November is fast approaching, which means time to start strategically planning my reading (because it’s German Literature Month, Novella November and Nonfiction November).
German Literature Month is hosted by Lizzy’s Literary Life and Beauty is a Sleeping Cat (find inspiration if you’re looking for titles here).
The one rule of GLM: reading material must have been originally written in German.
There are some prompts (Nov 1-7 Crime Week; Nov 8-14 Read as You Please; Nov 15-21 Franz Kafka week; Nov 22-30 Read as You Please) but I will probably read free-range, in an attempt to tackle the TBR stack and create some overlap with Novella November.
I’ll be choosing from the following –
- Flights of Love by Bernhard Schlink
- The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck
- Go Went Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
- Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig
- The Bureau of Past Management by Iris Hanika (novella)
- The German House by Annette Hess
- Stella by Takis Würger
- Siblings by Brigitte Reimann (novella)
- Background for Love by Helen Wolff
- The Field by Robert Seethaler
- An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky
- New Lives by Ingo Schulze
- The Granddaughter by Bernhard Schlink
Any that you’ve read that I should start with?
I’ll read anything by Seethaler and The Field is a particualrly good one. The End of Days is still my favourite Erpenbeck. Also loved Stella. Siblings is on my tbr list!
Well, that’s narrowed it down (not! :-D)
Seethaler will have to come on my list for the month. I have only read A Whole Life but it has stayed with me for a long time.
That’s interesting. As you know, I am German but have only read one of the books on your list, The End of Days. (That was quite a good one, I didn’t care for another book by her, Kairos) But I have read books by Bernhard Schlink and Stefan Zweig, and there are two on my TBR list by Robert Seethaler.
I’m looking forward to seeing your results.
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/erpenbeck-jenny-end-of-days.html
I enjoyed Kairos (although ‘enjoyed’ probably not the right word!), so keen to read more Erpenbeck.
I’ve only read two books by Schlink – The Reader was my favourite (read many years ago but I still think about it – sign of a good book! – perhaps time for a re-read). I’ve read a bit by Zweig, and again, have always enjoyed.
That’s good. I have also read The Reader and Abschiedsfarben which hasn’t been translated. But, just as Kairos, I have not really like either of them. There are far better German authors. However, many of them have not been translated.
Have you ever tried Stefanie Zweig (not related to Stefan)?
I’ve only read the Zweig which I thought was excellent. You’ve reminded me I might have Siblings somewhere & that would double up for NovNov…
I have The Field on the shelf but have actually been reading Seethaler’s forthcoming book, The Cafe with No Name, for a pre-pub review. I have a Hesse (novella length) and a couple of Sebalds I’m choosing between.
Nice–I need to look into a few of these. Siblings is on my list, too.