Contemporary German novels?

[Willowcat77]

Can anyone recommend a novel set in modern day Germany (90s onwards, NOT Nazi Germany and NOT a crime novel)?

Are there any great contemporary German authors like Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Coe or Donna Tart (or similar). Ideally translated into English but would try to read the original German if none available!

Would love some recommendations 🙂

I just read The Short End of the Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig. It was published in 1999 and has recently been translated by Jonathan Franzen and Jenny Watson. It's about a community who live next to the Berlin Wall. It's delightful.

Tschick by Wolfgang Herrndorf is fun. I also enjoyed Selam Berlin by Yadé Kara.
will have a think about other contemporary books that fit the bill!

Thank you - this sounds great, and translated by Jonathan Franzen too, wow!

Thanks, have added these to my list! Please let me know if you can think of any more 😊

Have you read Vom Ende der Einsamkeit?
Also anything by Juli Zeh is popular at the moment - I read Unter Leuten and found it a bit too long but would like to try something else she has written.

I wasn’t impressed by it on tv, but I remember the book to be good: Der Schwarm by Frank Schätzing

I've not read these but they are on my wishlist and I think they look interesting:

Madgermanes
The End of Days (actually any Jenny Erpenbeck)
This House is Mine

Thank you for all of your suggestions, all of these look brilliant!

Juli Zeh especially looks like a good author for if I want start reading in German again. It's a long time since I've read a novel in German, I think the last one was 'Bronsteins Kinder' by Jurek Becker (an excellent book!).

The following novels are all ones which I did as part of my MA recently.

Karen Duve

Regenroman

Dies ist kein Liebeslied: Roman

Emine Sevgi Özdamar

Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn

Das Leben ist eine Karawanserei - hat zwei Türen - aus einer kam ich rein aus der anderen ging ich raus

Can I add a classic from the 1970s which I think you might enjoy? A real favourite of mine. Try this one to start with.

Heinrich Böll

Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann

@Willowcat77

I've often bought German books from Grant and Cutler, Willowcat.

It's now a part of Foyles.

They have a German section; the staff would be able to suggest other books to you.

https://www.grantandcutler.com/books/section/G+A

Thanks @TheSquareMile I read "Die Verlorenen Ehre der Katherina Blum" about 20 years ago, and agree it's a great novel!
Thanks so much for all of your suggestions and the link! 🙂

I really like Robert Seethaler's books - most are available in English now too. They cover a range of time periods (his most famous Der Trafikant is set during the Nazi period). I also have While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer on my tbr pile and Sarah Elena Muller's Bild Ohne Madchen.

I signed up for the Goethe Institut's newsletter - even if I can't attend events they often mention new German language books/authors that you can seek out.

I loved Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann. I read it in English because that's the copy that I happened to come across, but I'd quite like to read it in the original.

I've enjoyed Anke Stelling lately - she writes about the hypocrisy of self-declared Berlin hipsters - very biting. Can recommend Schäfchen im Trockenen and Bodentiefe Fenster. They've both been translated into English.

Going back a bit, Was Bleibt is Christa Wolf's fictionalised account of being spied on by the Stasi.

Wie es leuchtet by Thomas Brussig is supposed to be very good - I started and never finished it, but must try to go back to it. (He wrote the Sonnenallee one mentioned upthread, and also Helden wie Wir, which was made into a very thoughtful film).

Ewig Sommer by Franziska Gänsler is currently at the top of my to-read list. It's set in a dystopian near future of climate change.