One of my New Year's Resolutions is to gain back my reading ability in French and German (languages which I'm supposed to have mastery of, at least in theory, as part of my grad school requirements, and which I feel rather guilty about neglecting). I'm looking for suggestions for easy(-ish) and enjoyable books in these languages.
A few requirements:
- A reading level around age 10-12 would probably be about right. (No picture books, please.)
- It's probably best to begin with prose, so no poetry, please (and I have a pretty good idea about French and German poets in any case, having accompanied so many Lieder/art songs back in the day).
- I'd probably enjoy fiction more, but could try nonfiction as well, if it is the sort of thing that one has to read in the original language to get the flavour/style of it (like, say, Cicero or Livy in Latin).
- One (justly) oft-recommended work in French is Le Petit Prince -- however, I already read large chunks of this, back in high school. (Ditto for Michael Ende's beautiful Die unendliche Geschichte.)
Ok, fire away! Any and all suggestions welcome.
A few requirements:
- A reading level around age 10-12 would probably be about right. (No picture books, please.)
- It's probably best to begin with prose, so no poetry, please (and I have a pretty good idea about French and German poets in any case, having accompanied so many Lieder/art songs back in the day).
- I'd probably enjoy fiction more, but could try nonfiction as well, if it is the sort of thing that one has to read in the original language to get the flavour/style of it (like, say, Cicero or Livy in Latin).
- One (justly) oft-recommended work in French is Le Petit Prince -- however, I already read large chunks of this, back in high school. (Ditto for Michael Ende's beautiful Die unendliche Geschichte.)
Ok, fire away! Any and all suggestions welcome.