New Audiobooks
Hear Something Good Again

Stimulating, poetic and insightful, audiobooks can really help ensure that the next few months aren’t remembered as the “winter of our discontent”. You might even find ideas for Christmas gifts in our selection.

By Marit Borcherding

The world of humans is full of unfortunate events right now making it a good time to turn to the animal world. Take crows, for instance. The very intelligent and adaptable birds, which live almost everywhere in the world, have a place in mythology, in various religions as well as in literature and films. The biologist, philosopher and journalist Cord Riechelmann wrote Krähen, a book about crows that is practically a love letter. The homage was presented so convincingly by the actor and accomplished speaker Frank Arnold that the audiobook made it to third place in the relevant best list of Hessischer Rundfunk.

Speaking of the animal world, Marc-Uwe Kling, known for The Kangaroo Chronicles, is back to tell us all about the stubborn “nohorn”. This creature knows only one word – “no” – which makes it quite annoying. One day it runs away to find like-minded creatures who are also contrary to what’s expected of them and they have great fun together. The author himself reads his children’s book Das NEINhorn, to the pleasure of three to seven-year-olds and probably parents who listen in as well.

In praise of simplicity

Less is more. The adage not only suits our circumstances during the pandemic, but is always meaningful in some parts of the world considering the excesses of the affluent society. Wolfgang Büscher, otherwise known for his travels and hikes all over the world, made himself the subject of an experiment in Die Heimkehr (The Homecoming) and spent six months in a hut in the forest of northern Hesse. He went without electricity and running water but was not a hermit; keeping in touch with the forester and staff and with the forest owner. Actor Bernd Reheuser conveys the atmospheric descriptions of nature and Büscher’s poetic reflections on his loneliness and own origins. The “calming” book made it to number 2 on hr2’s list of best audiobooks in October 2020.
 
In 2014, Robert Seethaler inspired readers and literary critics alike with Ein ganzes Leben (A Whole Life). It’s the quiet story of the farmhand Andreas Egger, who spends almost his entire life in an alpine valley, observes the arrival of tourism with all its environmental effects, who meets and loses his only love, Marie. This chronicle of a simple life and death led to a radio play in which actor Peter Matic embodied the role of Egger. The production, according to a review in BR, manages, “hauntingly and with a restrained soundtrack, to make Andreas Egger’s cosmos tangible. Hard and abstract sounds reveal the strength and determination with which Egger struggles through life. Tender, shimmering strings and some genuine noises make his sensitivity palpable – the sensitivity of a man who is one with the nature that surrounds him...” 

For all ages

Time travel is definitely a topic that fascinates and amuses people in all age groups. And since our travel activities are rather limited at present, it’s just right to leave the year we’re in behind via an audiobook and stop by in the past. Kathrin Passig and Aleks Scholz, authors of Handbuch für Zeitreisende (Handbook for Time Travelers), provide truly useful tips, for example on dealing with dinosaurs or what snacks to pack for the Middle Ages. They even discuss what to wear on a journey through the centuries. All in all, it’s a nice “balancing act between science and nonsense” (FAZ), read by Matthias Matschke, an actor known from numerous theatre performances, television films and comedy formats.
 
Since 1948, there has been a well-known puppet theatre in Augsburg called the Augsburger Puppenkiste. Its plays have been shown on television since 1953, leading to a steady increase in the awareness and popularity of these unique productions. Every generation has had their favourite ever since, whether about a cat named Mikesch, Bill Bo and his gang, Urmel from the ice, and so on. Thomas Hettche has captured the magic of this puppet theatre, which inspires people of all ages, in his novel Herzfaden. On this year’s shortlist for the German Book Prize, the novel tells of a twelve-year-old girl who walks through a hidden door after a performance by the Augsburger Puppenkiste. Many friends await her in a fairy-tale-like attic: Princess Li Si, Lukas the engine driver, Kalle Wirsch – and the woman who created all these marionettes and now tells their story. The film and theatre actor Valery Tscheplanowa and Christian Brückner, one of the most famous radio play and voice actors in the country, wonderfully bring a German cultural legend to life in their almost eight-hour reading. Let winter begin!