Today it is the first of December. It means that this year’s German Literature Month is over. It is my favourite reading event of the year and so it is a bittersweet moment for me. Now I have to wait for one more year for next year’s edition.
I read eight books for this year’s GLM. That sounds pretty impressive, but it is not. Halfway through GLM, I had read only one book. But like any self-respecting Indian, I finished ninety percent of the work in the eleventh hour – in the last four days, I read four books. But I read a wide variety of books and so I am happy about that. I read two novels, three novellas, one collection of short stories, two plays and one essay in book form.
My favourite was the novella ‘Three Paths to the Lake’ by Ingeborg Bachmann. It is a book which I will be definitely reading again.
‘The Art of Hearing Heartbeats’ by Jan-Philipp Sendker, ‘Flight Without End’ by Joseph Roth and ‘Rock Crystal’ by Adalbert Stifter weren’t far behind.
I didn’t review one book – ‘In Berlin : Day and Night in 1929’ by Franz Hessel.
It was a twenty-something page essay on the author’s experience in Berlin during one day in 1929. It mostly had descriptions of nightlife and bar hopping, and though it might have had some historical interest, I didn’t find it insightful enough.
I finally got around to reading a German play – I actually read two of them (‘La Ronde’ by Arthur Schnitzler and ‘The Robbers’ by Friedrich Schiller), which I am quite happy about.
The Austrian contigent was heavily represented in my selection – four of the eight books I read were by Austrian writers and three of my four favourites were by Austrians. I seem to be clearly leaning in a particular direction.
I had hoped to read my favourite writer Marlen Haushofer’s ‘Nowhere Ending Sky’ and another favourite writer Ingeborg Bachmann’s collection of poems ‘Darkness Spoken’, but I couldn’t. These have to wait for another time.
Here are the books I read, with the links to their reviews.
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Immensee by Theodor Storm
Three Paths to the Lake by Ingeborg Bachmann (Part 1 / Part 2)
In Berlin : Day and Night in 1929 by Franz Hessel
Flight Without End by Joseph Roth
Rock Crystal by Adalbert Stifter
La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler
The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller
I had a wonderful German Literature Month, as always. This year’s GLM seems to have broken all records – last time I checked there were 176 posts, which is totally awesome. Many thanks to the hostesses Caroline (from Beauty is a Sleeping Cat) and Lizzy (from Lizzy’s Literary Life) for hosting this wonderful event every year, and especially for this wonderful fourth edition. I can’t wait for next year’s GLM.
Did you participate in German Literature Month this year? Which was your favourite GLM book this year?
Thank you for your kind comments and I really enjoyed reading your reviews too (especially since you have a weakness for Austrian writers, like I have). Look forward to hearing what else you are going to read the remainder of this year and the next.
It was wonderful to read your book reviews too, Marina. I enjoyed reading all your posts for German Literature Month. I love Austrian writers and am leaning more and more towards them 🙂 Happy reading in December!
Thanks so much for joining us. You made me luagh – the selfrespecting Indian. 🙂 You really picked up speed in the end.
It’s an impressive list of posts, isn’t it? And most of them very in-depth.
I think there will still be quite a few more until the end of the week – our inofficial grace period.
Thanks a lot for hosting GLM, Caroline. It is the highlight of my reading year. Glad to know that you liked that ‘self-respecting Indian’ comment 🙂 I remember during GLM 1, I tried reading every review that everyone had posted. This time it was impossible to do that – so many participants, so many posts – GLM has become a truly global event, thanks to the efforts of you and Lizzy and the participants. Well, I didn’t know about the grace period 🙂 I am thinking that maybe I should watch the ‘La Ronde’ movie now and post about it.
After having liked the Schiller movie so much I also got the one on Goethe and had to give up after an hour. It wasn’t as good. I want to re-watch Schiller (it would be already the third time). I really hope you’ll find it.
Sorry to know that, Caroline. Wish the Goethe movie had been better. I can’t wait to watch the Schiller movie. Thanks for inspiring me.
Thanks a lot for hosting GLM, Caroline. It is the highlight of my reading year. Glad to know that you liked that ‘self-respecting Indian’ comment 🙂 I remember during GLM 1, I tried reading every review that everyone had posted. This time it was impossible to do that – so many participants, so many posts – GLM has become a truly global event, thanks to the efforts of you and Lizzy and the participants. Well, I didn’t know about the grace period 🙂 I am thinking that maybe I should watch the ‘La Ronde’ movie now and post about it.
I did manage to read All Quiet on the Western Front which I very much enjoyed, but that was all. I wasn’t actually participating, knowing how hard it is to read to a plan, but very glad I managed one at least.
Well done in reading so many and like the bit of pressure you put yourself under to finish. I need a bit of that to manage the pile I have accumulated since I built up my pile of translations recently. Can’t wait for the cold, cosy, reading time of year, might have to preplan meals for kids so I can spend more time reading and less time in the kitchen!
Thanks Claire. Nice to know that you read ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and liked it. I read it sometime back and loved it. I normally don’t like putting pressure on myself while reading, but I had to do it this time, because I didn’t want to end up reading one or two books for German Literature Month. Hope you get more time to read more books. I really want to hear your thoughts on that Jenny Erpenbeck book 🙂
I’m glad you had a great GLM as well Vishy. There were so many posts that I’ll probably still be reading many next week. It’s always fascinating with something like this with seeing what choices everyone makes.
It was wonderful to catch up with so many new-to-me bloggers and get to know about many new wonderful authors and books, Jonathan. One of the books that I will definitely be reading because of GLM is Joseph Roth’s book on Napoleon’s one hundred days. I loved your review of it and I want to read that book now. Hope you enjoy catching up on the GLM reviews.
That was quite a productive month, Vishy. I enjoyed reading your reviews.
I hope to participate in the event at some point, hopefully next year.
Thanks Delia. I was happy to get back to reading and blogging through German Literature Month. Hoping that I can continue reading like that this month. I hope you get to participate in German Literature Month next year. It will be wonderful to hear your thoughts on German lit.
Great list of books, Vishy. I haven’t read all your reviews but I have them in my in-box and I’ll get to them. I like reading posts when I can concentrate and read properly.
As a self-respecting French, I didn’t follow most of the rules of GLM. I read three books and will post about one in December! 🙂
I can’t believe that I haven’t replied to your comment, Emma. Nice to know that you liked the list of books. I loved what you said about self-respecting French 🙂