Indian Slippers

2007 starts with...feet up and a list! So no shoes today, just my dear and extremely worn Indian slippers.

In other words, I'm lazying at home, reading this and that, surfing both on TV channels and on the Net. I came across Professor Kemppinen's lists of the best books, so I decided to make my own imitation of it to kill time. Here it is:

10 best books (in random order):

1. Simone de Beauvoir: L'Invitée (Kutsuvieras)
2. Jose Saramago: Ensaio sobre a Ceguiera (Kertomus sokeudesta)
3. Mihail Bulgakov: Master i Margarita (Saatana saapuu Moskovaan)
4. Umberto Eco: Il nome della rosa (Ruusun nimi)
5. Stephen King: The Shining (Hohto)
6. Debi Gliori: No Matter What
7. Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho
8. Gore Vidal: Myra Breckinridge
9. Anthony Burgess: Doctor is sick (Pipopää potilas)
10. Villy Sörensen: Ofarliga historier (Tarinoita)
11. Erlend Loe: Naiv. Super (Supernaiivi)

I don't really read any Finnish literature for some reason, so I'll skip the "best Finnish books" list Kemppinen has made. But I do read Finnish poetry, so some Finns will enter my poetry list:

10 best poets:

1. T.S.Eliot
2. Aaro Hellaakoski
3. Eeva-Liisa Manner
4. Pentti Saarikoski
5. Raymond Carver
6. Federico Garcia Lorca
7. Fernando Pessoa
8. Aleksis Kivi
9. Eino Leino
10. Sylvia Plath

This entry seems to become my "book meme". Let's enter another list, copied from some blogger called Tuomas whose blog I came across since he, too, has read Burgess's book on my list. So, the second book list:

1. A book that has changed my life

- No single book has changed my life - except maybe the first one I was able to read by myself. But, since I was about 4 at the time, I don't remember which book it was! Probably one of the Barbapapa series....

2. A book I've read more than once

- I don't usually read books many times, except detective stories sometimes. I am thinking of reading Bulgakov's Master and Margarita again since I read it first time when I was only 19. I'd like to see if I would experience it differently now. Well, if poetry counts, then I have been reading T.S.Eliot's Collected Poems over and over again. I used to take it with me on the train between Tampere and Helsinki, when I visited there frequently while working at Nokia.

- When I was in high-school, I strongly found myself in the character called Lol in Marguerite Duras's book Le Ravissement de Lol V. (Lol V. Steinin elämä). So about two years ago, I bought this book and read it anew. I must say I do not identify with Lol anymore, at least not as much as back then. I guess this type of angst of existence is related to only certain periods in life...

3. A book I'd like to take with me to a deserted island

- Naaah, I'd take the Net instead. Ok ok ok - I'd take a book about "Building a Boat from Banana Leaves and Coconuts for Dummies" (a good candidate for item No. 6, then, as well!)

4. A book that turned me into a giddy

- I have always been giddy. I read a lot of "Chick lit" these days, such as Gigi Levangie Grazer's Maneater or Helena Frith Powell's "Two Lipsticks and a Lover", Bridget Jones's Diaries, etc.

5. A book that made me cry

- No matter what by Debi Gliori. This lovely children's book I found in Edinburgh in 1999 always brings tears to my eyes, since it is such a wonderful book.

6. A book I wish would have been written

- Enough good books are written all the time. Maybe I'll say: my first novel. But I'm planning to write it only a bit later.

7. A book I wish would not have been written

- Stephen King's The Shining is so scary that it almost should not have been written. Then again, it is a great book! Also the film made based on it by Stanley Kubrick is really, really scary.

8. A book I am currently reading

- Donald Sassoon's book about Mona Lisa, the painting.

9. A book I am going to read

- How the Rich Get Thin by Jana Klauer