50 Must-Read 50 Beta
← The Must-Read 50
Cover of A Small Town in Germany by John le CarréA Small Town in Germany
Classic · Fiction, Adventure, Politics

A Small Town in Germany

by John le Carré
1968 · 352 pages · Fiction
59.3Must-Read
Score Classic
Reserve shelf
≈ 9 hours to read · about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day

By the numbers

59.3Must-Read Score
  • Readers34 out of 100 · counts 42%
  • Critics0 out of 100 · counts 14%
  • Bestseller30 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
  • Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%

Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.

On our reserve shelf: it doesn't have enough readers yet for us to rank it alongside the Must-Read 50 pool. We check again every month, and it can still turn up in your 50 once you've read most of our ranked books.

Why it made the list

Bestseller
One of the ten best-selling books of 1968 (Publishers Weekly)

Reads as

Gripping, Adventurous

How we rank

Already read it? Upload your Goodreads or StoryGraph history and get the 50 best books you haven't read, tuned to your taste.Get my 50

More by John le Carré

Cover of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le CarréThe Spy Who Came in From the Cold
The Spy Who Came in From the ColdJohn le Carré
Cover of Smiley's People by John le CarréSmiley's People
Smiley's PeopleJohn le Carré
Cover of The Honourable Schoolboy by John le CarréThe Honourable Schoolboy
The Honourable SchoolboyJohn le Carré
Cover of A Perfect Spy by John le CarréA Perfect Spy
A Perfect SpyJohn le Carré

If you like this, read next

Cover of Advise and Consent by Allen DruryAdvise and Consent
Advise and ConsentAllen Drury
Cover of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden KeefeSay Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern IrelandPatrick Radden Keefe
Cover of Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan FarrowCatch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect PredatorsRonan Farrow
Cover of The Holcroft Covenant by Robert LudlumThe Holcroft Covenant
The Holcroft CovenantRobert Ludlum
Cover of Freezing Order by Bill BrowderFreezing Order
Freezing OrderBill Browder
Cover of Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill with Dan PiepenbringChaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the SixtiesTom O'Neill with Dan Piepenbring

Explore the best-of lists

All 47 best-of lists →
Classic booksTop 25 · 924 rankedBooks of the 1960sTop 25 · 104 rankedFantasy booksTop 25 · 504 rankedMysteries and thrillersTop 25 · 623 rankedLiterary novelsTop 25 · 325 rankedPulitzer Prize-winning novelsTop 25 · 63 rankedMemoirs and biographiesTop 25 · 290 rankedScience fiction booksTop 25 · 333 ranked