Have you played through Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+? How about a good old book again? Here are a few tips from the editorial team for inspiration. And if you want to order some fresh reading material: you can support your local bookshops via Geniallokal.

© Julia Wittmann

Julia's tip: "The Three Suns" by Cixin Lui

"The Three Suns" is the first volume of a science fiction trilogy from China. Author Cixin Liu takes you back to the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, where a small group of astrophysicists and engineers are working on a top-secret research project. With the help of radio wave transmission, the team sends signals into space. Fifty years later, the desire to make contact with extraterrestrial life becomes a reality - changing the fate of humanity forever. "The Three Suns" is the perfect lockdown read. Compared to an alien invasion, the pandemic is a piece of cake!

Lu's tip: "I am Linus: How I became the man I've always been" by Linus Giese

I can recommend Linus Giese 's biography to anyone who would like to find out more about trans people. In his book, he describes why it took him 31 years to dare to say that he is a man and trans. He gives intimate insights into his life, the hurdles he had to overcome with the authorities, but also the concerns that prevail in our society. Even if you are not trans or know trans people, it is still an interesting and, above all, very instructive read.

Regina's tip: "The Mouse - The Story of a Survivor" by Art Spiegelman

I've never been a big comic fan, but I love graphic novels. And "The Mouse" by Art Spiegelman in particular. Even if the subject and the drawings are rather gloomy: Spiegelman tells the story of his father, a Polish Auschwitz survivor, his mother and also his own story. The son perceives his father as a narrow-minded and rather difficult character. But when he talks about his Holocaust experiences, the trauma the father carries around with him becomes tangible. And in part also passes it on to his son. The story is structured as a kind of fable, hence the name "The Mouse": Jews are depicted as mice, Germans as cats and Americans as dogs. Spiegelman works with these animal metaphors, among other things, to create a certain distance from all the horror he tells and draws about. Overall, "The Mouse" is not light fare, but it is a very well told and drawn book that you can pick up again and again to remind yourself and draw comparisons with today.

Annika's tip: "We still have our whole life" by Eshkol Nevo

You give this book to your best friend or the female version of it. Why? Because it tells of true friendship, of the fragility of life, of the truth of the sentence "We'll never have today again". And about everything in between. The setting takes place during the 1998 World Cup in Haifa. The protagonists are Churchill, Juval, Amichai and Ofir. The four of them are around thirty, friends since their youth, they watch soccer together, chat, smoke weed and are there for each other. Then one of them comes up with a curious idea: to write three life wishes on a piece of paper, hide the papers and only reveal the wishes at the next final. Four years later, nothing is as it was. The mood in the country is explosive, the wishes are gone, life tastes different.

This content has been machine translated.