Let us know what you are reading in German today!
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Making my way through Learn German with Stories: Dino lernt Deutsch Collector's Edition - Simple Short Stories for Beginners (1-4) (Dino lernt Deutsch - Simple German Short Stories For Beginners) | L10??, which is okay, but as with most graded readers, itās not particularly engaging.
Iām about halfway through Sternenschweif, 1, Geheimnisvolle Verwandlung | L22??, and although Iām not part of the target demographic (9-year-old girls obsessed with horses), Iām rather enjoying it! 
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Im currently re-reading Zwischen Uns Tausen Bilder by Neda Alaei
I highly recommend it, I found it super comprehensible, and the story is really compelling. I will warn, its very sad!
I had just finished Die Schuler Der Magischen Tiere 1, and found it rather challenging but also boring, so i opted to re-read this book because its easier and a more engaging story.
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I finished Das magische Baumhaus 2 - Der geheimnisvolle Ritter | L19, which was fun! Iāll proabaly continue the series since itās a fairly easy read and the accompanying audiobooks are free on Spotify. 
I started Sternenschweif, 2, Sprung in die Nacht | L21?? a while ago and only got a little way through, so I think Iāll finish that next.
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I started Der Schwarm: Roman | L30?? because I was in the mood for aquatic horror and this sounded interesting. Then I looked at the page number 
(spoiler alert: 1009). What Iāve read so far is good, but not exactly easy, vocabulary-wise. Wish me luck. My library loan expires in 20 says, and Im really not sure I can make it in time. 
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I started Tod am Semmering: Historischer Kriminalroman (Ernestine Kirsch und Anton Bƶck) | L32?? yesterday. So far itās fine, though friends said that the first one is a bit slow going compared to subsequent books. Will see!
(On another note, this is ranked higher than Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines Mƶrders | L31?? and Iām not quite sure about that. I have to do way more lookups with the latter.)
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The ?? behind the level shows, both books have a preliminary grading, that is based on a guess of the importer or the system about the difficulty of them. If you grade them later the books will probably get a more final and more correct relative grading.
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Iāve read the whole Dino Lernt Deutsch series. The stories get better. I really got to like Dino and was interested in his adventures.
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I just finished Wanderung mit Finn. It was a terrific A2 graded reader. Too often books at this level put me to sleep. āHerr Schwarz kaufte zwei Tomattenā¦ā This book had an engaging story that made me want to continue reading even though I knew I needed to review the chapter that I had just read.
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Does anyone have favorite German authors they would recommend or want to discuss?
Iāve finally finished reading all the German books around the house that weāve accumulated (SO is German, weāre living in Germany), so Iām finally getting to the point where it makes sense to buy books again . Among those books we had, I didnāt find any gems, to be honest, so my next batch incoming is a classic Momo | L29 and a lighthearted fantasy Tintenwelt 1. Tintenherz: Der Auftakt der erfolgreichen Fantasy-Bestseller-Reihe | L22??. Iām looking forward to those! In an eclectic move, I also got two books about Schubertās Lieder (yes, the turn of the 19th century composer Schubert), since recently I got totally hooked on his Winterreise Cycle and Iād quite like to better understand both the poems theyāre based on and the music. (I linked to idagio, itās an amazing German classical music streaming service, you can listen free if you make an account)
Iām having a hard time finding authors I like, or maybe the problem is, I havenāt tried hard enough.
Searching for a Neil Stephenson-like sci fi author - I liked one book by Andreas Eschbach but 2 others of his fell totally flat. Iād quite like to find something funny and lighthearted, but Iāve been disappointed by most of the German humor/fantasy authors Iāve tried out so far. If anyone has tips for who is a German equivalent for, say, Neil Gaiman, Jasper Fforde or Douglas Adams that would be interesting, but maybe itās unfair to look in that way. Iāve tried short story collections and literary works, but ooof, classic German authors are quite heavy and in times like these, itās too hard for me to stomach, reading German authors delving deeply into serious themes that billionaires today just belittle and make jokes about.
Hereās the kind of stuff I like from another thread. Iād be interested in hearing from the other German readers on here and trade some tips! For example, Iām finding Medimops very helpful for buying used books in the EU (and Momox for selling).
Summary
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You might like Leonie Swannās Glennkill. Despite the title and name of its author itās a German book. I would count it as cozy mystery: sheep are investigating their keeperās death.
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Sounds fun, thanks! Is it Leonie Swann by any chance? I found this
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Yes, thatās it. There is a cheaper physical version, though, here, but I guess you use an electronic one anywayā¦
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Thanks so much! Actually I prefer physical books so thatās great 
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Besides having the first Tintenwelt book with an autograph from Cornelia Funke herself (I got that when I was a kid and obsessed with her books!) I probably donāt have a lot of overlap with what you described as authors that you like. I still thought of some books that at least (partly) fit the ābiographyā aspect, so maybe thereās something in there youād like 
Sieben Stock Dorf by Barbara Nothegger
Have you ever heard of a āBaugruppeā? Those are currently all the rage in Vienna. Itās about self organizing the apartment building in which you live, improving sustainability through sharing (space, tools, ā¦), further evolving social housing and having a more social and connected way of living with your neighbors.
Nothegger describes her own experiences with getting to know and finally living in Wohnprojekt Wien (one of my favourite Viennese Baugruppen houses architecture and vibes wiseā¦). Itās very wholesome and interesting, even if you donāt want to live in a similar project.
Btw, I donāt think it is mentioned in the book, but in the end she moved out of the Wohnprojekt Wien! There was a arte documentary about it, sadly I canāt find it anymore. It was a very interesting additional look to see why she did move out of this project in the end. I hope arte will put this online again.
MaikƤfer Flieg by Christine Nƶstlinger
Nƶstlinger was a very beloved Austrian childrenās book author and MaikƤfer Flieg describes her experiences during/after WW2 (she was a kid back then); how she befriended an soviet cook and how her dad was doing after becoming a deserter.
Das TĆ¼binger Institut fĆ¼r FriedenspƤdagogik lobt das Buch: āDer Grundton der Geschichte schwankt zwischen Tragik und Komik. Die freundschaftliche Beziehung des MƤdchens mit dem Soldaten steht als Symbol der Menschlichkeit in einer unmenschlichen Zeit.ā
Iowa by Stefanie Sargnagel
Sargnagel is an Austrian author who went to Iowa to teach Creative Writing and writes about her experiences living in the US and all the culture shocks that come with it. She is accompanied by her friend, a musician, Christiane Rƶsinger.
Herkunft by SaÅ”a StaniÅ”iÄ
German author with bosnian roots who writes, among other things, about his experiences as a 14-year old refugee in Germany (Heidelberg).
Hilma af Klint Biographie 'Die Menschheit in Erstaunen versetzen' by Julia Voss
A biography about Hima Af Klint, an abstract painter from Sweden, predating other famous abstract painters like Kandinsky or Mondrian.
This is not all that factual and written in a more digestible way, but it is still well researched.
As a āwarningā, her work revolves mainly around her spirituality in connection to anthroposophy. So if you canāt stand that, the book might be hard to stomach. But I firmly dislike anthroposophy and I still found it very interesting!
Die verschissene Zeit by Barbi MarkoviÄ
Okay, I saved this for last because I think this is not what you usually like, but it is so unique that I still wanted to mention it! Itās a crass comedy/science fiction/fantasy with some autobiographical flavour. Itās about a group of teens time traveling through Belgrade in the 90s.
MarkoviÄ is a Serbian author who immigrated to Austria in her 20s, I think. Even though she is Serbian, most of her books are all originally written in German.
Wenn Barbi MarkoviÄ ein Buch schreibt, begnĆ¼gt sie sich nie damit, einfach nur ein Buch zu schreiben: Immer ist es zugleich ein unglaublich aufregendes Experiment, aus dem wir verƤndert und staunend hervorgehen. In der āverschissenen Zeitā lƤdt sie uns nicht nur als Leser*innen ein, mit Marko, Vanja und Kassandra durch das Belgrad der Neunziger Jahre zu streunen, sie fordert uns auch auf, die Geschichte mit ihr neu zu schreiben.
Dieser Roman ist ein Rollenspiel, in dem die Autorin zur Spielleiterin wird und die unerbittliche Stadt ihrer Kindheit und Jugend zum Spielbrett. In der āverschissenen Zeitā erfindet Barbi MarkoviÄ den Roman als magischen WĆ¼rfel, als Maschine, die stets aufs Neue verrĆ¼ckte Abenteuer erzeugt, als gemeinsame Expedition in die Tiefen der kollektiven Erinnerung.
If that feels like it might be too dark (90s in Belgrade wasnāt the happiest time, to put it mildly ā she still makes it lighthearted, though), I would really recommend checking out her other books and see if something might be interesting. She is a very unique and interesting voice.
And yes, she actually developed a d&d-esque game around her book!
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Thank you! Just what I was hoping for!
Iām so glad to hear that, Iām looking forward to it even more
Haha you probably noticed what I was looking for in German is a lot different to my Japanese reading. I read German books out loud to my SO before bed, so part of my target is getting our common interests aligned. But actually I shouldnāt have restricted that here, Iām excited by everything you recommended
Sieben Stock Dorf by Barbara Nothegger
Definitely getting this! Iām really taken by this concept. One of my colleagues lives in one (well itās a development, not a single building) and he loves it. I would like to get involved in one, but unfortunately the ones we found were way out of range financially. I like the ideas, and the street where I live is pretty tight knit so Iād like to use the concepts to build on the community in our neighbourhood
MaikƤfer Flieg by Christine Nƶstlinger and Herkunft by SaÅ”a StaniÅ”iÄ look so up my alley.
Iowa by Stefanie Sargnagel
omg I need to read that, and actually find out if one of my aunts knows her, I guess teaching creative writing in Iowa is a small world
Hilma af Klint Biographie
I had not heard of anthroposophy, but happy to ignore stuff like that. I am interested in Kandinsky and abstract art like that so this looks super interesting
Die verschissene Zeit by Barbi MarkoviÄ
Reading darker stuff is a lot easier in a language Iām fluent in, and Iāll go for it when highly recommended. Iāll look her up, thank you!
Now if only I could add these books to Natively - is that broken for anyone else?
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Yes, I tried and it didnāt work.
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Might be related to issues I think Spanish Natively was seeing, where there wasnāt enough traffic so Amazon cut off the API pipleline or something for @brandon. Last I heard heās been trying to code in some fixes so book requests can still go through.
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Ah ok thanks for the update!
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Really?? It shouldnāt be. Will try to look into this sunday 
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