Yes, you can read these books​

Choosing a book that you can read and enjoy in English is a challenge. Here, we present books that are accessible to readers whose first language is not English. They are not to simplify sth.etw. vereinfachen​simplified texts or adaptions, but books that we hope you will enjoy reading in their original English editions.​

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The Thursday Murder Club​

Richard Osman​

Coopers Chase is a luxurious retirement village in the south of England where life is good and nothing much happens. Not satisfied with jigsaw puzzlePuzzlejigsaw puzzles and exercise classTrainingsstunde​exercise classes, a small group of (mentally) fit residentBewohner(in)residents, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron, meet every Thursday to try to solve old murder cases. Suddenly, they find themselves in the middle of a real murder investigation – one that is very close to home.​

This funny crime story is the first book in a new series featuring the four elderly amateur detectives. With other well-developed and likeable characters, such as a priest, a boxer and a Polish builder, the novel has the feel of a modern-day Miss Marple.

Penguin, €9.49​

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The Accidental Tourist ​

Anne Tyler​

Recently separated from his wife, Macon is a man who needs his routines. He’s also a travel guide writer who doesn’t like to travel. Muriel, an unconventional singlehier: alleinerziehend​single mother and dog trainer, shops at second-hand stores.​

When their paths meet, Macon, Muriel and their families start to rethink their lives. Set in Baltimore and Paris in the 1980s, this sensitivefeinfühlig​sensitive drama is full of strong characters and chaotic family relationships that will stay with you long after you’ve finished the book.​

Probably the best known of Anne Tyler’s novels, The Accidental Tourist is both funny and sad. It includes handypraktisch​handy travel tips for the reluctantzögerlich​reluctant traveller and a dog called Edward.

Vintage, €9.49​

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The Dry​

Jane Harper​

Did Luke Hadler really murder his wife and son and then kill himself? Everyone apart from his parents thinks he did.​

When Melbourne-basedin ... ansässig​based detective Aaron Falk returns to his home town of Kiewarra to attend the funeralBeerdigung​funeral of his childhood friend Luke, he decides to stay in the town to investigate further. It’s soon obvious that he’s not welcome in this tight-kniteng verbunden​tight-knit rural community with its many hidden secrets and lies.​

Trying to find out what happened to the Hadlers forces Aaron to to revisitsich wieder mit etw. befassen​revisit the traumatic events of his teenage years.​

This crime novel is set in ruralländlichrural Australia, where droughtDürredrought and bushfires are as much of a danger as a possible murderer on the on the looseauf freiem Fuß​loose. The story will keep you in keep sb. in suspensejmdn. fesseln​suspense right up to the final pages.

Flatiron Books, €10.70​

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Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood​

Trevor Noah​

The crime in the title is that of being a mixed-race child with a black South African mother and a white Swiss father.​

Trevor Noah was only five years old when Nelson Mandela was released from prison, but he already knew what apartheid meant for his family, friends and neighbours.​

​This boyhood memoir about growing up in Johannesburg and Soweto is many things: funny, engaging, sad, educational and eye-openingaufschlussreich​eye-opening.​

Trevor Noah writes without bitterness about racism, poverty, violence and colonialism. He also writes about friendship, religion, tribalismStammessystem​tribalism and making the most of what life throws at you. But most of all, he writes about his mother’s strength, determination and love for her children.​

This memoir shows how Noah’s talents and ingenuityEinfallsreichtum, Scharfsinnigkeit​ingenuity enabled him to leave the township, but it’s not difficult to see that the township remains firmly within him.

John Murray, €9.99​

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Days Like These ​(An alternative guide to the year in 366 poems)​

Brian Bilston​

What better way to start each morning or to relax after dinner than with this new collection of modern poetry from Brian Bilston, known on the internet as the unofficial poet laureatepreisgekrönte(r) Dichter(in)​poet laureate of social media?​

Each poem to relate to sth.sich auf etw. beziehen​relates to something that happened on, or is directly connected with, that particular day of the year.​

Each day, a short, informative and often tongue- in-cheekironisch​tongue-in-cheek text introduces the topic of that day’s poem.​

Some of the poems are easy to read, others are slightly more challenging. The topics are varied, from beeBienebees through politics, e-mails, hiccupSchluckauf​hiccups, climate change, learning to drive, Grimm’s fairy taleMärchen​fairy tales, the Eurovision Song Contest and beyond.​

Here are 366 poems to entertain, inform and visually delight you every day of the year. Always clever, sometimes critical and very often laugh-out-loud funny.

Picador, €16.27​

You’ll find more book tips in our literature special Spotlight 4/23.