This is a selection of classic German books
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2

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3.91 avg rating — 1,462,607 ratings
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3

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3.70 avg rating — 157,782 ratings
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4

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4.13 avg rating — 218,603 ratings
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5

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4.04 avg rating — 563,472 ratings
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6

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3.94 avg rating — 403,110 ratings
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7

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4.23 avg rating — 222,061 ratings
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8

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4.08 avg rating — 887,984 ratings
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9

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4.26 avg rating — 178,632 ratings
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10

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4.11 avg rating — 525,624 ratings
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11

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4.20 avg rating — 36,393 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 178,888 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 73,773 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 233,536 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 13,188 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,595 ratings
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17

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3.82 avg rating — 9,018 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 62,945 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 137,991 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 44,210 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,757 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 46,987 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 222,992 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 42,856 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 28,470 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 26,893 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 38,952 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,765 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 10,067 ratings
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30

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4.28 avg rating — 3,428 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 31,970 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,408 ratings
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33

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3.62 avg rating — 22,992 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 5,983 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,259 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 14,096 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 97,936 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 19,104 ratings
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39

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4.02 avg rating — 2,330 ratings
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40

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3.72 avg rating — 2,810 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 22,071 ratings
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42

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3.88 avg rating — 14,597 ratings
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43

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3.01 avg rating — 7,027 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 9,941 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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3.35 avg rating — 1,848 ratings
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47

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3.70 avg rating — 17,909 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,091 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,782 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,518 ratings
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51

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3.06 avg rating — 13,388 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,373 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,222 ratings
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54

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3.30 avg rating — 1,675 ratings
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55

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3.77 avg rating — 3,532 ratings
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56

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3.99 avg rating — 2,758 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 7,477 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 12,248 ratings
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59

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3.85 avg rating — 14,534 ratings
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60

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3.46 avg rating — 10,778 ratings
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61

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3.27 avg rating — 2,080 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,211 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 15,345 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 13,987 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,750 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 70,047 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 32,427 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,697 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 115,962 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,360 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,665 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,454 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,625 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,143 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,893 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,817 ratings
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77

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3.91 avg rating — 76,913 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,392 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 947 ratings
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80

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3.74 avg rating — 460 ratings
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81

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3.49 avg rating — 4,834 ratings
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82

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4.35 avg rating — 75 ratings
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83

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3.77 avg rating — 536 ratings
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83

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3.17 avg rating — 8,856 ratings
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85

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3.89 avg rating — 400 ratings
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85

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3.87 avg rating — 2,777 ratings
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87

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3.87 avg rating — 450 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 56 ratings
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89

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4.44 avg rating — 2,238 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 36,414 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 — 21,637 ratings
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93

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3.68 avg rating — 255 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 — 2,198 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,433 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,934 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,817 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,745 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 5244 books
1477 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2848 books
352 friends
Erich 781 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 334 books
10 friends
Chanel 1172 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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