In August 1791 Maria von Herbert from Klagenfurt writes a letter to Immanuel Kant in Königsberg. She is asking the ageing celibate for comfort and advice – because Maria von Herbert is lovesick. This is historical documented. The young and talkative amanuensis of Kant is answering her in the name of his master and he responds to problems, the young woman is not suffering from. This is documented in Brandstetter’s way. Kant’s amanuensis reflects on various peculiarities and strangnesses; f.e. whether one can admire Kant, when one is admiring Goethe as well. And last but not least he reflects on a question, that affects all of us: how to get rid of lovesickness? This one-letter-novel is humorous, witty and smart, full of sarcasm as well as sapiency. Greetings from cant is a book is comfort and advice – but, most of all, it is a pleasurable read.

A man and a woman meat each other – let’s call them Georg and Renate – she is a non-smoker, he is a non-alcoholic. Both are searching for … - what ever people are searching for: for themselves, for each other, for work. In an advertising agency, they are searching for somebody, too, because the agency was given the task to develop a marketing strategy for a former extermination camp in order to enlarge attendance. What a nice opportunity for Georg and Renate to run into each other. This is how it could have been. Then, Hans Eichhorn would have written a romance. But he hasn’t, only almost. In fact Hans Eichhorn demonstrates how easy it could be to write a romance, because language and words enable to move and to overcome all kind of distance – there is no means of movement that is more convenient than words. Nevertheless, words are fugitive and make blind for the truth – blind for everything in between Georg and Renate which separates them from each other.

From the calm to the storm: a distraughting novel – diverse and vividly

Actually everything starts quite harmless. Paul Wukitsch, grown up in poor circumstances, is outstandingly intelligent. His mother makes it possible for him to study theology. Nevertheless, Paul is sceptical about church and his scepticism leads to several infringements and finally to his exclusion from the seminary. Alexander Altmann’s career is varied, too. He had married into money, but after the suicide of his wife and the consequential scandal, the tide turns … Their paths of life could not differ more, but as their paths meet, the story takes a sudden course. Peter Rosei draws the bow from the beginning of the 20th to the 21st century. The kaleidoscope of his characters creates a serried tableau full of tension. He describes the impact of a superior system on individuals in his laconic style which still is full of musicality. And he tells from the slow maturation catastrophes.

Das Genie und sein Interpret: Nikolaus Harnoncourt und Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart im Dialog. Dieses Buch gibt Einblicke in die Überlegungen und die Praxis eines Interpreten, der wesentlich dazu beigetragen hat, die Werke Mozarts für den Hörer von heute neu zu erschließen.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Texts, speeches, and conversations offer interesting insights into the considerations and working methods of an interpreter who made major contributions to the liberation of Mozart’s works from time-related overlays in order to make them accessible to the contemporary listener. Harnoncourt explains his notion of an interpretation that does as much justice to a piece as possible. Taking his recent experiences with the works of Mozart for an example Harnoncourt shows their inherent complexity and dramatic tension. These Mozart-dialogues are embedded into an analysis of the state of culture in our times. Once more Harnoncourt stresses the eminent importance of the Arts in general and music in particular for the evolvement and perpetuation of human moral values. “A computer cannot make music, and it cannot love either.” The distinguished conductor was awarded the Kyoto Prize 2005 for his life-time achievements. “I am not one who agrees at first. I can only agree when I have considered the opposite point of view. I like to meet contradiction myself – I need someone who questions my thoughts. When I don’t have a partner, as a last resort there’s always a heated discussion with myself.” N.H.

An intriguing and fascinating story about the birth of the Red Cross and the beginning of the Habsburg Empire’s downfall.

On site where on June 24, 1859, the Battle of Solferino ended with the defeat of the Austrian army under Emperor Franz Joseph I. Here, the French troops led by Napoleon III, an ally of the Sardinian Kingdom, managed to pave the way for Italian unification. The renowned Austrian author Joseph Roth’s famous novel “Radetzky March” eternalized the small town of Solferino in a literary monument, while Henry Dunant’s first-hand report on the gruesome battle and the suffering of the wounded soldiers in its aftermath led to the founding of the International Red Cross and the adoption of the Geneva Convention. When Ulrich Ladurner found the diaries of his great-grandfather, a man from South-Tyrol who was drafted to join the fight by lot, he set out into a past unknown to him. The political and historical account of the author’s journey, which in the course of the story becomes a search for his personal history, leads us to the Italian region Lombardy, south of Lake Garda. Observations, conversations and research on site helped Ladurner in his quest to reconstruct historical events.

Those who want to understand the 60’s, have to understand Woodstock. This is the book about the legend, written by one of Germany’s best music editors.

“3 days of peace and music” it said on a red poster with a dove of peace painted on a stylized guitar. The newspaper advertisement that was placed all over the country at the same time was even more specific: “Just walk around for three days, without seeing skyscrapers or trafficlights. Let your kite fly, lie down in the sun. Prepare your meal on your own and breathe fresh air.” And the music: With Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Joan Baez and many others, this “Aquarian Exposition” was well-cast. And so it happened that on August 15th 1969 there were 400.000 to 500.000 people setting off to the Catskill Mountains. Traffic came to a standstill, the supply situation was awful, there was nothing, except for dope. New York’s Governor threatened to declare a state of emergency, the whole world was expecting a catastrophe. The hippie’s dream of love, peace, fraternity, ecstasy and transcendency came true for three whole days. There the counterculture had its last great celebration, in the face of Vietnam. Woodstock is the hippie movement’s legendary culmination and at the same time its geatest possible gathering.

The story of two women, mother and daughter, who share their past, but who are not able to share their memories.

“Hermann is dead, now I can remember precisely.” The husband of Marianne fell down the stairs and broke his neck – an accident. She knows exactly when it happened: She wrote it down on a piece of paper in order not to forget, not like she uses to forget lunch sometimes or her neighbor’s name or her pills. Marianne suffers from Alzheimer; she is losing her memories, now she has lost her husband, too. “She’s crying ‘cause she knows that it’s too late, although he’s dead.” An accident? Friederike, Marianne’s daughter, has her doubts. Did her mother have to become a murderer to break free? While Friederike finds herself forced by her father’s death to take care for her mother, the latter withdraws herself bit by bit: she withdraws into her past, into a time when she was only a child, when she did not need bags and notes to prevent herself from forgetting. “Unraveled Days” is Gudrun Seidenauer’s second novel: cautious, touching and full of empathy, nevertheless not at the expense of the author’s linguistic accuracy.

SHORTLIST Deutscher Buchpreis 2009 Bremer Literaturpreis 2009 Walter and Alexander used to be friends when they were only children – now their ways meet again.

This is the story of Walter, the son of an influential architect. He wants to become an actor – or is that what his father wants? Walter is given a chance when Valerie, an exhausted psychiatrist, askes him to play the parts of fictitious patients’ roles in group therapy sessions. Only he is too much absorbed in his part. This is the story of Alexander. He is a nurse, a young man of spreading imagination, which developed in the shadows of his lonely childhood. Alexander quits his job and tries to get rid of his girlfriend in order to be with Valerie. But one day she is found being beaten up brutally… After his debut “Sons and Planets”, for which he received nothing but approval from the critics, Clemens J. Setz presents a piece of work which exceeds all expectations: breathtakingly vigorous, colourful, of powerful expressions and yet gentle.

Is the capital exhausting its own descendants? Where does economy navigate to and how can we change the heading?

Recent developments in economy make it clear: Farreaching changes in the neoliberal system are in process. So immensely farreaching that even the most dedicated supporters of the free market economy call the state to help and realize that their strategies have to be reconsidered. But not only did speculations on the stockmarket and fraud undermine neoliberalism. The causes for this crisis are rooted far deeper and the crucial question is this: What has to be changed in our economy and system of values to regain economical stability? Not only government support, but also the demand for transparency, for planning on a longterm basis and for accepting responsibility for our future have to be discussed, as well as a mechanism that does not load the taxpayer with the costs for imprudence and short-sightedness, but those who caused them. Klaus Woltron gave a well funded response to the financial crisis and suggests humane solutions: Because what economy needs are ethics and longterm thinking.

A freethinker’s philosophical and smart manifest.

Buddha went to the woods, Jesus to the desert and Mohammed crouched down in a cave in order to carve a name to themselves. So, what does Adolf Holl do? At the hair dresser’s he links philosophy and literature with spiritual intellectual history only to find his way back to a profane lifestyle. With “How To Found A Religion” the freethinker Adolf Holl drew up a manifesto. An essential, profound and affectionate one. Intending to found a religion, Holl takes a wander through the history of religions, asking “why” – why a profession of faith? The present day has sent the founders of our religions back to the desert and now a solution it is, what we need: a new religion! Adolf Holl asks questions and searches for the answers. Only one thing he is sure of: The suitable religion is still to be found. Ironically, funny as well as rich in content he describes his longing for a denomination that works and thus can be lived.