Books from Germany

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

Gwyneth Shepherd always assumed her cousin was the one with the extraordinary destiny. But when she unexpectedly finds herself leaping through time, she realizes the family secrets run deeper than she ever imagined. Now, Gwyneth must learn to control her powers and navigate the past, all while dealing with Gideon, a fellow traveler she can't stand.

• chosen one
• coming of age
• secret society
• enemies to lovers

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

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

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

Gwen is the last of the time travelers, and she needs to find the others before it's too late. With her friends Lesley and James, and the enigmatic Gideon, she must race through history. Gideon's connection to her own fate makes their journey even more critical.

• quest
• secret identity

Book two of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy: Meggie and Farid follow Dustfinger into the Inkworld, where Fenoglio's story has turned dark.

• portal fantasy
• quest
• betrayal

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

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

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.

• witty banter
• forced proximity

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

Since surviving an attack by a serial killer the press calls "the Barber," psychiatrist Emma Stein hasn't left her house. Then a mailman asks her to sign for a package addressed to a neighbor she has never seen — and her carefully guarded isolation begins to unravel.

• unreliable narrator
• dual timeline

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

Nino Falcone feels nothing, and that has always kept him safe, until his brother orders him to marry Kiara Vitiello to hold a truce between two crime families. She arrives carrying wounds of her own, and neither of them chose this marriage.

• forbidden love
• morally grey
• forced proximity
• arranged marriage

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?

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.

Emma goes to Dunbridge Academy to find out why her father left, not to fall for anyone. Then she meets Henry, who has a girlfriend, and midnight walks make it hard to keep her distance.

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

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

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

Il famoso scrittore tedesco Gustav Aschenbach, che ha basato la sua vita e l'intera opera sulla più ostinata fedeltà ai canoni classici dell'estetica e dell'etica, è spinto a Venezia da un misterioso impulso. Nell'attimo in cui balena sulla spiaggia del Lido la spietata bellezza del ragazzo polacco Tadzio, Aschenbach avverte il definitivo segno del destino: l'anelito allo sfacelo. La morte a Venezia (1913), oltre che un romanzo, è una cerimonia.

Schopenhauer's practical guide to living as well as life allows, from Parerga und Paralipomena (1851). He weighs what a person is against what they own and how others see them, and argues the first matters most.

"Sag das nie wieder, hörst du? Hast du verstanden, Jess?" Seine Stimme klang drohend und seine Augen glitzerten vor Zorn. "Liebe mich nicht." Eigentlich wünscht Jess sich für diesen Sommer nur ein paar entspannte Wochen in den Rockys. Doch dann trifft sie Cayden, den Jungen mit den smaragdgrünen Augen, und er stiehlt ihr Herz. Aber Cayden verfolgt seine eigenen Ziele. Der Göttersohn hat eine Vereinbarung mit Zeus. Nur wenn er ein Mädchen findet, das ihm widersteht, gewährt Zeus ihm seinen sehnlichsten Wunsch: endlich sterblich zu sein. Wird Cayden im Spiel der Götter auf Sieg setzen, auch wenn es Jess das Herz kostet? Marah Woolf, Autorin der MondLichtSaga und eine der erfolgreichsten Selfpublisherinnen Deutschlands, jetzt erstmals in einem deutschen Verlag!

Das neue Schuljahr beginnt und Jess versucht, Cayden zu vergessen, nach allem, was er ihr angetan hat. Aber Zeus und seine Götter haben anscheinend andere Pläne, und schon am ersten Schultag steht Cayden plötzlich vor ihr. Schwebt Jess etwa in Gefahr? Ist Agrios ihr womöglich nach Monterey gefolgt? Jess möchte nicht in den Kampf der Götter hineingeraten, sondern wünscht sich ein ganz normales Leben. Aber was ist schon normal, wenn man die Welt der Götter sehen und betreten kann? Und vor allem: Wie lange kann sie Cayden wirklich hassen? Band zwei der GÖTTERFUNKE-Trilogie von Marah Woolf, Bestsellerautorin ("MondLichtSaga" und "BookLess") und eine der erfolgreichsten Selfpublisherinnen Deutschlands!

Nello sterminato fascio di carte che compongono gli scritti postumi di Schopenhauer si cela un abbozzo di eudemonologia – ossia l’arte di essere felici. Schopenhauer concepì infatti il disegno di radunare in un manualetto, articolandoli in cinquanta massime, una serie di pensieri che era venuto formulando nel corso del tempo e che insegnano come vivere il più felicemente possibile in un mondo in cui «la felicità e i piaceri sono soltanto chimere che un’illusione ci mostra in lontananza, mentre la sofferenza e il dolore sono reali e si annunciano immediatamente da sé, senza bisogno dell’illusione e dell’attesa». Con la lucidità e il rigore a lui consueti, Schopenhauer giunge alla conclusione che la felicità di cui si discorre non è che un eufemismo, giacché «“vivere felici” può significare solo vivere il meno infelici possibile, o, in breve, vivere passabilmente». Il grande maestro del pessimismo riesce così a offrirci una cauta e diffidente guida a una felicità che per questa volta non sarà illusoria e corrisponderà alla «vera esistenza dell’uomo», per Schopenhauer equivalente a «ciò che di fatto accade al suo interno», al suo «piacere interiore».

Seventeen-year-old Bailey moves to California to live with her father and, perhaps, finally meet an online friend and fellow film buff, but soon finds herself attracted to an annoying co-worker.

Venice has been under siege by Egypt for thirty years, and only the Flowing Queen keeps it safe. When she is threatened, fourteen-year-old Merle and her friends Junipa and Serafin are pulled into a fight for the city's survival.

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.

George, an inquisitive monkey from Africa, finds himself in America with his friend, the Man in the Yellow Hat. His boundless curiosity often leads him into amusing predicaments, making every day an unexpected adventure. This classic children's novel follows George's escapades as he navigates a new world.

• fish out of water