Ahne:
Wie ich einmal die Welt rettete
How I Onced Saved the World

160 pages (2001)
KiWi
, Cologne
ISBN: 3462029916

Ahne is a young writer who once declaimed his works in East Berlin bars and nightclubs. His
stories are straightforward tales of everyday life, “cool,” without fancy language but full of irony and precisely observed detail.

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service

 


Amann, Jürgen:
Am Ufer des Flusses

At the River Bank

96 pages (2001)
Haymon
, Innsbruck
ISBN: 3852183502

Two friends confront each other in a Swiss hospital. One is dying. The other is the last person to bid him farewell. They have grown up together and been very close friends all their lives despite differences of domicile and lifestyle. Now they are contemplating their ruined lives. Amann’s spare, stark writing places us face to face with the unspeakable.

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service


Benedickt, Maria:
Nichts für ungut
No Offence!

183 pages (2001)
Fischer
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3596149266

A crime story with a difference in which an internationally hunted lady thief commits a frightful blunder during the last caper of her career. Fluent, ironical language describes how good and evil become reversed.

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA

NT Library& Information Service


Brussig, Thomas:
Leben bis Männer

Life Until Men

110 pages (2001)
S. Fischer
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3596154170

Meditations of an old and disappointed footy coach who trained a provincial team from boyhood to manhood. They very nearly qualified for the champions’ league. This sometimes amusing story denounces situations and lies associated with the former GDR, taking side-swipes also at the former FRG.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA

Civic Square Library, WA


Bruyn, Günter de:
Unzeitgemäßes: Betrachtungen über Vergangenheit und Gegenwart

Old-Fashioned Reflections on Past and Present

68 pages (2001)
S. Fischer
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3100096339

Seven well written and thought-provoking stories which, despite the book’s title, turn out to be very contemporary…

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Dörrie, Doris:
Happy

Happy: A Disaster

112 pages (2001)
Diogenes
, Zürich
ISBN: 3257062796

The wonderful story of three couples and their struggle for happiness. It’s also about the difficulties experienced by men and women in understanding each other, and in finding the appropriate balance between distance and proximity.

State Library of NSW

Geelong Regional City Library

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Düffel, John von:
Ego

Ego – I

240 pages (2001)
DuMont
, Cologne
ISBN: 3770158148

Socio-sexual comedy-satire focusing on Philipp, a consulting manager and super- macho ladykiller

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Erpenbeck, Jenny:
Tand
Trifles

116 pages (2001)
Eichborn
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3821806966

Eleven stories about human relationships that reveal the characters’ strengths and weaknesses. Erpenbeck’s style is admirable, analytical yet readable; excellent, too, is her refusal to offer clichés or facile happy endings.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Franck, Julia:
Bauchlandung

Crash Landing

140 pages (2000)
DuMont
,
ISBN: 3770153650

A collection of short stories by an author (born 1970) regarded as a ‘shooting star’ among young German writers. Cool and analytical, they’re about love, lust and erotic obsession.

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Frischmuth, Barbara:
Die Entschlüsselung

Decoding

195 pages (2001)
Aufbau-Verlag
, Berlin
ISBN: 3351029276

A 13th century letter discovered in a flea market attracts the interest of a professor, a Turkish scholar and a priest, landing the discoverer in deep trouble. Highly recommended.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Fuld, Werner (Editor):
"Sag mir, du mich liebst ..." (Erich Maria Remarque - Marlene Dietrich)

‘Tell Me That You Love Me’ Reports on a Passion

214 pages (2001)
Kiepenheuer & Witsch
, Cologne
ISBN: 3462030329

The very problematic love affair of two famous artists, Marlene Dietrich and Erich Maria Remarque, which lasted more than 25 years, is a very revealing collection of letters.

State Library of NSW

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

Albany Public Library, WA


Gricksch, Gernot:
Die denkwürdige Geschichte der Kirschkernspuckerbande

The Remarkable Story of the Cherry Pit Spitting Gang

320 pages (2001)
Knaur
, Munich
ISBN: 3426618923

Griksch follows the fortunes of former members of a Hamburg children’s gang over four decades, resulting in a pleasing narrative that’s well worth reading.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Hess, Katharina:
Septemberschnee

Snow in September

200 pages (2001)
Terra Grischuna
, Chur
ISBN: 3729811320

This autobiography of an ordinary Swiss woman makes absorbing if unsensational reading.

State Library of NSW

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC


Hetmann, Frederik (Editor)
Dichter leben. Eine Literaturgeschichte in Geschichten. Von Schnitzler bis Grass

Living Authors: A Narrative Literary History of German. Letters from Schnitzler to Grass

125 pages (2001)
Beltz & Gelberg
, Weinheim
ISBN: 3407755058

Volume two of this “history of literature in stories” offers biographical profiles of contemporary German authors that, like the information found in literary travel guides, succeeds in piquing the reader’s curiosity.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC


Jelinek, Elfriede:
Die Klavierspielerin

The Piano Teacher

283 pages (2001)
Rowohlt
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3499231662

A piano teacher in her 30s falls VICtim to her strict upbringing aimed at efficiency and success, experiencing the loss of her sexual identity in a society dominated by men.The film with Isabelle Huppert is based on this novel.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA

Albany Public Library, WA


Klüssendorf, Angelika:
Alle leben so.

(Everybody Lives Like This.)

191 pages (2001)
S. Fischer Verlag
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3100382013

A novel about life in East Germany after reunification: everything is different but not necessarily better. An interesting example of modern German literature.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA

Melville Civic Square Library, WA


Knauss, Sibylle:
Evas Cousine

Eva's Cousin

367 pages (2000)
Claassen
, München
ISBN: 3546002369

Fifty years on, Marlene, younger cousin of Eva Braun, recalls her life in Obersalzberg far from political reality. An interesting mixture of history and historical speculation.

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service


Krechel, Ursula:
Der Übergriff

The Assault

159 pages (2001)
Jung und Jung Verlag
, Salzburg
ISBN: 3902144165

Every time the first-person narrator opens her mouth, she hears a voice that says ‘Shut up’. The voice forces her to keep quiet, even when she witnesses violence and injustice. Oppressively up-to-date.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC


Leky, Mariana:
Liebesperlen

Love Pearls

108 pages (2001)
DuMont Verlag
, Cologne
ISBN: 3770158733

Melancholy stories about life, love and the whole damned thing. Poetic, worth reading.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Lustig, Jan:
Ein Rosenkranz von Glücksfällen: Protokoll einer Flucht

A Rosary of Luck

160 pages (2001)
Weidle
, Bonn
ISBN: 3931135594

The screenwriter and journalist Jan Lustig describes his flight from Nazi Germany in 1940 and his daily life as an emigrant.

State Library of NSW

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA

Albany Public Library, WA


Menasse, Robert:
Die Vertreibung aus der Hölle

Banished from Hell

492 pages (2001)
Suhrkamp
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3518412671

Spinoza’s teacher and a Viennese historian share the same experiences although the former lived in the 17th and the latter in the 20th century : expulsion, persecution and escape. Menasse’s writing is precise and exciting.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC


Merkel, Rainer:
Das Jahr der Wunder

The Year of Miracles

282 pages (2001)
S. Fischer
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3100484401

Christian Schlier somehow contrives to land a job in a top advertising agency where he experiences the pressure and creeping anxieties undergone by high flyers in today’s corporate jungle, however laid-back and uncomplicatedly creative they like to see themselves. Ironic and well described insight into the advertising world.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Miermeister, Jürgen:
Berlin, Anleitungen zum Umgang mit einer Riesin

Berlin. Instructions in Dealing with a Giant

101 pages (2001)
Europäische Verlagsanstalt
, Hamburg
ISBN: 3434504729

In diary-like reflections, author and journalist Jürgen Miermeister describes his love-hate affair with the German metropolis. Employing quotations from famous poets and philosophers and reflections on politics and history, he attempts to capture the spirit of the city.

State Library of NSW

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC


Montasser, Thomas:
Die verbotenen Gärten

The Forbidden Gardens

383 pages (2001)
Claassen
, Düsseldorf
ISBN: 3546002768

In 1252 a French crusader sets off for the Holy Land in order to meet his friend, a Persian scholar. Together they recall their adventurous past. Skilfully narrated.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Ortheil, Hanns-Josef:
Lo und Lu. Roman eines Vaters

Lo and Lu, the Story of a Father

346 pages (2001)
Luchterhand
, Munich
ISBN: 3630870945

Charming and thoughtful story of a father of two young children who grows up with them and in the process grows up for a second time in his life

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Özdogan, Selim:
Im Juli

In July

187 pages (2000)
Europa
, Wien/Hamburg
ISBN: 3203752603

This novel was the source of the road-movie of the same title shown at the 2001 Sydney Film Festival, a charming story about love pursued across half the European Continent.

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service


Reventlow, zu, Franziska
Der Geldkomplex

The Money Complex

112pages (2001)
Conzett
, Zürich
ISBN: 3905267209

A young woman flees from her creditors to a sanatorium in order to await her inheritance. Charming and unconventional novel.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Rimpau, Cornelia:
Der amerikanische Offizier

The American Officer

349 pages (2000)
Wunderlich
, Berlin
ISBN: 3805206038

Marie is only nine when her parents die in a car accident. The car contained a valuable painting, now lost. The diary of Marie’s grandmother throws light on the past and generates new mysteries.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Schlink, Bernhard:
Selbs Mord

Selb's Murder

265 pages (2001)
Diogenes
, Zürich
ISBN: 325706280X

This novel has a punning title: it can mean either ‘suicide’ or ‘Selb’s Murder.’ It forms the last part of Schlink's ('The Reader') Selb trilogy. Here Selb is assigned a task that initially doesn’t interest him. Eventually, however, he becomes excessively engrossed.

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service


Schlüter, Wolfgang:
Dufays Requiem

Dufay’s Requiem

426 pages (2001)
Eichborn
, Berlin
ISBN: 3821806710

After having a bet with a strange teacher a young musicologist faces attacks on her life. A very exciting novel that will grip not only music lovers.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Schneider, Rolf:
Ich bin ein Narr und weiß es: Liebesaffären deutscher Literaten

I Am a Fool and I Know It: German writers’ Love Affairs

163 pages (2001)
Aufbau
, Berlin
ISBN: 3746617553

The writer and essayist Rolf Schneider brilliantly introduces 20 love stories by prominent German writers.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA

Albany Public Library, WA


Schröter, Lorenz:
Venuspassage

Venus Passage

331 pages (2001)
Rotbuch
, Berlin
ISBN: 3434530770

The story of the astronomer Le Gentil who in 1760 travels to India in order to study the planet Venus. The war threatens his life work. Well researched and written novel.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Schultz, Joachim:
Die schönsten Schlösser und Burgen Deutschlands

Germany's Most Beautiful Castles and Palaces

244 pages (2001)
Insel
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3458344179

A virtual journey through Germany's castles and palaces via texts by German and international literary authors. NOT a picture book.

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service


Schütt, Siegfried:
Liebe, Liebe lass mich los: Goethe und die Frauen

Love, Love, Let Me Go: Goethe and Women

198 pages (2001)
Langen Müller
, Munich
ISBN: 3784428290
Vividly written stories, anecdotes and humorous interpretations of Goethe’s eight most important love affairs.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Seuren, Günter:
Die Galapagos-Affäre

The Galapagos Affair

317 pages (2001)
Ullstein
, Berlin
ISBN: 3550083459

At the end of the 1920s a couple divest themselves of all obligations, leaves Berlin, and migrates to the uninhabited Galapagos Islands. But the imagined Garden of Eden proves to be a frightening wilderness and the arrival of other refugees results in hatred, brutality and murder.

State Library of NSW

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

Albany Public Library

State Library of WA


Silber, Rolf:
Das Leben tobt!

Life Goes Wild!

218 pages (2001)
Eichborn
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3821807016

Rainer Licht actually wants to commit suicide but is stopped by having to prevent a rape and subsequent legal complications. So his suicide just has to wait ... until a very happy ending, naturally.

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service


Soden, Kristine von:
Der Rhein eine literarische Reise von Mainz bis Köln

The River Rhine: A Literary Journey From Mainz to Cologne

216 pages (2000)
Klett-Cotta
, Stuttgart
ISBN: 360891868X
Literary journey along the Rhine from Mainz to Cologne. Brilliant mixture of the author's own impressions
with citations from classical
writers (among them Mary Shelley, Byron ...)

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service


Soria, Corinna:
Klingen:
die Kunst über den Bogen zu springen

Resonances: The Art of Jumping Over Arches

170 pages (2001)
Wieser
, Vienna
ISBN: 3851293614

Nine miniatures written in colourful language that deals with love, friendship and personal encounters.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC


Thies, Heinrich:
Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud: das Leben der Bäuerin Hanna

Go, My Heart, and Search for Joy: the Life of the Peasant Woman Hanna

304 pages (2001)
Hoffmann & Campe
, Hamburg
ISBN: 3455093477

The moving story of Hanna who is forced to work as a maidservant by the early death of her parents. A novel of outstanding quality.

State Library of NSW

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Timm, Uwe:
Rot

Red

127 pages (2001)
Kiepenheuer & Witsch
, Cologne
ISBN: 346203023X

The protagonist has lost all his youthful hopes and ideals and turned his melancholy into a profession: he delivers funeral eulogies. With his new novel Timm reaffirms his reputation as a gifted and witty writer.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Unger, Heinz Rudolf:
Zwölfeläuten

The twelve o’clock chime

127 pages (2001)
Haymon
, Innsbruck
ISBN: 385218360X

In the last days of World War II the mix of Nazis, opportunists and highly principled individuals in an Austrian village reflect patterns in human behaviour.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA


Venske, Regula (Editor):
Warum leben? Ein Lesebuch

Why live? An Anthology

191 pages (2001)
Scherz
, Frankfurt/Main
ISBN: 3502117853

Twenty-nine authors reflect on the meaning of life. An important book.

State Library of NSW

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

Melville Civic Square Library, WA


Wagner, Richard:
Miss Bukarest

Miss Bucharest

190 pages (2001)
Aufbau
, Berlin
ISBN: 3351029268

The German-Romanian author analyses the impact which Romanian dictatorship has had on two emigrants to Germany: the former secret serVICe agent Dino and the author and dissident Klaus Richartz.

State Library of NSW

State Library of WA

Melville Civic Square Library, WA


Wolf, Christa:
Medea. Stimmen

Medea.Voices

224pages (2001)
Luchterhand
, Munich
ISBN: 3630870562

New edition of Wolf’s provocative adaptation of the classical story. It makes literarily and intellectually challenging, brilliant reading.

State Library of NSW

Yarra Plenty Regional Library, VIC

State Library of WA

Melville Civic Square Library, WA


Wulf, Kirsten:
Die Prinzessinnen im Krautgarten, eine Dorfkindheit

The Princesses in the Orchard: A Village Childhood

236 pages (2000)
Ammann
, Zürich
ISBN: 3250600296

Hardly any princesses, but memories of childhood and growing up in the 30s and 40s near Dresden. The narrative encapsulates the horrors and joys of the time.

Geelong Regional City Library, VIC

State Library of WA

NT Library & Information Service

List Summer 2002/03