Reading German Books in 2020 discussion

Books I've started reading for this challenge.



Ein ganzes Leben
So far: Very sad, very beautiful...
Reading it with the English translation alongside. Have owned both for a while. Thanks to this challenge I'm finally reading it!





A Woman in Berlin
I'm also only a short way in with this one. As harrowing as I was expecting, but the writing is brilliant.
Have also owned this one for a while. I've been side-stepping this book for years but was going to read it now anyway (75th anniversary of end of WWII and all that). And co-incidentally it fits in with this challenge.

Finished Ein ganzes Leben.
It was the perfect German book for me. Short but very satisfying. Heartbreaking but ultimately also uplifting.
I read it in German (very slowly) with the English translation A Whole Life by Charlotte Collins alongside. It helped me a lot because the text is so sparse that every word counts.

A very good book, his best I think.

Johanna wrote: "A very good book, his best I think."
Oh I agree. It was very good. I was amazed at how much was said in so few words, how understated, yet powerful the emotions were. Not a tear jerker, but a book that makes your heart skip a few beats.
Also found the English translation to be an excellent and fluent read.

Finished A Woman in Berlin a few days ago but needed to wait for the shell shock to subside a bit...

It was only when I reached the afterword that I became aware of two things. First, this book probably does not qualify for this reading challenge:- Although certainly originally written in German, it was first published in English. Secondly, I was unaware of the controversy it caused in Germany.

A powerful book that upset me, left me very sad. I hope I can get around to collect all my thoughts in a full review sometime.

In the meantime, fuelled by an urge to find out more, I've been googling myself down a rabbit hole. Am seriously contemplating ordering a copy of Mehr als Anonyma: Marta Dietschy-Hillers und ihr Kreis

So, I did end up going further down the rabbit hole and ordered a copy of Mehr als Anonyma: Marta Dietschy-Hillers und ihr Kreis.
Found it very interesting. Not only about Marta Hillers, the author of A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary but also about the world and times she lived in.