Hi everyone, I am looking to improve my German. I understand quite a bit by now but my spoken language is still child-like (I am somewhere B1+). Reading has always been something I enjoy. That being said: any (good) books you could recommend that are written by German-speaking writers and are “easy” to read? Just to say, I am not looking for children books - I need to be engaged with the story to read it. Thanks!
Ottfried Preußler has allready been mentioned.
I’d like to add Erich Kästner (probably more children’s books, but imho still very enjoyable).
Michael Ende, the Neverending Story and Momo are classics for a reason. checkout “Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch” it is a childrens book, but very funny and i actually read it first when i was like 13 and still loved it.
Paul Maar, “Eine Woche voller Samstage” and the subsequent Sams books are great, but again more children’s books than YA.
Walter Moers, the Zamonien Books where a big hit in my nerdy friend circle during school. the closest thing i can think of would be Discworld.
Wolfgang Hohlbein, he writes a lot, most of it is not that good, but some of his books are great and the books he has written with his wife Heike tend to be better. I enjoyed as a teen( and these are definitely YA-fiction stuff):
Thank you! I really don’t mind teen books, I mean I read Adrian Mole many times including two years ago (I am in my thirties) and still laught out loud. I just need some plot I can connect with and which drives me to find out what happens next so that the book is not just my language textbook if that makes sense.
ah, you being an adult makes reading Michael Ende even better imho, he wrote stories kids and teens could enjoy and relate to, but there is allways something in them i only really got as i grew older.
another thing to try would be to read translated works of authors you enjoy anyway, german book translations are often pretty good, atleast from my experience and knowing a book or author in the original language might enable you to read above your normal reading level.
maybe also try contemporary popular stuff.
If you are into thrillers Sebastian Fitzek is someone who tends produce “page turners” in the sense that they are very readable and don’t require you to dig through tons of literary layers, but just enjoy a well constructed story. An old english teacher refered to books like this as “airport books”, you’d buy them before the boarding the plane, read them an be entertained during the flight and be done with it.