Her teddy (which looks suspiciously like a pig, but don't tell her!), her siblings, their games, their whole family – it's all lovely without being overly sweet. Lotta is very real, often angry and finds creative (and not always nice) ways to deal with her anger. And the adults are just that: adult about it. It's great.

Faust. Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · published 1832 · read 2010-09-01

Single biggest source of (faux-)intellectual quotes in the German language. As most people, I enjoyed part one and was baffled by part two. As most people, I expect this will change over the years.

The Sorrows of Young Werther

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · published 1774 · read 2010-05-01

Prototypical moping guy kills himself. Very tragic.

Am Samstag kam das Sams zurück

by Paul Maar · published 1980 · read 2000-11-01

The second part of the Sams is not bad, it just doesn't stand out either. I have little memory of the plot, and what I remember is not extremely amazing. Stick with the first part, imo.

Ein Sams für Martin Taschenbier

by Paul Maar · published 1996 · read 2001-08-01

I don't have many memories of this Sams book. I think I had more pity for Martin than for his father, because kids being bullied was relatable, whereas adults who were bullied looked weird and even contemptuous to me. But at the same time, I think both Martin and his father were self-inserts, and Paul Maar just is a better adult than kid. Or he just had forgotten about being a kid.

Neue Punkte für das Sams

by Paul Maar · published 1992 · read 2001-06-01

Yet another Sams book – I didn't really like the follow-ups. The original was whimsical in a way that the next parts didn't capture. Too busy following the formula.

Eine Woche voller Samstage

by Paul Maar · published 1973 · read 2000-05-01

This is the first part of a very German series of books for children. The Sams (from "Samstag", "Saturday") appears the the very dull, very anxious office worker Herr Taschenbier after for a full week every day fulfills its literal name, making the book untranslatable. The Sams has blue dots all over its face, and whenever you make a wish, a dot disappears and the wish comes true.

Something Rotten

by Jasper Fforde · published 2004 · read 2008-05-01

Shakespearean, this time. Hamlet gets to see the real world, Thursday gets to see Landen again (plus her son). The whole childcare thing was a bit of a drag, and the plot was as usually secondary at best. Less worldbuilding meant less fun.

Gavroche

by Victor Hugo · published 1957 · read 2020-04-12

Heavily edited short excerpt from Les Mis. The most enjoyable part was the short Hugo bio after the main part, which was extremely biased – the edition is from Eastern Germany after all.

King Matt the First

by Janusz Korczak · published 1923 · read 2002-07-01

Maciuś (as he is called in the original and in the German translation) becomes the king at a very young age. Despite his advisors, he enacts a set of bold reforms, trying to improve people's lives. It all goes wrong after a while, because ruling is complex, as it turns out, and also people are not exactly cooperative.

The Wave

by Todd Strasser · published 1981 · read 2006-11-01

Given a choice among classics in the "scaring the youngsters off bad politics" genre, I prefer The Wave to 1986.

Der 35. Mai oder Konrad reitet in die Südsee

by Erich Kästner · published 1931 · read 2003-08-01

Konrad goes into a magic wardrobe and comes out in a very weird world. Everything in this book is designed to be fun to children and optionally offend adults at the time. For example the rich suburban villa district where deceased generals play with tin soldiers. The roller-skating circus horse made redundant by automation. A school where difficult parents get educated and punished. A futuristic city where a completely automated slaughterhouse suddenly starts working in reverse and begins sucking in finished handbags and spitting out calves.

Dragon Rider

by Cornelia Funke · published 1997 · read 2007-04-01

I have very little memory of this book, apart from it being somewhat generic fantasy.

Inkspell

by Cornelia Funke · published 2005 · read 2006-01-01

More Inkworld shenanigans: Meggie now reads herself and others into the story, and also has to deal with the original author, who turns out to be very annoying. The story builds extremely slowly and I enjoyed it mostly for the worldbuilding. The characters are – with one exception – unimpressive and not exactly enjoyable.

Die Wilden Hühner

by Cornelia Funke · published 1993 · read 2004-11-01

Generic-but-good girl series, where the girls do lots of adventurous things and are way cooler than the boys, and very matter-of-fact. I liked it a bit as a kid, though I mostly read it for lack of other things to read. I can still name some of the characters and their general vibe (ok, mostly Sprotte), which is a mark in favour of the book.

Die Wilden Hühner und das Glück der Erde

by Cornelia Funke · published 2000 · read 2008-03-01

Inevitably, there is a horse book. Because girls. And horses. That seems to be the reasoning, at least as far as I remember it.

Die Wilden Hühner: Fuchsalarm

by Cornelia Funke · published 1998 · read 2004-10-01

More adventuring, more summer gang stuff. I enjoyed it at the time and will never read it again.

Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost

by Cornelia Funke · published 1993 · read 2001-02-01

I have a vaguely positive memory of this book, but that's about it. The protagonist was nice, had an annoying older sister, and dealt with ghosts with cleverness and hacked up techy devices? It's the Cornelia Funke boy series to her more famous girl series.

Der weiße Wanderer

by Ralf Isau · published 2001 · read 2005-03-01

Third part, third quarter of the century: 1950-1975. Less impressive than the beginning, but not slowing down.

Der Wahrheitsfinder

by Ralf Isau · published 2000 · read 2005-04-01

Second part of the amazing saga, covering the years from 1925 until 1950. Still intriguing, but nowhere near the first part.

Der unsichtbare Freund

by Ralf Isau · published 2001 · read 2005-09-01

Ending the huge century saga, and going out with a bang. Not sure I like the ending, mind you, but I respect it for being audacious and doing something different for once.

Der Herr der Unruhe

by Ralf Isau · published 2004 · read 2016-11-13

Magical realism in Mussolini's Italy: Our protagonist can talk to machines. A bit cheap with the Romeo and Juliet arc, but the descriptions and research are, as always with Isau, top notch.

Stories of Mr. Keuner

by Bertolt Brecht · published 1958 · read 2011-11-01

Brecht's short stories – which want to educate, of course – are much more bearable than his equally educational plays. Still very much on the nose, to the degree that I thought about linking the Narnia books here.

The Threepenny Opera

by Bertolt Brecht · published 1928 · read 2011-04-01

One of the last pieces from before Brecht abandoned fun and good poems, and turned to political education.

The Good Woman of Setzuan

by Bertolt Brecht · published 1953 · read 2011-02-01

Brecht telling you about circumstances forcing people into immoral deeds. It's peak communist Brecht, and thus unreadable and overall very annoying.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

by Jules Verne · published 1864 · last read 2020-08-10

Journey to the Center of the Earth may have been my first sci-fi book, and it's hard to decide if I want to read the book as a story or as a historical document.

Around the World in Eighty Days

by Jules Verne · published 1873 · read 2002-09-01

Not quite sci-fi, but the inner geek of Verne makes a strong showing. The research and vividness of his descriptions is impeccable, and makes the characters tolerable (and the final twist, of course, is delightful).

Elanus

by Ursula Poznanski · published 2016 · read 2019-04-04

Elanus by Ursula Poznanski is an alright YA thriller/mystery. (Keep in mind that I'm not the intended audience anymore, though). She writes a very good unreliable/unsympathetic protagonist – a way too smart 17-year old boy, who by way of his self-built illicit drone stumbles into a dangerous secret at his new school. Very solid writing. It's very clear from the start that the protagonist is an asshole, but with YA you'd want to make this clear to encourage engagement with the book (and to prevent any kids from finding him too much of a role model). Well-researched in terms of technical capacity, well-written, and while the twist is a bit predictable, the book is still solid.

Fünf

by Ursula Poznanski · published 2012 · read 2016-05-14

Hm, it might just be that I'm not a fan of thrillers, but I don't particularly love this one. There is nothing wrong with it. The characters are very relatable, the story is sound, the details are well-researched, the language and pacing are very well done,... I don't dislike it, but I don't love it either.

Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13

by Michael Ende · published 1962 · read 1999-11-01

The second part of the Jim Button series is still super imaginary, and this time concerns rebuilding (well, expanding, really). It's fun, but lacks the deep strength of the first part. Also, finding out that Jim is a descendant of one of the Three Kings is random and when I re-read the book, I was confused and suspicious about Ende's motivation.

The Night of Wishes

by Michael Ende · published 1989 · read 2002-11-01

This is the Michael Ende book that I'm most meh about – I think I may have read it a bit late for its intended audence group? Or maybe it's just that his other books tend to be so profound that this one looks trivial next to them.

Foucault’s Pendulum

by Umberto Eco · published 1988 · read 2012-07-23

Umberto Eco is a show-off. He goes all in on being a show-off, and he doesn't mind being pretentious and shoving obscure references down your throat either. As all nerds, once he gets going, he's unlikely to stop any time soon, so his books are long-winded and stuffed with references upon references. This can be obnoxious.

Der Auftrag des Magiers

by Licia Troisi · published 2004 · read 2009-12-01

Protagonist rides more dragons, is more stubborn, gets a bit of personal growth.

Ein Trümmersommer

by Klaus Kordon · published 1982 · read 2006-04-01

Honestly, I've always preferred Kordon's other book on 1945, "Der erste Frühling". But if you don't want to read a trilogy, then this is the next best thing. Kordon is reliably good at making teenagers understand what teenagers in other times experienced.

Der erste Frühling

by Klaus Kordon · published 1995 · read 2004-12-01

Concluding the series, we get to see the daughter of the first book's protagonist live through 1945 and deal with everything the world throws at her. Among other things: lies her grandparents told everybody to keep her away from nazi youth organisations, her father returning from the KZ, her whole worldview toppling along with her country, practical post-war problems, and adolescence.

The Tin Drum

by Günter Grass · published 1959 · read 2009-08-01

Grass made reading this book into an unpleasant experience. Most scenes feel … unclean, damp, to be avoided. At the same time, his mastery of language is amazing, and there were several pages that I read over and over again because they were just so beautiful.

Chess Story

by Stefan Zweig · published 1942 · read 2007-06-01

Mandatory reading in many German schools. Not all that exciting a read, unless you are into chess or the art for of the novella tackling the rise of fascism and the cost of obsession.

Sagen des klassischen Altertums

by Gustav Schwab · published 1837 · read 2004-09-01

The German reference for Greek legends. Published in 1837, it has had time to become the de-facto standard. It's readable and provides solid background knowledge for all other things that start with Greek legends.

Essential Tales and Poems

by Edgar Allan Poe · published 1843 · read 2003-01-01

Long time since I've read Poe – but the clever (if old-school) language and the fine sense for vibes and rhythm have stuck with me, far beyond the famous raven.

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

by Douglas Adams · published 1988 · read 2008-02-01

Fun ride, but not outstanding. I liked the gods, the absurdness, and – for some reason – the protagonist. Slightly annoyed with featureless female sidekicks, but what can you do. I have on occasion had the uncharitable thought that the title might be better than the book. It's not, but it's also not not.

Mostly Harmless

by Douglas Adams · published 1992 · read 2002-01-01

I honestly don't have real memories of reading this book. I only completed it out of a sense of duty – wouldn't have done so today.

Waiting for Godot

by Samuel Beckett · published 1952 · last read 2010-04-07

Waiting for Godot showed me how free literature was, and the things a determined author can do with and through (and arguably to) a group of actors. I like it for this learning impact, a lot.

Mit Rechten reden: Ein Leitfaden

by Per Leo · read 2018-05-29

Not terrible, but not good either.

Heimkehr zu den Dakota

by Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich · published 1951 · read 2003-05-01

Pain and emotional turmoil. Conflict and strife and family warmth – this book is high drama, and is both payoff for reading the first three books, and also sets up the second half of the series extremely well.

Über den Missouri

by Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich · published 1951 · read 2003-03-01

Concluding the series – I really should re-read to see what I think now. Back in the day I liked the early books more, but then, that's where the protagonist was closer to my own age. I wonder if my reading tastes just shuffle along with the protagonist's age …

Die Höhle in den schwarzen Bergen

by Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich · published 1963 · read 2003-06-01

I didn't relate to this book all that much, and I disliked the whole gold story arc. The story might have been better off without it. It's definitely good setup for the second half of the series though, so I won't grump too much.

Der junge Häuptling

by Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich · published 1951 · read 2003-09-01

More goodness: Harka has really come into his own and gotten back from his (well, his father's) banishment. Many well-loved characters from the first book re-occur. Welskopf-Henrich handles the reuniting very well, if memory serves.

Der Weg in die Verbannung

by Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich · published 1962 · read 2002-05-01

Our beloved hero is banished (well, his father is and he follows). The mood is predictably bad, but seeing Harka stand on his own and living through all the shit life throws at him was inspiring.

The Wish List

by Eoin Colfer · published 2000 · read 2008-08-01

Meg Finn, 15, is a troublemaker and also dead. Because her good and bad deeds balanced out perfectly, she has to go back and help her last victim go through his bucket list – all while her last partner sabotages the mission.

Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen

by Heinrich Heine · published 1844 · read 2010-08-01

Heine snarking and showing off. Delightful, fun, inspirational. How little has changed in some ways since 1844! I like this book/poem/work of snark so much that I tried my hand at "translating" its beginning into a travel log.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

by J.K. Rowling · published 2000 · read 2001-03-01

This was the first Harry Potter book that I read while it was still new. That was a novel experience for me: Most of my books up to that point had been old, or at least definitely not new. Reading an ongoing series was exciting. I don't remember much speculation about what would happen next, except for some recurring "Is Snape good or evil" debate.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

by J.K. Rowling · published 1998 · read 2003-10-01

Felt sense for books is a weird thing. The first book has a felt sense of warmth and wonder, while this one has a felt sense of damp and cold and wet and danger. I enjoyed it less than the first or the third one, but I still tore through it.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

by J.K. Rowling · published 2005 · read 2006-06-01

Imagine being 14 when this book comes out, and being just not quite good enough to read it in English. So you have to wait for painful months while your mother (your own mother, the traitor) reads it in English and can then threaten you with spoilers.

The Golden Compass

by Philip Pullman · published 1995 · read 2008-11-01

Widely liked, but didn't do it for me. Though that's not quite right: I adored the setup: Oxford, the river, the journey. But soon, it became preachy the same way the Narnia books did (only, of course, for an opposed cause). I can't stand preachy books for children.

Struwwelpeter: Fearful Stories and Vile Pictures to Instruct Good Little Folks

by Heinrich Hoffmann · published 1845 · read 1998-02-01

An old book of German horror stories to frighten, erm, educate! kids. The rhymed stories are terrifying and illustrated, and I can still recall lots of the rhymes now. They include

The Magicians of Caprona

by Diana Wynne Jones · published 1980 · read 2007-03-01

Romeo and Juliet: magic edition! Feuding Italian families, throwing magic at each other and being delightfully temperamental. Add in nosy kids, moody teenagers, snarky cats and almighty matriarchs … yes, I really like this book. It's among my top books by Diana Wynne Jones, and that's saying something.

Conrad’s Fate

by Diana Wynne Jones · published 2005 · read 2008-05-01

Young Chrestomanci, as seen by outside eyes. Fun, but mostly fun if you have read any other book of the series. Gave me Doctor Who vibes, funnily enough.

Witch Week

by Diana Wynne Jones · published 1982 · read 2008-09-01

Parallel England, where a teacher at a boarding school is accused of witchcraft. The inquisition is called and a terrified pupil has to look for a way out … It gets very dark very fast.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

by Newt Scamander · published 2001 · read 2001-10-01

I loved this book as a kid, both for the fantastic beasts and for the scrawled notes by Harry, Ron and Hermione. Imagine if the Silmarillion came with scrawled notes in the margins from Gandalf and Galadriel.

The Canterville Ghost

by Oscar Wilde · published 1887 · read 2020-06-13

I was prompted to read this book by the extremely underwhelming experience that was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The last time I read The Canterville Ghost, I was 10, read it in German, and enjoyed it very much. Reading it again did not reduce my enjoyment: Wilde pokes fun at both British and American stereotypes with a light recklessness that holds up nearly 150 years later.

The Last Wish

by Andrzej Sapkowski · published 1993 · read 2021-11-04

Finally catching up with some European fantasy – I haven't watched the show, but I've played some of the games, and I'm generally aware of what's going on in-universe. I knew the book was fairly episodic going into it, which might have been a problem otherwise.

Die feuerrote Friederike

by Christine Nöstlinger · published 1970 · read 2003-01-01

The young Friederike has red hair (really, really red) and gets bullied for it. Her teacher tries to help and gives up. One of the only helpful adults is the postman, who is colour blind. Then it turns out that she has special powers due to her hair, and has to find ways to get her apathetic aunt and sarcastic cat on board.

Neues vom Räuber Hotzenplotz

by Otfried Preußler · published 1969 · read 2000-12-01

The second part of the Hotzenplotz series is nice and fun, and not worse than the first part. But somehow the fact that there is a second part makes it more common, less exciting. I remember listening to this audio book a lot, and I like that it again emphasises being clever and tricking the opponent.

The Little Ghost

by Otfried Preußler · published 1966 · read 2001-06-01

Cheeky, fun, but nothing special: I think I only remember this book because I had the audio book and listened to it several times. I enjoy Preußler's other books more.

Der kleine Wassermann

by Otfried Preußler · published 1956 · read 2000-09-01

A nice little book for children. Nothing special per se, but I think the way life under water is portrayed is very well done. The smallest common issues are considered – where is the young waterman allowed to swim? Where's home? How does he have to dress and what are his chores? This attention to reality and detail is what I still love when reding sci-fi.

Hotzenplotz 3

by Otfried Preußler · published 1973 · read 2001-01-01

Third part of the series – I remember one good scene and not much else.

Lycidas

by Christoph Marzi · published 2004 · read 2011-07-01

Young Adult intrigue in a magical London with heaven and hell, nobility and tube rats playing their roles. Fun, but a bit on the long side.

Die Känguru-Chroniken. Ansichten eines vorlauten Beuteltiers

by Marc-Uwe Kling · published 2009 · read 2012-05-01

Mostly funny, sometimes hilarious. Listen to it – it loses half its charm on paper.

The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

by Rainer Maria Rilke · published 1910 · read 2008-11-01

Rilke's poetry is always better than his other works (and than most other poetry). The life of the sensitive author stand-in protagonist in the big city is anxiety inducing, depressing, just … too much. And Rilke describes it perfectly. Over one hundred years later, life is even faster, even louder, even more relentless – one wonders if today's Rilkes can even survive long enough to write about it.

Die Weimarer Republik

by Gunther Mai · published 2009 · read 2018-02-10

Liest sich gut und informativ, einem wird nur halt immer wieder zwischendurch dabei schlecht. Liegt aber am Inhalt, nicht am Stil.

Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy · published 1877 · read 2011-12-01

Funny story, actually: I had to give a presentation about Anna Karenina in school, and since the book was so terribly long, I did it entirely from online sources (and got the highest possible grade). But while looking for the passage I wanted to read out loud, I discovered that the book was super readable and so I read it … after the presentation.

Der Sandmann

by E.T.A. Hoffmann · published 1816 · read 2011-06-01

Early science-fiction? You may not agree, but there's an automaton that drives the protagonist insane (more or less, shush!), so I'm declaring it sci-fi, on the horror side of things.

The Black Arrow

by Robert Louis Stevenson · published 1883 · read 2003-10-01

Unconventionally, this was my first Stevenson book. Since I had no idea what the War of the Roses was beyond its obscure mention in Kalle Blomquist, I was plenty confused and didn't like it too much. This was probably unjust of me, but it's unlikely that I'll go back to correct my judgement.

The Communist Manifesto

by Karl Marx · published 1848 · read 2020-04-12

Short, readable, to the point. The predictive parts were outdated shortly after publishing the manifesto, but the analytical parts were highly interesting and often spot on.

Das Urteil und andere Erzählungen

by Franz Kafka · published 1912 · read 2009-04-01

Kafka's short stories are no less depressing than his longer works, but I found them more bearable, and even enjoyable on occasion. They don't induce a spiralling depression, and have some very neat images and concepts.

The Castle

by Franz Kafka · published 1922 · read 2009-11-01

Grey sky, constantly on the verge of darkness. Tiredness. Dragging onwards. That's what I remember from The Castle. I tried finishing it three times, and never managed – nobody saps my energy like Kafka.

The Trial

by Franz Kafka · published 1925 · read 2008-03-01

I don't do well with Kafka, and this one was no exception. I'm not debating the quality or skill of execution, it's just that Kafka makes me feel truly terrible in a way that I don't care to introduce artificially if I can avoid it.

Das Pentomino-Orakel

by Blue Balliett · published 2004 · read 2004-09-01

Dan Brown, kids edition: Children have to solve weird puzzles where the correct solution is far from obvious unless you're the author. Better than Brown in that there's a better reason for the obscurity and also there are no illuminati.

Ensel und Krete. Ein Märchen aus Zamonien

by Walter Moers · published 2000 · read 2003-02-01

Bluebear was a great book. This is an okay book – more experimental in ways, and definitely less astounding. Where Bluebear means that you get an even balance of action and snark, and the City of Dreaming Book works even when you don't get literary snark, this book is just literary snark. I enjoyed it, but it's hard to recommend to anybody.

The Harsh Cry of the Heron

by Lian Hearn · published 2006 · read 2006-03-01

Concluding the series, we get the "15 years later" book we never wanted. Things fall apart. Then they fall apart some more. There's a lot of death to go around, much of it by backstabbing.

Pippi in the South Seas

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1948 · read 1999-07-01

While I generally love everything Astrid Lindgren has written, the Pippi books rank lowest among her books for me. Pippi (Pippilotta Viktualia Rollgardina Pfefferminz Efraimstochter Langstrumpf) is strong and wild, has a horse and a monkey and two good friends and does whatever she wants. That's it in terms of plots. The movies are fun and entertaining – I enjoyed trying to spot the tricks they used when I was a child – for example, Pippi can lift her horse, which is very much a real horse! But as a book, it is a bit light on plot.

Iphigenie auf Tauris

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · published 1786 · read 2007-09-01

Read because the title sounded so intriguing. The plot requires you to understand some of the most convoluted absurd Greek family soap drama first. Iphigenie starts out as bored and frustrated, which felt very relatable. The rest is more of "people talk about people and hilariously don't know who they are", ad infinitum. Plus a lot of hamletian waffling between duty and inclination – ugh, really.

Maria Stuart

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1800 · read 2008-02-01

Honestly, I don't remember much of this one except that I started out interested (Mary, after all, has a quite dramatic story to her name) and ended up bored.

Die Räuber

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1781 · read 2006-03-01

Criticising society by telling a tale of bandits, as one does.

Wilhelm Tell

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1804 · read 2009-12-01

Wilhelm Tell might be Schiller's most enjoyable drama, but also his most generic one. That's probably a compliment, seeing as it wasn't generic then, and only became so due to its own popularity?

Pünktchen und Anton

by Erich Kästner · published 1931 · read 2001-01-01

Goddamnit, this book might have been good. Instead it is infuriating – Kästner inserts sermons (in italics, at least, to make them easier to skip) into an already heavily moralising story, and tells children about social injustice, money and the revolution. Other than that, it's a decent story about a rich girl and a poor boy, their friendship, their worries and woes and joy.

Die Wilden Hühner und die Liebe

by Cornelia Funke · published 2003 · read 2005-10-01

The summer gang at their most generic: Suddenly, the boys are more than just an annoyance. Though they keep being annoying, of course. Captured the feeling of my early adolescence well, and as such I will never read it again.

Pala und die seltsame Verflüchtigung der Worte

by Ralf Isau · published 2002 · read 2004-11-01

Pala is a book about language, about literature, about poetry – and yet, I didn't really like it. Maybe it's that I had high expectations from Franz Fühmann's masterwork, or that it just felt like it was trying too hard. Whatever it was, despite all the reasons I should love it, I don't.

Borgia

by Klabund · published 1928 · read 2020-05-11

This was nice, but not more than nice. The book tells episodes of the life of the Borgias, without much connecting tissue. I had expected it to be carried by witty or lyrical language (because Klabund), but found myself disappointed.

The Castle of the Carpathians

by Jules Verne · published 1892 · read 2002-04-01

Published five whole years before Stoker's Dracula, this is the story of a creepy castle in the Carpathians, where unexplained lights and other unnatural occurrences terrify the surrounding villages. It's unusual for Verne, in that it's barely sci-fi (or at least, the sci-fi enters very late and is nearly invisible for most of the book, getting pushed to the sidelines by the atmosphere). But his flair for proper research shows and is admirable as always – Stoker didn't come nearly as close to vivid and correct images of Transsylvania.

In the Teeth of the Evidence

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1933 · read 2020-05-09

Collection of short stories: A Wimsey, two-ish Eggs, and then a lot of random stuff. Sadly I like Sayers best when she does characters and snark, and least when she concentrates on plots (her plots are not great), so this wasn't for me.

Hangman’s Holiday: A Collection of Short Mysteries

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1933 · read 2020-01-27

This collection has two types of stories: Lord Peter Wimsey ones and Montague Egg ones. On the upside, the Lord Peter stories have great characters and witty banter, so they are fun to read even though their plots are a bit stupid or dull. On the other hand, the Montague Egg stories have mind-numbingly stupid and dull pts, so not even a witty character with good dialogue manages to save them.

Eldest

by Christopher Paolini · published 2005 · read 2008-02-01

This may be where I discovered my love of training sequences – at least, the training is all I remember of this book. No great loss, I think. Was this my first overhyped generic fantasy book?

Brisingr

by Christopher Paolini · published 2008 · read 2009-06-01

A disappointing end to a disappointing series, if I recall correctly. Little happened, but everything was very dramatic. I never got around to reading the last part – the series was meant to be a trilogy, after all, and the necessity of splitting up the last volume didn't inspire confidence.

Der Geschichtenverkäufer

by Jostein Gaarder, Anne Born · published 2000 · read 2007-10-01

I remember the story as very obscure (as per usual for Gaarder) without much to say (unusual for Gaarder). Not sure if I missed the point entirely, and what it might have been.

Das Kartengeheimnis

by Jostein Gaarder, Anne Born · published 1990 · read 2006-04-01

by Douglas Adams · published 1980 · read 2003-07-01

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Everything is a bit less new and a bit less shiny in this book compared to its predecessor, but it's by no means bad. Still lots of hilarious moment, and lots of absurdity.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

by Douglas Adams · published 1984 · read 2011-12-01

I honestly didn't enjoy the later parts of the Hitchhiker's Guide. Maybe it was the novelty wearing off, the jokes becoming too predictable? Not the jokes themselves, of course, just their general shape.

Life, the Universe and Everything

by Douglas Adams · published 1982 · read 2004-08-01

I liked the series less and less, the longer it went on, but I still read it – and not just out of pop-cultural duty.

Nathan der Weise

by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing · published 1779 · read 2010-11-01

Lessing was a good critic, but at best a middling author. His theatre is nearly Brecht-ian in its desire to hit you repeatedly over the head with the metaphor until you're sure to get it.

The Eternity Code

by Eoin Colfer · published 2003 · read 2005-12-01

Artemis gets more growth and a mind wipe, both completely deserved. Holly gets less growth and more voice, which is also nice. All in all an enjoyable book, up to the standard set by Arctic Incident, and better than the first book.

Artemis Fowl

by Eoin Colfer · published 2001 · read 2004-02-01

Artemis Fowl was fun at the time – I particularly enjoyed decoding the secret message in the decoration on every page. It was a good thing to read at the time, but nothing I'm going to revisit any time soon – I don't think it would stand up to a re-read.

The Arctic Incident

by Eoin Colfer · published 2002 · read 2004-06-01

Arguably an instance of the second book being better than the first book: We see more of Holly, Artemis is forced to cooperate. There's more banter, there's more depth to both our heroes, and the plot is more intriguing.

The Opal Deception

by Eoin Colfer · published 2005 · read 2005-10-01

Artemis does some more Artemis things. I don't have any memories of this book at all.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

by J.K. Rowling · published 2003 · read 2003-01-01

My low point of the series. I remember getting this book, at a midnight release party, and then reading it within the next day. I wasn't immediately disappointed, but I hated the whole "teenager yells at cloud" thing, and while Umbridge was delightfully evil, I just wasn't on board with the weird plot shape and the growing pains.

The Silmarillion

by J.R.R. Tolkien · published 1977 · read 2008-01-01

The big unreadable but brilliant book of Middle Earth. I have a love-hate relationship with that thing, not gonna lie.

The Witches

by Roald Dahl · published 1983 · read 2006-03-01

This is a book that made me feel uncomfortable and unliked as a kid, and made me very hesitant to read any Roald Dahl ever again. Everything is gritty and dark and dangerous, and that seemed to seep into the world around me.

Effi Briest

by Theodor Fontane · published 1894 · read 2010-01-01

Dramatic, sad, but also overdone and decidedly not something you should force on school children.

Ein Drei-Tassen-Problem

by Stefan Winges · published 2014 · read 2022-01-27

Sherlock Holmes, just German and in the 1920s. If that sounds exciting to you, uh, here you go? I'm not kidding it's really straight up Sherlock, just in Cologne. There's a Mrs Hudson, the story is told from the point of view of his flatmate, a doctor returned from the army in the colonies, and they live together amid disputes about substance abuse in No 21B. Sherlock is talking incessantly about shoe soles instead of cigarette ashes, and they have to deal with a well-meaning but obviously wrong police officer, who invites them to the case only to not listen to them.

Der Trotzkopf

by Emmy von Rhoden · published 1883 · read 2004-03-01

Luckily you cannot read this book in earnest anymore – times have changed too much. So if you read of the far-too-wild, far-too-stubborn young Ilse, who has to go to a boarding school to learn manners, and who is slowly "tamed" by her new friends and teachers until she turns into a young lady, you can feel amused or offended (depending on your temperament) instead of feeling pressured to do the same.

Robinson Crusoe

by Daniel Defoe · published 1719 · read 2005-11-01

Reading Crusoe as a 12-year-old is not exactly the best experience. Possibly the translation's fault, granted – but nevertheless, I never felt like returning to this overly ornate writing of a rather dull story. I know, I know! It's written in 1719, it's by some standards the first novel, all that. Doesn't mean it's enjoyable, and particularly the religious bent is positively Narnian.

Das Dritte Reich: Geschichte einer Diktatur

by Ulrich Herbert · read 2018-02-10

Sehr trocken geschrieben. Der Band zur 1918er-Revolution aus derselben Reihe ist da ungleich besser.

The Metamorphosis

by Franz Kafka · published 1915 · read 2009-03-01

Content warnings were made for this book. A friend of mine read The Metamorphosis while transitioning, and please don't do that. Not while you're transitioning, or in inner turmoil, or feeling alienated or depressed. Or when you're in a good mood and would like to keep it. Kafka will eat your good mood.

Der Schrecksenmeister

by Walter Moers · published 2007 · read 2008-07-01

I wasn't the biggest fan of this book, possibly because I thought that I had to read the book it was satirising first. I didn't have to do that, and it wasn't a lot of fun. I was impressed with the food porn though – when Moers sets his mind to really describing something, you're going to notice.

Zamonien. Entdeckungsreise durch einen phantastischen Kontinent. Von A wie Anagrom Ataf bis Z wie Zamomin

by Walter Moers · published 2012 · read 2020-12-27

Even though I love the Zamonien books as much as anybody, this … was not it. This book is an encyclopaedia for the fictional continent Zamonien, as a tie-in for all the other books by Walter Moers. And I understand everybody who loved it, in a nostalgic way, thinking back to when they first read the Zamonion books. But damn, this is so limited, like a big missed chance.

Das Labyrinth der Träumenden Bücher

by Walter Moers · published 2011 · read 2011-10-01

Well, this was an exercise in disappointment. The follow-up book to the City of Dreaming Books is strictly worse than its predecessor. It reads as if Moers needed money and so decided to make a bad B-movie following his great blockbuster. Nearly put me off reading future Moers books entirely.

Brilliance of the Moon

by Lian Hearn · published 2004 · read 2006-05-01

As set up by the previous book, everybody is being stupid and then there is a lot of battling and death. Not a fan.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

by Patrick Süskind · published 1985 · read 2010-12-01

Gross. Seriously, gross. I don't even know which book to connect to this one.

Kabale und Liebe

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1784 · read 2006-02-01

Schiller at his worst, arguably. I had to read this in school, and I had read it beforehand, and at no point in time I could seem to care.

Die Träume des Jonathan Jabbok

by Ralf Isau · published 1995 · read 2007-10-01

Too much christian undertones, overtones, and everything in between. Very Narnia style.

Der Galerie der Lügen, oder, Der unachtsame Schläfer

by Ralf Isau · published 2005 · read 2017-01-28

Horrid amounts of weirdly religious propaganda... Very similar to Narnia, only for adults.

Die Habsburger ohne Reich

by Dieter Kindermann · published 2010 · read 2020-07-18

★☆☆☆☆ (did not finish)

This book was honestly, truly, terrible. I picked it up because as a history nerd, "where did this family end up" is always an interesting prompt. I had not thought that a single book could contain this amount of disjointed anecdotes, self-important injections, and – most damningly – humble and meek servility towards a dead monarchy. If I have to read books by monarchists, I'd prefer them to be stylish and clever instead of sleazy and obnoxious.

Eragon

by Christopher Paolini · published 2002 · read 2003-12-01

Sometimes it's just down to the order or operations. I read Eragon after the Lord of the Rings, and so I disliked it and thought much of its plot was a cheap knock-off version with more wish fulfillment. That was not entirely fair, but I was ten at the time and being angry about bad books was my thing. It's certainly an impressive book considering the age of the author at the time.

The Christmas Mystery

by Jostein Gaarder, Anne Born · published 1992 · read 2005-05-01

I find Gaarder grating when he's preaching about philosophy, I find him unbearable when he starts on religion. It doesn't help that every of his book has this "teenager stumbles on mysterious story, lets said story happily preach at him". I didn't enjoy the whole time travel thing either, and it didn't even put me in a Christmas mood.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

by C.S. Lewis · published 1950 · read 2002-06-01

Confession: I hated the Narnia books when I first read them, and I don't care enough to update my opinion. I hated the transparent religion shilling going on, I hated everything about the dour moralising, and I felt personally offended at Lion Jesus. Man.

Prince Caspian

by C.S. Lewis · published 1951 · read 2002-10-01

After the first Narnia book, I thought that things might get better, or that this was a series that just had an unfortunate first book.

I Am the Messenger

by Markus Zusak · published 2002 · read 2017-06-29

I didn't enjoy this book at all. Too much everyday mysticism for me.

Joseph and His Brothers

by Thomas Mann · published 1943 · read 2009-07-01

Underwhelming – 1500 pages not well spent. With less length, somebody might be able to see the points Mann is making, but noth like this.

The Magic Mountain

by Thomas Mann · published 1924 · read 2010-04-01

Nothing happens. People are sick and nothing happens. Then, nothing happens some more but in unspeakably long sentences. The protagonist stays in a sanatorium for seven years without ever being really sick. There are a lot of lectures.

Das Paradies der Schwerter

by Tobias O. Meißner · published 2004 · read 2022-01-19