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German novel recommendation | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5958 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 13 30 October 2009 at 9:18pm | IP Logged |
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I'd like to try to read a German novel, just a popular book written for a mass-market audience and not anything particularly literary. Because of my background in literary studies, I tend to choose classic literature over more general material, and now I think that this is sometimes a mistake.
All of my reading is rewarding, but I was at the library recently and there were a few popular novels in German in stock, and when I browsed through them, I found that my understanding was pretty good. The dialogues were especially helpful. I write notes in my books, and I can't do that with a library book! So, if someone can recommend a currently popular German language book, I'd appreciate it. Preferably, I'd like to know very little about it before reading, so I can evaluate how well I can understand. I'd also like to read something written in originally in German and not a translation from another language. Topic, plot, and genre are not important--I'd rather have fiction for now, but mostly I just need something that an ordinary German-language native might read. Thanks for any help. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Dripdrip Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5515 days ago 58 posts - 62 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Italian | Message 2 of 13 30 October 2009 at 9:36pm | IP Logged |
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There's a book called Sprengkraft by Horst Eckert which is getting very good reviews at the moment. It's not a book that I've read yet - I'm going to ask one of my German colleagues to bring it over next time he comes. It's a thriller/mystery. If you like crime stories I can recommend loads more stuff.
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| meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5958 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 13 31 October 2009 at 12:00am | IP Logged |
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Thanks, I will look that up, and if you have more ideas I'd be glad to hear them. I'm very much in favor of foreign language criminal madness and mayhem--strictly on the page, though, don't worry!
I normally don't read thrillers in English; for some reason they seem much more fun in another language. Maybe it's the thrill of understanding. I love that! PS: Looks like the thread title was changed, but that's OK: the new name is more precise. Do I need to be more careful about thread titles? I will try. Edited by meramarina on 31 October 2009 at 12:42am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5565 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 13 31 October 2009 at 3:05am | IP Logged |
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I'm enjoying Der Vorleser (The Reader). It's not too difficult. Very good
writing, and quite enjoyable (if you're not the type that gets put off by something that Hollywood's picked up). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5958 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 13 02 November 2009 at 2:16am | IP Logged |
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Thank you for your suggestion. I actually read The Reader a few years ago, in English translation, but I don't remember it very well, so it might be worth another try. I have not seen the movie so that wouldn't spoil anything for me. It is time to go book hunting now!
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| doviende Diglot Senior Member Canada languagefixatio Joined 5977 days ago 533 posts - 1245 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Hindi, Swedish, Portuguese | Message 6 of 13 02 November 2009 at 4:54am | IP Logged |
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Hmm, on the topic of "madness and mayhem", you may enjoy Der Schwarm, which is a techno-thriller about an undersea intelligence that fights back against the polluters. Lots of intrigue and backstabbing amongst the humans too, so it's not all on the sciency end of things. Apparently it's in production as a hollywood movie for 2011 or something. There's an audiobook available too, but it's an abridged version, so it doesn't follow every single word of the dead-tree version.
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| meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5958 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 13 02 November 2009 at 4:06pm | IP Logged |
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Der Schwarm sounds like a good one! Intrigue and backstabbing, well, that does sound like humans. We are in serious trouble if natural phenomena begin to act like us! But maybe they do; after all, we are natural creatures ourselves.
Thanks again for the ideas. I'm using these suggestions to make my holiday wish list! Edited by meramarina on 02 November 2009 at 4:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5512 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes Speaks: Swedish* | Message 8 of 13 02 November 2009 at 4:11pm | IP Logged |
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Or you could try something in translation, if you want something that is a bit easier to read. That's how I started out in Russian, it worked for me.
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