Time is running out for present buying, so let us provide some literary inspiration with our 10 book picks. Bringing fine food and drink to festive parties are cocktail bible “Cocktailian” and “Dilekerei“, a collection of exquisite cake and tart recipes by Wedding baker Dilek Topkara. Meanwhile, helping your coffee-loving friend go pro is Yumi Choi’s cafe business manual, “Das Coffee Shop Manifest“. Take your loved ones on a journey with Simone Hawlisch’s “Heimat“, where women from Finland to Australia share what “home” means to them, and “Walking Wild“, Livia Ritthaler’s guide to the best dog-walking destinations in Berlin and Brandenburg. For more fictional adventures, Deborah Levy’s Booker Prize-nominated “The Man Who Saw Everything” is an electrifying tale of a London historian’s time in 1980s East Berlin. Also looking East is Christof Zwiener with his book “nach 1990“, a curious collection of images of decaying GDR-era flagpoles that are an eerie reminder of the East German state’s omnipotence. For younger readers, introduce them to “Generation Greta” with Millie Marotta’s “A Wild Child’s Guide to Endangered Animals“, a beautiful picture book of creatures threatened by climate change. Just as striking is “Always Everything“, 372 playfully linked photos by Jan Von Holleben that are perfect for a rainy day losing yourself in fantasy worlds. Finally, for design devotees, “Moholy-Nagy and the New Typography” showcases Bauhaus designer László Moholy-Nagy’s typographic world, with previously unpublished materials from the Kunstbibliothek Berlin. Happy reading! (Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Sophie Döring)
Many of the titles here can be ordered online and collected the next day at one of our favorite local bookshops, Uslar & Rai.
“Cocktailian” by Mixology Verlag (2019, Tre Torri Verlag, 208 pages, German)
“Dilekerei” by Dilek Topkara (2017, Heel Verlag, 176 pages, German)
“Das Coffee Shop Manifest” by Yumi Choi (2019, 152 pages, German)
“Heimat” by Simone Hawlisch (2019, Knesebeck, 200 pages, German)
“Walking Wild” by Livia Ritthaler (2019, The Gentle Temper, 216 pages, German)
“The Man Who Saw Everything” by Deborah Levy (2019, Penguin, 199 pages, English)
“A Wild Child’s Guide to Endangered Animals” by Millie Marotta (2019, Puffin, 101 pages, English)
“Always Everything” by Jan Von Holleben (2019, Tarzipan, 372 pages, picture book)
“nach 1990” by Christof Zwiener (2019, Vexer Verlag, 360 pages, German & English)
“Moholy-Nagy and the New Typography” edited by Petra Eisele, Isabel Naegele & Michael Lailach (2019, Verlag Kettler, 256 pages, English)
