Iām also thinking of maybe nominating Momo | L27 (learnnatively.com) or Emil und die Detektive | L22?? (learnnatively.com), but what Iām more interested in reading is Krimis and contemporary fiction, which would probably be more of an advanced club? Of course I have no idea if we have enough German learners (we do native speakers, I think) for two book clubs, nor whether I should even be considering this on top of my multiple Japanese book clubs, but here I am
If itās indeed a L29, then itās a bit difficult for a beginners. If the level isnāt accurate (since German is still in beta and lacks enough gradings), then itās fine to nominate if it seems to really be L26 or below.
Iād probably attempt higher level books if you are planning to make an intermediate/advanced club. More book clubs are always good!
ETA: I think Momo and Emil are probably fine to nominate, since theyāre childrenās books.
I read Die Verwandlung a few years ago and found it to be surprisingly simple language wise, I feel like itās current 29 is a bit too high. But as I am not a traditional learner I hesitate to say for sure, especially without a reread
I have no idea what consitutes a L26 in German to be honest, neither whether Die Verwandlung would be a 26 or higher (Iāve read it and didnāt find it hard, but this was ages ago). However itās free and short. Itās also been widely translated, and there are even editions of parallel text I think.
Zum ersten Mal darf Emil allein nach Berlin fahren. Seine GroĆmutter und die Kusine Pony HĆ¼tchen erwarten ihn am Blumenstand im Bahnhof FriedrichstraĆe. Aber Emil kommt nicht. WƤhrend die GroĆmutter und Pony HĆ¼tchen noch Ć¼berlegen, was sie tun sollen, hat Emil sich schon in eine aufregende Verfolgungsjagd gestĆ¼rzt. Quer durch die groĆe fremde Stadt, immer hinter dem Dieb her, der ihm im Zug sein ganzes Geld gestohlen hat. Zum GlĆ¼ck bekommt Emil bald UnterstĆ¼tzung: von Gustav mit der Hupe und seinen Jungs.
Summary - English
Young Emil is robbed on his first real railway journey of money entrusted to him by his hard-working mother for the relatives he is to stay with in Berlin. A gang of boys about his own age come to his aid, and a thrilling adventure full of surprises ensues as they use their wits to devise a wonderfully simple but practical trick to capture the thief.
With every detail clearly drawn - from the tiresome business of getting into best clothes for the journey, down to the final anxiety as to what shall be done with a gloriously unexpected reward - this is a story all young readers will enjoy.
Content Warnings
None that I know of.
Reason(s) for nominating: Itās a classic and very famous childrenās book. Widely translated too, and relatively short.
āAls Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen TrƤumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt.ā Schon der erste Satz aus Kafkas berĆ¼hmter ErzƤhlung vermittelt schlagartig die Irritation, die sich in das VerhƤltnis zur empirischen Wirklichkeit eingeschlichen hat, die die problematische Schnittstelle ƤuĆerer und innerer RealitƤten bestimmt.
Summary - English
One morning, ordinary salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant cockroach. Metamorphosis, Kafkaās masterpiece of unease and black humour, is one of the twentieth centuryās most influential works of fiction, and is accompanied here by two more classic stories.
Content Warnings
Bugs.
Reason(s) for nominating: One of Kafkaās best-known works, it is widely translated and there are even dual-language editions out there. It is available for free, and itās quite short. I donāt remember it being particularly difficult when I read it many, many years ago. There is also a simplified edition available on Amazon, not sure how good it is or whether itās needed.
I guess when people vote they can decide. I read it as a beginner long ago, so here are some thoughts if itās helpful for beginners, alongside what others have already said.
Pros
simple language
ability to read a classic in German, which is cool at that level
Cons
the concept is so abstract, you donāt really know what to expect, and that might be what has earned it a higher difficulty rating. Expectations and following standard story arcs can make fiction a lot easier to read, or harder if it bucks every trend, which is what Kafka does!
lol your content warning is great, it does go into explicit detail about bugs
Something occurred to me, itās possible Die Verwandlung was used as a reference book for Natively ratings in the German language. Somewhere there is a thread where Brandon was asking for suggestions and in that case itās rating would be fixed.
Just having a look over the nominations and adding a bit of extra info.
Iāve added the original Tschick | L30?? novel to Natively (the one linked in the nomination is the easier version) - thereās an audiobook for this version, but not the simplified version.
Thereās an audiobook CD for Emil und die Detektive | L22??, but it doesnāt seem to be on audible (although the Italian and Czech translations are availableā¦ ).
Kafka?! I am not sure, the language might not be too difficult (I only read Der Prozess so far so judging from that) but the wording will be old-fashioned and the setting as well, thus probably adding to the complexity. But then again, this will hold true for Erich KƤstner as well
(oh but the Reclam cover, so nostalgic )
We can do that! Incidentally I recently discussed this with @Myria as I wanted to give a book to a language partner. She advised Arno Strobel (and to somewhat lesser extent Sebastian Fitzek) who both write in an easy-to-read fashion. I got a Strobel book and read it before giving it away - it was a real page turner and in parts also quite scary Can recommend
If I remember correctly - and itās likely I donāt, itās been so long - thereās a noticeable difficulty difference between Die Verwandlung and Der Prozess (<-this sentence looks grammatically wrong ). I tried to start the latter but gave up, whereas the former was more or less a breeze.
Oh I see - I didnāt think it was that hard grammatically or vocabulary-wise, but it was just somewhatā¦ old-fashioned? Well in that case Die Verwandlung should be doable?
Die Verwandlung is also old-fashioned, vocab, grammar and writing style are that of a century ago. Thatās why I personally thought it to be difficult, when I first read it.
I would join an advanced book club as well! Honestly I need some motivation to get me to read German. Anytime I have time I pivot to getting Japanese practice in instead. So Iāll happily join all the book clubs
Iām not sure I could commit to running an intermediate or advanced club since Iām not sure how often I would even be participating, but I will make a thread in the next days about looking for casual reading buddies/groups if anyone ever wants to self organize around a book they have on their TBR!
The thing is, thereās a big overlap of interested people for this club and the Krimi club, and I strongly suspect that any intermediate or advanced club would also be joined by the same people - who also tend to join other language book clubs
So Iām thinking maybe we should start with what we already have and see how it goes? Or we may end up spreading ourselves so thin we end up not reading anything much at all.
That said, Iām always up for a spontaneous informal club if the book seems interesting enough. And no, Iām not spreading myself too thin, why would you even say that? (good thing Korean is going very slowly for me at the moment, or Iād be looking to join clubs there too)