“Who would want to be without Caroline and Lizzy’s German Literature Month?” asks Sally-Ann Spencer in the 20th anniversary edition of New Books in German. The good news is that neither Lizzy nor I want to be without it. So it is our great pleasure to announce that German Literature Month VI is now inked in our diaries for this coming November.
Albeit a little less structured than in previous iterations. We’ve learned that regular participants are not short of ideas, and love to read as they please. So that’s what German Literature Month VI is about. Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, novellas, short stories, plays, poetry, classic or contemporary, written by male or female, the choice is yours. As long as the original work was written in German, read as you please, and enjoy yourselves!
That said, there are a couple of scheduled activities for those who like to take part in group readings.
1) Lizzy will be hosting a Krimi week during week two, concentrating mainly on Austrian and Swiss crime fiction. (If anyone is looking for a cracking read to discuss that week, she recommends Ursula P Archer’s Five.)
2) I have scheduled a Literature and War readalong for Friday 25 November. The book for discussion is Walter Kempowski’s All For Nothing.
We are very much looking forward to this, and hope you will join us. Don’t forget to tell us your plans. There’s often as much fun in the planning as there is in the reading!
If you need ideas – go to the German Literature Page on this blog or to the GLM blog.
Beauty is a Sleeping Cat 
Having just organised my shelves (although I suspect there are more Germans in my attic – and Austrians), let me see what lies unread there: Arthur Schnitzler’s Spaeter Ruhm, Anna Katharina Hahn’s Kuerzere Tage, Clemens J. Setz’ Soehne und Planeten and Robert Seethaler’s Der Trafikant. But I’ve also just been reunited with my Kafka collection, so I can feel an immersion project coming along there…
I’m very glad to hear this. I’ve got Seethaler’s Die Biene und der Kurt. A possible choice. I might also do a whole month of crime reading.
I love German lit. month. Thanks for hosting this event!
It is our pleasure. I’m always happy to see enthusiasm.
Lots for me to look forward to, as you saw from the photo I tweeted – a fair balance too of male-female, German-Swiss-Austrian and even fiction-drama- non-fiction!
Yes, great plans. I saw it.
How about this one for Krimi week 8 classics
https://www.amazon.de/Krimi-Klassiker-von-Frauen-Kriminalromane-verlorene-ebook/dp/B00J2YIBK6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1474551718&sr=1-1&keywords=Krimi+Klassiker+von+Frauen
You temptress!
Hehe. And it’s dirt cheap.
Mostly plays for me – Wedekind, Hofmannstahl, Thomas Mann. But a Fontane novella or two couldn’t hurt. And maybe some Stefan George poems.
Fontane never hurts.
Now that you mention plays . . . I was thinking of dedicating next years Literature and War readalog to plays. If you have any ideas, please let me know.
Can I join in by posting links to reviews on Goodreads (profile: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4243437-viv-jm) or Instagram (I am a terribly neglectful blogger!)? I have just placed a hold at the library on Ursula Archer’s Five, and also have Jenny Erpenbeck’s End of Days to read.
Absolutely – you can link to any place. We’re happy to have you join.
I’ve taken part in this before and I’m very keen to do so again, time permitting – off to have a rummage through the shelves!!
I’m glad to hear that. I hope you come up with great finds.
It made my day to see this in my email this morning. I don’t join in many events but this one is always a definite.
I’m very happy to hear that and looking forward to your choices.
I do have the Kempowski, in German even, so I’ll be reading along. I’m very hesitant to make plans, after I abandoned my Reading Germans project, but I do have plenty to choose from. Quite a few of them are Krimis…
I’m glad you have the Kempowski and some Krimis. I saw you abandoned the Reading German project. Too bad. I couldn’t join as I’d read most of them.
I almost forgot – I’ll be reading Goethe’s Italian Journey, even pretending like it is a readalong (I expect no participants). But it’s the 200th anniversary of Italian Journey, and it’s a great book.
Good to know. I’ll try and mention it in the welcome post.
My favourite reading event of the year is back! Whoohoo! Thanks Caroline for hosting this event with Lizzy and bringing delight to us, German literature fans! I can’t wait to make reading plans! I have a couple of Stefan Zweig books which I want to read. And maybe I will try Krimi. And I will try to join the Literature and War readalong. And if I have time, maybe some Ingeborg Bachmann poems. So happy, happy, happy!
Forgot to mention one more thing. Love the new badge 🙂 It is so cool!
That’s Lizzy’s work. 🙂
So wonderful 🙂
I’m happy you will join and glad you’re also looking forward to it.
I’m sure it will be a great month.
So looking forward to it, Caroline! Can’t wait! Did some search on German crime novels yesterday 🙂 Discovered two writers that I would like to explore – Petra Hammesfahr and Charlotte Link. Realized you have posted about them during GLM1! Looking forward reading them this GLM.
I like them both. Hammesfahr is a bit edgier. But I like Charlotte Link very much.
I hope you’ll enjoy your choices. There are many more.
Thanks Caroline! I want to read Hammesfahr’s The Sinner after reading your thoughts on it. Which Charlotte Link book would you recommend that I read first? Can you recommend any of your other favourite German crime novels? Thanks so much!
Sadly, I can’t recomment a Link as Ive only read those which haven’t been translated.
I love Ingrid Noll – so dark. She’s the most literary of the three. I also read Nele Neuhaus and liked her. But there’s one Lizzy liked but Guy hated. I think it’s gruesome. If only I could remember the title. For some reasons I’m only thinking of women. Ah no – I almost forgot. THE German crime writer for me Jan Costin Wagner. He’s fantastic. Only his books are set in Finland.
Thanks so much Caroline! I love literary crime novels and I think I will love Ingrid Noll. I will add her and Jan Costin Wagner to my TBR list.
I hope you will like them. I’m pretty sure you will. Noll is full of dark humor, Wagner is very melancholic.
I love dark humour! I hope it translates well into English. I can’t wait to read Noll and Wagner! Thanks so much, Caroline 🙂
Danielle read Noll and liked the translation very much.
So nice to know that! Can’t wait to read Noll!
I just checked. You might have to get a used copy. Those I saw on amazon U.K. are all great.
Thanks Caroline! I will do that. Hope Noll’s works in English translation come back in print.
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Already reading The Radetsky March. See you in November for the billet.
I’m so glad to hear that. Maybe I’ll read along. I always meant to reread it. If I do, I’ll let you know.
Yes that would be great.
Nice to see this popping up in the calendar again, Caroline. I’m trying to avoid making too many reading commitments for the rest of the year, so I’ll see how the next few weeks pan out. Hopefully it’ll be okay. 🙂
You were spammed! I pressed a wrong button and that’s how I found your comment and many more in the spam folder. WP seems to play up. I never check my spa folder.
No worries. Join when you can. It would be great.
Thanks for rescuing me, Caroline! It’s been happening a lot recently as I’ve ended up in various people’s spam folders over the past few days. As you say, WP must be playing up.
I’m sure I’ll join, it’s just a question of finding the right moment for the right book. I’m certainly not short of options from my shelves at home. 🙂
It was really lucky I saw it. I accidentally spammed Marina’s comment. I checked again. You’re the only after all. Stu had a phase like that when all of his comments were spammed. He ended up contacting WP.
I’m looking forward to your choices.
I’m joining of course. There’s always a potentially excellent translation in the pile. Despite this event being held on a busy (for me) penultimate month of the year.
I’m so glad to hear that. I hope you’ll get the time.
How could I miss German Literature Month – it’s simply not possible! Thanks to you and Lizzy to host this interesting event again! Since I am not sure how much time I can devote to reading and blogging in November, I prefer to not come up here with a long list of books (although I have one), because it is always a bit frustrating to see in the end that I couldn’t manage a big part of it. I definitely want to review Gert Hofmann: Lichtenberg and the Little Flower Girl, and Robert Seethaler: Der Trafikant.
I’m so glad you’ll be joining. You always choose such interesting books.
I’m making a list yet but hopefully I will at the start of the event. I’m pre-reading.
Caroline, i didnt have your email address but just sent one to Lizzy and hope she can forward to you asking if the two of you would do a guest post about German lit for my blog http://www.bookertalk.com. It is in the form of a Q&A….
She told me but she wants to do the one on German lit and asked me to do the Swiss one. Although I live in Switzerland my affinity to its literature is minimal. I’ll have a look and see if I can do it anyway. My email is in on the About page.
Lovely. I don’t blog nearly as much as I used to, but this will make sure I do. One book I definitely have lined up to read it Peeling the Onion by Gunter Grass. I found a beautiful orange hardbound edition at a book sale last year. I know it’s autobiographical, but that’s all I know about the book. I am eager to read it. I don’t suppose I will find time to read more than one, but you never know. 🙂
I’m very glad to hear that you will join. I’ve not read that Grass but I know people who liked it a lot.
I’m not blogging as much anymore either. I hope to read quite a few books but, as you say, one never knows. 🙂
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Just hearing about this! I’ll take any excuse to catch up on Herta Muller & Gregor von Rezzori. Looking forward to November.
That’s great news. Glad to have you on board. I should finally read Herta Mueller.
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I’m in, but I don’t know what I’ll be reading yet. Walter Benjamin. Bernhard, Berlin Alexanderplatz. Probably something with a B! Er, unless I go with Faust…
I’m so glad to hear that you will join.
Any of your choices will be interesting. I’m tempted to finally read Berlin Alexanderplatz but I would also like to join Emma and reread The Radetzy March. Decisions.
I’m on the downward slope (finally) of Vicki Baum’s Grand Hotel, so I will count it (maybe it is cheating….but I always need a little head start) as my first book. I like the sound of the Archer novel, too, so maybe I can manage a few German Lit reads next month!
It would be great if you could join. Grand Hotel is an excellent start. 🙂
I got Five here as well. I really loved her other novel. Erebos, that we read last year (published under another name).
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In all the Diwali rush, forgot to write a sign-up post but here it is finally:
http://inkquilletc.blogspot.in/2016/11/german-literature-month-vi.html
Thanks for hosting it year after year, Caroline.
It’s our pleasure. I’m so glad you are joining us again.
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