I must confess I am enjoying this new book club way more than I expected Maybe itâs just the book, but I also like to read your questions and answer them (itâs such a relief to be able to confidently answer them compared to Japanese
) and so I was thinking whether it isnât about time for the next poll, with only two more weeks left in our current book?
Also, I prepared for the possibility of a new poll by walking past my friendly neighbourhood bookstore and browsing their âbooks on saleâ book box Will submit two new proposals in the next few minutes.
Title: Rosenkohl und tote Bete: Schrebergartenkrimi | L30??
Book type: Krimi
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook
Summary - German
Cultureclash im Schrebergarten und eine Leiche im GemĂŒsebeet: »Rosenkohl und tote Bete« ist der erste Band einer humorvollen Krimi-Reihe rund um eine Schrebergarten-Kolonie in Berlin.
Eben hat sich Ex-Polizist Manne Nowak noch voller Vorfreude auf das Garten-Jahr eingestimmt, da wird die Ruhe in der Berliner Kleingartenanlage »Harmonie« empfindlich gestört â und zwar von Mannes neuen Nachbarn:
Eike und Caro von Ribbek machen irgendwas mit »Social Media«, haben vom GĂ€rtnern ganz offensichtlich keine Ahnung und wollen Manne zu den ersten GrillwĂŒrstchen des Jahres einen Quinoa-Salat andrehen! Als wĂ€re das nicht genug, wird in ihrem GemĂŒsebeet eine Leiche entdeckt. Weil die Polizei den Falschen verdĂ€chtigt â nĂ€mlich Manne â, beschlieĂt Caro, dass sie die Sache selbst in die Hand nehmen mĂŒssen.
Na das kann ja heiter werden!
Wer gern im Garten werkelt, wird an dieser Krimi-Reihe seine helle Freude haben: Mit viel Humor und einem frischen Blick auf den Mikrokosmos Schrebergarten erweckt Mona Nikolay ihre liebevoll gezeichneten Figuren zum Leben und sorgt dafĂŒr, dass die Spannung nicht zu kurz kommt.
Summary - English
Not yetâŠ
Content Warnings
Hm, not sure whether âSchrebergartenâ does qualify as content warning
Reason(s) for nominating: Sounds like a lighthearted and humorous Krimi. I like the title at least Also, I read two or three sentences and they did not sound too hard, so Iâm expecting this to be a good fit for language learners.
Title: Zerteilt: True-Crime-Thriller | L30??
Book type: True-Crime-Thriller (whatever that meansâŠ)
Available formats: physical / ebook
Summary - German
Der abschlieĂende Höhepunkt von Michael Tsokosâ True-Crime-Reihe um Rechtsmediziner Dr. Fred Abel, in dem ein religiöser AttentĂ€ter seine Opfer in AufzĂŒgen attackiert
Berlin wird von einer Reihe islamistischer AnschlĂ€ge erschĂŒttert. Ein AttentĂ€ter attackiert Menschen in AufzĂŒgen â wiederholt, mit eskalierender Gewalt. Dabei agiert der Unbekannte so geschickt, dass keine Ăberwachungskamera ihn zeigt, keine Zeugen ihn beschreiben können.
Rechtsmediziner Fred Abel, stellvertretender Leiter der rechtsmedizinischen BKA-Einheit âExtremdelikteâ, obduziert mit seinem Team unter Hochdruck die Opfer der AnschlĂ€ge. Können die Verletzungen der Getöteten RĂŒckschlĂŒsse auf den TĂ€ter geben?
Unterdessen schwebt die frĂŒhere LebensgefĂ€hrtin seines besten Freundes Lars Moewig in akuter Lebensgefahr. Marie wurde Zeugin eines eiskalten Mordes, und trotz Polizeischutz in einem Safe House entgeht sie nur um Haaresbreite einem Mordanschlag. Abel ist sich sicher, dass sich ein Maulwurf in den eigenen Reihen befindet, der ihm und Moewig immer einen Schritt voraus ist.
In seinem letzten Fall muss Rechtsmediziner Fred Abel nicht nur sein gesamtes rechtsmedizinisches Können, sondern auch sein langjÀhriges kriminalistisches Wissen aufbieten, um die TÀter zu finden und das Morden zu stoppen.
Summary - English
Not yetâŠ
Content Warnings
Religious fanatism, terror attack
Reason(s) for nominating: I found it in my bookstoreâs âBooks on Saleâ box and itâs a Spiegel Bestseller, so what can possibly go wrong?
Cons:
- I checked the language and it sounded quite difficult, but Iâm proposing it anyway because there were only very few language related questions in the previous book club, so I figured we might need to crank up the volume
- The subject matter of the book might not be digestible for everybody (religious fanatism and terror).
- Last not least, itâs the 5th and final book in a series (but from what I understand, itâs just the protag that is the same, so I expect the cases to be unrelated) so this might feel weird. Itâs just what I found in the box.
If anybody wants to nominate the first book of the series, Iâm also happy with that.
Iâm also enjoying it a lot and Iâm very happy to have brought my dusty, rusty German out of storage again. Iâm even (very slowly, and to the cost of my Japanese reading) reading another German book on the side (Der Schwarm).
Thread participation has been getting lower however, and Iâm not sure how to interpret it. For me, itâs mainly that Iâve been travelling a lot lately so it wasnât practical to keep notes and ask detailed questions, so I just went with the flow. It was also impractical to type long comments. Is it the same for others? Or are there other reasons?
I guess we need a poll:
- I would like to start another book right after this one
- Iâd prefer a short break between books (~ a couple of weeks)
- Iâd prefer longer breaks between books (~ a couple of months)
- Something else (please elaborate)
- I donât plan to continue with this club (but whyyyyy?)
Oh! I happen to own it (picked it up from some public bookshelf because the name rang a bell) but havenât read it yet - is it any good? I might want to join you - how far are you in?
If you like, we could also set up an informal club for it as well
Iâm sure youâll catch up in no time, Iâm only at 11%. Reading it as a club, even an informal one, will definitely make me read a little faster. Itâs a huge book though, as Iâm sure you know if you own the paperback.
So far itâs still mostly setting the stage, but I like it. The characters are likeable, and thereâs a sense of something sinister happening that we donât quite know much about. And it takes place in the sea, which is something Iâd been looking for
I would love to join as well, if youâll set up a club for it (unfortunately I am not a big commenter on stuff
as you might have picked up on with the current book club read - if you even noticed, that I am reading along lol)
In the poll above I picked âwait a few weeksâ, but I would also be okay with reading the next book directly after achtsam morden.
My library has 2 audiobooks for it⊠one is 12 hours, the other 38 hours⊠both say âunabridgedââŠ
Edit: well, Iâve put a hold on the 38 hours versionâŠ
Thatâs quite a difference in length!
I assume one is a fast straight reading, and the other has all sorts of sound effects and meaningful pauses?
(by the way I voted for a couple weeks pause, but Iâm fine with any option really, even starting the next book at once - maybe I should have allowed multiple options)
It seems as if the 12h one is a Hörspiel (radio drama? I am not sure about the correct English term) and the 38h one is the complete reading.
Edit: source is the german Wikipedia page Der Schwarm â Wikipedia (under âHörspielâ)
Okayokayokay, Iâm already convinced
Happy diving!
If we read another book immediately, our start date would be August 26. Two weeks break takes us to September 9. Taking (based on our current poll results) September 9 as the tentative start date, we should probably have decided our next pick by September 2 so as to give people a week to get the book. Which means weâd need to start our poll on August 26. So for now, and as long as the poll results donât change significantly, August 25 is the last day for accepting new nominations.
TLDR: Post your new nominations until August 25 to have them included in the next poll!
Title:
Book type: novel
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook
Summary - German
Es geschah am hellichten Tag âŠ
Eigentlich sollte sich Kommissar Matthai, der auf der Höhe seiner Karriere angelangt ist, zum Flug nach Jordanien fertigmachen, um dort ein ehrenvolles Amt zu ĂŒbernehmen. Da erreicht ihn ein Anruf aus MĂ€gendorf, einem kleinen Ort bei ZĂŒrich. Ein ihm unbekannter Hausierer teilt ihm mit, er habe im Wald die Leiche eines grausam verstĂŒmmelten MĂ€dchens gefunden. Obwohl Matthais Abflug kurz bevor steht, fĂ€hrt er nach MĂ€gendorf und verspricht den Eltern des Kindes nicht zu rasten, bis er den TĂ€ter entlarvt hat.
Summary - English
It happened in broad daylight âŠ
Inspector Matthai, who is at the height of his career, should actually be getting ready to fly to Jordan to take up an honourable post there. Then he receives a call from MĂ€gendorf, a small town near Zurich. A peddler he doesnât know tells him that he has found the body of a horribly mutilated girl in the forest. Although Matthaiâs departure is imminent, he travels to MĂ€gendorf and promises the childâs parents that he will not rest until he has unmasked the perpetrator.
Content Warnings
The book deals with sexual assault of children but I donât know how much detail there is given.
Reason(s) for nominating: Just adding some âclassicsâ of the German literature canon. (The book came after the movie and they are not the same.)
On a side note: If someone is interessted in a real classic:
This is basically the first crime story in German. It was written in the early 1800s and takes place in the late 1600s. I had to read this for school and I do remember not hating it, but thatâs pretty much all I remember.
Available for free here:
E. T. A. Hoffmann: Das FrÀulein von Scuderi (projekt-gutenberg.org)
For something written in the early 1800s the language is very straightforward (judging from the first few sentences, I may well have to eat my words later on).
The title is very familiar, but I donât remember if I have actually read it or just know about it.
There is also an official Reclam Hörbuch on Spotify (free) and a (decent) amateur reading on librivox (also free).
I voted several months break as I am simply too busy I like to have at least one german book going at all times, and I donât want it to be always a krimi. Of course I could also simply skip the next book depending on what it is.
Re: Das Versprechen, I actually read this last year or the year before (a friend forced me to ) and I thought it was excellent! The language was a bit old-fashioned but otherwise it was a very nice read. Also the pages are pretty small
so I could read it quite fast. Thanks for nominating!
So many people from the Japanese book clubs !
Iâm starting really late (that is⊠today) with Achtsam Morden, but Iâd like to nominate a book for our future reads :
Title: Der nasse Fisch (Die Gereon-Rath-Romane 1): Der erste Rath-Roman | Vom Autor der Romanvorlage zu Babylon Berlin | L30??
Book type: Historical krimi
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook
Summary - German
Der erste Fall der Gereon Rath-Bestsellerreihe
Mit diesem Roman beginnt die spektakulĂ€re Serie, in der Kutscher seinen Kriminalkommissar Gereon Rath in die politischen und gesellschaftlichen UmbrĂŒche im Berlin der spĂ€ten 20er-Jahre fĂŒhrt. Rath, neu in Berlin und abgestellt bei der Sitte, erlebt eine Weltstadt im Rausch, die von sozialen und politischen Spannungen zerrissen ist. Ungefragt schaltet sich der Kommissar in die stagnierenden Ermittlungen eines Mordfalls ein â und stöĂt in ein Wespennest. Dann verliebt Rath sich in Charly, Stenotypistin in der Mordkommission, und missbraucht ihr Insiderwissen fĂŒr seine einsamen Ermittlungen.
Summary - English
Itâs 1929 and Berlin is the vibrating metropolis of post-war Germanyâfull of bars and brothels and dissatisfied workers at the point of revolt. Gereon Rath is new in town and new to the police department.
When a dead man without an identity, bearing traces of atrocious torture, is discovered, Rath sees a chance to find his way back into the homicide division. He discovers a connection with a circle of oppositional exiled Russians who try to purchase arms with smuggled gold in order to prepare a coup dâĂ©tat. But there are other people trying to get hold of the gold and the guns, too. Raths finds himself up against paramilitaries and organized criminals. He falls in love with Charlotte, a typist in the homicide squad, and misuses her insiderâs knowledge for his personal investigations. And as he gets further entangled with the case, he never imagined becoming a suspect himself.
Content Warnings
Itâs Germany between the two world wars⊠so some characters will express strong feelings towards Jews, Communists, same-sex relationships, etcâŠ
Reason(s) for nominating: Iâm very interested in this political and historical era, and the book gives a good idea of it. Itâs part of a series, Iâve read 4 or 5 of them, and each book takes place, sequentially, in a different year, so you follow not only the main characters, but also the changes in society. The krimi part in itself is solidly written, and the main characters are not pure heroes or villains. There is a television series, which is also quite good
That series sounds very interesting.
and I finally found my library card againâŠ