As of: February 16, 2024, 7:17 p.m
By: Sven Trautwein
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New year, new books.
But 2023 was also a literary year full of interesting titles.
There are ten books you should definitely read.
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This doesn't change anything for you.
2023 was another very interesting year in terms of literature.
The German Book Prize went to Tonio Schachinger for “Real Age”.
And it wasn't just in the Literary Quartet that people talked about books that were important in 2023.
Whether it's a crime novel, a novel, a non-fiction book, a biography or a children's and young adult book, there are titles that you should definitely read from 2023.
Maybe now is a good time at the beginning of the year to retreat to your favorite place to read with a book and immerse yourself in the stories.
These top 10 titles promise variety and good entertainment for every taste.
The time between the years and the beginning of the year is particularly good for reading.
You should definitely check out these ten titles from 2023.
© Rainer Berg/WestEnd61/Imago
Top 10 book 2023: Claire-Louise Bennett “Class 19”
The
New York Times Book Review
named the book one of the best of 2022. It was published in German in spring 2023 and definitely belongs on the bookshelf with the six most important books.
In her story, the renowned British author Claire-Louise Bennett unfolds the life of a young lady with impressive force - from the exploration of her own body, the assertion of her independence and the endless affection for the world of books.
Brilliantly told.
In a working-class town in a county west of London, a young girl scribbles stories on the last pages of her school notebook, intoxicated by the first sparks of her imagination.
As she grows up, everything and everyone she meets becomes fuel for her talent: the Russian man with the old maroon car who shops at the supermarket where she sits at checkout 19 and gives her a copy of Nietzsche's Beyond “of good and evil”.
The ever-growing stack of books in which she gets lost - and finds herself again.
Blurb/Luchterhand
Claire-Louise Bennett “Class 19”
2023 Luchterhand, ISBN-13 978-3-630-87711-2
Price: hardcover €22, 304 pages
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Top book from 2023: Giovanni di Lorenzo “On Life and Other Impositions”
A book to sink into, to look up and one that stimulates thought and discussion.
Giovanni di Lorenzo's collected conversations with contemporaries from politics and culture are varied and profound.
For anyone interested in the stories behind the characters, this is the right book for the right time.
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The intensity of the encounters creates exciting portraits that are also a reflection of the major political and social issues of the past decade - refugee crisis, pandemic, war, xenophobia or cancel culture debates.
Blurb/KiWi
Giovanni di Lorenzo “On life and other impositions”
2023 KiWi, ISBN-13 978-3-462-00618-6
Price: Hardcover €25, e-book €19.99, 352 pages (different format)
Order from Amazon
Family novel 2023: Susanne Abel “Stay away from Gretchen: An impossible love”
An emotional novel about a forgotten and secretive topic in German history.
With her debut, Susanne Abel has created a cross-generational family novel, which is now available as a paperback.
The second volume “What I never said – Gretchen’s fateful family” should definitely be read afterwards.
The well-known Cologne news presenter Tom Monderath is worried about his 84-year-old mother Greta, who is forgetting more and more.
When the diagnosis of dementia comes up, Tom is horrified.
Until his mother's illness becomes a gift: Greta tells us about her life for the first time - about her childhood in East Prussia, her beloved grandparents, the escape from the Russian soldiers in the icy winter and her time in occupied Heidelberg.
However, when Tom comes across a photo of a little girl with dark skin, Greta falls silent.
Blurb/dtv
Susanne Abel “Stay away from Gretchen: An impossible love”
2023 dtv, ISBN-13 978-3-423-22014-9
Price: Paperback €13, 544 pages
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Nominated for the Book Prize 2023: Necati Öziri “Father’s Mark”
“Father’s Mark” was on the shortlist for the German Book Prize 2023. It is an oppressive and humorous family story at the same time.
Arda reports on the endless wait at the immigration office, on afternoon drunken moments with his friends on a bench in front of the train station and on family members' attempts to fill the gap left by his father.
The mother tries to ease her grief with alcohol and changing relationships.
The book is an interplay of emotions and is therefore just right for the time between the years.
More about the book here.
I want to forever take away from you the possibility of not knowing who I was.
You should find out how your family was doing in Germany, what the last summer of my youth was like before almost all of my friends disappeared.
I want you to know what it was like when your old friends tapped me on the shoulder and said that I would one day become like you: hero of a failed revolution.
I will write these stories down.
Blurb/Claassen
Necati Öziri “Fathermark”
2023 Claassen Verlag, ISBN-13 978-3-546-10061-8
Price: Hardcover €25, 304 pages
Order from Amazon
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Top non-fiction book 2023: Oliver Bullough “At the service of the world”
Oliver Bullough has the know-how to expose oligarchs and kleptocrats.
All you need to do is research in the City of London.
That's exactly what Bullough did, explaining in a vivid, sometimes humorous way how Britain deliberately placed itself in the service of villains with deep pockets and profited from it.
When faced with unpleasant questions, the country tends to look away.
A business thriller that is well worth reading.
The Suez Crisis of 1956 is considered the nadir of British history in the 20th century, the moment when a global superpower was brought to its knees.
In the famous words of US Secretary of State Dean Acheson: "Britain has lost its empire, but has not yet found a new role." That was only half the truth, because Britain had already found a new role and the costume for it was already ready.
Blurb/Art Man
Oliver Bullough “Serving the World”
How Britain became the butler of oligarchs, kleptocrats, tax evaders and criminals
Translated by Sigrid Schmid, Rita Gravert
2023 Kunstmann, ISBN-13 978-3-95614-537-7
Price: Hardcover €26, 272 pages
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Top 10 2023: These other five books should not be missing
Axel Hacke “On cheerfulness in difficult times”
Caroline Wahl “22 lanes”
Nele Pollatschek “Little Problems”
Walter Moer's “The Island of 1,000 Lighthouses”
John Ironmonger “The Polar Bear and the Hope of Tomorrow”
What would the question be: What was read in the 1970s?