Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on The Swarmby Frank Schätzing
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
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)
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)
The Golem's Eye
by Jonathan Stroud
A young magician's pursuit of a powerful, ancient creature threatens to unleash an ancient evil.
Two years after the events of the first novel, Nathaniel (alias John Mandrake ) serves in London’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, working to eliminate the anti-magician Resistance. Under pressure from ... (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)
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)
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)
The Green Mile
by Stephen King
A prison guard discovers the power of redemption, and miracles, when he meets a mysterious inmate.
Featuring a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in the Georgia Pines nursing home writing down his story in 1996, and his time in 1932 as the ... (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)
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)
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 Physician
by Noah Gordon
An orphan's quest to become a doctor in 11th century Europe.
It is the year 1020. Rob Cole is the eldest of many children. His father is a Joiner in the Guild of Carpenters in London. His mother, Agnes Cole, is his father's wife. Robert has a particular Gift: ... (Wikipedia)
Measuring the World
by Daniel Kehlmann
A humorous exploration of the history of science, revealing the dichotomy between objectivity and creativity.
The young Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann conjures a brilliant and gently comic novel from the lives of two geniuses of the Enlightenment. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, two young Germans ... (Goodreads)
Neverwhere
by Neil Gaiman
A mysterious journey through a hidden realm of London, filled with danger and unexpected allies.
Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London. At the start of the story, he is a young businessman, recently moved from Scotland and with a normal life ahead. ... (Wikipedia)
Whispers of the Dead
by Simon Beckett
Forensic anthropologist Dr. David Hunter investigates a series of murders in a small English village.
In plain black letters were the words Anthropological Research Facility,' but it was better known but another, less formal name. Most people just called it The Body Farm.The victim has been bound and ... (Goodreads)
Blackout
by Marc Elsberg
A massive power outage hits Europe, plunging the continent into chaos and revealing the fragility of modern society.
The novel starts with a collapse of electrical grids across Europe, plunging the population into darkness and disaster. , , The prolonged electricity cut causes major problems: no more petrol , no ... (Wikipedia)
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks
A collection of interviews recounting tales of the zombie apocalypse.
It has been nearly twenty years since the start of the apocalyptic worldwide pandemic known as the Zombie War, and about ten years since the war has ended in humanity's victory. The framing device ... (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)
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)
The Last Watch
by Sergei Lukyanenko
A group of magic users protect humanity from supernatural threats in the shadows of the night.
Anton Gorodetsky is learning to use his new power when Gesar sends him to assist the Scottish Night Watch in Edinburgh in a murder investigation. A young Russian man has been murdered in a "Vampire ... (Wikipedia)
Old Man's War
by John Scalzi
Elderly citizens enlist in an interstellar war to save humanity, discovering new strength and purpose.
Old Man's War is about a soldier named John Perry and his exploits in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF). The first-person narrative follows Perry's military career from CDF recruit to the rank of ... (Wikipedia)
Last of the Wilds
by Trudi Canavan
A young girl's quest to find her destiny, while protecting her magical world from destruction.
After pitched battle, The White—the avatars of the Five Gods—have briefly turned back the vicious invaders. And now, the priestess Auraya is sent on an urgent mission to reconcile with the powerful, ... (Goodreads)
Monsieur Ibrahim and The Flowers of the Qur'an
by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
A young Jewish boy befriends a Muslim shopkeeper and embarks on a journey of self-realization.
The book begins with a young Moïse, commonly referred to as Momo, preparing to search for a prostitute . It is written as a reflection of his childhood, and he notes that he was only eleven years old ... (Wikipedia)
Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures
by Walter Moers
Rumo, a Wolperting, embarks on a journey to save his love and discovers a world of magic and danger.
The first book chronicles Rumo's childhood, beginning with his puppyhood raised by Hackonian Dwarves, his capture and lengthy detainment by fearsome Demonocles on a floating island known as Roaming ... (Wikipedia)
Pet Sematary
by Stephen King
A family's terrifying journey of life and death, as the line between the living and the dead blurs.
Louis Creed, a doctor from Chicago , is appointed director of the University of Maine 's campus health service. He moves to a large house near the small town of Ludlow with his wife Rachel, their two ... (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)
Judas Unchained
by Peter F. Hamilton
The thrilling conclusion to the Commonwealth Saga. Humanity faces its greatest threat as ancient alien technology is unleashed.
The book opens with a short section providing backstory. As part of the first mission to Mars , a team of astronauts exits their spacecraft for the first time, only to see another man standing there, ... (Wikipedia)
The Elementary Particles
by Michel Houellebecq
Story of two half-brothers, exploring the depths of humanity and the emptiness of modern life.
Despite the essentially elaborate scope of the plot revealed in the novel's conclusion, the narrative focuses almost exclusively on the bleak and unrewarding day-to-day lives of the protagonists, two ... (Wikipedia)
The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear
by Walter Moers
An epic fantasy adventure of a bear-like creature exploring a mysterious world of magic and monsters.
Captain Bluebear tells the story of his first 13-1/2 lives spent on the mysterious continent of Zamonia, where intelligence is an infectious disease, water flows uphill, and dangers lie in wait for ... (Goodreads)
Hyperion
by Dan Simmons
Epic science-fiction story of a journey to the distant planet Hyperion.
In the 29th century, the Hegemony of Man comprises hundreds of planets connected by farcaster portals. The Hegemony maintains an uneasy alliance with the TechnoCore , a civilisation of AIs . Modified ... (Wikipedia)
Kill Decision
by Daniel Suarez
A thrilling techno-thriller about autonomous drones and the race to control them. Fast-paced and action-packed.
The book opens with a video feed from predator drones in Karbala , Iraq, where it is observed that an unmarked drone with American colors fires a missile on the dense crowd during a religious ... (Wikipedia)
