Krimi book club 🔎 🔪

Oooh I love this choice as I’m interested in Austrian German. However looks like it’s 2nd in a series? Tod am Semmering is first.

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Oh my, I somehow missed that! But I just saw some people mentioning that they liked the 2nd book better than the first on Goodreads and I think they don’t really build up on each other, so I think it’s fine to go with book 2, but maybe someone her has actually read something in the Series and can give their experience :smiley: Otherwise I might change my nomination, the first book doesn’t sound that much different anyway regarding setting and so on :smiley:

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I think so, too. They might reference each other in passing, like when they meet a police officer that they have met before and mentioning how they met, but usually crime series like this do not require you to have read any other within the series to understand what is going on. :thinking:

I have seen these books in shops and have been curious, just never got around to reading one. :see_no_evil:

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Hahaha the other day I was going through my favourite Krimis in my head, and it went like this: “Oh, we could read some Sjöwall/Wahlöö, I guess they are pretty easy - oh no, they are Swedish! Henning Mankell, then? Oh, same problem… Dan Brown? Argh…” and so on :rofl:

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Here is a list of price winners: Deutscher Krimipreis – Wikipedia

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Title: Der Richter und sein Henker | L30?? (learnnatively.com)
Book type: novel
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook

Summary - German

“Der Richter und sein Henker” ist einer seiner berühmtesten Romane - die Geschichte eines Mordes. Mit den reißerischen Mitteln einer Detektivstory erzählt er die Aufklärung einer Gewalttat an einem Polizeileutnant, den letzten Fall des todkranken Komissars Bärlach - die Geschichte einer hintergründigen Pointe.

Summary - English

When a member of the Bern police force is shot dead on a Swiss country road, the enigmatic Inspector Barlach and his colleague Tschanz are intent on tracking down the killer. But the ailing Inspector doesn’t have time to lose. Soon the pair discover that the victim was murdered on his way to a clandestine party at the home of a wealthy power broker - so why was a local policeman socialising with some of Switzerland’s most influential men? Who was his shadowy host? And why has Barlach’s past returned to haunt him in his final hours?

The Judge and His Hangman is a thrilling tale of lifelong rivalry, and of two men chained together by a wager that would destroy them both.

Content Warnings

No idea.

Reason(s) for nominating: I was browsing the Goethe Institut library for possible nominations and when this caught my eye I got instantly nostalgic. I had read it back when I was still in school. I remember nothing about it other than I liked it a lot (as I did all Dürrenmatt books I had read back then) and would be happy to reread it. It’s considered a classic in German-language noir fiction, with themes that run much deeper than a mere mystery.

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Oh wow we read this in school back then! I hated it, as I hated all books we read in school, because we would dissect and analyze and interpret and and and… and I tought that was horrible, back then. Maybe a reread would improve my impresssion here :laughing:

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So many people have hated books just because of school, I sometimes wonder if maybe schools shouldn’t be making students read after all, at least not the way they’ve been doing it.

That said, I don’t think I’ve ever hated a book just because I was forced to read it. I did dislike all the necessary analysis and interpretation and blah blah that came afterwards, but I remember enjoying some books on their own merits. Now if only I could remember what they were. I didn’t even remember the name Dürrenmatt until I saw it again, I’m ashamed to say :see_no_evil:

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Title: Die Wahrheit und andere LĂĽgen: Roman | L30?? (learnnatively.com)
Book type: novel
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook

Summary - German

Henry Hayden ist ein erfolgreicher Schriftsteller. Er ist elegant, großzügig und charmant. Und er ist gefährlich. Denn Henry ist ein skrupelloser Hochstapler, der in Wahrheit keine einzige Zeile seiner Romane selbst geschrieben hat. Während er seinen Ruhm genießt, sorgt seine Frau dafür, dass er auch weiterhin andauert. Denn sie schreibt die Bücher, für die Henry berühmt geworden ist. Als Henrys Geliebte schwanger wird und verlangt, dass er seine Frau verlässt, steht mit einem Mal seine Existenz auf dem Spiel. Wäre es da nicht einfacher, die Geliebte aus dem Weg zu räumen? Doch dann passiert Henry ein nicht wieder gutzumachender Fehler…

Summary - English

From the outside, Henry Hayden has a perfect life: he’s a famous novelist with more money than he can spend, a grand house in the country, a loyal, clever wife. But Henry has a dark side. If only the readers and critics who worship his every word knew that his success depends on a carefully maintained lie. A lie he will stop at nothing to protect.

He has been lucky, butone day his luck must surely run out, and he simply can’t allow that to happen. In thrall to paranoia and self-interest, Henry makes a fatal error that could cause the whole dream to unravel and land him in the gutter, and despite his most machiavellian efforts, events swiftly spin out of control as lie is heaped upon lie, menace upon menace. And it turns out that those around him have their secrets too . . .

Content Warnings

I don’t know.

Reason(s) for nominating: I liked the title, basically, and it’s about an author, so good for a book club full of avid readers I suppose. The reviews are generally good, and it’s supposed to be full of twists and make you not know what to believe. Sounds fun. It’s also been translated into English.

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I also wanted to nominate this:

because I was attracted by the cover (yes I’m weird) and this quote:

„Beim Müll geht es ja immer um das Trennen. Darum sag ich, Müll beste Schule für das Denken. Weil du hast die Kategorien, sprich Wannen. Ohne die klare Trennung kannst du jedes Recycling vergessen. Und da bin ich noch nicht einmal bei den Problemstoffen.“

but it’s apparently 9nth in a series. Austrian author, apparently very popular, has won awards, books made into movies, plus, I understand, a sense of humour. Maybe I should nominate the first one?

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So vong Prinzip her, oder was ey? :rofl:

OMG if you need exposure to contemporary German spoken by the young generation, then this seems to be the book to go for :flushed:

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Not sure about the young generation (the author was born in 1960), but judging from this snippet of a review of the first book in the series, maybe these books aren’t exactly the best for language learning specifically :rofl:

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And this is a review for MĂĽll:

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I wonder what kind of writing it is that only an Austrian can do it :thinking:

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I think I have heard the name, but that’s about it. :rofl: I probably should read more Austrian literature. :see_no_evil:

Since they reference the humour, it’s probably that. (East-)Austrian humour differs quite a bit from German humour (very generalized speaking).

Isn’t Schifahren neue deutsche Rechtschreibung? :thinking: Curious that someone has an issue with that. Or did Germany not have the same spelling reform?

Edit: So, apparently they didn’t. Schi is Austria only… (though, personally, I am still using Ski)
Edit2: Apparently in Germany you can also use Skilaufen… which my brain REALLY doesn’t like… :rofl:

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Haha that confirms my suspicion :rofl: But if you like a train-of-thought-y writing style, maybe he’s your author then…

:face_with_monocle:

Did Austria have the same reform? :thinking:

Ah ok good, I mean I’m not a pro when it comes to new German spelling (I was out of school already when it hit us) but I hadn’t heard of that… (still grieving over Tunfisch and Portmonee :nauseated_face:)

I think for me this rather triggers the image of Langlauf rather than alpine… which is more like running than driving, no? :melting_face:

I think it would be great fun to read a book by an Austrian author as well! I’m currently in Vienna and I’m enjoying those little differences in language immensely - like calling a huge wide staircase a “Stiege” :rofl: :woman_shrugging:

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WTF? NEVER! They will pry the old spelling out of my dead, cold hands. At least they deleted Ketschup as an option again.
(I had to learn both but could decide which one to use - just wasn’t allowed to switch between them.)

What do Germans say? Treppe? :thinking:

If you want to be disliked, order a WeiĂźweinschorle sĂĽĂź. :rofl:

btw. if you want some Japanese books, my profile might interest you. :see_no_evil:

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Wait what? I had never heard of that reform, being out of touch with the German language from since before it happened, so I had to look it up. I’m very late to the party, but why on earth?

And who thought that three identical consonants in a row are a good idea?

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Well my favourite Austrian author is Hans Platzgumer but he doesn’t really write any krimis as far as I know.

I’ve read Haas in school with my class. You can read the Brenner books out of order. I remembered it being very heavy on the Viennese dialect, but when I read the sample for Müll there was no dialect besides a few austrianisms, so maybe he toned it down or I misremember.

I am very surprised this apparently became popular outside of Austria? Haas, to me, reads very like… written for an Austrian audience, going so far as to have a German “Piefke” antagonist in one of his books :sweat_smile: I think he also writes rather graphic, but to be honest, I don’t remember that much haha.

Also the films are probably not understandable to anyone who is not already very familiar with Viennese German.

Germans say that all the time about a lot of our writers and I don’t really know what they mean. :thinking:

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Title: Todesfrist (Maarten S. Sneijder und Sabine Nemez 1) | L30??
Book type: Novel
Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook

Summary - German

Ein Serienmörder treibt sein Unwesen – und ein altes Kinderbuch dient ihm als grausame Inspiration. »Wenn Sie innerhalb von 48 Stunden herausfinden, warum ich diese Frau entführt habe, bleibt sie am Leben. Falls nicht – stirbt sie.« Mit dieser Botschaft beginnt das perverse Spiel eines Serienmörders. Er lässt seine Opfer verhungern, ertränkt sie in Tinte oder umhüllt sie bei lebendigem Leib mit Beton. Verzweifelt sucht die Münchner Kommissarin Sabine Nemez nach einer Erklärung, einem Motiv. Erst als sie einen niederländischen Kollegen hinzuzieht, entdecken sie zumindest ein Muster: Ein altes Kinderbuch dient dem Täter als grausame Inspiration – und das birgt noch viele Ideen … Der Auftakt zur Erfolgsserie um die Ermittler Sneijder und Nemez.

Summary - English

A serial killer is up to mischief - and an old children’s book serves as his gruesome inspiration. “If you find out why I kidnapped this woman within 48 hours, she will live. If not - she dies.” The perverse game of a serial killer begins with this message. He starves his victims to death, drowns them in ink or encases them alive in concrete. Munich detective Sabine Nemez desperately searches for an explanation, a motive. Only when she calls in a Dutch colleague do they at least discover a pattern: an old children’s book serves as the perpetrator’s gruesome inspiration - and it still holds many ideas … The prelude to the successful series about investigators Sneijder and Nemez.

(Translator: DeepL)

Content Warnings

Detailed depiction of violence / drug use / death …and maybe more.

Reason(s) for nominating:

Recently I wanted a change from the fantasy setting which I am generally reading/listening and decided to listen to some thriller/mystery books next. While looking through this category on audible I came across the books by Andreas Gruber. I first heard another series (the Walter Pulaski-Series) by him, and I loved all of the books!
Then I read that his Sneijder and Nemez-Series is even more popular, so I immediately started with this one as well. Currently I am already nearly finished with the second book in the series. “Todesfrist” ist the first one in the series, though.
I wasn’t sure which one of the series I should nominate, because I liked every book I read by him for now, but I went with this one, just because I felt is was generally more popular and there is even a TV movie for this book (even though I haven’t seen it yet and can’t say whether it is any good).
By the way, Andreas Gruber is also an austrian author. And part of the story plays in Austria, but I think it is written for the german market (germany), because no words were unfamiliar for me as far as I remember :sweat_smile:

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I never expected someone else to nominate an Austrian author, I never would’ve nominated an Austrian one myself if I knew there would be so many potentially :rofl: I thought I’d give an exotic option :laughing:

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From the discussion here it looks like most people joining the bookclub are native speakers. Am I the only one who isn’t ? :sweat_smile:

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