The Days I Spent with God. By Axel Hacke

Axel Hacke is far more than a bestselling author - he is one of the most renowned German-language columnists, and his books "Der kleine Erziehungsberater", "Die Wumbaba-Trilogie", "Aua!", and most recently "Über die Heiterkeit in schwierigen Zeiten und die Frage, wie wichtig uns der Ernst des Lebens sein sollte" have reached millions of readers. Above all, he is a master of quiet observation: faithful to Egon Erwin Kisch's motto - "Nothing is more thrilling than the truth" - he transforms everyday occurrences into small sensations.

So it is here. We sit in a park, God comes along, sits down beside us, and a conversation begins - about the weather, raspberries, glass containers, God and the world. That something more emerges from this is self-evident with Hacke: a small office elephant appears, a smoking snake, people in drawers, an oversized wasp, a butterfly. Along the way we learn what holds the world together ("Das Große Egal"), that God enjoys drinking champagne, and that his attempt to create a world consisting solely of twenty-three-year-old secretaries ended in failure.

In the end, all the important questions about the meaning, purpose and entertainment value of existence are largely answered - except for one: can a vegetarian feel sausage-like?