Reading German Books in 2020 discussion
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Lizzy’s Challenge
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Lizzy Siddal (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
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Dec 30, 2019 11:36AM
I read 25 German books in 2019. I hope to match that in 2020.
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I’ve been doing some reshelving today (actually more like moving the book piles around), and it appears that I have between 250-300 German books in the TBR!!! So I’m not going to make a list, I’m going to read on whim. Nor am I ruling out acquiring some shiny new titles as the year progresses ....
Wow that is amazing!!! You should share all your unread German books with us for inspiration :)
I think most are catalogued on Librarything.https://www.librarything.com/catalog/...
It’s not up-to-date (I need to update for 2019 - hopefully through an import from Goodreads) but you can also see what I’ve read and how I rate them.
9.02 catalogue now updated.
I mean to have fun with this challenge, and so book 1 will beParty Fun with Kant (tr. James Riedel)
Edit. 11.02 Full of entertaining graphic episodes in which famous philosophers of the past demonstrate their beliefs. I suspect these are basic lessons but as my knowledge of philosophy is utterly meagre, most of this was above my head. 3-stars.
Books 2 and 32. Was going to read Simplicissimus, but ironically my copy seems to have gone for a wander. I wanted to get myself into the 30 year war mindset in preparation for Tyll. So I’ll pick up Brecht’s Mother Courage instead. The Scots version, translated by Tom Leonard. Mother Courage and Her Children
Edit 11.02 I never tire of Brecht’s anti-war masterpiece, and what can I say about a translation into Glaswegian? Other than fantastic! 5-stars
3. Zum See ging man zu Fuß - Wo die Dichter wohnen
I doubt I’ll be doing much travelling in 2020. (Life is interfering, as is it wont.) This calls for vicarious travelling - one chapter at a time, between books - with this beauty as my guide.
4. One Clear Ice-cold January Morning at the Beginning of the 21st CenturyA book which has to be read in January because otherwise it won’t feel right!
Edit 11.02 - A wolf wanders from Poland to Berlin. So too a number of humans whose stories are lightly stitched together to form a composite picture of contemporary Berlin. An enjoyable 3.5 stars.
5. River16.02 Not my thing really, I’m not going to read this cover to cover, just selected chapters. So I won’t count it towards my 25.
6. Dark SatellitesEdit 20.02. Blooming marvellous!
Full review at: https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/202...
9. A Woman in the Polar NightCurrently buried in snow, so this has to be read now!
5-stars
Full review at: https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/202...
Lizzy Siddal (Lizzy’s Literary Life) wrote: "8. Self-Portrait with a Swarm of Bees"I do love a poetry collection where the German original is shown side by side to the translation, so I was delighted to find this on the shelves at the last year’s Edinburgh Book Festival. I’d fallen head over heels with the poem he wrote for A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue between East and West, so was keen to read more,
This edition satisfied that need more than adequately, and Iain Galbraith’s creative translations have given me much to ponder.
This volume is part of the ARC VIsible Poets series, which features more German poets, namely Ernst Meier, Sabine Lange and Ludwig Steinherr. Can you recommend any of these?
I enjoyed the dual language edition of Jan Wagner’s poetry (Book 8) so much, that I’ve treated myself to another volume of the same series. 11 Fisherman Sleep, the PB
A little renumbering exercise as I’ve now abandoned two books listed previously, and have yet to start another two. (This is typical of me. My immediate TBR chops and changes all the time along with my whims.)This is what I have read to-date with star ratings.
1) Party Fun with Kant 3*
2) Mother Courage and Her Children 5*
3j One Clear Ice-cold January Morning at the Beginning of the 21st Century 3*
4) Dark Satellites 4*
5) The Old King in his Exile 4*
6) Self-Portrait with a Swarm of Bees 3.5*
7) A Woman in the Polar Night 5*
8) Tyll 4*
Which puts me in a good position to complete the 25-book challenge by the end of the year.
Next up the 2nd quarter group read: Käsebier Takes Berlin
Lizzy Siddal (Lizzy’s Literary Life) wrote: "Next up the 2nd quarter group read: Käsebier Takes Berlin "What was I saying about whims? Now that I’ve decided to reread The Eighth Life, Tergit’s novel will have to wait a little longer.
9. The Eighth LifeReread with the group was so satisfying, even if a couple of plot-forcing flaws became apparent. I’m not reducing my 5* rating though, because the intensity of this novel cannot be surpassed.
One objective to my reread was to determine whether The Eighth Life belongs in my top 10 of all time ... it does!
11 The Last Country 3.5*Review at: https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/202...
Didn’t mention this in my review but at one point a girl is knitting. The translation uses right, left - a literal translation from the German, rechts, links. Stitches in British English are knit, purl. Just wondering if other Englishes use right, left instead of knit, purl or is this translator error?
13 Walks in the Wild: A Guide Through the Forest - Peter Wohlleben 4*Review at: https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/202...
The next 5, books 14-18, although I have no idea in which sequence I will read them. Nora Bossong - Gramsci’s Fall
Irmgard Keun - Gilgi, One of Us
Sandra Hoffmann - Paula
J W Mohnhaupt - The Zookeeper’s War
Juli Zeh - Empty Hearts
15 Paula (Review to follow)Deceptively slim. Need to read twice to fully absorb and review, which I have finally at:
https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/202...
16 The Zookeepers' War: An Incredible True Story from the Cold War 4*
Incredible doesn’t do it justice. The Cold War from a completely different angle.
Am now embarking on my tour of the 16 Bundesländer for German Literature Month. Virtual, unfortunately, though if anyone would like to sponsor me sometime next year ... 😉Author birth states are the determining factor.
Book 16 above represents Berlin.
17 (From Bavaria) The History of Lady Sophia Sternheim - Sophie von La Roche (Bavaria) 3/5
Preposterous plotting but otherwise pretty good C18th fun!
18 (From Hesse) Christine Brückner - Desdemona, If Only You Had Spoken! 3/5 Full Review to follow during German Literature Month
(From Baden-Württemberg). Can’t count it here as was written in English, but Fred Uhlman’s Reunion is a small masterpiece.
19 Dear ChildWarming-up for German Literature Month now.
Review at: https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/202...
20. Marrow and Bone (Mecklenburg-Pomerania)21: Black Ice (Rhineland-Palatinate)
22: The Wall (Northrhine-Westphalia)
So many great literary associations to pick from for Thuringia. Impossible to pick just one author to read. So thinking about Jena, the home of German Romanticism, it’s time to sample some25 Great German Poems of the Romantic Era
26 Journey Through A Tragicomic Century - Frances Nenik (Saxony)27 Porcelain: Poem on the Downfall of My City- Durs Grünbein (Saxony)
28 Air Raid - Alexander Kluge (Saxony-Anhalt)
33 The Turncoat - Siegfried Lenz34 Twelve Nights - Urs Faes
35 Krambambuli - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
Brilliant you're really pushing through, have started and am loving Nowhere Ending Sky but going fairly slowly.
‘Tis so. The sky’s the limit ... 😂
Reading German Books in 2020
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