Good reads for a trip to Germany

July 10, 2006 5:24 PM

Need suggestions for good reads to bring along on a two week vacation to (mostly) rural Germany for an American Lit and Creative Writing teacher.

For ontic's mother, a longtime New York times book review reader... As a lit teacher (secondary school), she loves all kinds of books, but landmarks in the past have been:

The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
Markings by Dag Hammarskjold
Annie Dillard
Shakespeare
Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

Short summaries/teasers wouldn't hurt. English only or good translations. Probably not looking for sightseeing books or histories. Pynchon and Proust are out.

posted by ontic to Writing & Language (12 answers total)

To clarify -- are you looking for "German-themed" reads, or just good vacation books?
posted by theantikitty at 6:13 PM on July 10, 2006

Response by poster: Good vacation books, but if they tie in to the trip, so much the better.
posted by ontic at 7:13 PM on July 10, 2006

I just got back from a very short trip to Germany. I brought a few different books with me, but the one I read and enjoyed the most was The Periodic Table by Primo Levi. wow. (I still have a few elements to go)

I hate taking too much stuff with me on trips, but I absolutely have to have reading material. Trouble is that I read fiction very quickly, so I end up packing some poetry or non-fiction, usually. I can also highly, highly recommend Seamus Heaney. I love Electric Light and The Spirit Level. I'd probably love anything by him. I don't usually listen to books, but he has a translation of Beowulf and narrates it himself. Oh my goodness, that is the most amazing thing. You must listen to it.

Best wishes for her trip.
posted by bleary at 7:43 PM on July 10, 2006

Is there anything she doesn't like in particular? Skinny Dipping In The Lake Of The Dead by Alan Deniro is awe inspiring (writing-wise) fantastical short stories that remind me somewhat of "Einstein's Dreams" but definitely have a Letham style vibe.
posted by drezdn at 8:15 PM on July 10, 2006

Response by poster: drezdn, that's a question I've never asked. I'll get back to you tomorrow.
posted by ontic at 8:34 PM on July 10, 2006

Lichtenberg and the Little Flower Girl might be just the thing. It's Germany-flavored, and the author's epigrammatic style is ideally suited to the interruptions of traveling. In brief: an eccentric, excitable, diminutive hunchback meets a 13-year-old flower seller. He hires her on as a housekeeper, he teaches her to read and write, they embark upon a clandestine relationship. Lichtenberg is a real historical figure, and the author wove a number of his actual aphorisms--which are responsible for his continuing fame--into the text. One of my favorites: "Some people come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede -- not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above 14." A bit like The Blue Flower, except written sideways.
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 10:06 PM on July 10, 2006

This has nothing to do with Germany or any of the authors you listed, but I recommend:
Blink- Malcolm Gladwell
A Wild Sheep's Chase- Murakami
They are good reads.
posted by Wayman Tisdale at 10:45 PM on July 10, 2006

Maybe Mark Twain's A Tramp Abroad, or just the Awful German Language chapter. "In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl."
posted by kirkaracha at 6:53 AM on July 11, 2006

Response by poster: Books not liked:

Jennifer Weimer and typical chick lit.
Devil Wears Prada
Romance novels.
posted by ontic at 11:31 AM on July 11, 2006

Has she read Joan Didion's _The Year of Magical Thinking_? _Gilead_ by Marilynne Robinson?
posted by theantikitty at 11:37 AM on July 11, 2006

ontic, try Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. It's the best novel I read last year and isn't too far off from the Laurence/Dillard style of novel. I leant it to my own mother and grandmother; they both loved it and agreed that it'll become a staple in high school English courses some day. (And it has a slight tinge of philosophy, too!)
posted by painquale at 9:33 AM on July 14, 2006

Or Krauss's History of Love. That one is supposed to be incredible.
posted by drezdn at 9:59 AM on July 14, 2006