MarthaJeanne Reading in German

Books read:
New 51
Library 62
Secondhand 8
Rereads

Categories Finished: 11
Fiction about Germany
Fiction about Austria
Books for Children
Theology
Austria (nonfiction)
Vienna (nonfiction)
Biography - Austria
Needlework
Religion and Art (8)
Food and Gardens
Other

I'm going to aim for 9 each in 11 Categories, but will settle for 8. (Upped because I obviously aimed too low. 24/04)

A few people have been asking me about books to read in German, so my comments are often aimed at helping those for whom German is a second language guess whether they want to try it. If I think it is particularly good for them, I will add a ! in the weekly messages.
-------
Fiction http://www.librarything.com/topic/96718#2306312

Theology 1 http://www.librarything.com/topic/96718#2306313

History and travel 2 http://www.librarything.com/topic/96718#2306314

Food and Crafts http://www.librarything.com/topic/96718#2306317

More http://www.librarything.com/topic/96718#2306321

Fiction
1 Der letzte Patriarch
2 Die Nähmaschine

Germany
1 Suche impotenten Mann fürs Leben
2 Lügst du noch oder liebst du schon?
3 Der Koch der Königin
4 Tanzstraße
5 Die Schmiedin
6 Die Kaffeeprinzessin
7 Goldbrokat
8 Die Welfenkaiserin
9 Ja mei

Fiction about Austria
1 Engelszungen
2 Spätes Tagebuch
3 Eine Robbe im Kaffeehaus
4 Moderne Zeiten
5 6 Österreicher unter den ersten 5
6 Die Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis
7 Die Kapuzinergruft
8 Mein liebes Fräulein Mozart
9 Der Mann mit dem Fagott

Books for Children

1 Kein Hundeleben für Bartolomé
2 Maikäfer, flieg! (Vienna)
3 Zwei Wochen im Mai (Vienna)
4 Passage ins Paradies
5 Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl
6 Die königliche Drachenjagd
7 Yves : eine afrikanische Liebe
8 Martins Mantel
9 Die Els und ich
. Kein Tanz, kein Kuss
. Deutsches Drittes Lesebuch fuer amerikanische Schulen

Theology and Religion

1 So schön wie hier kanns im Himmel gar nicht sein! (or Biography, or Health)
2 Heiden, Christen, Juden und Muslime (Or Austria)
3 Wie geht's, Herr Pfarrer
4 Die Päpste und die Hexen
5 Jerusalem im Hoch- und Spä̈tmittelalter

Non-Christian Religion
1 Jerusalem heilige Stätten der Juden
2 Die drei Schlüssel Gottes
3 Mein Gott ist jetzt Allah
4 Von Dreideln, Mazzes und Beschneidungsmessern

History and travel
. Das Risiko fliegt mit

Vienna
1 Die Geschichte der Wiener Schneekugel
. Verkleiden Verwandeln Verführen
2 'In Wien war alles schön'
3 Wien, Stadt der Museen
4 Geheimnisvoller Da Vinci Code in Wien
5 Gestern war ein schöner Tag
6 Der schöne Tod in Wien
7 Imperiales Wien
8 Der Stefansdom
9 Wien : Früher und Heute

Austrian History/politics
1 Österreich ist schön
2 Die Welt der Habsburger
3 Damals war ich vierzehn
4 Sammelsurium Austriacum
5 Ötzi, Sisi und Co
6 Der Schalldämpfer II

Austria - Land und Leute
1 Naturkatastrophen in den Alpen
2 Der stillste Ort
3 Frischer Wind am Steppensee

German language

Other Europe
. Kaiser von morgens bis abends (Rome)
. Aachen (Merian 5/2010)
. Der Aachener Dom - Bilder, pictures, images

Biography - Austria
1 Christine Nöstlinger: die Buchstabenfabrikantin (Austria)
2 Nina: Das Mädchen mit dem Down Syndrom (Vienna)
3 Helmut Zilk: meine drei Leben (Vienna)
4 Die Kunst, eine Frau zu sein (Vienna)
5 Der alte König in seinem Exil (Austria)
6 Die Genies im Hause Habsburg (Austria)
7 Was uns geblieben ist (Austria)
8 Österreicher entdecken die Welt
9 Im Namen des Gesetzes: "Sei stad!"

Biography - Other
. Diana und Sisi
2 Eva Braun : Leben mit Hitler
3 Das Mädchen aus der Totenstadt: Monas Leben auf den Gräbern Kairos

Food and Crafts

Needlework and Textiles
1 Häkelspitzen wie handgeklöppelt
2 African Lace
3 Puppenkleider stricken : Neue Ideen
4 Tuchintarsien in Europa von 1500 bis heute
5 Omas Strickgeheimnisse
6 Prähistorische Textilkunst in Mitteleuropa
7 Textilien heute
8 Bäuerliches Stricken 1
9 Bäuerliches Stricken 2

Spinning and weaving
. Kreativ spinnen
. Bunte Bänder - handgewebt
. Alte Volkskunst Weben
. Handbuch Garne

Cookboooks
1 Natürlich Buchinger
2 Das neue Sacher Kochbuch
3 Fleisches Lust
4 Mini-Cocottes
5 Grillgenuss
6 Quitten: das Comeback einer vergessenen Frucht
7 Noch ein Stück
8 Süße Köstlichkeiten aus Schönkirchen-Reyersdorf

Garden - credited in More
9 Der Kleine Unkrautschreck

Art and design
. Was ist Jugendstil?
. Küchengerät des 20. Jahrhunderts
. Das LEGO-Buch
. Was ist Barock?
. Frauen, die lesen, sind gefährlich und klug
1 Figurale Keramik aus der Slowakei

Religion and Arts
1 Christliche Kunst weltweit
2 Christliche Kunst in Japan und Korea
3 Christliche Themen in der indischen Kunst
4 Zeitgenössische christliche Kunst aus China
5 Paramente! : historische liturgische Textilien
6 Götterspeisen
7 Götterbilder: Südasien, Südostasien, Himalayaländer
8 Glanz & Glorie

Science

1 Warum Kühe im Dialekt muhen
2 Göttliche Geistesblitze
3 Liebe lässt sich vererben

The world
1 Schwarzes Amerika
2 Culinaria China (or food)
3 Das Geheimnis meiner türkischen Großmutter

More

1 Eine Frau - ein Buch
2 Spass an Büchern!: wie Kinder Leselust bekommen
3 Oma ist die Beste
4 Vampyrologie für Bibliothekare
. Die sind ja Nackt

Week 1

Österreich ist schön. (Austria)
Not recommended for those who do not know recent Austrian politics. I'm not sure I would recommend to anyone else either, but at least they could follow it if they wanted to. It tried hard to be as offensive as posible. I think it came close to succeeding.

Christine Nöstlinger: die Buchstabenfabrikantin (Biography)

Week 2

Jerusalem - heilige Stätten der Juden (Theology)
Less interesting than I had hoped.

Engelszungen
An interesting book about two men born at the same time in a small city in Bulgaria. Both end up in Vienna.

Week 3

Die Welt der Habsburger (Austria)
A collection of essays by various people. Most were quite interesting, but there didn't seem to be much holding them together.

! Spätes Tagebuch (Fiction, Austria)
See review http://www.librarything.com/work/9655045/reviews
The other review there makes me want to listen to the audiobook. (Pluhar is one of Austria's best loved actresses, and about the age of Paulina.)

So schön wie hier kanns im Himmel gar nicht sein! (For now in Theology)
The mental voyage of a cancer patient. I agree with the reviewer about his image of God. Amazingly childish.
The language of this is more spoken than written German. (He also speaks of dictating it.) This might be good practice for someone with fairly good German, but a lot of the terms will not be found in a normal dictionary.

Häkelspitzen wie handgeklöppelt
If you like to do crochet lace you want this whether or not you read German (all patterns are in diagram form.)

Week 4

Christliche Kunst - weltweit (Theology)
see review http://www.librarything.com/work/10862410/reviews

Heiden, Christen, Juden und Muslime (Theology)
A history of Religion in Austria. I enjoyed it, but then it is a a combination of two subjects that I enjoy.

African Lace
Catalogue to the current exhibit at the Museum für Völkerkunde.

Week 5

Diana & Sisi
Interesting study of the similarities between these two women who married royalty.

Suche impotenten Mann fürs Leben
Fun, but not very realistic.

Kein Hundeleben für Bartolomé
Children's book. OK, but more Spanish feel would be nice.

Die Geschichte der Wiener Schneekugel
Fun. I can recommend a visit to the Schneekugel factory.

Week 6

Christliche Kunst in Japan und Korea

!Lügst du noch oder liebst du schon?
Not great literature, but a fun read. Part of the fun is how the two main characters continue to lie to each other about important parts of their lives. Takes place im Hamburg, but little local colour. Mostly standard German.

Wow, you're doing three (!) 11 in 11 challenges? Even if your stated goals are 'only' 8 or 9 in each category, that's impressive!

(I'm posting here to say that, but also in order to tag the thread for ideas on German-language books.)

Week 7

Nina: Das Mädchen mit dem Down Syndrom (Biography)

Der Koch der Königin (Fiction)
I prefer books that tell a story in a straightforward manner so that I don't spend the first half of the book trying to figure out what is going on. (=review)

Schwarzes Amerika
I learned a lot about the history of slavery around the Atlantic Ocean. Reviewed.

Week 8

! Maikäfer, flieg!
This autobiographical novel describes the end of WWII in Vienna from the point of view of a child. It is written for older children, but is well worth reading as an adult. Reviewed.

Tanzstraße
Reviewed. If this had an ending I would have given it a !

Week 9

Naturkatastrophen in den Alpen
Reviewed. More reasons NOT to live in one of those lovely little mountain villages.

(!)Der stillste Ort
A few interesting - toilets?!! Still a quick read, and the extra vocabulary that you didn't learn in German class is very useful on occasion.

Christliche Themen in der indischen Kunst

! Eine Robbe im Kaffeehaus
When Andrea goes on a package tour she thinks she has met the man of her dreams who will take her everywhere she wants to go. It takes her a while to realise that she is just being taken for a ride. Short, amusing, probably more interesting to women.

February

At the end of February I have read 24 books in German that fit neatly into three categories of 8 books each:

Fiction

History and travel

Other

Obviously each of these will be subdivided abain before the end of the year, but I am ahead of the game for now.

Week 10

! Helmut Zilk: meine drei Leben
Zilk was a major player in postwar Vienna up to his recent death. His memoirs might be difficult to follow in parts if you don't know the history, but you will understand the city much better afterwards. Reviewed.

Verkleiden Verwandeln Verführen
Now to go back to the Exhibit. Reviewed. This book is worth looking at even if you can't read the German, for the lovely theatre costumes.

Zwei Wochen im Mai
Takes place a few years later than Maikäfer, flieg! Also a very good book, but less interesting historically.

Week 11

(!) Das neue Sacher Kochbuch
Yes, I know, not everyone reads cookbooks. But if you do, this is a fun one, if you can remember that you don't have to cook all those fancy main dishes yourself - eat out at the Sacher sometime instead. Reviewed.

Week 12

Moderne Zeiten
I like books that make sense. This one doesn't as far as I can tell. Or it may be great literature.

Culinaria China
This is in History and Travel, but could move to food. More for the coffee table than the kitchen, but an interesting read.

Das Risiko fliegt mit

Week 13

Kaiser von morgens bis abends
The life of Roman emperors. Boring.

Fleisches Lust
Really good if you are cooking Austrian meat. Bought at Radatz store. Reviewed.

6 Österreicher unter den ersten 5
A wonderful book for anyone who knows Vienna. Requires good German, and ability to read various dialects.

March.

Well, I have read more, 36 books read now, but no more divisions now. I have been able to narrow the travel and history down to an Austria (nonfiction) category. Current finished categories are:

Fiction
Austria (nonfiction)
Other

Week 14

Was ist Jugendstil?
Very good, with lots of pictures of beautiful buildings.

Sammelsurium Austriacum
Trivia about Austria.

Mini-Cocottes: Feines aus kleinen Töpfen

Damals war ich vierzehn
Memories of being a child in Austria during WWII (and imediately afterwards). This is well done, intended for a teenaged audience. In some cases it would be helpful to have the age of the person at the time of the memory included.

Question - is German a 'second' language for you?

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I live in Vienna, Austria. Yes, German is my second language, but one that I deal with daily.

Week 15

Küchengerät des 20. Jahrhunderts

Frischer Wind am Steppensee

'In Wien war alles schön'

Week 16

Die Kunst, eine Frau zu sein
The last (auto)biography I read was of her husband. I enjoyed that one a lot more. On the other hand, this one requires very little background knowledge, and if you are amused by theatre memoirs that include tips on being as 'marvelous' a person as the author, try it.

Wie geht's, Herr Pfarrer
The result of a recent survey of Catholic priests in Austria about their opinions of their life, the church, and their future. The results were interesting, not least because they were well presented; not just general numbers, but often results of two questions related to each other.

Wien, Stadt der Museen
Not as useful as I had hoped. Reviewed.

Geheimnisvoller Da Vinci Code in Wien
Reviewed.

Week 17

I'm caught this week with slow-moving books, and very little reading time.

April

I upped my goals for German this month. I may do it again before the end of the year. With 50 books read after 4 months, I might even manage a full 11 x 11.

Total of 49 books so far.

Current finished categories are:
Fiction
Austria (nonfiction)
Other
Vienna (nonfiction) (8)
Theology (7)

Yes, I'm reading a lot of non-fiction about Austria. I probably ought to try to widen that.

Week 18

Die Päpste und die Hexen
Interesting study that shows that the popes tried to limit the witchhunts in their areas of authority. However, very dense text in very fine print. Hard to read.

Das LEGO-Buch
Doesn't this just bring back memories?

Week 19

(!) Gestern war ein schöner Tag
This is a wonderful book about Vienna's yesterday. You may have to skip over sections of names that you don't recognize (I did) but this is a charming picture of a Vienna in which operetta was a way of life. There are also interesting pictures of WWII London from the point of view of the German-speaking community there. Reviewed.

Der Kleine Unkrautschreck
Guess what! The best thing you can do about weeds is to pull them.

! Warum Kühe im Dialekt muhen
Short articles about science with emphasis on weird results. Not the best of books for reading through, but most of the individual articles are only 1-2 pages long, and most of them are fairly interesting, so pick it up and read one or two articles, for an 'Erfolgserlebnis'. It's a recent paperback, so should be fairly easy to get through any channels you use for German language books.

Grillgenuss
A grill cookbook written for Austria. I borrowed this from the library, but I think I want to buy it now.

Week 20

Die drei Schlüssel Gottes
I'm not sure when I actually finished this, but I know I did, so I'll stick it in here.

Week 21

Eva Braun : Leben mit Hitler

! Die Schmiedin
This is a pseudo-medieval romantic adventure. The plot is totally ridiculous and in the last two chapters there are more new stray strands introduced than wrapped up. Luckily the writting is good enough that you don't notice while you are reading. I would gladly read another book by this author, but not a sequel to this one. (Review)

Week 22

Der Schalldämpfer II (Austrian history and politics)
Reveiwed. Some pieces of this would make lovely texts for use in an advanced German class. I don't recommend reading it all through though.

Was ist Barock?
Reviewed. Read this one is you want to understand Baroque architecture better. A read winner!

May

59 books finished

Categories Finished:
Fiction
Austria (nonfiction)
Vienna (nonfiction)
Other
Theology
Food and Crafts (8)

Not a lot of reading this month, but I have finished a new category, and am well ahead at this level.

Week 23

Göttliche Geistesblitze
It takes a lot of work to take such an interesting subject and write such a boring book about it.

Week 24

Jerusalem im Hoch- und Spä̈tmittelalter
Reviewed.

Mein Gott ist jetzt Allah
What happens when a German Feminist interviews Germans who have converted to Islam? An interesting book.

Week 25

! Das Geheimnis meiner türkischen Großmutter
A young woman brought up in Germany goes to Turkey with her parents because her grandmother is dying. She finally gets to know her grandmother, and the village life her parents left behind. She also learns more about the family past, and faces her own future.
This is very straight-forward reading. A good introduction to the generation of immigrants who have grown up in German between two cultures.

Week 26

Eine Frau - ein Buch
This is an advice book for the modern German woman. I disagreed with a lot of the advice. There are two advantages this book would have for a learner of German:
First there are very short articles on a variety of subjects, so you have a feeling of finishing something after only a page of reading.
Second, the connection to modern German culture.
Mind you, I'm not really recommending it, but if you can borrow it, or get a second-hand copy cheap there is no real harm in it.

Puppenkleider stricken
Reviewed.

June

65 read. 6 Categories. On track.

Categories Finished:
Fiction
Austria (nonfiction)
Vienna (nonfiction)
Arts - fine, applied, and culinary
Other
Theology

Week 27

Zeitgenössische christliche Kunst aus China

Der Aachener Dom - Bilder, pictures, images

Aachen (Merian 5/2010)
We spent a day in Aachen on our way to England. The Merian heft was useful, as always. The other was a 'gift' to make up for the fact that the tourist information sent us way out to a hotel that was already booked up. The pictures are nice, but I wouldn't have paid for it.

Week 28 (July 10-16)

Week 29

Die Kaffeeprinzessin
Somewhat longwinded, and stops more than ends, but a good read.

Week 30

! Der alte König in seinem Exil
A very moving account of the life of Geiger's father as an old man with Alzheimer's. I can recommend highly this to anyone who has aging parents or might become an aging parent, or might have to grow old without children.

Die Genies im Hause Habsburg
I was disappointed, as I had hoped to learn more about lesser known members of the family. Most of those discussed here have had books and books written about them, so a single chapter about how brilliant they were is not very useful, more so when half the chapter is a rehash of the previous chapter.

Week 31

Tuchintarsien in Europa von 1500 bis heute
This book (A museum catalogue) is published in both English and German. Most of the articles seem to have been written in German, so I read most of it in German, the exceptions being some of the descriptions of pieces in English museums.

Omas Strickgeheimnisse
A lovely collection of 19th cnetury lace knitting patterns. I'm not sure that I can knit them. Reviewed.

Week 32

!Was uns geblieben ist
Well written stories about well-known Austrian families.

Week 33

Der letzte Patriarch
This was written in Catalan, and I really wish I were capable of reading it in the original. A lot of it is language-oriented. A wonderful book. (I should add warnings about sex, abuse... wonderful, yes. Easy, no.)

Goldbrokat
This was wonderful. However it is quite long, so porbably not the right book for people who don't read German easily.

Die Nähmaschine
Very interesting. A short book taking place in a small city in Iran.

Week 34

Prähistorische Textilkunst in Mitteleuropa
Really interesting. OK, I like this kind of thing.

Frauen, die lesen, sind gefährlich und klug
Some time ago a bookstore gave me a lovely bag with the cover of this book on it. Love the bag, love the title, the book is only so-so. Reveiwed.

Week 35

Die Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis
A novel based on the Austrian expedition to the arctic that discovered Franz-Josefs-Land. How I wish I could recommend this. The story is fascinating. The writing less so, and even the 'modern' sections read like a 19th century novel. In the end, I am very glad that have read it. I certainly will never do so again. Reviewed.

Textilien heute
Skip it. Reviewed.

August

Books read : 82
New 34
Library 41
Secondhand 7

Categories Finished: 7 (9 or more)
Fiction
Austria (nonfiction)
Vienna (nonfiction)
Arts - fine, applied, and culinary
Theology
Other History and Travel
Other

I'm going to need to pay more attention to categories when chosing books in German.

Week 36

Die Welfenkaiserin

Week 37

Das Mädchen aus der Totenstadt: Monas Leben auf den Gräbern Kairos

Von Dreideln, Mazzes und Beschneidungsmessern
Another museum catalogue. Wonderful tour on Thursday.

Passage ins Paradies
Written to support a refugee project, most of these stories are more moral than story. Reviewed.

Der schöne Tod in Wien

Week 38

Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl
This has been made into a popular TV series for children, and I can see the attraction to 4-6 year-old children, but I found it to be a 'funny once', and one book of these stories is already too many at once for me. Pumuckl constantly misunderstands things, gets into trouble for being naughty...

Österreicher entdecken die Welt
An amazingly high percentage of the men in this book were Jesuits. Oh, yes, there was one woman.

Week 39

Paramente! : historische liturgische Textilien
Wonderful exhibit, small but informative catalogue. If you are going to be in Austria before November 12, and are interested in historical textiles, do take a day in St. Poelten to see this. Review.

Liebe lässt sich vererben

Quitten: das Comeback einer vergessenen Frucht
I like quinces, and am glad to have these recipes.

Week 40

Imperiales Wien
This would be a lot better with a few maps and diagrams.

!Die Kapuzinergruft
First World War Vienna and its aftermath.

Der Stefansdom
Not really worth it. Reviewed.

September

Books read:
New 39
Library 46
Secondhand 7
Rereads

Categories Finished:
Fiction
Austria (nonfiction)
Vienna (nonfiction)
Arts - fine, applied, and culinary
Theology
Biography
Other

Week 41

Götterbilder: Südasien, Südostasien, Himalayaländer

Kreativ spinnen

Glanz & Glorie

Week 42

! Mein liebes Fräulein Mozart
I decided to mark this one, in spite of being a translation (from the Italian) because it really is a very good Austrian story. Also the translation is very good. The German flows. But of course, if you can read it in the original or another translation, that would also be a good idea. (Mozart's Sister)

Week 43

Wien : Früher und Heute
Many of the picture combinations are fascinating. Others are boring. Old pictures range from paintings and drawings from previous centuries and photographs from the late 19th century to pictures fromt he 19 80s and 90s. A fair number are from 1945. The German captions are often interesting, but don't rely on the English ones. They are almost always shortened, and often poorly translated. Review.

Die königliche Drachenjagd
Children deserve better writting than this. Reviewed.

Week 44

I've been working my way through Udo Jurgens' Mann mit dem Fagott. Almost there. Also spinning in front of the new culture and information channel instead of reading. (See the pile of spun wool on my profile.)

Week 45

Der Mann mit dem Fagott
Finally finished. It is a really good book, just loooooong. It is full of 20th century 'Zeitgeschichte' so fascinating if you have the time and Ausdauer to keep at it. This is listed as fiction, but Udo Jürgens kept as close as he could to what happened as he and his family experienced it. I think m ost people would have called it family biography.

Spass an Büchern!: wie Kinder Leselust bekommen
But only as much fun as can't be avoided if you want children to read at all, after all, that can't really be the purpose of reading, can it?

Week 46

Im Namen des Gesetzes: "Sei stad!"

Bunte Bänder - handgewebt
Too simple for what I wanted, but I will use some of it. Reviewed.

Yves : eine afrikanische Liebe
Teenage love with a tragic end.

Week 47

Oma ist die Beste

Noch ein Stück
Wonderful (mostly) baking cookbook, but originally Swedish.

Martins Mantel

Handbuch Garne
Translated from the English. Read once.

Süße Köstlichkeiten aus Schönkirchen-Reyersdorf
A church cookbook.

November is over, and as we start the countdown to the end of the year, I am fairly sure of finishing. With the fiction challenge done, I want to close the others, too. Food and Gardens looks likely to be the final category, as I move books back here from More, when I read English ones as well as a few more in German.

Week 48

I seem to have forgotten to mention here that I have completed this challenge.

But I'm still reading.

Bäuerliches Stricken 1
Wonderful patterns. Now to see if I can do at least some of them!

!Die Els und ich
A children's book that would be quite suitable for an advanced German student. The two girls go through all the troubles of the 30-years-war. The story line is clear, and many of the difficult words are in italics and explained ihn a glossary in the back of the book. There are a few historical and dialect words thrown in that could be difficult to look up. German-speaking children would recognize 'vürnehm' as 'vornehm'.

Week 49

Vampyrologie für Bibliothekare
Very fun. What do vampires have to do with libraries and librarians? And why should we be afraid of Google books? Read this to find out.

Checked again, and found that I had credited myself with an extra category. Bringing the cookbooks back to leave this finished.

Bäuerliches Stricken 2

Figurale Keramik aus der Slowakei
Catalogue. I did some of the English translations for this exhibit, so I'm glad to have read the catalogue. Amazing ceramics.

Week 50

Ja mei
It was really fun, but not for those who aren't familiar with Baierisch dialects. (Bavaria or Austria except Vorarlberg). Dictionaries won't help with this book.

Week 51

Kein Tanz, kein Kuss
Rather soppy teenage girl story.

Deutsches Drittes Lesebuch fuer amerikanische Schulen
A lot of moralizing. But then what do you expect from a school book from the late 19th century.

Die sind ja Nackt
Good introduction to today's German-speaking theatre. Gets rather long-winded, though if you don't know the people they are talking about.