This is a selection of classic German books
1

by
3.83 avg rating — 85,716 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,406,104 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.69 avg rating — 154,018 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.13 avg rating — 213,783 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.04 avg rating — 548,451 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.94 avg rating — 391,485 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.23 avg rating — 220,862 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.08 avg rating — 870,656 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.27 avg rating — 169,840 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.11 avg rating — 517,231 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.20 avg rating — 35,379 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.07 avg rating — 175,043 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.22 avg rating — 72,235 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.79 avg rating — 230,460 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.42 avg rating — 12,907 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.27 avg rating — 16,258 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.82 avg rating — 8,883 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.13 avg rating — 61,033 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.14 avg rating — 134,432 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.89 avg rating — 42,889 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.70 avg rating — 18,357 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.95 avg rating — 46,585 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.18 avg rating — 219,931 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.10 avg rating — 42,233 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.56 avg rating — 27,553 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
2.95 avg rating — 26,223 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.67 avg rating — 37,616 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.31 avg rating — 19,355 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.92 avg rating — 9,912 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.28 avg rating — 3,393 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.68 avg rating — 31,264 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.84 avg rating — 11,198 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.62 avg rating — 22,639 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.07 avg rating — 5,841 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.21 avg rating — 9,059 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,820 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.34 avg rating — 95,272 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.66 avg rating — 18,685 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.02 avg rating — 2,309 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.72 avg rating — 2,774 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.76 avg rating — 21,040 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.88 avg rating — 14,405 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.06 avg rating — 6,256 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.38 avg rating — 9,748 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.87 avg rating — 357 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.35 avg rating — 1,818 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.71 avg rating — 17,387 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.54 avg rating — 5,013 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.85 avg rating — 3,724 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.81 avg rating — 14,321 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.06 avg rating — 13,039 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.80 avg rating — 8,303 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.92 avg rating — 16,177 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.30 avg rating — 1,656 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.77 avg rating — 3,485 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.98 avg rating — 2,703 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.19 avg rating — 7,362 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.08 avg rating — 12,177 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.85 avg rating — 14,084 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.47 avg rating — 10,838 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.27 avg rating — 2,055 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.74 avg rating — 9,087 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
2.92 avg rating — 14,809 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.68 avg rating — 13,660 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.73 avg rating — 22,159 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
3.68 avg rating — 67,937 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.93 avg rating — 31,838 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
4.21 avg rating — 5,600 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.03 avg rating — 113,167 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.90 avg rating — 10,954 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.66 avg rating — 13,343 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.64 avg rating — 3,404 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.30 avg rating — 9,369 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.98 avg rating — 11,929 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.31 avg rating — 6,754 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.84 avg rating — 1,800 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.91 avg rating — 74,891 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.15 avg rating — 9,042 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.80 avg rating — 933 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.73 avg rating — 456 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.48 avg rating — 4,666 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.35 avg rating — 75 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.78 avg rating — 525 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.17 avg rating — 8,645 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.87 avg rating — 390 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.88 avg rating — 2,672 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.86 avg rating — 436 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.88 avg rating — 56 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.44 avg rating — 2,186 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.12 avg rating — 35,346 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.23 avg rating — 343 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.98 avg rating — 21,124 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.70 avg rating — 248 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.07 avg rating — 44 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.67 avg rating — 138 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.51 avg rating — 2,172 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
4.26 avg rating — 9,344 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.22 avg rating — 5,869 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
4.19 avg rating — 5,740 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.81 avg rating — 2,677 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
227 books · 151 voters · list created May 24th, 2009 by Malika Schuessel (votes) .
150 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Malika 6 books
16 friends
Ricki 5214 books
1478 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2846 books
352 friends
Erich 780 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 315 books
11 friends
Chanel 1159 books
169 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Dec 13, 2013 03:50AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Malika Schuessel
Classic 'German' books, means originally written in German, I assume? (Because there are other nationalities than German on this list as well).


message 2: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Dec 13, 2013 03:25AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) No matter how you look upon it, Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus is not a German classic and as such has been removed.


message 3: by Stefanie (new)

Stefanie Brune @ Booklovinglady
Some of these books were written before there was a "Germany" as we know it today. Borders have shifted many times in the last centuries, and for years during the middle ages and even later there only were numerous German-speaking principalities and city-states. Even the word "Deutschland" is derived from "Deutsch", the language, and not the other way round. German literature has always meant to include literature originally written in German, and is taught like that in German literature classes at German schools today, no matter if the authors lived in what today is Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Prague (f.i. Kafka) or formerly German speaking regions in Poland and the Czech Republic.


message 4: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited May 09, 2019 10:08AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Stefanie wrote: "@ Booklovinglady
German literature has always meant to include literature originally written in German ..."


I agree but that doesn't change the fact that Praise of folly does not belong on this list. It was originally written in Latin, not in German, and Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was not German. The part of the Netherlands were he was born (Rotterdam) during the end of the 15th century was not German. So whichever way you look upon it, the book shouldn't be on this list in my opinion (but do correct me if I'm wrong).

As to my earlier remark, I agree that books written in German do not necessarily have to be from the present day Germany. Of course they don't. Even today German is also spoken and writtten in other countries than Germany. But isn't that just what I said...?


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I have my doubts about Priest Konrad's Song of Roland (#179) being on this list, as La Chanson de Roland was originally written in French. As the introduction says: "The Rolandslied is a Middle High German translation of the French Chanson de Roland, dating from around 1170".
So this work is is definitely a translation, no matter how old (or the book has been combined wrongly to editions of La Chanson de Roland).


back to top



Related News

As you might expect, we are book people here at Goodreads World Headquarters—rather intense book people, actually. And when the holidays roll...

Anyone can add books to this list.