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
1302 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
2204 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2214 Roman Elegies Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1795 German German
2214 The Lake of the Bees Theodor Storm 1849 German German
2236 Billiards at Half-Past Nine Heinrich Böll 1959 German German
2367 The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin 1982 German German
2581 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2791 Dog Years Günter Grass 1963 German German
3382 Der Laden Erwin Strittmatter 1983 German German
3410 The Glass Bees Ernst Jünger 1957 German German
3638 The City Beyond The River Hermann Kasack 1947 German German
3638 So Tender Was Suleyken Siegfried Lenz 1955 German German
3638 Stopfkuchen Wilhelm Karl Raabe 1891 German German
4105 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4105 Die Schaukel Annette Kolb 1960 German German
4105 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4371 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4641 The Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud 1901 German German
4762 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4829 Patterns of Childhood Christa Wolf 1976 German German
4856 Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt 1970 German German
5241 Abschied Johannes R. Becher 1974 German German
5292 Tadellöser & Wolff Walter Kempowski 1975 German German
5501 Schlachtbeschreibung Alexander Kluge 1978 German German
5808 An Ordinary Youth Walter Kempowski 1971 German Unknown
5927 Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck 2015 German German
5937 Spätestens Im November Hans Erich Nossack 1982 German German
5937 Die Bertinis Ralph Giordano 1982 German German
6003 Die Niederschrift Des Gustav Anias Horn Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
6003 No One's Rose Paul Celan 1963 German German
6167 The Tower Uwe Tellkamp 2008 German German
6287 Visitation Jenny Erpenbeck 2008 German German
6547 Kindheit In Ostpreußen Marion Gräfin Dönhoff 1988 German German
6588 The Works Of Johannes Bobrowski Johannes Bobrowski 1969 German German
6622 The Invention of Curried Sausage Uwe Timm 1993 German German
6656 Berittener Bogenschütze Brigitte Kronauer 1989 German German
6748 Infanta Bodo Kirchhoff 1990 German German
7215 Selected Poems Freidrich Hölderlin 1800 German German
7215 Poems Of Theodor Storm Theodor Storm 1852 German German
7765 Pavel's Letters Monika Maron 1999 German German
8142 Simple Stories Ingo Schulze 1998 German German
8291 The Author Of Himself Marcel Reich-Ranicki 1999 German German
8443 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8605 Shadow Lands Johannes Bobrowski 1962 German German
9114 Poems For People Who Don't Read Poems Hans Magnus Enzensberger 1968 German German
9315 Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech Paul Celan 2020 German German
10840 The End Of Days Jenny Erpenbeck 2012 German German
12258 Floating In My Mother's Palm Ursula Hegi 1990 German English
13351 In My Brother's Shadow Uwe Timm 2005 German German
14063 Silent Close No. 6 Monika Maron 1991 German German
14481 Glanz Und Gloria Henning Ahrens 2003 German German
14984 Evening Edged In Gold Arno Schmidt 1975 German German
15888 At The Mind's Limits Jean Améry 1966 German German
17120 Peeling the Onion Günter Grass 2006 German German
17120 Inventario Di Alcune Cose Perdute Judith Schalansky 2018 German German
17120 Eichmann Before Jerusalem Bettina Stangneth 2011 German German
17120 Revelation Freshly Erupting Nelly Sachs German German
17120 Die Insel Der Tausend Leuchttürme Walter Moers 2023 German German