I found this idea on Simon's blog @ Stuck in a Book.
He picks an author for each letter of the alphabet, sharing which of
their books he's read, which I ones he owns, how he came across them
etc.
Now G, I could only choose on of Germany's greatest authors of all time and if you think Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, I must disappoint you. My favourite German G-author is Günter Grass.
- "Cat and Mouse" (GE: Katz und Maus. Danziger Trilogie 2) - 1961
- "Crabwalk" (GE: Im Krebsgang) - 2002
- "Five Decades" (GE: Fünf Jahrzehnte) - 1999
- "The Tin Drum" (GE: Die Blechtrommel. Danziger Trilogie 1) - 1959
And here are some of his non-fiction books:
- "The Box: Tales From the Darkroom" (GE: Die Box. Dunkelkammergeschichten) - 2008
- "Grimm's Words. A Declaration of Love" (GE: Grimms Wörter. Eine Liebeserklärung) - 2010
- "My Century" (GE: Mein Jahrhundert) - 1999
- "Peeling the Onion" (GE: Beim Häuten der Zwiebel) - 2006
All of them fantastic reads.
Facts about Günter Grass
Born 16 October 1927 as Günter Wilhelm Graß 16 October 1927 in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk)
Died 13 April 2015 (aged 87) in Lübeck, Germany
He is mostly known for his contribution to "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" which means which means coping with the past, struggling with the goal to overcome the past. It describes the processes that since the later 20th century have become key in the study of post-1945 German literature, society, and culture.
His novel "The Tin Drum" was made into a film and received the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 1979.
He received several international prizes. As well as being an honorary member of the Royal Society of Literature (in 1993), he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999 for his "... frolicsome black fables [that] portray the forgotten face of history".
I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.
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This is part of an ongoing series where I will write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here.
I've heard of Grass (of course) but never read anything by him.... What would you recommend as a good place to start?
ReplyDeleteI'd have been surprised if you hadn't heard of him, Kitten. He is one of the most famous German authors of the last century. But yeah, tough question. Where to begin. We read "Crabwalk" with a book club because it's a shorter book, his non-fiction books about his life are really great, but I'd probably start with "The Tin Drum", the first one of his "Danzig trilogy". I hope you will enjoy him as much as I do.
DeleteThanks! I'll add it to my List. I've been meaning to read even more translated works so it'll be good to get into an author that has had most if not all of his works translated into English.
DeleteThat is a good idea, Kitten. You can always check my list for foreign books, I always include the original title.
DeleteAnother author I've never read, though I have heard of him. It's cool that he won the Nobel.
ReplyDeleteHe was a very famous and great German author, though maybe not the easiest one. But that's pretty normal for Nobel Prize winners, that's why I love them so much.
DeleteAh yes, another type of posts I also want to try!
ReplyDeleteAlas, looks like I never read anything by him. I thought I had read one, but that must have been as a teen, and I don't remember the title!!
Have a look at my list, Emma, maybe you'll remember it then. But it doesn't matter, maybe you'll read him one day.
DeleteIt would be interesting if you did this post. Looking forward to it.