you hit it right on the money with the nobel prize winners :) I have to (guiltily) admit reading a krimi or bestseller is fun, you know the words, you're done after a couple train rides, it was usually exiting - of course then you forget it, because the contents where basically nothing. I have liked max frisch though and Kafka is also surprisingly easy when you consider people study him, also thanks for karl may suggestion I'll put it on my to read list. The thing is sometimes you want something to think about and I know there's many great german authors and I'd like to be able to "get" them like I do Borges :)