This is a selection of classic German books
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3.83 avg rating — 87,276 ratings
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2

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3.91 avg rating — 1,483,794 ratings
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3

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3.70 avg rating — 159,321 ratings
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4

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4.13 avg rating — 220,643 ratings
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5

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4.04 avg rating — 569,538 ratings
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6

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3.94 avg rating — 407,995 ratings
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7

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4.23 avg rating — 222,537 ratings
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8

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4.09 avg rating — 895,064 ratings
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9

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4.26 avg rating — 182,184 ratings
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10

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4.12 avg rating — 529,985 ratings
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11

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4.20 avg rating — 36,796 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 180,374 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 74,443 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 234,838 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 13,314 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,738 ratings
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17

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3.82 avg rating — 9,075 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 63,739 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 139,643 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 44,730 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,961 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 47,166 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 224,329 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 43,120 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 28,930 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 27,224 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 39,531 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,911 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 10,127 ratings
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30

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4.27 avg rating — 3,446 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 32,270 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,494 ratings
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33

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3.63 avg rating — 23,165 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 6,052 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,339 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 14,229 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 99,061 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 19,232 ratings
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39

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4.02 avg rating — 2,347 ratings
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40

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3.72 avg rating — 2,829 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 22,451 ratings
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42

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3.87 avg rating — 14,691 ratings
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43

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liked it 3.00 avg rating — 7,278 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 10,036 ratings
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45

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3.86 avg rating — 360 ratings
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46

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3.36 avg rating — 1,865 ratings
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47

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3.70 avg rating — 18,146 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,118 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,804 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,635 ratings
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51

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3.07 avg rating — 13,541 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,400 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,241 ratings
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54

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3.30 avg rating — 1,686 ratings
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55

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3.77 avg rating — 3,546 ratings
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56

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3.99 avg rating — 2,794 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 7,522 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 12,249 ratings
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59

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3.86 avg rating — 14,725 ratings
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60

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3.46 avg rating — 10,896 ratings
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61

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3.27 avg rating — 2,099 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,249 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 15,573 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 14,101 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,994 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 70,994 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 32,613 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,740 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 117,042 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,514 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,803 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,473 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,719 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,250 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,954 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,819 ratings
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77

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3.91 avg rating — 77,784 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,542 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 953 ratings
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80

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3.74 avg rating — 461 ratings
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81

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3.48 avg rating — 4,864 ratings
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82

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4.34 avg rating — 76 ratings
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83

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3.78 avg rating — 538 ratings
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83

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3.17 avg rating — 8,924 ratings
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85

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3.89 avg rating — 403 ratings
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85

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3.87 avg rating — 2,847 ratings
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87

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3.87 avg rating — 455 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 57 ratings
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89

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4.43 avg rating — 2,258 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 36,834 ratings
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91

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4.23 avg rating — 343 ratings
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92

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3.97 avg rating — 21,837 ratings
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93

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3.68 avg rating — 259 ratings
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94

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4.07 avg rating — 44 ratings
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95

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3.67 avg rating — 141 ratings
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96

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3.51 avg rating — 2,215 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,482 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,985 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,864 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,776 ratings
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227 books · 151 voters · list created May 24th, 2009 by Malika Schuessel (votes) .
151 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Malika 6 books
16 friends
Ricki 5271 books
1477 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2851 books
350 friends
Erich 776 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 339 books
10 friends
Chanel 1181 books
169 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

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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).


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