8. October 2016 - Alexander Schmidt
10 Best Books About Friendship, That You Will Devour
in
Indoor
Share
Some of the greatest literary classics are about the shared adventures of friends and what true friendship is all about: so here is our selection of the most gripping books about friendship. Some of these novels should be in every bookcase, because they are simply fun to read. The best books about friendship express the deep feeling of friendship perfectly. This is it: our top 10 timeless books about friendship.
A deep friendship is, next to love, the strongest emotional bond that holds people together. Where great emotions are involved, great writers also like to direct their attention to it. No wonder, then, that friendship is a major theme in literature. Exciting, touching, humorous: all these 10 best books about friendship will captivate you until the last page.
Have you ever read the same book at the same time as a friend? Everything becomes even more beautiful when you share it with friends, and of course this is even more true for reading good books about friendship!
Why You Read Books About Friendship Best Together
Your friends like reading as much as you do? A very special way to spend your free time with friends is to start a literature club or reading circle! Get together with your friends and talk about the books you are reading at the same time. Of course, these don’t only have to be best books about friendship, just agree on books that appeal to all of you.
Each reader has a slightly different perspective on the events and so you dive deeper into the story together and take much more with you. A prominent example of a book series that brought millions of friends to share their thoughts in literary clubs and even on the internet is G. R. R. Martin’s great ”Long of Ice and Fire*”.
It is especially exciting to exchange ideas when there are different opinions about a book or the characters in it. Besides, everything you like to do is much more fun when you share it with like-minded people. This is especially true for books read together and series and movies: it’s just great to dive into a fantastic world together and experience adventures with special characters.
The 10 Best Books About Friendship
10. Narcissus and Goldmund (Hermann Hesse)
By Eugenio Hansen at CC BY-SA 2.0
Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse is still the world’s most-read German writer and for many the introduction to ”sophisticated literature”. Besides the ”Steppenwolf”, the cult book about and for outsiders, the story of friends ”Narziß und Goldmund”, set in the Middle Ages, is one of his most popular works.
Plot: Narcissus is a novice and teaching assistant at the monastery school of Mariabronn. Goldmund, who lost his mother at an early age, is sent there by his father as a pupil. The two become friends, although they have very different character traits.
Narziß is rather pious, world-weary and floats in spiritual spheres. Goldmund, on the other hand, is rebellious, given to worldly and sensual pleasures and eventually leaves the monastery. The friends complement and divide each other. But then life shows them what really matters.
*
9. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
© MGM Home Entertainment – Of Mice and Men (1992)
Of Mice and Men is one of the very great classics of US literature and one of the most touching best books about friendship. It is about two migrant workers who move from farm to farm in the 1930s and make their way together.
Plot: Smart George and strong as bears but mentally retarded Lennie could hardly be more dissimilar and yet they share a special friendship. George protects Lennie, who is always unintentionally hurting people and causing trouble, from the wrath of other farm workers. Of Men and Mice tells a poignant story of a very special friendship.
8. The Tributes of Panem (Suzanne Collins)
© StudioCanal – The Tributes of Panem (2012)
In a dystopian future, the realm of Panem holds so-called Hunger Games once a year, where 12 children must fight each other to the death for the 12 districts of the country. This is the basic premise of one of the most successful book and film series of the past 10 years.
Plot: Katniss Everdeen is the heroine of this story. She rebels against the cruel system in her world of Panem in 3 volumes and 4 films. But she is not alone in her struggle. Only through the support of her friends does she keep hope that there is a chance for rebellion against injustice and exploitation in Panem. Can this rebellion defeat the authoritarian regime?
7. The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas)
© Constantin Film – The Three Musketeers (2011)
”One for all and all for one!” – What better way to sum up friendship than with this famous motto of the Three Musketeers from Dumas’ classic? The Three Musketeers is rightly still one of the most famous historical novels ever. From the first page to the last, it offers suspense, adventure and spins a great tale of extraordinary friendship. The Three Musketeers is about intrigue at the French court under Louis XIII and the brave heroes who stand up to it. The Three Musketeers is the first part of the trilogy about the heroic friends D’Artagnan, Arthos, Portos and Aramis.
Plot: Young D’Artagnan travels to Paris in 1625 to become a musketeer. On his journey, the courageous Gascon meets a spy of Cardinal Richelieu. A quarrel ensues in which D’Artagnon is beaten up and relieved of letters of recommendation and money. D’Artagnon no longer has a letter of recommendation and can show no particular merit: when he presents himself to the captain of the Musketeers, he is turned down. His dream seems shattered, but then he sees Rochefort, the spy and thief of the credentials, out of the window and rushes off. But on the stairs he bumps into Arthos, Porthos and Aramis, and so begins the friends’ exciting battle against the intrigues of the court with three duels..
6. The Liar (Stephen Fry)
© Arthaus Filmverleih – Author Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde in the 1997 film of the same name
”The Liar is a witty and delightfully absurd read full of British humour. The protagonist in the first novel by the British all-rounder Stephen Fry is the 15-year-old boarding school pupil Arthur Healy, a dandy, philanderer and notorious liar by the book. He has numerous amorous adventures with both men and women, when he is not forging Victorian pornographic literature.
Plot: Arthur is popular with his peers, but the only friend who really understands him is the slightly mad Professor Trefusis. Professor Trefusis has just invented the ultimate lie detector.
Together, the two quirky friends embark on a secret mission to Salzburg.
5. Why We Took The Car (Wolfgang Herrndorf)
© StudioCanal – Tschick (2016)
Why We Took The Car is one of the great bestsellers of recent years. Wolfgang Herrndorf’s cult novel has sold over 1 million copies in Germany alone! In September 2016, the film adaptation by star director Fatih Akin will be released in cinemas in Germany.
The plot: 14-year-old Miek Klingenberg has to spend the summer holidays alone in his parents’ villa. His mother is in a rehab clinic, his father is on a business trip. Boredom seems pre-programmed.
But then Tschick turns up. Andrej Tschichatschow, called Tschick, comes from one of the Assi high-rises in Hellersdorf, and has a stolen car at hand. The two boys embark on an adventurous journey through the German province and learn the value of true friendship.
4. It (Stephen King)
© Warner Home Video – Stephen King’s It (1990)
What does ahorror novel have to do with friendship? In the case of ”It” a lot, because in this Stephen King classic a group of 7 friends fights against evil personified. Without their friendship, the fight would be hopeless.
Plot: The ”It” of the title is a being older than the universe and impossibly evil. When it’s not appearing to someone in the guise of their greatest fear, ”It” stalks children as the nasty clown Pennywise to torment, murder and eat them.
In the novel, it terrorises the fictional town of Derry, Maine. Only a clique of eleven-year-old misfits, self-deprecatingly calling themselves the ”Club of Losers,” stands in the way of the nameless terror. The friends defy their own fear and take up the fight against evil together. Can they defeat this terrible force?
3. Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
The famous trio of friends at Hogwarts boarding school
Quite clearly, Harry, Ron and Hermione will probably go down forever in literary history as one of the unforgettable trio of friends. The successful 7-part series about the world’s most famous sorcerer’s apprentice is also one of the best contemporary books about friendship. They are set in a world full of magic, mythical creatures, flying brooms and omnibuses. But ultimately, the story is about growing up and how true friends are the most important thing to defy all dangers and adversities in life.
Plot: The first volume begins with a look into the past and the terrible reign of the wizard Lord Voldemort. Years ago, Voldemort murdered James and Lily Potter, the parents of the main character Harry Potter. Little Harry was also supposed to die – but the death curse falls back on Voldemort, destroying his body. When this happens, Harry Potter is only 15 months old, and from now on bears a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on his forehead as an unforgettable memorial to this event.
He grows up as an orphan with his aunt and uncle, who treat him badly and keep his magical abilities and history from him. At the age of 11, he receives an invitation to attend Hogwarts, the school of magic. In one fell swoop, his entire life changes and Harry’s exciting battle against the evil wizard Voldemort begins. Each of the seven volumes covers one year of Harry Potter’s life.
2. Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)
© Romagosa International Merchandising – Don Quixote de la Mancha (1978)
Is Don Quixote the greatest novel of all time? For many critics, the story of these two famous friends is the best novel ever written. The titled self-styled “”Knight of the Gaunt Shape”” and his chubby companion Sancho Panza is definitely one of the best books about friendship that changed literary history.
Plot: In this forerunner of all buddy stories, the two friends Don Quixote and Sancho Panza explore early modern Spain and experience all kinds of adventures. Many of them, however, take place mainly in Don Quixote’s imagination.
For example, the proverbial “battle against the windmills”, which Don Quixote believes to be evil giants with waving arms. But this does not diminish the reading pleasure one bit, quite the opposite! Thanks to Don Quixote’s fertile imagination and Sancho Pansa’s dorky good-natured nature, the two pals form one of the most endearing pair of friends in literary history.
1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
© 20th Century Fox HE – Tom Sawyer (2011)
These 2 famous novels by Mark Twain clearly deserve the top position among the best books about friendship. With the cheeky orphan Tom Sawyer and his rafting best friend Huck Finn, Twain created timeless characters.
Plot: To this day, the two novels are the blueprint for stories about teenage friends who get into mischief together, have adventures, and outsmart the adults more than once.
The two books have different focuses. The first volume is primarily about Tom Sawyer and is episodic in nature. Despite all the dangers the two friends survive, it paints an idyllic picture of childhood overall.
In the second volume, Tom Sawyer only appears at the beginning, helping his best friend Huckleberry Finn to escape from his alcoholic father. Thus begins Huck Finn’s raft trip on the Mississippi, on which he makes new friends but also gains bitter insights into the society in which he lives.
By the way, these 10 best books about friendship are also wonderful holiday reading!
On our website you will also find many more tips for gifts for friends, as well as ideas for activities with friends, as a couple or with children.
Never miss more tips and ideas from Abenteuer Freundschaft? Just follow us on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter 😉
*There are affiliate links in this article: If you order products through them, we receive a small commission without changing the price.
Similar Posts
Advertisement
Similar Posts
Lasertag at Lasertec Berlin - What Can You Expect There?
Heart racing in the semi-darkness. Adrenalin pumps through the body. Who will catch who first? Laser tag is an action sport par excellence!
Cyber Attack at Illuminati Berlin: Fight the Illuminati!
Fight as secret agents against the nasty Illuminati hackers and prevent their world domination!
Space Escape Berlin - Blow Up the Asteroid and Save the World
This Exit Room is a spaceship and you start a space adventure with an important mission: to save the Earth!
How to Cut a Video – Essential Basics Everybody Should Know
These are 10 absolutely essential tips for film editing that will also make home videos really good!
How to Shoot a Video With Your Phone or Camera - The Basics
Anyone can make a film. But very few of them will be great - because they don't know what's important! This is an how to with heaps of knowledge you should know.
What to Do at Home? #2 – 77 Ideas to Spice Up your Free Time
Puzzles, handicrafts, playing games or making music together - with these ultimate list of activities boredom has no chance.
