Berlin books to get away from it all!

What do we see when we look out the window? Berlin! Our great city! With all their peculiarities and quirks. So fascinating that numerous books have been written about Berlin.

We have selected five books about Berlin that are more than worth reading.

Alfred Döblin: Berlin Alexanderplatz

There’s always some nitwit who asks us Berliners: Have you read Berlin Alexanderplatz? Some people haven’t found the time to do so and then say, somewhat sheepishly: Read it?! I walk there every day!

Sven Regener: Herr Lehmann (Berlin Blues)

In this novel, the year of German reunification puts Kreuzberg protagonist Mr. Lehmann through a gruelling test. Excellently written with plenty of dry wit by Sven Regener – you can escape the limitations of your own four walls with this book. That’s a promise!

Erich Kästner: Fabian. Die Geschichte eines Moralisten (The Story of a Moralist)

Berlin. The last days of the Weimar Republic. The main protagonist of the book, Jakob Fabian, is unemployed. He wanders through his city and watches what’s going on. A great book about the big city, which proves that children’s literature isn’t the only thing Erich Kästner can do!

Ernst Haffner: Blutsbrüder (Blood Brothers)

Berlin at the beginning of the 1930s. The global economic crisis. Thousands of homeless young people live on the streets. The book’s protagonists, Willi and Ludwig, become part of a gang of youths. And Ernst Haffner describes what this means at the time in great detail.

Christiane F.: Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (We Children of Zoo Station)

In this book, Christiane F. from Berlin tells the story of her childhood. It’s raw and ruthlessly open. A book about disorientation and drug addiction. Back then, at the end of the 70s, this book shocked all of Germany – and it is still very much worth reading today.

Interested in some of the books? Here is a small selection of the most interesting bookstores in Berlin.