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I'm sure somebody here had the same problem: too many books in the native language. What to do with them?

I have lots of German books that i want to get rid of, but I fear simply donating to Goodwill is just going to get them thrown away. What is everybody doing with their excess books in the foreign language?

Oh, and if somebody wants book in German, please holler

UPDATE: Thanks for all the suggestions. A package of books is on its  way to WTM boardie, and a huge box has been picked up this morning after I had offered it on several local facebook site. It feels awesome.

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35 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Oh, and if somebody wants book in German, please holler ?


Have any novels I haven't read yet that you're looking to get rid of? ?   I've been going through about a book a month in German lately, so always looking for new material...

Quote

I have lots of German books that i want to get rid of, but I fear simply donating to Goodwill is just going to get them thrown away. What is everybody doing with their excess books in the foreign language?


Do you have a somewhat local German Saturday School or a Goethe Institut that maintains a library?

You could also post them on Amazon Marketplace - that's where I've been buying all my German books lately.  It's so nice I don't have to order them all from Amazon.de anymore - much less shipping $$!

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36 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:


Have any novels I haven't read yet that you're looking to get rid of? ?   I've been going through about a book a month in German lately, so always looking for new material...

Do you have a somewhat local German Saturday School or a Goethe Institut that maintains a library?

You could also post them on Amazon Marketplace - that's where I've been buying all my German books lately.  It's so nice I don't have to order them all from Amazon.de anymore - much less shipping $$!

How does it work selling on amazon? There is a fee, right? And books probably don't sell fast. Sounds like a ton of work. 

No local German schools etc - this is a small town; the nearest city is 100 miles away

ETA: Checked out selling on amazon. For each order, there is a 15% referral fee, a $1.80 closing fee, and a $0.99 per item fee. Not sure what their monthly fees are. That's barely worth the hassle.

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8 minutes ago, regentrude said:

How does it work selling on amazon? There is a fee, right? And books probably don't sell fast. Sounds like a ton of work. 

No local German schools etc - this is a small town; the nearest city is 100 miles away

ETA: Checked out selling on amazon. For each order, there is a 15% referral fee, a $1.80 closing fee, and a $0.99 per item fee. Not sure what their monthly fees are. That's barely worth the hassle.


I've never sold on Amazon, only bought.  That does sound like a hassle...

Well, if you're really looking to give them away, I'm serious about taking anything interesting off your hands. 

If you're looking for new reading material yourself, maybe we could even swap some, although I'll admit many of the German books I've been reading aren't actually originally German - some are translated from Icelandic, Swedish and Turkish.  For some reason I have a hard time finding German authors I'm excited about reading (I may have whined about this before...).  But I love reading in German... a while ago I decided a compromise might be to read stuff in other Germanic languages translated to German rather than English.  Yes, I know Turkish isn't a Germanic language... there's a funny story there...

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Looking up titles to see if it's something I might enjoy... :)  I'm not interested in anything translated from English or French, so that trims it down...

In the first box, Exerzierplatz and all the Bölls look interesting - I already have and have read Katharina Blum, but I don't see that it's among the ones in your box...

Did you like Der Untertan by Heinrich Mann?  It has mixed reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, but it also looks like it might be strangely relevant in today's political climate...  I've been meaning to read some more Thomas Mann, but it doesn't look like you have any of those?

I am weirdly attracted to the field guides... but since I don't live in Europe and in fact already have a very nice German field guide, I should pass on those... :lol:  Ditto for the Weihnachtsbücher - I already have stuff like that I never look at... 

I'm having a hard time reading the spines in the second box, but it looks like most of them are translated from English?  (Looks like Hemingway, Sinclair, Lawrence, Baldwin and such...?)

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5 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Looking up titles to see if it's something I might enjoy... ? I'm not interested in anything translated from English or French, so that trims it down...

In the first box, Exerzierplatz and all the Bölls look interesting - I already have and have read Katharina Blum, but I don't see that it's among the ones in your box...

Did you like Der Untertan by Heinrich Mann?  It has mixed reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, but it also looks like it might be strangely relevant in today's political climate...  I've been meaning to read some more Thomas Mann, but it doesn't look like you have any of those?

I am weirdly attracted to the field guides... but since I don't live in Europe and in fact already have a very nice German field guide, I should pass on those... :lol:  Ditto for the Weihnachtsbücher - I already have stuff like that I never look at... 

I'm having a hard time reading the spines in the second box, but it looks like most of them are translated from English?  (Looks like Hemingway, Sinclair, Lawrence, Baldwin and such...?)

Yes, most in the other box ARE translated from English, which is why they get thrown out first ?

Untertan was mandatory school reading. Happy to pass it on to you.

Things in the other box you might find interesting:

Schlink Der Vorleser - very interesting, and was very popular. I believe there is a movie.

Hochhuth Unbefleckte Empfaengnis. A play about surrogate pregnancy which was illegal at that time.

I'll be happy to mail the Boells and whatever else you want to you, if you reimburse me media mail postage. PM me.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

I have a car's worth of good quality, almost new, German books in Scotland, near Edinburgh.  Modern literature, 20 vol. illustrated history of art, some educational.  The local school has taken some; Goethe Institute does not have the room for them.  I could transport them to the London area in a while.  Does anyone know of a charity, or is interested themselves, in taking them?  Alison

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  • 2 months later...
On 7/22/2018 at 4:08 PM, regentrude said:

I'm sure somebody here had the same problem: too many books in the native language. What to do with them?

I have lots of German books that i want to get rid of, but I fear simply donating to Goodwill is just going to get them thrown away. What is everybody doing with their excess books in the foreign language?

Oh, and if somebody wants book in German, please holler

UPDATE: Thanks for all the suggestions. A package of books is on its  way to WTM boardie, and a huge box has been picked up this morning after I had offered it on several local facebook site. It feels awesome.

Where did you send your books?

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On 6/15/2021 at 6:04 AM, Ildi said:

I also have lots of books here in German. Is there any tip where I can donate them?

 

To me!!! To me!!! (Assuming they aren't board books, which my kids are mostly outgrowing at this point.)

ETA: I sent you a private message, too. 🙂

Edited by 4KookieKids
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/16/2021 at 3:04 PM, 4KookieKids said:

To me!!! To me!!! (Assuming they aren't board books, which my kids are mostly outgrowing at this point.)

ETA: I sent you a private message, too. 🙂

Would you be interested in romance novels in German? I'm a US author with translated books. I would love to find them a good home.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/20/2021 at 2:27 PM, Carlisle said:

Would you be interested in romance novels in German? I'm a US author with translated books. I would love to find them a good home.

Ha ha, I don't think so, unfortunately. My kids are all 11 and under, and while I'm shopping ahead, I'm not sure when/if they'll be interested in romance novels! 🙂. Thank you so much, though!

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/13/2023 at 8:27 AM, Pete Schopf said:

I have several dozen books, at least, written in German a lot of them probably written in the 50s 60s many earlier 

I don’t want anything for them my mother would like to see them go to a good home, she brought many of them with her from Germany when we moved here in 1968

I would love to connect, if these are still available! I will message you. :)

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  • 6 months later...

I have a bunch of German books (almost all in Gothic script) from the 1800s and early 1900s. The kind of books that a well-educated German should be thoroughly familiar with (Moerike, Goethe, Schiller, Becker, Freytag, Grillparzer, and others). Any idea of where I could donate them?

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