On the occasion of World Book Day, we present our personal recommendations to you here:
Cees Noteboom: The following story
It's about discovering love - real love, reflected in the love found in books and ancient writings. And about looking at life and yourself at the end of the “journey”. What did it all mean? I think this book makes you discover life in a completely new way - in many facets, with all its ups and downs.
Genre: Novella
Recommended for: Anyone who would like to be a little enchanted and who would like to go on a special, sometimes fantastic, journey with the narrator.
Tina Echterdiek, Head of the Central Library
Aimee de Jongh: Days of Sand
In the early 1930s, persistent drought turned the Great Plains into a “Dust Bowl.” Against this background, John Clark received the government commission to document the state of agriculture. But what he experiences on site touches him so deeply that he begins to doubt whether his pictures can even capture the struggle for survival of the simple farmers. A strongly told story in large, haunting images, it almost seems as if the sand is trickling out of the pages as you read!
Genre: Graphic Novel
Recommended for: People who are looking for their own path in challenging times like these and would like to be inspired by graphically told stories.
Guntram Schwotzer, team editing
Marah Woolf: Light as a feather, like falling snow
The start of the series is promising.
Eliza stumbles into a fairytale world full of supernatural creatures, which is not entirely without danger. While searching for magical artifacts, she gets closer to the aloof elf Cassian. Woolf's writing style captivates you from beginning to end. The elven world may be dark, but Cassian completely convinced me (and Eliza).
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Recommended for: Featherlight is suitable for anyone who wants a special love story in a fantastic world.
Leonie-Sophie Ilyuk, trainee
Inka Lindberg: We fell in love in October
The comic-of-age novel for young adults deals with the topic of self-discovery in numerous facets. Exploring your own sexuality and questions about your (professional) future play a big role. The story is told at a pleasant pace, engagingly and sensitively. The first-person perspective provides an intensive insight into the protagonist's inner world.
Genre: New Adult
Recommended for: Highly recommended for (young) readers who can identify with the search for their own self.
Jacquelineschulenberg, central library information team
Evke Rullfes: The invention of the housewife - the story of a devaluation
In the broad temporal arc, the author shows that this role, which seems so normal to us, had its origins in a completely different world.
I found it particularly interesting which social circumstances as well as which economic and sociological considerations drove their development. And how did the construct of the “perfect housewife” become so established over the centuries that entire generations could hardly imagine any other type of woman's life in a family?
Recommended for: The book is for people who want to know how the role model of the housewife came about and why we can see and live household management completely differently.
Louise Mathis, Children's Team Central Library
Mareike Fallwickl: The anger that remains
“Don't we have any salt?” is the sentence that begins the novel and ends Helene's life. This book vividly describes how her friend and her daughter cope with loss in different ways. It is a captivating novel about three women who struggle with their demands on family and friendship and what it means to be a woman in our society. I really liked the depiction of the generational conflict and the different ways of coping with grief. The stage version of the book, which can currently be seen at the Schauspielhaus in Hanover, is highly recommended.
Genre: novel
Recommended for: All angry people and those who want to be angry.
Janina Ivens, Children's Team Central Library
SA Cosby: Blacktop Wasteland
The main character is the black car mechanic Beauregard Montage, who lives with his wife and children in rural Virginia, historically marked by racism and not an easy place for people of color even today. Previously active as a sought-after getaway car driver for various crews, he is now solid and owns his own vehicle workshop. But then: A large chain of workshops sets up shop and drives down prices. Customers stay away. Debts pile up; The funds for the children's everyday life, school and studies must be raised somehow. In short: a hopeless financial situation threatens existence and leads to moral dilemmas. The strength lies not only in the excitingly constructed plot and the powerful language. The authentic character and conflict design as well as the atmospheric descriptions of the cultural and oppressively hot ecological climate in the rural southern states in midsummer create a feeling as if you were standing in the middle of the action as an invisible observer and are constantly sweating.
Genre: Crime thriller in the Blaxploitation tradition
Recommended for: Fans of the Blaxploitation genre, but also for everyone who likes well-written gangster stories, fast-paced car chases and series such as “Crooks” (Netflix).
Robert Hodonyi, team editing
Gil Ribeiro: Lost in Fuseta
The crime series takes its readers to the Portuguese Algarve. Through a binational exchange program, Leander Lost, an Asperger's autistic person with remarkable abilities, becomes part of the local police team. His extraordinary ability to recognize lies based on micro-expressions, coupled with his tendency to take everything literally and always tell the truth, represents both a challenge and an enrichment for working with his new colleagues. The series stands out through charismatic protagonists who quickly grow on readers. The picturesque setting of the Portuguese coast with many unique places gives the story a wonderful atmosphere.
Genre: Crime
Recommended for: Lovers of crime novels who have already experienced the beauty of the Algarve or would like to discover it.
Carolin Graf, team editing
Freya Sampson: People we don't know yet
The mildly demented pensioner Frank has been traveling through London on bus number 88 for 60 years in order to find a beautiful red-haired woman who he met on the bus 60 years earlier, who impressed him deeply and changed his life. One day he meets the young Libby, who is also red-haired, and almost thinks that he has found the girl again. But Libby is far too young. She becomes friends with Frank and is touched by his story. She quickly decides to help him find his girl. The book tells the story of the encounter between Frank and his true love in flashbacks. A warm-hearted story with refreshing humor that brings out some of the London flair.
Genre: novel
Recommended for: Anyone who likes funny English novels with happy endings.
Sabine Forcher-Zipf, head of the children's team at the central library
Margaret Atwood: Penelope and the Twelve Handmaids
Penelope reflects on her life after death. I like the twist Atwood gives voice to peripheral characters from part of Homer's Odyssey. Laconic, merciless and critical, she gives new impetus to a purely masculine-centered narrative that was common in ancient Greece.
Genre: Historical
Recommended for: Anyone who likes to look at the other side.
Eva Demanskowski, Central Library Information Team
Jarka Kubsova: Mountainous country
Jarka Kubsova tells the fictional story of a South Tyrolean farming family that lives by and with nature on a mountain farm for three generations starting in the 1940s. With great effort and hardship, the basis of life is wrested from the soil at an altitude of 1,670 m. The focus is on the figure of “Innerleit-Rosa”, who works for herself and her son to the point of self-sacrifice. The moving story of the development of a farming family and mountain agriculture between tradition and modernity is unvarnished and powerful until the final question: “Stay or go?” " told. A very interesting family portrait on the subject of people and nature with literary substance.
Genre: novel
Katja Bischoff, press spokeswoman
Eberhard Syring: Architecture guide Bremen/Bremerhaven
There is plenty of room for debate about the architectural face of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The “Architecture Guide Bremen Bremerhaven” presents over 300 buildings, starting with the Bremen town hall and ending with new projects such as the development of the New Harbor in Bremerhaven. The guide is a very useful companion for walks through the different districts of the city.
Knut Rudolph, team editing
Three generations of anti-colonial protest in Cameroon: Published by the Perspective Change initiative
A comic report that allows me to change my perspective on how colonialism was portrayed when I was at school. The “violent restructuring of virtually all areas of life” and the respective resistance to it are shown. Three events are presented as examples that represent three different generations in the 19th and 20th centuries, but also for different social classes and also for the diverse colonial effects of several colonialists in Cameroon. The events are told as self-contained comic stories with expressive images by the Cameroonian illustrators Franky Mindja and Negro Illustrator. The dialogues allow me to immerse myself in the respective events. Despite the comic form, they are well structured, clearly understandable and incorporate terms from the respective languages. Each of the three comic events is supplemented by information on the historical classification and the sources used, as well as interviews with experts.
Genre: Graphic Novel
Britta Schmedemann, Diversity Manager
Benedict Jacka: The Labyrinth of London
Urban fantasy set in England's capital, there's also a pinch of English humor in it. But the basic mood is much darker, the characters are deeper, and the Alex Verus series has something that became diffuse too quickly in “The Rivers of London”: There are overpowering antagonists who have little presence, but are always threatening Main character stand. If “The Rivers of London” were an English crime scene, the Alex Verus series would be a political thriller.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Mirko Hoppe, Central Library Information Team
Murielle Rousseau : The Cafés of Paris
Cafés in Paris are places with tradition where you can discover life in the city from a different perspective. The author introduces her favorite cafés and tells an accompanying story about each one. Whether following in the footsteps of de Beauvoir, Sartre and Camus in Les Deux Magots or Proust, Zola and Marlene Dietrich in the Café de la Paix. You'll want to travel to Paris straight away for a coffee. Or several…
Recommended for: A different travel guide for all Paris travelers new and old. Or for fans of this city who want to satisfy their longing for it at home.
Silke Becker, Head of the Editing Team
Andreas Gminder: The Kosmos Handbook of Mushrooms
The little brother of this book (also highly recommended, especially for beginners: Handbook for Mushroom Pickers; Gminder, Andreas) has made us the mushroom enthusiasts we are today. Now a more extensive work by the same author has been published that leaves nothing to be desired. Everything the experienced mushroom picker needs in the field is described in the book: over 1500 species with spore powder color and microcharacteristics such as spore shape and size. But the highlight is the identification key developed by A. Gminder himself, which leads even the beginner to the right species.
Genre: Guide
Anja Menkhaus, team editing
Michaela Marx: Nothing is left – make full use of fruit and vegetables with over 100 recipes
The book gives tips and recipes on how to throw away as little fruit and vegetables as possible and what you can eat. The #makesustainable series is also available for the home and garden. Simple and no frills. Recommended by experienced food savers!
Genre: Sustainability / Cooking
Recommended for: Anyone who wants to deal with sustainability and zero waste in a simple and uncomplicated way and is curious about unusual recipes.
Felicitas Nieting, Central Library Information Team
Sheila de Liz: Woman on fire
A really good book that every woman over 40 should read. The author provides humorous and understandable information about the topic of menopause. It empowers women not to simply accept symptoms, but to actively take care of their bodies and their well-being. She explains why the WHO study on hormone replacement therapy is now being critically assessed and thus allays women's fear of hormones.
Genre : Medicine
Jana Siegert, team editing
Wolfgang Büscher: A spring in Jerusalem
Anyone who has never walked in Jerusalem in the evening light has experienced how the Old City transforms into a melting pot of sounds, smells and images, heard how the bells of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher penetrate the morning silence, dreamed in the shade of the olive trees and the velvety taste of hummus tasted, I recommend this book, a wonderful journey through a city that inevitably grabs you and doesn't let go. Sometimes never again.
Annemarie Herms-Buerhop, Central Library Information Team
Torsten Gaitzsch: Unknown island treasures
A niche interest you probably didn't even know you had: inland islands! Islands in the lakes and rivers of Germany, Austria and Switzerland are presented in beautiful pictures and funny texts. Many have fascinating histories, some don't even have a name. It's best to find out for yourself what makes an inland island in Bremen so unique.
Genre : illustrated book
Recommended for: People who like Robinsonades and don't want to go to the South Seas.
Sebastian Sachse, Children's Team Central Library
Nicole Rödigs: The Jam Wolf
A very hungry wolf ambushes Carlos in the forest and wants to eat him. Carlos uses the blue tongue trick to outwit the wolf and offers his jam bread as a replacement. From then on there is no stopping the wolf; all the children have to give their jam sandwiches to the wolf. Until Carlos' grandma does something particularly brave...and the wolf becomes a real jam wolf. The Marmalade Wolf even gets his own TV show and guess what he does there?
Genre: Children's book
Recommended for: An all-ages book from little boys to big bad wolves, but particularly good for reading to ages 4 and up.
Markus Radeke, Osterholz children's team
Thomas Mann: Mario and the Magician
The novella captures the emerging intolerant atmosphere in Europe in the 1920s. You can also feel the connection to the fascist movement of the time in Germany. And it's about free will. Written densely and excitingly on almost a hundred pages, the mood is oppressive. As I read, I was drawn into the events. At the same time, I asked myself at what point I could have avoided them. The story always makes me think: How do I behave in politically/economically/socially difficult times? What can I contribute to tolerant and well-functioning social conditions?
Genre : Novella
Almut Müller, Central Library Service Team
Udo Marquardt: Time and people - facets of a cultural history
Times are really complicated, both for us personally and for society. Philosophers like Augustine noted that it is difficult to clearly define time. There is a lot of debate about whether time is linear or repeats itself in cycles. The subjective perception and objective measurement of time leads to a paradoxical situation: technology is supposed to save time, but we still always feel under time pressure. This raises the question: How can we really use time sensibly in this fast-paced world?
Recommended for: Anyone who not only wants to measure time, but also understand it.
Sabine Axmann, team editing