Books by Thomas Mann

WANG: Tyler, what does it say about us that you and I have generally a lot of similar interests in terms of, let’s call it books, music, all sorts of things, but when it comes to particular categories of things, we oppose each other diametrically. I much prefer Anna Karenina to War and Peace . I prefer Buddenbrooks to Magic Mountain . Here again, you oppose me. What’s the deal?

5. Thomas Mann, Der Zauberberg .  I had never read this in German before.  For all its extraordinary intellectual and emotional peaks, it is also remarkably witty.