Suhrkamp Insel

Klaus Bittermann

Furniture at Home, But No Money for Alcohol

Kreuzberg nights are longer than ever – and world-famous. When the young people of this neighbourhood in the centre of Berlin declare a bridge over the Landwehr canal to be a must-visit, even the New York Times takes notice.

Detlef Bluhm

Ship’s cats

The map of the world today would look very different were it not for cats. Without them the great sea expeditions and voyages of discovery would never have been possible: on the weeklong trips across the Atlantic cats were a necessity, for they protected the food from rats and mice.

Juan Danilo

Ceviche. The Cookbook

The legendary Peruvian dish ceviche – fish marinated in lime juice and salt – is currently becoming a major trend in international gastronomy. This is not surprising, as ceviche is a culinary sensation: a sophisticated and fresh dish with lots of possible variations – a true explosion of flavour and colour.

Eva Demski

Garden Stories

In many religions paradise is described as a garden. Countless people would love to have something resembling paradise in this life already. From this moment on, a question arises every day: Does the garden own us or do we own the garden?

Gabriele Diechler

Lavender Dreams

A picturesque village in the Provence, not far from Grasse, the world capital of perfume. But Julia isn’t here to enjoy the beauty of the landscape: her life is falling apart, and she has come here in search of the truth …

einzlkind

Billy

Billy enjoys a sheltered childhood in his aunt and uncle’s family in Duffmore, a small town in Scotland. His hippie parents have split from the world with an overdose shortly after his birth. From them, he inherited his love for music: for the Beatles, the Ramones, Joy Division. From his uncle, on the other hand, he receives the love for philosophy.

Birgit Haustedt

Venice

First, you have breakfast in the hidden Caffè del Doge, where you get the best coffee in the city, before you dive into the hustle and bustle of the Rialto fish market. Afterwards, you marvel at fashion and perfume art in the sumptuous atmosphere of the Palazzo Mocenigo and then take midmorning refreshments of cicchetti, Italian tapas, and an ombra, a breath of chilled wine, in Venice’s oldest bacaro.

Ursula Heinzelmann

Monsieur Vuong

There is a restaurant in the Alte Schönhauser Straße 46 in Berlin-Mitte that became an international place of pilgrimage many years ago: Monsieur Vuong’s restaurant.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

The Lives of Others

East German culture scene, mid-1980s. State power entrenches on the lives of two artists, a couple, initially seemingly untouched by politics – Georg is a playwright, Christa-Maria an actress. Minister Hempf sets the Stasi onto Georg and wants him out of the way, as he has fallen in love with Christa-Maria.

Andreas Izquierdo

Miss Hedy Dreams Of Flying

»Lady in her prime seeks cavalier to drive her to the nudist beach. Payment guaranteed.« – An ad in the local newspaper sets the ball rolling: Hedy von Pyritz, 88 years old, disciplined, sharp-tongued, vain. Keen mind, dry humour, at times offensive. An old lady, who usually sits in a wheelchair, causes a substantial scandal in the small town in the region of Münster, where she resides in grand style.

Gabriela Jaskulla

The Autumn Cook

Gianna is young, vivacious and ambitious – and she is determined to become a chef. And to be one of the best. Where better to learn the ropes than with those Michelin-starred chefs? Thus her journey leads her from her hometown of Regensburg, via Copenhagen and Navarra, all the way to New Mexico. At four enthralling locations, she learns not only an array of cooking styles from famous and independent-minded colleagues, but also experiences the ebb and flow of emotions: she is in love – and not just with one man, but with two at the same time, two brothers who could hardly be more different from one another. While one promises security and steadfastness, the other entices her into new, risky adventures. Gradually Gianna discovers what really matters in life…

Sarah Khan

The Fortune Teller’s Babblings

Apartment clearance and tabula rasa, fire or impulse sale – what drives people to sell their things for small change via classifieds? In all seriousness, with an intention to buy, Sarah Khan met numerous people who advertised and listened carefully when they started to recount their life stories – and created literature from oral history. The outcome is a series of stories about separation and new beginnings, happiness and unhappiness, of rising or already-burst dreams.

Bledar Kola, Ursula Heinzelmann

New Albanian Cuisine

From cooking at Noma to revolutionising the Albanian cuisine: The traditional cuisine of Albania, shaped by the country’s Ottoman past as well as by Italy and Greece, yet still distinct and authentic, reinterpreted here in 70 recipes by Bledar Kola and the team at his restaurant Mullixhiu.

Friederike Mayröcker, Angelika Kaufmann

Jimi

»Jimi the Polar Bear was lying in the arms of the sleeping child, his paws crossed. It was 1 very young polar pear the size of a puppy and he hardly dared to breathe so as not to wake the child. The child was dreaming that Jimi was lying in its arms and told him 1 story.«

Thomas Montasser

A Heavenly Catastrophe

An old monastery in a magical and forgotten corner of Burgundy. Three elderly nuns barely managing to keep the place going. And a young woman, Louise, from the banlieues of Paris, with a talent for getting into trouble.

Thomas Montasser

The Summer of the Penguins

A small bookshop in London’s Mayfair borough. Mrs. Annetta Robington finds herself completely absorbed in a fascinating book about penguins and has lost track of time. Just as she is about to leave the bookshop, she makes a sudden, incredible discovery: the shop owner is a penguin! The elderly gentleman denies it at first, but then admits to it: yes, he is a penguin – one of many that live among us humans.

Mareike Nieberding

When We Forgot How to Speak

Throughout her childhood and teenage years Mareike Nieberding would be picked up by her father no matter where she was, if she was drunk, or who she was with. From a party at one in the morning, at seven after a shift at the bar. Her father was her protector, her comforter, an incurable optimist. When she sits in front of him today she asks herself who this greying man with freckles really is, what he thinks and feels, whether he’s happy. At some point between then and now the two stopped getting to know each other. These days, once he’s picked her up from the train station and they’re on their way, they talk about neighbours and other acquaintances until all of a sudden they’re home, and silent. They don’t argue. They just have nothing to say to each other.

Bettina Rust

Berlin

You love Berlin and know the extraordinary city on the Spree like the back of your hand? You’ll be surprised by how much is still waiting to be discovered! This book will take you to places that may soon become some of your favourites and where you’ll want to return over and over again.

Matthias Sachau

Alicia Disappears

Alicia and Robert are best friends. But then one day, Alicia suddenly disappears without a word of explanation. The only clues she left are three Photos and her favourite book, Wuthering Heights.

Hg.: Friederike Schilbach

The Bathroom Chronicles.

Friederike Schilbach on The Bathroom Chronicles: »Last spring, I visited a friend in Italy when I found the inspiration for this book. She lives in Monopoli, a little city in Puglia by the sea, in an apartment that used to belong to a captain. My friend renovated it herself, in a very gentle and thoughtful manner. Where once stood the fireplace where pulpo was grilled now stands the bathroom. When you step into the shower, you can look up a meter-long shaft – and like in a James Turrell artwork, see the open sky way above. I realized this bathroom resembles my friend in character. Both are airy, open, minimalistic, beautiful.

Sarah Schmidt

Far Away is Something Else

A gruff Berliner and a small-town northern German with a penchant for yoga and handicrafts. Other than a mutually felt aversion, Edith Scholz and Christel Jacobi have nothing in common – and yet, the two 70-year-olds take off on an adventure that will wind up taking them all the way through Germany.

Erwin Seitz

The Gasthaus

A long table made from solid wood, floorboards, benches along the walls, wood cladding and a tiled stove, hosts who know their guests and who give them a feeling of comfort – that is the soul of the German Gasthaus, a type of inn or tavern. This is a place where sociable companionship is important no matter what happens in the outside world.

Erwin Seitz

Cooking in Accordance with Nature

Char on buckwheat risotto with »Bergkäse«; quail on beluga lentils with elderberry cream; saffron curry with mango and pistachio – Erwin Seitz combines fresh ingredients, light fonds, slightly acidic components and fruity notes into a European-Mediterranean style. These simple basic recipes invite you to create individual combinations depending on region and season and to prepare a delicious and healthy dish in 30 minutes. In the comprehensive section on nutritional information we learn everything we need to know about traditional types of grain, native freshwater fish, oils and vinegars, nuts and herbs – from the history of their cultivation to practical shopping tips.

Theodor Storm

Little Havelman

Little Havelman is lying in his cot and can’t come to rest. He wants his mother to drive him around, but she has already gone to sleep in her four-poster bed. That’s when he decides to take matters into his own hands and drives through the keyhole and out into the night on a moonbeam…

Bettina Suleiman

Return to the Wild

Free time? Sleep? No comment. Young, thirty-something Marina is living the dream of an entire generation of researchers. She and her mentor Griffin are working on a UN project worth millions that is to experiment with raising gorillas to be like human beings.

Hans Traxler

Sniffler

A summer month in a stately country residence in East Sussex. Sounds marvelous. When a married couple is invited by their English friends to look after the house and the dog while they go on holiday, they are overjoyed at the prospect. Swimming in Pevensey Bay, excursions with the Bluebell Express, visits to the Tate Gallery, hiking in the Downs – the two make great plans. But they have not taken Sniffler, their hosts’ dachshund, into account. The dog is panicked with fear of being left alone and comes up with ever more and new tricks to prevent his dog-sitters from leaving the premises …

Stefan Ulrich, Franziska Ulrich

Munich

What could a perfect day in Munich look like? You have breakfast on one of the most atmospheric squares of the city, the Gärtnerplatz, with cappuccino and croissants fresh from the oven. Afterwards you take a stroll through the Kunstareal, which is definitely going to inspire you, no matter whether you prefer the Old Masters, the young and restless, dinosaur skeletons or contemporary architecture.