corner view - books

this corner view is dedicated to the lovely and talented janis. see, a while back she tagged me with seven books for seven confidences. i am not sure what exactly that means, nevertheless, i didn't study literature for nothing. i love books and decided to choose seven of those books i love. so i have been having this on my mind for a long time now. what held me back? the fact that i seemed to come up with all the books that i don't have here with me. after seven years in israel i am still transporting books from my stash in my parents house to my house here. anyway, i decided to only pick books that i brought with me to israel. or bought here. so that i could show them in this photo.

one book is missing though: gone with the wind. i know it sounds corny, but i think this book is one of the books that made the biggest impression on me. i read it when i was 12 and was on a vacation from school. it was in my mom's bookshelves, divided into four books. till this day if i mention that gone with the wind reading session to my mom, she will say, with a sigh, "i wish i had removed the last book before you read it". because i was so devastated. completely and totally out of proportion. i just could not believe that it could go from the happy ending of book three, where she has husband, daughter and wealth, to the final ending, where she has lost most of it and is running through her nightmare come true.

i am still not sure why it blew me away so hard. i mean, it's just a book. and honestly it's not even that good a book. i think it was the fact that there was no mercy. that there is not always a happy ending. and because i read it right at the time where i started to feel that certain melancholy that is also a part of growing up. which i struggled to accept and live with as a teenager only to be silent and overwhelmed by it instead.

well, i don't have gone with the wind on my bookshelves, even though i would actually like to read it again. so, the ones i have, from the bottom:

sally mann: immediate family. along with cindy sherman i think she is among the modern female photographers that have made the biggest impression on me. and then i just love her porch. i dream of a porch like that.

doris lessing: the golden book. because it's clever. a timeless description of how hard it is to get all the important aspects of a female life to connect and work together.

anaïs nin: under en glasklokke (under a glas bell). i was in my late teens when i read this. and it made sense. she just seemed to describe so many of the things i felt, and at the same time opened a door to the mysterious world of adulthood.

dan turell: just a gigolo. i love the writing from this danish author. he is inspired by american beat literature, which i also love, and you feel it in the rhythm. he writes about copenhagen and vesterbro (the amazing area in copenhagen where i used to live), and i am fortunate enough to have heard him read live before he passed away. which was beautiful. he had a great voice and he had the beat.

siri hustvedt: what i loved. i only recently read this book. it's brilliant! i was totally blown away. if you didn't read it yet, please do. there are passages and parts of that book that are so intensely beautiful, inspiring and true. and on top of that it is so intriguing and clever, that you just cannot stop reading.

tom robbins: skinny legs and all. i read this in india back in the days of back-packing. and i loved it. then i moved to israel and i read it again. because i remembered how jerusalem was described and the role it played. and it was still funny. and clever.

saint-exupéry: den lille prince (le petit prins). because it's classic, beautiful and reaches across all ages.

for more books, stop by jane of spain daily.