Fierce and flippant: a book you won't easily forget!

Lena was born into a world that is arbitrary and violent. The girl learns to cope with life’s hardships life with wit, persistence and a great deal of courage. She also tries to help others: the kindergarten teacher, homeless dogs that are supposed to be sold to a Chinese restaurant, discus thrower Wassylyna, and her friend, Dog, who lost her legs to frostbite. On her search for a ‘miracle by chance’ – a kind of flying female super hero who is said to turn up wherever help is needed the most – Lena manages to conquer the challenges she faces. Tanja Maljartschuk’s book is a masterpiece of dark and gruesome humor – a book you won’t forget!

An essay on human dignity in late capitalism.

Someone who neither consumes nor produces is redundant - according to the cutthroat logics of late capitalism. International elites claim that overpopulation is our greatest problem. If the population needs to be reduced, who will have to disappear asks Trojanow in his humanist essay that argues against the redundancy of humankind. In his forceful analysis he covers points such as devastation caused by climate change, ruthless neo-liberal politics on the labor market and the apocalypses presented in mass media that we, the seeming winners, fervently consume. One thing we have failed to realize is that these issues also concern us. They concern everyone and everything.

A book on the magic and danger of childhood

Every week Hindenburg’s airship and its crew are burnt to crisps in grandmother’s pantry, while a shark fishing boat rolls at sea in the old tool shed and a fire hydrant turns into a red-eared, lovesick alien. Softly, seriously and without getting stuck in nostalgia, Roman Marchel revives the magic and implacability of life from our childhood and teenage years. His stories are never idyllic: like soap bubbles the children’s worlds are shields against grown-up life. But they are also susceptible to danger, deadly risks and destruction, which can have life-long consequences.

Looking beyond the horizon.

A poet embarks on a journey. We accompany him on his path through all kinds of natural and cultural landscapes, which his words smoothly adapt to. The accuracy of his gaze and his perspective allow us to take part in the visual adventures and broadening horizons he encounters. With him we witness the Czar’s homecoming to St. Petersburg, wander through a Japanese forest and through modern Moscow, visit the Museum of the Revolution in Hanoi and admire the Windcatchers of Yazd in Iran. A collection of poetically condensed moments, lifted out of their everyday rut by our senses and illusions.

“Recognizing oneself in others is an exercise that puts marvel back into our daily lives.” (Barbara Frischmuth)

Barbara Frischmuth is a master of stylistic abundance: full of compassion she takes a sometimes down to earth, sometimes humorously-grotesque look at the trials and tribulations of human interaction. Frischmuth tells of hellos and good-byes. From the story of a lovesick young archeologist who goes into hiding at her sister’s house and lives through a cathartic experience to a substitute fight between a grandmother and her granddaughter over a misplaced nail file. With her playful narration Frischmuth gives us glimpses of a simple truth: Time and again, reality is an experiment.

Was dem Deutschen sein Faust, das ist dem Österreicher sein Hödlmoser.

Hödlmoser, an anachronistic hero, assumes the traditional attitude of the simple man: lover, paterfamilias, mountain climber, poacher, alcoholic, armchair politician, ruffian, patricide, cuckold. The comic element arises from the wide discrepancy between action and language. ... when Styria falls to pieces, so does Austria.

Titus’ mother has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Did she run away, was there an accident or was she murdered?

It’s been eight months since Titus’ mother disappeared without a trace. As a native Italian, she always remained a stranger in the village. His father had brought her with him from one of his expeditions. Rumors and suspicions quickly spread: Did she drown in the lake, did she run away with a lover, or was she the victim of a crime? Titus has been an outsider for years. He avoids people because of a burn scar in his face. The offer to live with and assist the new gravedigger seems like a good way to escape the confinement of his father’s home. As it turns out, the gravedigger is no stranger… Evelyn Grill takes her readers on a journey into a dark world full of secrets. Thrilling suspense from first to last page!

A poetic journey through our daily lives, full of little pin pricks.

The seasons come and go and the fight with and for life calmly continues. All loved ones live, they say. The house protects us as it confines us, two people united for a timeless moment – while feeling abandoned at the same time. Daliy life is difficult to master, memories arise, chemotherapy begins just like the search for one’s self. Or is it a search for you? The new season comes, and all loved ones live… Hans Eichhorn’s strong emotions and images reveal a world of estrangement, illness and hope. Brilliant!

Grotesque, satirical, and irresistibly funny. A sharp-tongued declaration of love to an era long gone.

It all begins quite harmless: True Kakanian patriot Jaromir von Eynhuf decides to bestow the gift of his milk tooth collection on his beloved monarch on the occasion of the latter’s royal jubilee. As fate will have it, the collection is still incomplete. On his quest for the last milk tooth, the loyal official of the royal court’s drum depot bravely faces the trials and tribulations of Kakania. With his debut novel, Fritz Herzmanovsky-Orlando created an unforgettable literary monument to Imperial Austria and the Habsburg monarchy.

What do Miranda July, Markus Werner and Wilhelm Genazino have in common? Read this book and you’ll know

Maria has time to spare. So she often spends it sitting on a bench on the church square, watching people come and go, people with big goals on their minds but little time on their hands. Maria, an unemployed fabric saleswoman, knows about fabrics, knows what goes well together, knows what’s concealing weaknesses and what’s highlighting strengths. In her own case it’s more tricky: Which strength will help conceal her age on a market that doesn’t need her anymore? She isn’t old; still, her life is played in rewind, passing its chances, dreams and mischances: Otto, whom she forgets in the crisper; Walter, the Elvis Impersonator of the Mournful Countenance who widowed her; Eduard, who returned from town with another woman; her little sister who became so much of a mother that she even treats Maria like a child. By telling the stories of such quirky, eccentric, yet lovely people, Anna Weidenholzer draws the picture of a woman on the fringe of society. Which is still in the midst of life...