bastet
First piece published in the school’s newspaper
Posts: 61
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Post by bastet on Jan 17, 2007 4:07:58 GMT -5
I think I have read hardly any German literature (especially classics) since school, only English!! To brush up on my German reading I just bought Leo Perutz "Meister des juengsten Tages" (Master of the Day of Judgement). Perutz is an Austrian writer who lived from 1882 to 1957. This particular book reminds me a lot of Eco's The Name of the Rose, since a book plays the central role in a series of mysterious suicides. It's set in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the beginning of the century. I've only seen the TV movie so far (actually an excellent adaptation by the Austrian broadcaster ORF) and was thrilled. It's a complex story with elements of a detective novel, it incorporates concepts of psychoanalysis, it's hard to tell where repression and dreaming ends and reality starts. And the best thing, the end sheds a different light on the whole story and you have to go back and rethink parts of it. I hope the book lives up to my expectations after seeing the film, but in case it's anywhere close to it I can only recommend it.
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Jan 18, 2007 18:58:42 GMT -5
But Astrid Lindgren is a swedish author, Dorothy . I love all of her books. I travelled through Scandinavia last summer with some friends and we saw Michel's farm (who they call Emil in Sweden and everywhere else), it was so fantastic to see the "Holzschuppen" and Alfred's house... Oops, I got excited over your favorites Her books are all so great! Wow, you saw all that, that´s so cool. I was thinking of travelling Sweden next year, partly because of swedish indie artists The book sounds interesting. Let me know how you´ve liked it, bastet.
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Nathalie
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
Posts: 1,309
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Post by Nathalie on Jan 25, 2007 18:06:40 GMT -5
Did anyone of you ever read "Glennkill" by Leonie Swann? The reviews vary from terrible to hilarious, and I was wondering what (provided that you have read it) you thought of it or heard about it.
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Jan 27, 2007 14:31:54 GMT -5
I haven´t read it but then I don´t read so much German contemporary fiction. The reviews really are diverse! I think it´d be a good book to read on the beach
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Nathalie
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
Posts: 1,309
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Post by Nathalie on Jan 29, 2007 18:00:35 GMT -5
Thanks. By the time it's available in paperback it's June and it will all work out well and it will be my summer read I haven't read a book in german in forever...
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Jan 30, 2007 9:56:02 GMT -5
I have to for classes but I should read more because lately I´ve noticed that sometimes I know the English word but can´t remember the German translation
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Nathalie
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
Posts: 1,309
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Post by Nathalie on Jan 30, 2007 15:45:32 GMT -5
haha.. I totally understand what you mean... lately I am having lots of trouble speaking german properly, because I have to think of the correct word and can't, so I have to "germanise" the english word for the others to figure out what I mean... doesn't work very well.
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Post by belle on Apr 8, 2009 3:20:22 GMT -5
I read "Das Erlkönig-Manöver" by Robert Löhr a few months ago and I loved it. Goethe, Schiller, Humboldt and Kleist are trying to liberate the son of Louis XVI to dispossess Napoleon. Unfortunaltely the novel is not available in english yet, but Robert Löhr also wrote "The Secrets of the Chess Machine" which has already been published in english, I suppose.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2009 11:19:39 GMT -5
Did anyone of you ever read "Glennkill" by Leonie Swann? The reviews vary from terrible to hilarious, and I was wondering what (provided that you have read it) you thought of it or heard about it. I have read it. It sounded like a hilarious book. I have to admit I was bit disappointed. It could have been better, but still, it was entertaining.
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Halie
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
Posts: 982
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Post by Halie on Apr 10, 2009 18:48:44 GMT -5
The only German literature I've read is Faust and some Romantic poetry. Isn't that terrible?
Americans never read translated literature, which is a bit of a shame. We normally only get to read things in English (although, we do have the US and England and all of the Commonwealth countries to provide us with that.)
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Post by belle on Apr 11, 2009 0:40:43 GMT -5
The only German literature I've read is Faust and some Romantic poetry. Isn't that terrible? Americans never read translated literature, which is a bit of a shame. We normally only get to read things in English (although, we do have the US and England and all of the Commonwealth countries to provide us with that.) That's sad. I could offer you to look through my bookshelf and maybe recommend you some novels (and poetry if you like) afterwards. I always wonder about the fact that Americans don't read translated literature, because Germans love translated literature (sometimes a little bit too much as I think - I prefer to read novels in the language they were first published in) and novels from foreign authors sell very well here.
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Apr 11, 2009 10:35:28 GMT -5
Would you recommend reading Die Freibadclique, Belle? I´m waiting for the paperback to come out.
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Post by belle on Apr 12, 2009 1:41:01 GMT -5
Would you recommend reading Die Freibadclique, Belle? I´m waiting for the paperback to come out. I haven't read it yet, Dorothy. But one of my friends highly recommended it and I already own it. I think it was published last August, so it might still take some time to come out in paperback. But I think you would like "Das Erlkönig-Manöver" and it's available in paperback. Have you read "Der Geschmack von Apfelkernen? I liked it a lot.
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Apr 12, 2009 15:46:55 GMT -5
Maybe I can get it from the library. The other two books sound quite fascinating, I´ll look for them, thanks for recommending them!
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Halie
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
Posts: 982
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Post by Halie on Apr 12, 2009 22:25:04 GMT -5
I could offer you to look through my bookshelf and maybe recommend you some novels (and poetry if you like) afterwards. I always wonder about the fact that Americans don't read translated literature, because Germans love translated literature (sometimes a little bit too much as I think - I prefer to read novels in the language they were first published in) and novels from foreign authors sell very well here. That would be great! I would appreciate it. I think the thing about translation is that most Americans are monolingual because our country is so big and isolated that it's hard to travel and become immersed in other cultures (you'd think that it'd be the opposite because we're a "melting pot" but most immigrants end up conforming to American culture, which is sad.) I probably read more translated/foreign literature than most Americans, even, because I study French and am really interested in other countries and foreign affairs.
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