"Krone" book check

A good start to the new literary year 2025!

Fine reading material by Daniel Kehlmann, Wolf Haas, Daniel Glattauer and Peter Handke

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Starpix/ Alexander TUMA Karl Schöndorfer Leonhard Hilzensauer / Paul Zsolnay Verlag Tschepp Markus)

Bookworms can look forward to 2025: the first literary treats are already available in January. We have taken a close look at the new novels by Wolf Haas, Daniel Kehlmann, Peter Handke and Daniel Glattauer for you!

The Austrian literary year 2025 is off to a pretty good start. After all, a number of highlights are already appearing in its first few days. Books that will make dark January days pass "as if on a train". 

Daniel Glattauer: "On a train"

In the truest sense of the word in Daniel Glattauer's new novel "In einem Zug". This is exactly where his protagonists meet: a famous romance novelist, who bears a strong resemblance to the 64-year-old Glattauer, and a young psychotherapist. They do what people rarely do on public transport these days: nothing. No scrolling through their cell phones, no streaming on their iPads, simply nothing. And in this quiet togetherness, a conversation begins. Not a casual chat, but an in-depth conversation about the life of an author, relationship problems - and love, of course. Until a surprising twist awaits both author and reader at the destination station. Glattauer tells the story in his usual light-footed and captivating manner, so that the novel - how could it be otherwise - can be read in one go.

Daniel Kelhmann: "Beerholm's Imagination"

Daniel Kehlmann's very first novel "Beerholms Vorstellung" is also about tricks and deception. The author is a pupil at a Swiss boarding school who, in a roundabout way, rises to become a globally acclaimed magician. Until he realizes that deceiving people is not enough for him. "The author may be on the right track," was the F.A.Z.'s verdict on this debut work in 1997. She was more than right . . .

Tomorrow, the author, who has been read millions of times, celebrates his 50th birthday. To mark the occasion, Daniel Kehlmann's debut will be reissued - with an afterword by the author. The presentation will take place on March 11 at the Akademietheater in Vienna.

The top 10 books of 2024

Fiction

1. "All Saints' Day Fiasco", Thomas Stipsits
2. "The Calendar Girl", Sebastian Fitzek
3. "You can also fall into the heights", Joachim Meyerhoff
4. "Journey to Laredo", Arno Geiger
5. "A beautiful foreigner's child", Toxische Pommes
6. "Icebreaker", Hannah Grace
7. "Yoko", Bernhard Aichner
8. "The philosopher's ship", Michael Köhlmeier
9. "Iowa", Stefanie Sargnagel
10. "Trial by fire", Donna Leon

Non-fiction book

1. "Ageing", Elke Heidenreich
2. "Lustig war's immer", Hans Krankl and Herbert Prohaska
3. "NEXUS", Yuval Noah Harari
4. "Freedom", Angela Merkel and Beate Baumann
5. "On hypocrisy", Paul Lendvai
6. "Inside Signa", Rainer Fleckl and Sebastian Reinhart
7. "Can't Hurt Me", David Goggins
8. "About life and death", Florian Klenk
9. "I no longer swim where the crocodiles are", Sabine Kuegler
10. "Power: The 48 laws of power", Robert Greene

Wolf Haas: "Wobbly Contact"

Wolf Haas has achieved a real masterpiece with his new novel. In "Wackelkontakt", the painter M. C. Escher only makes a brief appearance in the form of a puzzle. But it is no coincidence that the main protagonist bears the same surname as a homage to the famous artist, who blurred the boundaries between reality and fantasy by playing with perspectives, logic and infinity. In Haas, Franz Escher is waiting for the electrician because of a loose connection while reading a book about a mafia hitman who has escaped. He is in prison waiting to be released into the witness protection program. At the same time, he reads a book - about Franz Escher, who is waiting for the electrician. This is just the beginning of two intertwined books that slowly come together to form a whole - and send the reader's perspective and logic on a rollercoaster ride that is as entertaining as it is profound.

Peter Handke: "Yesterday's snow, tomorrow's snow"

And another important writer starts the new year. Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke's "Snow of Yesterday, Snow of Tomorrow" is "a play for the stage, a drama without a change of speaker, a song without a refrain", according to the publisher. "The speaker interrupts himself, starts again, and not only collects what he encounters while walking, but also follows the afterimages with his eyes closed."