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Recommendations based on Die Physikerby Friedrich Dürrenmatt
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The Visit
by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
A wealthy woman makes a fateful decision to exact revenge on the impoverished village that once wronged her.
The story opens with the town of Güllen (a name evoking "liquid manure" in German) preparing for the arrival of famed billionaire Claire Zachanassian, who grew up there. Güllen has fallen on hard ... (Wikipedia)
Homo Faber
by Max Frisch
A middle-aged engineer's rational worldview is challenged when he embarks on a journey of self-discovery and falls in love with a young woman.
Walter Faber is an emotionally detached engineer forced by a string of coincidences to embark on a journey through his past. The basis for director Volker Schlšndorff’s movie Voyager . Translated by ... (Barnes & Noble)
Faust, First Part
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A timeless story of a man's struggle between the forces of good and evil.
Goethe’s masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German literature, Faust has made the legendary German alchemist one of the central myths of the Western world. Here indeed is a monumental ... (Goodreads)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by Patrick Süskind
A murder mystery set in 18th century France, exploring the depths of human obsession.
An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of ... (Goodreads)
Steppenwolf
by Hermann Hesse
The inner struggles of a tortured soul as he searches for redemption.
The book is presented as a manuscript written by its protagonist , a middle-aged man named Harry Haller, who leaves it to a chance acquaintance, the nephew of his landlady. The acquaintance adds a ... (Wikipedia)
Chess Story
by Stefan Zweig
A chess master's attempt to regain his lost skill, and the psychological battle he faces.
The narrator opens the story on a passenger liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires. Driven to mental anguish as the result of total isolation by the Nazis , Dr B, a securities expert hiding ... (Wikipedia)
The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink
A man's journey of understanding, uncovering a dark secret from his past.
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of ... (Goodreads)
The Swarm
by Frank Schätzing
A thrilling tale of a giant creature from the deep wreaking havoc on a world unprepared.
The book follows an ensemble of protagonists who are investigating what at first appear to be freak events related to the world's oceans . The book has several sub-plots and will occasionally follow ... (Wikipedia)
The Sorrows of Young Werther
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A young man's struggle to reconcile his intense emotions with the realities of society.
This is Goethe's first novel, published in 1774. Written in diary form, it tells the tale of an unhappy, passionate young man hopelessly in love with Charlotte, the wife of a friend - a man who he ... (Goodreads)
The Trial
by Franz Kafka
A man is arrested and put on trial for a crime that remains unclear throughout the novel.
On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, Josef K., the chief cashier of a bank, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents from an unspecified agency for an unspecified crime. Josef is not ... (Wikipedia)
Waiting for Godot
by Samuel Beckett
Two men wait for a mysterious figure who never arrives, reflecting on their lives and existence.
Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, have met near a leafless tree. Estragon spent the previous night lying in a ditch and receiving a beating from some unnamed assailants. The two men discuss a variety ... (Wikipedia)
The City of Dreaming Books
by Walter Moers
An adventure through a literary world, as a librarian searches for a mysterious book.
Protagonist Optimus Yarnspinner ( Hildegunst von Mythenmetz in the German text) is a Lindworm ( dinosaur ) who inherits his authorial godfather 's possessions, including a perfect story written by an ... (Wikipedia)
Beneath the Wheel
by Hermann Hesse
A young man struggles against the oppressive rigidity of a school system.
In Hermann Hesse's Beneath the Wheel or The Prodigy , Hans Giebenrath lives among the dull and respectable townsfolk of a sleepy Black Forest village. When he is discovered to be an exceptionally ... (Goodreads)
Narcissus and Goldmund
by Hermann Hesse
An exploration of the spiritual journey of two men, contrasting their different paths.
Narcissus and Goldmund tells the story of two medieval men whose characters are diametrically opposite: Narcissus, an ascetic monk firm in his religious commitment, and Goldmund, a romantic youth ... (Goodreads)
Written in Bone
by Simon Beckett
An archaeological mystery about a body found in a shallow grave and the secrets it reveals.
' I took the skull from its evidence bag and gently set it on the stainless steel table. 'Tell me who you are...' Forensic anthropologist Dr David Hunter should be at home in London with the woman he ... (Goodreads)
The Chemistry of Death
by Simon Beckett
A forensic scientist returns to his hometown to escape his past, but is drawn into a murder investigation.
Forensics expert David Hunter is recovering from a shattering tragedy three years earlier. While he is working in an isolated Norfolk village as a doctor, a woman's mutilated corpse is discovered. ... (Wikipedia)
Night Watch
by Sergei Lukyanenko
A supernatural battle between the forces of Light and Darkness, with the fate of the world in the balance.
A Mage recently reassigned to field work in the Night Watch, Anton Gorodetsky, is tasked with tracking vampires who have been hunting and killing humans without a licence. As he follows a young boy ... (Wikipedia)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
A shipwrecked sailor's struggle to survive on an isolated island, and his eventual redemption.
Crusoe (the family name corrupted from the German name "Kreutznaer") set sail from Kingston upon Hull on a sea voyage in August 1651, against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to pursue a ... (Wikipedia)
Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family
by Thomas Mann
A story of a family's decline, tracing four generations of a wealthy German family.
In 1835, the wealthy and respected Buddenbrooks, a family of grain merchants, invite their friends and relatives to dinner in their new home in Lübeck , Germany . The family consists of patriarch ... (Wikipedia)
The Name of the Rose
by Umberto Eco
A Franciscan friar investigates a series of murders in a medieval monastery, uncovering a sinister plot.
In 1327, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk , a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological ... (Wikipedia)
The Neverending Story
by Michael Ende
A young boy's quest to save a fantasy world, by restoring its magical power.
The book opens on Bastian Balthazar Bux , a "fat little boy of ten or twelve," , :,5, whose mother has died and whose father is too distracted by grief to pay much attention to Bastian. While running ... (Wikipedia)
No Exit
by Jean-Paul Sartre
Four strangers, trapped in a single room, confront terrifying truths of their existence.
Three damned souls, Joseph Garcin, Inèz Serrano, and Estelle Rigault, are brought to the same room in Hell and locked inside by a mysterious valet. They had all expected torture devices to punish ... (Wikipedia)
The Magic Mountain
by Thomas Mann
A young man's journey of self-exploration and personal growth during a long stay at a Swiss sanatorium.
The narrative opens in the decade before World War I . It introduces the protagonist, Hans Castorp, the only child of a Hamburg merchant family. Following the early death of his parents, Castorp has ... (Wikipedia)
The Death of Ivan Ilych
by Leo Tolstoy
A man's journey of self-reflection in the face of death, confronting mortality and the meaning of life.
Ivan Ilyich lives a carefree life that is "most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible". Like everyone he knows, he spends his life climbing the social ladder. Enduring marriage to a ... (Wikipedia)
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
A soldier's harrowing experience of the horrors of war.
The book tells the story of Paul Bäumer, who belongs to a group of German soldiers on the Western Front during World War I . The patriotic speeches of his teacher Kantorek had led the whole class to ... (Wikipedia)
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
by Heinrich Böll
A young woman's fight for justice against an oppressive media, and the consequences of civil disobedience.
Four days after a Weiberfastnacht 's eve party (Wed. 20 February 1974), where Katharina Blum met a man named Ludwig Götten, she calls on Oberkommissar Moeding and confesses to killing a journalist ... (Wikipedia)
The Canterville Ghost
by Oscar Wilde
An American family living in a haunted English castle confront the ghost who haunts it.
The story begins when the American Minister to the Court of St. James's , Hiram B. Otis, and his family move into Canterville Chase, an English country house, despite warnings from Lord Canterville ... (Wikipedia)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by Edward Albee
A darkly comedic exploration of a troubled couple's tumultuous marriage.
George and Martha engage in dangerous emotional games. George is an associate professor of history and Martha is the daughter of the president of the college where George teaches. After they return ... (Wikipedia)
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter
by Astrid Lindgren
An adventurous young girl embarks on a journey of self-discovery as she navigates her way through a world of robbers and dragons.
Ronia is a girl growing up among a clan of robbers living in a castle in the woodlands of early-Medieval Scandinavia . As the only child of Matt, the chief, she is expected to become the leader of ... (Wikipedia)
Dream Story
by Arthur Schnitzler
A married couple's sexual fantasies lead to a series of events that challenge their relationship and their sense of self.
Dream Story is set in early-20th-century Vienna. The protagonist of the story is Fridolin, a successful 35-year-old doctor who lives with his wife Albertina (also translated as Albertine) and their ... (Wikipedia)
