A little German leisure reading

So, in my quest to improve my language skills, I have switched most of my leisure reading over to German. So far I have finished two novels in German, and I’m looking for more.

The first novel I read, at the suggestion of Heza and Alex, was Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink. It started out a bit slow, but the pace picked up before I lost interest. The level was great – I was able to read and understand almost everything without stopping to look words up, although there were definitely new words in the text (for when I was in the looking-up kind of mood). What I particularly liked about the story line was that it was uniquely German, drawing me into parts of German history I had not thought about before, at a level I could easily follow and understand. I see that Mr. Schlink is a prolific writer; perhaps I will give another book of his a go.

The second German novel I read was the infamous Feuchtgebiete by Charlotte Roche. Although I expected my knowledge of German slang to be challenged, I have to say that I ended up being almost disappointed at the lack of new and scandalous vocabulary it offered. I suppose all those issues of Bravo (link possibly NSFW) I read during my Halle days really paid off! The book was also a bit of a let-down in the content department; based on all the uproar it has caused, I expected it to shock and offend my prude American sensibilities much more than it did. Although the book did make me physically gag on a couple of occasions, my reaction was more to the hygiene elements than the sexual ones.

Despite these disappointments, overall I’ll call Feuchtgebiete a decent read. The pace was quick, and for the most part the plot was interesting enough to keep me entertained on the plane to California. It might have been less interesting to read in my native language, since it would have lost its educational appeal (although, I suppose, it does have something in the way of education to offer on the topic of raising avocados, too), but as a German-learning tool I’ll give it a thumbs up.

Any suggestions for what I should read next? I prefer to read in the original language (ie, I’m looking for books written in German). They don’t have to be novels, but my other preferred genre is humorous nonfiction (ala David Sedaris and Bill Bryson), and I’m not sure my German sense of humor is sophisticated enough to tackle that. I like novels that are quick reads but with some substance – no romance novels or Sweet Valley High, but also no War and Peace. Think good airplane reading.

14 thoughts on “A little German leisure reading”

  1. I am pretty sure that NSFW = Click Here Now!

    Amusingly the firewall at the Germany client I am at today lets me goto bravo.de. I can read Dr. Sommer talk about sex with some nice nudity to accompany it. However when I try and visit tshirthell.com it is blocked as “Erotic and Sex, Hate and Discrimination.”

    T-Shirts that might offend you with words or bad taste, not allowed; nudity and sexual advice, all good! (Probably just that the US company providing the filter hasn’t found bravo.de yet. Ah, the futility of filtering…)

  2. Any suggestions for what I should read next?

    I suggest something by Wladimir Kaminer: Mein Deutsches Dschungelbuch

    It’s about traveling through all different regions of contemporay Germany from a Russian perspective. Matched my vocabulary, interests, and experiences really well.

  3. Judith Hermann was the hot new thing in German literature a few years ago. She writes longer short stories; I find her very accessible. Sommerhaus, spater and Nichts als Gespenster are two of her titles.

  4. Feuchtgebiete is also not what I expected vocabulary-wise, although Perlenrüssel was new to me. At times it reads like a German cookbook, but perhaps that’s just me. Still I’m intrigued.

  5. Very good language: Birgit Vanderbeke, e.g. Alberta empfängt einen Liebhaber
    Or, for a better understanding of Bavaria: Sebastian Glubrecht, Na servus! (very funny)

  8. Cliff, SwissMiss, Corregio, and CS – thanks so much for the recommendations! I appreciate it.

    Heza – True, that one was new to me too… see, learning!

  10. You could try some of Martin Suter’s books, he’s a Swiss author who used to have a hilarious column about the business world (“Business Class”) but has been writing all kinds of novels for years now. They’re well paced and easy to read, I usually can’t put them down once I started!

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