the little green monster's booklist

During the exams we were so excited with pappa B for the time after them - when after all the finance, marketing and maths books we could read what we want. So together we created a list of books, bought several ones during the last trip to Berlin and asked friends for advise. This post might be useful if you don't know what to read during the break or while chilling at a beach somewhere. 

Vizsgák alatt már annyira izgatottan vártuk pappa B-vel, hogy hosszú idő után - a sok pénzügy, marketing és matek könyv után végre azt olvashassunk, amit akarunk. Így közösen megírtunk egy könyvlistát, vettünk néhángy könyvet utolsó berlini útunkon és megkérdeztünk barátokat, hogy ők mit ajánlanak. Ez a bejegyzés akkor lehet hasznos ha nincs ötlet, hogy mit olvassatok a szünetben vagy a napos parton sütkérezve. 

1. The first book we began to read was Living Dolls written by Natasha Walter - well, we are still reading it now. But I thought it would be more fun, due to the for my opinion great cover with a naked Barbie and the silhouette of a skinny girl in the background - which is really attention seeking. The first few pages where nice to read, but then I had to realize - I must confess I didn't know it before - that Walter is a real feminist, and this book is not going to be about glitter, fashion and girlie things, but more about sexism, the bad side of Glamour-modelling and the hard life of the not so wealthy lower-middleclass girls. It is nice to get to know this point of view too, except that she might not focus on the clash between the social classes that strong or might not say, that every girl from a "not that good" milieu can't make her very own choice if it comes to career, money, sex and men. As those girls from lower classes tend to need social attention to, some women from the high-society like and need to be called "it-girls" to feel confident - and this for doing nothing more than going to parties, events and shows. Well, maybe the last hundred pages can change pappa B's and my opinion, but now it's only a book that is nice enough if you don't have any others to read at the moment. 

2. The second one that - I have to admit - I began reading nearly half a year ago is Lolita written by Vladimir Nabokov. It is as difficult for me to read as The Girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson has been, not because I don't understand it, but their style is so real and breathtaking that I am sometimes not able to handle all that cruelty happening in the book. Or the thought of something bad happening. I keep this book always with me when I'm driving - when there is an urgent need to stop and wait, I would be something like forced to read it.

3. The third one pappa B started reading on his trip to Berlin was The bad girl by Mario Vargas Llosa. He only read the first few pages, but it reminds him of the style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez - without the fascinating mystical creatures - and for which he has won the Nobel Prize in 2010, so it might be a good book. One review from 2007 written by Kathryn Harrison in The New York Times was also really nice to read, although pappa B can't connect this book to Madame Bovary - because he hasn't read it yet. 

The Master and Margarita was an advise from a friend and with Oscar Wilde I'm in love since I read The picture of Dorian Gray - one of the most outstanding, stunning and absolutely fabulous book. He is the father of those great quotes like "I can resist anything but temptation", "All women become like their mothers. That's their tragedy.", "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months." and at last but not least my personal favorite: "You can never be overdressed or overeducated." 

I haven't began to read the other ones - pappa B either - so we can give you only a list, what we are going to read (or at least try to read the whole list of books):

1. Natasha Walter - Living Dolls
2. Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita
3. Mario Vargas Llosa - The bad girl
4. Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
5. Oscar Wilde - The happy prince and other tales
6. Joseph Heller - Catch 22
7. Nele Neuhaus - Unter Haien