The Greatest German Books of All Time on Memory

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
398 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German
577 Anniversaries Uwe Johnson 1970 German German
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
969 Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger 1920 German German
975 The Reader Bernhard Schlink 1995 German German
1303 Poems Paul Celan 1952 German German
1344 The Emigrants W. G. Sebald 1992 German German
1694 Cassandra Christa Wolf 1983 German German
1700 The Hunger Angel Herta Müller 2009 German German
1778 The Strudlhof Steps Heimito von Doderer 1951 German German
1969 Poppy And Memory Paul Celan 1950 German German
2205 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2215 Roman Elegies Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1795 German German
2215 The Lake of the Bees Theodor Storm 1849 German German
2237 Billiards at Half-Past Nine Heinrich Böll 1959 German German
2369 The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin 1982 German German
2582 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2792 Dog Years Günter Grass 1963 German German
3380 Der Laden Erwin Strittmatter 1983 German German
3408 The Glass Bees Ernst Jünger 1957 German German
3637 The City Beyond The River Hermann Kasack 1947 German German
3637 So Tender Was Suleyken Siegfried Lenz 1955 German German
3637 Stopfkuchen Wilhelm Karl Raabe 1891 German German
4106 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4106 Die Schaukel Annette Kolb 1960 German German
4106 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4372 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4642 The Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud 1901 German German
4763 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4830 Patterns of Childhood Christa Wolf 1976 German German
4857 Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt 1970 German German
5242 Abschied Johannes R. Becher 1974 German German
5293 Tadellöser & Wolff Walter Kempowski 1975 German German
5502 Schlachtbeschreibung Alexander Kluge 1978 German German
5810 An Ordinary Youth Walter Kempowski 1971 German Unknown
5929 Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck 2015 German German
5939 Spätestens Im November Hans Erich Nossack 1982 German German
5939 Die Bertinis Ralph Giordano 1982 German German
6005 Die Niederschrift Des Gustav Anias Horn Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
6005 No One's Rose Paul Celan 1963 German German
6169 The Tower Uwe Tellkamp 2008 German German
6289 Visitation Jenny Erpenbeck 2008 German German
6548 Kindheit In Ostpreußen Marion Gräfin Dönhoff 1988 German German
6589 The Works Of Johannes Bobrowski Johannes Bobrowski 1969 German German
6623 The Invention of Curried Sausage Uwe Timm 1993 German German
6657 Berittener Bogenschütze Brigitte Kronauer 1989 German German
6748 Infanta Bodo Kirchhoff 1990 German German
7216 Selected Poems Freidrich Hölderlin 1800 German German
7216 Poems Of Theodor Storm Theodor Storm 1852 German German
7766 Pavel's Letters Monika Maron 1999 German German
8144 Simple Stories Ingo Schulze 1998 German German
8293 The Author Of Himself Marcel Reich-Ranicki 1999 German German
8445 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8608 Shadow Lands Johannes Bobrowski 1962 German German
9117 Poems For People Who Don't Read Poems Hans Magnus Enzensberger 1968 German German
9318 Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech Paul Celan 2020 German German
10843 The End Of Days Jenny Erpenbeck 2012 German German
12259 Floating In My Mother's Palm Ursula Hegi 1990 German English
13354 In My Brother's Shadow Uwe Timm 2005 German German
14063 Silent Close No. 6 Monika Maron 1991 German German
14482 Glanz Und Gloria Henning Ahrens 2003 German German
14985 Evening Edged In Gold Arno Schmidt 1975 German German
15903 At The Mind's Limits Jean Améry 1966 German German
17164 Peeling the Onion Günter Grass 2006 German German
17164 Inventario Di Alcune Cose Perdute Judith Schalansky 2018 German German
17164 Eichmann Before Jerusalem Bettina Stangneth 2011 German German
17164 Revelation Freshly Erupting Nelly Sachs German German
17164 Die Insel Der Tausend Leuchttürme Walter Moers 2023 German German