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 August, 2026
Comments
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
I think Heidi by Johanna Spyri is the perfect recommendation here! I just love that story🥹 You could also add something by Hannah Arendt
such a good one, I thought I already had it in!! and Hannah Arendt is also a great suggestion, thank you :))
The potato emoji made me laugh so hard I almost spit out my tea.
The girls who get it, get it, the girls who don't, don't 💅🥔
I’m cracking up at the potato emoji as well 😂 Kartoffeln 🤝 Deutsche
waiiittt, are you German honey?!?
I’m half! My mom is from there 🫶 my German is rusty as I haven’t been back in quite a few years 😭 you??
no waayy, how cool!! I'm also half but grew up there :) so german is my native language!
Oh that’s awesome!! I often wish I’d grown up there 😅 but I was raised in the US.
I went through all kinds of emotions reading the list: Ah, of course. 🥰 Oh nice! 🙂↕️ ....Maybe I should read more German books 🫣 AHHH Deutsch Leistungskurs jumpscare 😱
ahaha, I have exactly the same feelings! the school books can either bring back fun memories or send a shiver down my spine. I purposefully didn't include the ones I actually hated lool so I generally have positive feelings. but definitely makes me want to read more german classics!!
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 😅
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!
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 🫶
Looking through the list just brought up some nostalgia. 🥹 I haven't read all of them but a few in school and some (like the Ruby Red trilogy) in my teens. 😍
that makes me so happy!! definitely some childhood/teenage favourites in there, as well as trauma haha!
🙂↕️🤗 I wish I could think of something to add but my mind is blank rn, haha. Ahaha, yes to the trauma. I remember us having to read Krabat in class before our teacher made us watch the movie. 🤣 We also had to read Mutter Courage for class, analyse it and then went to the theatre play after.
haha if you do have any ideas, feel free to let me know :)) I actually enjoyed Krabat! and heard good things about Mutter Courage, so you could have definitely had it worse haha. My worst memory is Die Judenbuche, which we read way too young and it was so hard to get through the teacher was also not great. so that's why it's not on this list ahahaha (also, not very well known internationally, I would think)
I will! Oh, really? Different people, different taste 🙂↕️ Mutter Courage was interesting, ngl, I just think 16 year old me wasn't, idk, enjoying it? I also hated that we had to analyse, hahaha. Ohhh, I know that one, it was on our reading list (at 16/17, I think?) and those who wanted to read it could. Same, it's a very difficult book though, from what I remember. Yikes, hahaha, I get it then (yeah, I guess so? Some books are pretty country-specific? 🙂↕️)
HAHAHAHAHAH saw the title and was gonna send to u. Love u beloved
haha cuuutee, love you back friend 💖
I saw Der Trafikant and sighed (I had to analyse this to the core in German class) but then I saw Heidi and I was happy again. I would recommend Die Unendliche Geschichte but I unfortunately don’t know if it’s known worldwide and was translated 🥲.
haha, I think this is a very common reaction with books we had to read in school! I read it of my accord lol and actually really enjoyed it! context definitely does a lot there. I think it definitely got translated and had international attention! but wanted to keep to one book per author generally and chose Momo since it might be even more well known internationally. but thanks so much for the recommendation, I appreciate it! :))
Oh wow, that list made me go through a whole range of emotions hahaha (had to read The Wall for class and hated it so much lol) It's so nice to see some fellow Germans here! I think Igraine Ohnefurcht by Cornelia Funke would be a nice addition as well
