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[Vector]

What it says on the tin.

My step-grandmother is dying, and I'm trying to learn her native language before she goes.  So I want some easier, semi-approachable things with a "normal" vocabulary to read as I'm studying this summer, preferably at least moderately age-appropriate and interestingly cultural--i.e. if y'all write fantasy as terribly as the French seem to, I would like it if you recommended something else.

I'm basically hoping for some sort of buffer between "See Spot Run" (or the German equivalent) and Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx.  Please help?

[Phmcw]

I didn't read them myself but a friend of mine who speak german is quite fond of "Im Westen nichts Neues" and "Drei Kameraden" of Erich Maria Remarque. You should like them too.

[ChairmanPoo]

I began trying to read "Thus spoke Zarathustra", but yeah, it's a bit too much for my misserable A1 level (and I haven't even done the exam yet, I have it am 3.5)

One idea, though: how about videogames/irc in german? Videogames helped me quite a bit with English back when I was learning. I haven't been very successful in finding some, though. IRC is a different matter: should be easy to find some chatroom to practice.

[RedKing]

I know the gold standard in my German classes was to translate chunks of Goethe's Faust. Problem being, that's considered one of the masterpieces of German literature.

It's like learning English from translating Steinbeck or Hemingway. You're going to pick up some weird, artsy grammatical flourishes that way.


Maybe Michael Ende? I've never read his works in German, but I'd think the grammar and vocabulary wouldn't be that obtuse or flowery, given that he wrote children's literature.

[Mindmaker]

Have a look at Franz Kafka and decide for yourself if it is something for you.
It may be a bit more challenging to read, but finding something interesting, with depth and easy to read, is kinda hard.

I've only read two of his books that far and I can recommend "The Trial" where it tells the story of "of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor the reader".
Another one of his works, which I haven't read yet, but heard good reviews about is "The Metamorphosis", a story about "a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect".

Of course I could tell you to go read Schiller or Göthe, but those are really old fashioned and even more difficult to read. Furthermore they wouldn't teach you german the right way.

I would have two other authors, which would be easier to read, but one would fall into the Fantasy/Horror category and the other one would be 'popular Psychology/Sociology'.

[Darvi]

Ende is a good author, even if you didn't like the Neverending Story. Even though it's mostly children's literature, the novels usually have some sort of aesop too. Except for the one with the pirates. But that can be excused because, well, pirates :V

[ChairmanPoo]

I would have two other authors, which would be easier to read, but one would fall into the Fantasy/Horror category and the other one would be 'popular Psychology/Sociology'.

Wait, wait, which one? I'm interested.

[Mindmaker]

I would have two other authors, which would be easier to read, but one would fall into the Fantasy/Horror category and the other one would be 'popular Psychology/Sociology'.

Wait, wait, which one? I'm interested.

1. Wolfgang Hohlbein
2. Paul Watzlawick

[Vector]

Those are great suggestions, dudes!  Just to make it clear, though--I don't need stuff that's super-highbrow, and I can enjoy children's literature.  I'd just like something that's a little bit fun, or which has more going on with it than what's written for 5-year-olds.

So... easy chapter books, rather than picture books, or just something for adults that isn't too brutal =)

Thanks for all the ideas, though!  I'll have to start looking into those.

[JoshuaFH]

I actually have read The Trial by Franz Kafka before. It was intensely long and difficult, and I spaced out frequently, and forgot whole chapters at a time, if only because it wasn't interesting me.

There's only a few parts that I remember still.

[Mindmaker]

I actually have read The Trial by Franz Kafka before. It was intensely long and difficult, and I spaced out frequently, and forgot whole chapters at a time, if only because it wasn't interesting me.

There's only a few parts that I remember still.

That's because he hasnn't published more than a couple of short stories, while he was still alive.
Most of his work was incomplete and got published posthum by a friend.
You might have been unlucky and picked one of his more incomplete works.
Also if you read a translated version, those are said to be quite lacking since they cannot capture his style of writing.

On topic:
In that case, maybe Thomas Brezina? For example "Die Knickerbockerbande"-series.
Every book starts of as a mystery and then develops into a crime story, investigated by a bunch of children. Did read two or three when I was younger, but never was a fan of the series.
Nothing spectacular and might be a good start.

Christine Nöstlinger would be another german children author. Don't think I've ever read anything by her.

Lost most of my childhood books during a flood and gifted away the ones I disliked.
So yes, my suggestions are kinda limited.

[K41N]

native speaker here,
I would suggest the "Gebrüder Grimm" they actually have written some good children Stories that I enjoyed myself. I don't know if they're too difficult though.

[Mindmaker]

Hah!
Why didn't I think of that?

Brilliant idea, those childhood stories never get old.

[Vector]

I'm an idiot!  I've wanted to read those in the original language for years, and then when I get along to actually learning, I forget about them completely.  Thanks for the reminder!

And, thanks to everyone else who replied.  If you've got any other ideas, I'm always glad to hear about them =)

[Mindmaker]

Also if you're interested in nordic mythology, you could try "Die wilden Götter" by Tor Age Bringsvaerd, which reads like a childrens book version of the Edda.