Books from Germany

Meggie's father has a secret: he can bring characters from books to life just by reading aloud. When a dangerous man from the past comes looking for a rare book, Meggie and her father are forced to flee. They find refuge with her aunt, but the book they seek holds a perilous magic that could change their lives forever.

• quest
• coming of age

In the time of the Buddha, the young Brahmin Siddhartha leaves home convinced that wisdom must be lived, not taught. His search leads him through asceticism, wealth, love, despair, and finally to a river and a ferryman who teaches him to listen. Hermann Hesse's spare, lyrical novel is a century-old meditation on self-knowledge and the search for enlightenment.

• coming of age

Dustfinger's quest to return to Inkworld takes a dangerous turn when he learns Basta and Mortola are working against him. To warn him, Meggie and Farid must journey into Inkheart itself, only to find Mortimer and Resa held captive. As Capricorn's death is revealed, Mo is shot and captured, leaving Meggie, Dustfinger, Farid, and Fenoglio to race against time to save their loved ones from execution.

• portal fantasy
• quest
• betrayal

Ich bin ein Känguru - und Marc-Uwe ist mein Mitbewohner und Chronist. Nur manches, was er über mich erzählt, stimmt. Zum Beispiel, dass ich mal beim Vietcong war. Das Allermeiste jedoch ist übertrieben, verdreht oder gelogen! Aber ich darf nicht meckern. Wir gehen zusammen essen und ins Kino, und ich muss nix bezahlen. Mal bissig, mal verschroben, dann wieder liebevoll ironisch wird der Alltag eines ungewöhnlichen Duos beleuchtet. Völlig absurd und ein großer Lesespaß.

Op diverse cruiseschepen verdwijnen regelmatig passagiers, zogenaamd door zelfmoord.

Viktor Larenz, a renowned psychiatrist, is shattered when his twelve-year-old daughter vanishes without a trace. Four years later, isolated on an island, he meets a mysterious children's author whose characters seem to come to life, one of whom eerily resembles his missing child. Viktor must determine if her stories hold the key to his daughter's disappearance or if he's losing his own grip on reality. This book is a mind-bending psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.

• unreliable narrator
• locked room

Harry Haller, a man alienated from society, feels a profound disconnect from the world's superficial pleasures. He sees himself as a 'Steppenwolf,' a creature of intellect and instinct trapped in a bourgeois existence. Just as he contemplates ending his life, a series of encounters opens his mind to new possibilities for understanding himself and finding joy.

• morally grey

Elara accepts an alluring stranger's offer to save her brother, unaware of the dark path it will lead her down. She finds herself entangled with Kael, a rotting ruler, and Vale, his cold architect, in a realm filled with living ruin and impending demise. This romantasy explores the value of life and the heavy cost of revenge through three unforgettable characters.

• enemies to lovers
• morally grey
• sacrifice
• revenge

Werther, a young artist, falls deeply in love with Lotte, a woman already engaged to another man. Through a series of letters to his friend, he chronicles his descent into obsession and despair as he struggles to reconcile his intense feelings with the reality of his situation. This classic work captures the raw, unfiltered emotion of unrequited love and the isolation of the human spirit.

• epistolary
• forbidden love

Through the eyes of a despairing artist, Hans Schneir, who recreates in his pantomimes incidents in people's lives with honesty and compassion, Boll draws a revealing portrait of German society under Hitler and in the postwar years.

A brilliant scholar and alchemist who has exhausted every avenue of human knowledge feels his life wasted; after a suicide attempt, he summons the devil to trade his soul for unlimited power. The resulting pact with Mephistopheles sets Faust on a path through magic, seduction, and ambition that ultimately determines whether redemption is possible.

After killing the king and claiming the throne, a deadly curse still threatens to destroy everything. To break it, she must force Death himself into marriage, but the elusive god will do anything to keep her at bay. She is determined to conquer him, even if she has to drag him to the altar by force.

• enemies to lovers
• villain protagonist
• revenge

In a future where an AI called the "everything" manages every detail of life, Peter P. lives a seemingly perfect existence. His world shatters when his genetically engineered dog is deemed a "non-product" and ordered for destruction. Peter must then fight against the hyper-efficient, algorithm-driven society of QualityLand to save his pet, uncovering the system's disturbing truths.

• fish out of water
• reluctant hero

Eighteen-year-old Giulia Rizzo is handed to Cassio Moretti, a Philadelphia mob boss who needs a mother for the two children his late wife left behind. She wants a real place in his family, not a caretaker's job, and asking what happened to his first wife puts the fragile peace they are building at risk.

• forbidden love
• forced proximity
• marriage of convenience

Fabiano was raised to follow in his father’s footsteps as Consigliere of the Chicago Outfit – until the man abandons him. Left to fend for himself, Fabiano is forced to fight for a place in the mafia world. As a ruthless street fighter, he quickly earns his place as the new Enforcer of the Las Vegas Camorra – a man to fear. Leona wants to build a decent life for herself, away from her drug-addicted mother. But soon she catches the attention of a dangerous man – Fabiano Scuderi. Staying out of trouble and living a normal life are near impossible with a man like him. Leona knows she needs to avoid Fabiano, but men like him aren’t easy to shake off. They always get what they want. Fabiano cares about only one thing: the Camorra. But his attraction to Leona soon puts his unwavering loyalty to the test. Is Leona worth risking everything he’s fought for, and ultimately his life?

Emma arrives at Dunbridge Academy for her year abroad, hoping to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance years ago. Falling in love is not part of her plan, but when she meets fellow student Henry, she finds herself drawn to him. As their connection deepens through secret midnight gatherings, Emma struggles to resist her feelings, especially since Henry already has a girlfriend and she fears a broken heart.

• coming of age
• forbidden love
• love triangle
• academy

One night was all it took to shatter Olive Henderson's world. After a devastating fire at Dunbridge Academy leaves her injured and forces her to repeat her junior year, the future she worked so hard for, her place on the swim team and graduating alongside her friends, slips out of reach. Then Colin Fantino arrives. The new student from New York is arrogant, guarded, and determined to hate his exile to an elite Scottish boarding school. But Olive sees the cracks in his armor, and against her better judgment she is drawn to a boy who seems just as lost and broken as she is. As their fragile connection deepens and Olive begins to hope again, Colin's secrets, and the real reason he was sent to Dunbridge, threaten to pull them both apart. The third book in Sarah Sprinz's beloved Dunbridge Academy series, Anytime is an emotional, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance set against the moody backdrop of an elite Scottish academy.

• enemies to lovers
• academy
• slow burn

A title in the Bristol Classical Press German Texts series, in German with English notes, vocabulary and introduction. Thomas Mann (1875-1955), was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929, and "Tonio Kroger" occupies a central position in his spiritual and artistic development. A study of youth, it draws together many strands of his life and work: the duality of his parentage; his abhorrence of discipline; and the influence of Schopenhauer and Wagner on his early phase of writing.

Nineteenth-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) championed individual strength of will and independent, reasoned deliberation above the irrational impulses that animated most of society. In The Wisdom of Life, taken from his last work, Parerga und Paralipomena (1851), he discusses how to order our lives to obtain the greatest amount of pleasure and success; then he offers guidelines for living life to its fullest. But for Schopenhauer a life well lived should always reach beyond itself to a higher plane.

Young engineer Hans Castorp visits a Swiss sanatorium, intending a short stay, but finds himself drawn into its isolated world. As he observes the eccentric patients and staff, Hans begins to ponder the profound questions of life, time, and love. This unique community, a 'Germanic ship of fools,' becomes the setting for his unexpected journey of self-discovery and transcendence.

• coming of age
• fish out of water

Klappentext: Die neunzehnjährige Katharina und Hans, ein verheirateter Mann Mitte fünfzig, begegnen sich Ende der achtziger Jahre in Ostberlin, zufällig, und kommen für die nächsten Jahre nicht voneinander los. Vor dem Hintergrund der untergehenden DDR und des Umbruchs nach 1989 erzählt Jenny Erpenbeck in ihrer unverwechselbaren Sprache von den Abgründen des Glücks - vom Weg zweier Liebender im Grenzgebiet zwischen Wahrheit und Lüge, von Obsession und Gewalt, Hass und Hoffnung. Alles in ihrem Leben verwandelt sich noch in derselben Sekunde, in der es geschieht, in etwas Verlorenes. Die Grenze ist immer nur ein Augenblick. "Jenny Erpenbeck erzählt in 'Kairos' von der existentiellen Verlorenheit einer ganzen Generation" (deutschlandfunk.de). Für Bayerischen Buchpreis 2021 nominiert. Platz 6 der SWR Bestenliste Oktober 2021 sowie Gewinnerin des International Booker Prize 2024.

Stefanie, reeling from being body-shamed by an ex, retreats to a remote house in Iceland for the winter. There she keeps running into Björn, a taciturn local sheep farmer nursing his own wounds. Amid the northern lights and volcanic landscape, the two slowly open up to each other about self-worth, body image, and what it means to be truly seen.

• slow burn

Charlotte Roche's debut novel, "Wetlands," follows Helen Memel, an eighteen-year-old recovering from surgery. While in the hospital, she recounts her past sexual and physical experiences with unflinching honesty. This controversial book explores themes of sex, hygiene, and societal expectations with a darkly humorous and intimate tone.

• morally grey

Which are the logical tricks that will let you slip through the net when faced with awkward questions? How can you yourself use arguments to deflect difficult situations? Do you recognize all flaws in someone else's argument? This the book the BBC, Andrew Gilligan, Lord Hutton, Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell will not be able to ignore. This is an irresistible guide to clear thinking and understanding of the art of debate.

Berlin, 1940. Otto and Anna Quangel are an ordinary, unremarkable working-class couple who have kept their heads down under the Nazi regime — until the day they learn that their only son has been killed at the front. Their private grief hardens into a small, stubborn act of defiance: they begin writing anti-Hitler messages on postcards and leaving them, one by one, in stairwells and public buildings across the city. It is a tiny rebellion against a vast and merciless machine, and they know the penalty for it is death. As the Gestapo closes in, tracking the mysterious cards, the novel widens to take in a whole cast of ordinary Berliners — informers, victims, opportunists, and quiet resisters — living under a tyranny that poisons every relationship. Based on a true Gestapo case file and written by Hans Fallada in a matter of weeks just after the war, this is a gripping, deeply humane portrait of conscience and courage under totalitarianism — the story of two small people who decided that resistance, however hopeless, was worth their lives.

• sacrifice
• betrayal

Starke Frauen gab es auch in der Antike – Athene & Co. packen aus! Athene, Göttin der Weisheit und Tapferkeit, ist reichlich geladen. Immer wollen die Männer alles bestimmen, alleine regeln und von ihren Abenteuern prahlen: der alte Grummelkopf Zeus oder der Trickser Odysseus. Doch damit ist jetzt Schluss! Denn schließlich gibt es im alten Griechenland genauso viele kluge Frauen, die spannende Abenteuer erlebt und mutige Taten vollbracht haben! Darum hat Athene einige der Klügsten und Mutigsten von ihnen zusammengerufen: die trickreiche Aphrodite, die furchtlose Antigone, die selbstlose Baukis, die entschlossene Atalante, die sportliche Kydippe. Nun sind sie es, die ihre Geschichte aufschreiben und von ihren Heldentaten berichten ...

Aladin packt aus! Aladin, der Junge aus den Gassen von Bagdad, erzählt selbst von seinen Abenteuern im Orient: Von der zauberhaften Wunderlampe und ihrem mächtigen Bewohner, dem Dschinni, dem launischen Lampengeist, der jeden Wunsch erfüllen kann, und wie er auf einen sagenhaften Schatz stieß. Mit dabei sind auch Sindbad, der verwegene Seefahrer, der die Weltmeere wie seine Westentasche kennt und keinem Abenteuer aus dem Weg geht, und Ali Baba, der arme Holzsammler, der es mit 40 bösen Räubern aufnimmt. Außerdem Samira, die junge Prinzessin, die so gerne auf einem bunten Teppich über die Häuser von Bagdad fliegt. »So muss Geschichte erzählt werden, um Kinder und Jugendliche heute zu begeistern!« Tiroler Tageszeitung Der direkte, humorvolle Erzählton und die witzig-frechen Illustrationen ergänzen sich perfekt – auch für Wenigleser*innen geeignet. Alle Bände der Reihe ›Geschichte(n) im Freundschaftsbuch‹: Band 1: Ich, Zeus, und die Bande vom Olymp. Götter und Helden erzählen griechische Sagen Band 2: Ich, Caesar, und die Bande vom Kapitol. Live aus dem alten Rom Band 3: Ich, Odin, und die wilden Wikinger. Götter und Helden erzählen nordische Sagen Band 4: Ich, Merlin, und die furchtlosen Ritter Band 5: Ich, Kleopatra, und die alten Ägypter Band 6: Ich, Odysseus, und die Bande aus Troja Band 7: Ich, Herakles, und meine großen Heldentaten. Live aus dem alten Griechenland Band 8: Ich, Aladin, und die Helden aus 1001 Nacht Band 9: Ich, Athene, und die mutigen Frauen aus Olympia In Frank Schwiegers Freundschaftsbuch-Format kommen Götter, Helden und historische Gestalten selbst zu Wort und erzählen unterhaltsam und originell ihre abenteuerlichen Geschichten. Die Bände sind unabhängig voneinander lesbar.