Book Club
Welcome to our monthly Book Club.
We meet to discuss contemporary German literature, from modern classics to more recent arrivals on the literary scene.
All books and discussions are in German.
Schedule and Titles:
Moderator:
Barbara Eskin
Temporary Meeting Space for duration of Goethe-Institut renovation:
137 Jordan Road, Brookline
barbeskin@aol.com
Dates 2019
Felicitas Hoppe: Prawda, eine amerikanische Reise
Reisebericht der ganz besonderen Art
Finally something new in the West: the truth about America. Felicitas Hoppe on an expedition in an unknown America: Hoppe travels tens of thousands of comic as well as higly poetic miles from Boston via San Francisco to Los Angeles and back to New York.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Reisebericht der ganz besonderen Art
Finally something new in the West: the truth about America. Felicitas Hoppe on an expedition in an unknown America: Hoppe travels tens of thousands of comic as well as higly poetic miles from Boston via San Francisco to Los Angeles and back to New York.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Dörte Hansen: Mittagsstunde
Dörte Hansen tells of the disappearance of a peasant world and country living, of loss, farewell and a new beginning.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Dörte Hansen tells of the disappearance of a peasant world and country living, of loss, farewell and a new beginning.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Hannah Arendt: Wir Flüchtlinge
They have lost their everyday life and their language: "We Refugees" by Hannah Arendt dates from 1943, but it is well worth another read.
Reviews:
Sueddeutsche.de
Kulturbuchtipps.de
They have lost their everyday life and their language: "We Refugees" by Hannah Arendt dates from 1943, but it is well worth another read.
Reviews:
Sueddeutsche.de
Kulturbuchtipps.de
Natascha Wodin: Sie kam aus Mariupol
"If you had seen what I have seen" — Natascha Wodin's mother said this sentence over and over again, but she took the meaning of it to her grave wehen her daughter was ten. She came from Mariupol is the extraordinary book of a search for clues. Natascha Wodin traces the life of her Ukrainian mother, who came from the port city of Mariupol and was deported to Germany with her husband in 1943 as an "Eastern worker". Her mother, who as a young girl witnessed the demise of her noble family in Stalinist terror before she boarded a German ship with an unknown destination, emerges from anonymity and gets a face that is unforgettable.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
"If you had seen what I have seen" — Natascha Wodin's mother said this sentence over and over again, but she took the meaning of it to her grave wehen her daughter was ten. She came from Mariupol is the extraordinary book of a search for clues. Natascha Wodin traces the life of her Ukrainian mother, who came from the port city of Mariupol and was deported to Germany with her husband in 1943 as an "Eastern worker". Her mother, who as a young girl witnessed the demise of her noble family in Stalinist terror before she boarded a German ship with an unknown destination, emerges from anonymity and gets a face that is unforgettable.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Maxim Biller: Sechs Koffer
Short list German Book Prize 2018
From six perspectives, this novel tells of a great betrayal, a denunciation.
Six Suitcases is a story about Soviet intelligence files, post-war Czech cinema, poisoned love affairs, and the dealings of sex-addicted cultural apparatchiks. At the same time it is also a story about present day life, about our modern, torn world, where almost no one calls home where he was born and grew up.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Short list German Book Prize 2018
From six perspectives, this novel tells of a great betrayal, a denunciation.
Six Suitcases is a story about Soviet intelligence files, post-war Czech cinema, poisoned love affairs, and the dealings of sex-addicted cultural apparatchiks. At the same time it is also a story about present day life, about our modern, torn world, where almost no one calls home where he was born and grew up.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Jakob Hein: Die Orient-Mission des Leutnant Stern
The daring story of the Jewish Lieutenant Edgar Stern, who was to organize jihad for Wilhelm II in 1914. This is the true story of Edgar Stern, who in 1914 smuggled a troupe of 14 Muslim prisoners disguised as a circus to Constantinople to gain the Sultan as an ally.
Reviews:
KiWi Verlag
The daring story of the Jewish Lieutenant Edgar Stern, who was to organize jihad for Wilhelm II in 1914. This is the true story of Edgar Stern, who in 1914 smuggled a troupe of 14 Muslim prisoners disguised as a circus to Constantinople to gain the Sultan as an ally.
Reviews:
KiWi Verlag
Jonas Lüscher: Frühling der Barbaren
The protagonist of this debut novella by Jonas Lüscher, the Swiss factory heir Preising, is on a business trip to a sophisticated Tunisian oasis resort and witnesses elaborate wedding preparations. Rich young Englishmen from the London financial world have gathered friends and family for a big party and are celebrating merrily in advance, just as there are mounting signals for an economic disaster: The British pound crashes, shortly thereafter England is bankrupt, with incalculable consequences, which do not leave Tunisia untouched. Preising, as a Swiss citizen, exempt from the worst consequences, has to witness how thin the blanket of civilization is and learns his own lesson in globalization, because his company also manufactures in Tunisia. Preising does not escape unscathed.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
The protagonist of this debut novella by Jonas Lüscher, the Swiss factory heir Preising, is on a business trip to a sophisticated Tunisian oasis resort and witnesses elaborate wedding preparations. Rich young Englishmen from the London financial world have gathered friends and family for a big party and are celebrating merrily in advance, just as there are mounting signals for an economic disaster: The British pound crashes, shortly thereafter England is bankrupt, with incalculable consequences, which do not leave Tunisia untouched. Preising, as a Swiss citizen, exempt from the worst consequences, has to witness how thin the blanket of civilization is and learns his own lesson in globalization, because his company also manufactures in Tunisia. Preising does not escape unscathed.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Thomas Mann: Der Zauberberg
Angelika Klüssendorf: Jahre später
Longlist German Book Prize 2018
The anatomy of a toxic partnership – Angelika Klüssendorf tells how love develops between two radical loners. In their own ways, they both try to become more social and also find themselves.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Longlist German Book Prize 2018
The anatomy of a toxic partnership – Angelika Klüssendorf tells how love develops between two radical loners. In their own ways, they both try to become more social and also find themselves.
Reviews:
Perlentaucher.de
Arno Geiger: Unter der Drachenwand
Longlist German Book Prize 2018
An outstanding novel about the individual and the power of history, about the most personal and the war, about the dead and the survivors.
Weitere Informationen und Rezensionen:
Perlentaucher.de
Longlist German Book Prize 2018
An outstanding novel about the individual and the power of history, about the most personal and the war, about the dead and the survivors.
Weitere Informationen und Rezensionen:
Perlentaucher.de
Ijoma Mangold: Das deutsche Krokodil
Meine Geschichte
The literary critic and editor of Die Zeit, Ijoma Mangold, remembers his childhood and youth. How was it growing up as a "mixed-race child" and "mulatto" in the Federal Republic of Germany? How did one deal with an absent father? How did race and class relate to each other?
More Information:
Perlentaucher.de
Meine Geschichte
The literary critic and editor of Die Zeit, Ijoma Mangold, remembers his childhood and youth. How was it growing up as a "mixed-race child" and "mulatto" in the Federal Republic of Germany? How did one deal with an absent father? How did race and class relate to each other?
More Information:
Perlentaucher.de
Information about book purchase:
Amazon
www.amazon.de
Ibis
www.ibiservice.com
Global Books
www.globalbooks.de
Schoenhof's Foreign Books
www.schoenhofs.com