Cultural differences

Some weeks ago my mum and I discussed that classics and “most read books” differ from culture to culture and from country to country.

American most reads are completely different from Austrian and German ones and the Italian ones are certainly different to those.

From time to time you stumble across lists with the ominous title “100 books you have to read”. When this list is published by an English speaking person I have read just five to ten of those. When this list is published by someone speaking German and reading mostly German literature and classics I reach around 30 books.

Some days ago I found such a list which for me contains a mix of English and German most reads. It is in German but it contains many English books as well.

Sadly I only have read 19 of these books so far but some I have at home and I know that I will read them some day.

And now, I want to share this list of “100 books you have to read” with you (I tried to translate all titles, some I haven’t found or wasn’t sure which one were the right ones)

1. The Lord of the rings, JRR Tolkien
2. The Bible
3. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
4. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
5. Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
6. Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann

7. The Physician, Noah Gordon
8. The Alchimist, Paulo Coelho
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, JK Rowling
10. Pope Joan, Donna W. Cross
11. Inkheart, Cornelia Funke
12. Feuer und Stein, Diana Gabaldon – no English translation found
13. The house of the spirits, Isabel Allende
14. The reader, Bernhard Schlink
15. Faust I, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

16. The Shadow of the wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón
17. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
18. The name of the rose, Umberto Eco
19. Illuminati, Dan Brown
20. Effi Briest, Theodor Fontane

21. Harry Potter the Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling
22. The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann
23. Gone with the wind, Margaret Mitchell
24. Siddharta, Hermann Hesse
25. Die Entdeckung des Himmels, Harry Mulisch – no English translation found
26. The neverending story, Michael Ende
27. Das verborgene Wort, Ulla Hahn – no English translation found
28. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt
29. Narcissus and Goldmund, Hermann Hesse
30. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
31. German Lesson, Siegfried Lenz
32. Die Glut, Sándor Márai – no English translation found
33. Homo faber, Max Frisch
34. Discovery of Slowness, Sten Nadolny
35. The unbearable lightness of being, Milan Kundera
36. One hundred years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Márquez
37. Owen Meany, John Irving
38. Sofie’s world, Jostein Gaarder
39. The Hitchhiker’s Guide trough Galaxy , Douglas Adams
40. The Wall, Marlen Haushofer

41. The Cider House Rules, John Irving
42. Love in the time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Márquez
43. Der Stechlin, Theodor Fontane – no English translation found
44. Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse
45. To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee
46. Joseph and his brothers, Thomas Mann
47. Der Laden, Erwin Strittmatter – no English translation found
48. The tin drum, Günter Grass
49. All quiet in the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
50. The swarm, Frank Schätzing
51. Wie ein einziger Tag, Nicholas Sparks – not sure which on is the right title in English
52. Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban, JK Rowling
53. Momo, Michael Ende
54. Jahrestage, Uwe Johnson – no English translation found
55. Mutant Message Down Under, Marlo Morgan
56. The catcher in the rye, Jerome David Salinger
57. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
58. Krabat, Otfried Preußler

59. Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren

60. Desert Flower, Waris Diris 

61. Geh, wohin dein Herz dich trägt, Susanna Tamaro – no English translation found
62. Hanna’s daughters, Marianne Fredriksson
63. Mittsommermord, Henning Mankell – not sure which on is the right title in English
64. The return of the dancing master, Henning Mankell
65. The hotel New Hampshire, John Irving
66. War and peace, Leo N. Tolstoi
67. The glassbead game, Hermann Hesse
68. The Shell Seaker, Rosamunde Pilcher
69. Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, JK Rowling
70. Diary, Anne Frank
71. Salt on our Skin, Benoite Groult
72. Jauche und Levkojen, Christine Brückner – no English translation found
73. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
74. White Massai, Corinne Hofmann
75. What I loved, Siri Hustvedt
76. The 13 ½ lives of Captain Bluebear, Walter Moers
77. Das Lächeln der Fortuna, Rebecca Gablé – no English translation found
78. Monsieur Ibrahim and the flowers of the Qur’an, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
79. Winnetou, Karl May

80. Désirée, Annemarie Selinko
81. Nowhere in Africa, Stefanie Zweig
82. The world according to Garp, John Irving
83. Wuthering heights, Emily Brontë

84. P.S. I love you, Cecilia Ahern

85. 1984, George Orwell
86. Mondscheintarif, Ildiko von Kürthy – no English translation found
87. Paula, Isabel Allende
88. Just like heaven, Marc Levy
89. Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein, Johannes Mario Simmel – no English translation found
90. Veronica decides to die, Paulo Coelho
91. Chronicler of the winds, Henning Mankell
92. The Master and Margarita, Michail Bulgakow
93. Chess, Stefan Zweig
94. Tadellöser & Wolff, Walter Kempowski – no English translation found
95. Anna Karenina, Leo N. Tolstoi
96. Crime and Punishment, Fjodor Dostojewski
97. Count of Monte Christo, Alexandre Dumas
98. Der Puppenspieler, Tanja Kinkel – no English translation found
99. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
100. Rote Sonne, schwarzes Land, Barbara Wood – not sure which on is the right title in English