German to the core
Translated german language literature that is considered by many to be "core" reading from the modern and contemporary eras - meaning 1880 onwards, making it very readable. 🇩🇪🇦🇹🇨🇭 I usually kept it to one book per author to make this a starting off point (sometimes added additional faves). Suggestions welcome!
created by beloved404
last updated April, 2026
Comments
The potato emoji made me laugh so hard I almost spit out my tea.
Please especially recommend more female authors, I tried my best but obv they are historically (and still) overlooked 🫠
Kerstin Gier, maybe?
Good idea, have added Ruby Red since that series is probably the most well known.
i would recommend: darkenbloom by eva menasse today is the last day of the rest of your life by ulli lust sisters in arms by shida bazyar
Oh Momo 😍 I loved that book as a child!
Me toooo - I also loved the cartoon series! A very special story.
I loved the series!!
By the way; I’d suggest adding two well-known female authors who fit really well: Ingeborg Bachmann, with Malina and Christa Wolf with Kassandra. Malina is an exploration of identity, memory, and gender in postwar Vienna, while Cassandra is a retelling of the Trojan War from a feminist perspective. Both add important female voices to modern German-language literature and would fit this list beautifully. 🫶
And maybe Inkheart/Tintenherz? Idk if that fits the list tho!
I have Cassandra and Inkheart in the list already! Malina is a great suggestion, adding it now 😊 thank you!! 🫶
Oh damn, I didn't realise they were already on the list, sorry 🤦🏽♀️
No worries at all, glad that I have the right ones in the list ;)
Made me realize that I have read more German authors than I thought 🤝
Yayy, that's amazing! And yeah, there's a lot of "classics" like The Perfume that many people have read and might not realise was translated from German :)
Precisely my case 😅
I didn't know Momo was originally written in German! Thank you for the list, it is very informative 🙂↕️
so was the neverending story! (same author)
Aah I'm glad you like it 🥰 and Momo is the best 🫶
It was so fun looking through this and seeing a bunch of books i‘ve read in school or in my childhood. I highly recommend a neverending story to anyone, it‘s a great story, even tho the movie was mildly disturbing to me as a child. (I was really scared of the statues in the desert)
Yay I'm so glad!! Makes me feel so accomplished when I see lists and realise I've read a bunch of the books already:))
And yeah, a neverending story is so special, I feel like I need to re-read it as an adult to fully appreciate it!
