Book List
Rules: In a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Donât take but a few minutes, and donât think too hard â they donât have to be the ârightâ or âgreatâ works, just the ones that have touched you. Tag friends (mutuals), including me, so Iâll see your list. Make sure you let your friends know youâve tagged them.
Tagged by: snailes
1. Das Kleine Ich bin Ich, Mira Lobe - probably the best children's book out there, telling the story of a little outsider who discovers that he only needs to be himself in order to be happy. It's the first book I remember reading as a toddler and more importantlay being read to by my parents. So this is the one, my first book love.
2. The fountainhead, ayn rand - yes, I couldn't be more chlichÊ if i tried, an architecture student who likes the foutainhead. but let me tell you this: while I found the second half of the book more than irritating, the first half, the story of Rourke against Keating, really stirred something in me. I can't quite put my finger on it and I probably will never even read it again (it's one of this don't want to spoil a perfect moment things), but I loved it. And that's the whole point of this list, after all!
3. Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix, JK Rowling - I know there's not too much love for this one out there, it's too long, too meandering, too many characters, too angsty, to everything. But once again, it came to me at the right time. I was going through some tough stuff when I first read it and while I can now (12 years later and with some distance to my depressed teenage self) see the flaws in it, I don't care. I found consolation and comfort in these pages at a time when I couldn't find that anywhere else.
4. Persuasion, Jane Austen - I started reading Austen when I was about 18 - the age of her heroines and of course, I was Lizzy, I was Elinor , heck, I even was Catherine (I never had much sympathy for Emma, though). But then, a couple of years and broken hearts later, I reread Persuasion. And to this day it's my favourite Austen book. It's beautifully ironic, witty, snarky, funny, insightful (as is everyone of her fantastic books), and so on and so on. But most importantly it tells the story of a second chance. That love is not just for the beginners and the young, but for everyone who's ready and willing to go out into the world and have his heart broken. It's absolutely fantastic, and I don't think she's ever been sharper or better
5. Hamlet, Shakespeare - again, clichÊ, clichÊ. angsty teenager reading the probably best play of all times and thinks she GETS it. Well, what can I say? I probably didn't understand even a quarter of it. I haven't read it since I was 16, and I never will again. Strangely enough, I like it for the same reason as the HP - I found understanding, a confidante, a friend on those pages. When you go through hell, all you can do is to keep going. And that's much easier with a friend by your side who knows that there's a way out somewhere. Even if that friend is fictional... better than nothing, better than most.
6. Really anything by PG Wodehouse - I kind of am cheating here right now, after all, it's not one book, it's about 80. And thank whoever for that. because I swear to you, you will never, ever, ever in your life read anything funnier than wodehouse. he was one of Douglas Adams' favourite writers, and boy you can tell. He is a god. If you pick up only one book from my list, let it be by Wodehouse.
7. Was ist Was - Das Weltall. I love science. I always have. for a while I wanted to be a physicist but I just wasn't smart enough. Nonetheless, I love it. I love to watch the sunset and not just see beautiful colours blurring from orange to black but I love that I understand how these colours come to be. I want to understand the world around me and science is basically just that - it makes you understand. This was one of the first sciency books I had, given to me by my father (a physics teacher) at the age of 7. it's a about space and rockets and satellites and our solar system. All I wanted to be after I read it was an astronaut. (I still haven't fully given up on that dream tbh) I love science. And I think this book is where that started.
(boy this is getting long. I just really like books)
8. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder - the first philosophical book I read, and not the last. I've read it quite a long time ago but I still find myself thinking about certain concepts mentioned in the book when it's too late and I'm in a weird place with an even weirder friend. I think my life wouldn't just be more boring without the book, it would be unbearable.
9. Atonement, Ian McEwan - yeah, the movie is more than ok, but the book is actually fantastic - it tells the same story over and over again, from different points of view, each time revealing a new detail, a new insight. and in the end it revolves around one question - can you hold god (and a writer is a god to the characters he creates) responsible for his deeds?
10. Drehn Sie sich um Frau Lot, Ephraim Kishon - I was waaaaay too young when I first read this at a family holiday in Italy when all other books had already been read and my parents' choices had to suffice. I probably didn't really "get" the satirist aspect then, but even at 9 I realized boy, this is funny. And to this day, I really love Kishons work.
So, this is it , my list of books that touched mein some way or other. I'd love to read yours as well!
This is for: vreggli, westphilia, its-a-metawhore, etoapia, mindfncked, comehere-letmeholdyou, color-constructivist,
Youâre under no constraint to follow-through!
