Look What I Found…

…in the library!

The thing is that I had been running out of books at home that I haven’t read yet… In early/mid-July I originally came home for only a long weekend, then I meant to return to Budapest around the 15th. However, things turned out differently, I am yet to find a summer job, and I probably won’t return to the capital until mid-August…. and all my books, well, at least the ones I wanted to read during summer are stuck in my dorm room. Hence the lack of reading material here at home.

I could not stand this state any longer, neither could I resist going to the library this afternoon… I browsed their stacks for about an hour (Boy, do I love browsing books!), went a little crazy and borrowed 9 books before their month-long summer recess. Although the local library’s English lit section is rather poor (to say the least!), they did have numerous volumes of John Steinbeck. (And two copies of On the Road, plus Ginsberg’s Howl Someone must really love the Beat Generation!). I am yet to read any work of Steinbeck, although The Grapes of Wrath has been on my reading list for such a long time. (Or at least since I saw  season one of One Tree Hill in which the character played by  Chad Michael Murray is  going on and on about Steinbeck and cannot stop quoting his works.) I got East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath, we will see whether and how I like them. I also got The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Shame on me, I already saw the movie at least half a year ago, and still haven’t gotten around reading the real thing. Then I borrowed four novels by Hungarian writer Edit Sohonyai. Back in my not-so-good-old teenage years I loved her books, written especially for young adults. She was kind of my role model, for I wanted to write novels like hers. Well, actually, I guess she is still my role model, since, should I be able to write such page-turner and successful novels (or at least one such novel),  I would be pretty pleased. Anyway, the last time I read anything by Sohonyai was at least five or six years ago, and I want to refresh my memory and see whether I still like her novels and her style. Plus, it’s also kind of a research on young-adult books – their language and way of telling a story, since I am (sort of) working on such a novel. And last but not least (enough with the stock phrases!) , I borrowed Révfülöpi nyár by Ottó Demény which, too, a novel for young adults. I also read it during my teenage years and absolutely loved it. Some time ago it occurred to me how much I loved it back then and started to look for the book but I had no luck locating it. To my biggest surprise, the local library has it. Of course, it’s the place where it did not even occur to me to look for…

Anyway, I am definitely not out of reading material anymore, my next couple of weeks will sure be pretty busy and entertaining reading wise!

On Nabokov’s Lolita

A few days ago I finally finished Nabokov’s Lolita, and I have to say that I have rather ambivalent feelings in me about the novel.

There were parts of it, let’s say about half of the book, that I loved like hardly any other novel. These parts pulled me in deeply, because that part of the plot was an absolute page turner, and I was so eager to find out what was going to happen next that I felt I could not read fast enough. I was thinking about skipping pages just to see how things lead on and turn out. So these chapters of Lolita I adored and thought of Nabokov as a genius.

However, the other half of Lolita I found rather slow-moving and even boring. The first fifty pages was certainly not easy to get through, but it’s because Nabokov has his very own and pretty unique style that takes time and several pages to get used to. The last hundred pages I also found very long, probably because Nabokov writes about such things in  deep length that does not necessary help in the unfolding of the story. There were a number of pages I found boring and rather pointless regarding the story. I was thinking about skipping them, but in the end I fought myself through those parts too.

Nevertheless, Lolita is a well-written, really good book, no wonder it’s a classic. The parts when Lolita and Humbert Humbert spend their time traveling through the United States reminded me of Kerouac’s On the Road, for Nabokov tells the travelers adventures in a similar style and the trip itself occurs around the same time, in the same years. Not to mention, that it also really gave me the traveling bug, just like On the Road did. I am dying to take a road trip like the one Lolita and Sal did!  

I Heart Pancakes

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I made pancakes yesterday, and, lucky me, they turned out pretty well. However, it's probably not because I'm such a pancake-making-genious but because I got a really good recipe. I found it a few month ago, when I decided a make pancakes -American style. I love our Hungarian ones, however, it resembles more to French crêpes than to US style ones. I wanted to find out what was all the hype out: how come it's everyone's favorite in the States, how come they eat it for breakfast and with bacon? By the help of my good old friend Google, I found this amazingly beautiful food blog, honey&jam where the writer, Hannah posted a Pancakes with Blueberry syrup recipe. There were tons of comments praising the recipe, plus it seemed pretty easy, so I gave it a shot. Boy, did it turn out well! I have made it quite a few time ever since, and pretty much everyone who has had at least a bite loves it and asks for the recipe. So here it is:

Hannah's Near Perfection Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
1 egg, beaten
3 tbs melted butter
1 cup milk

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium bowl, whisk to combine. Add egg & butter, stir lightly. Add milk and whisk - not too much, it’ll make your pancakes rubbery.

Heat about half a tablespoon of butter a frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/3 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides, turning once.  

As I have said pretty easy to make and so yummie, especially with cinnamon syrup. 

So yesterday I made them again, it being summer my grandma has tons of strawberries and raspberries in her garden,  thus this time strawberry/raspberry sauce accompanied The Pancakes. It was absolutely dilish! 

After all these years, finally I was the one making them for my Mum and not the other way around!

Moleskine Heaven

via

Look what I have just found! Being a Moleskine addict, I sure am interested in how these amazing notebooks and journals are made. We finally got the chance to peek into the company's Milan and the recently opened New York office  - even if it's only through some photos, we still get to have some backstage look. You can find the whole article here. 

I would really love to take a real trip to that New York office... You know what? I certainly would not mind a trip to the Milan office either...

via weheartit

“The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.” Nabokov

via karishma

via weheartit

Summer Reading List

So this is what I am planning to read in the next couple of months, not in this particular order. We'll see how it goes.:)

• Lolita by Nabokov
• Madame Bovary by Flaubert
• Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
• A Good Life by Jay McInerney
• A Year in Provance by Peter Mayle
• The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
• The Puffin Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Graduate by Charles Webb
• Forrest Gump by Winston Groom
• Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
• The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
• Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams by Sylvia Plath
• Holy Fools by Joanne Harris
• Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sue Townsend
• The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
• White Oleander by Janet Fitch
• Three Willows by Ann Brashares

Those in bold I've already read.

“It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts… it is to teach them to think.” Robert M Hutchins

Could not agree more!

I Heart Shoes

 I bought a pair of shoes yesterday. I came across them just the right moment, for I was having an annoying and pretty bad day. Of course it cheered me up instantly and made my day. I fell in love with them the moment I laid eyes on them and it wasn't even a question whether I would buy them or not. I love polka dots, especially on shoes and when it's white dots on red basis. They are funky and funny, and cheer me up whenever I look at them, so it was definitely a good buy!:)

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.” The History Boys

I Heart Cupcakes

Can't you just adore them? They are sooo beautiful! (And probably delish, too.) One day I shall learn how to make such beautiful cupcakes. Until then, enjoy the collage.:) 

(Images via weheartit and karishma)

"Actions character"

I adore this movie!

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify them, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Jack Kerouac

(via icanread)

(via icanread)

“You must learn day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizon. The more things you love, the more you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about, the more you have left when anything happens.”  Ethel Barrymore

via http://karishma.me/

I Should Leave

Although I did not like the book, here is a hilarious dialogue from SATC. I had a really good laugh when reading it. Not to mention that it shows the real essence of their relationship.

I can't take it, Carrie thinks, waking up one morning. She lies there, watching Mr. Big until he opens his eyes. Instead of kissing her, he gets up to go to the bathroom. That's it, she thinks.

When he comes back to bed, she says, "Listen, I've been thinking."

"Yeah?" says Mr. Big.

"If you're not totally in love with me and crazy about me, and if you don't think I'm the most beautiful woman you've ever seen in your life, then I think I shold leave."

"Uh huh," says Mr. Big.

"Really, it's no problem."

"Okay," Mr. Big says, somewhat cautiously.

"Soooooo...is that what you want?"

"Is it what you want?" says Mr. Big.

"No, not really. But I do want to be with someone who's in love with me," says Carrie.

"Well, I just can't make any guarantees right now. But if I were you, I'd hang around. See what happens."

Carrie lies back against be pillows. It's Sunday. It would be sort of a drag to have to go. What would she do with the rest of the day?

"Okay," she says, "but just for now. I don't have forever, you know. I'm probably going to die soon. Like in fifteen years or something." She lights up a cigarette.

"Okay," says Mr. Big. "But in the meantime, could you make me some coffee? Please?"

(Bushnell, Candance. Sex and the City. 1996. pp 152-153)

(photo via www.weheartit.com)

Bradshaw Without Her Manolos

I do not remember when I first came across Sex and the City. Probably it was about six or seven years ago on some Hungarian TV channel. However, I certainly remember watching the show by the double episodes each night, back in England in 2005/2006. Then I also remember hot summer nights, watching episode after episode, being completely hooked and not being able to turn my laptop off until 3AM. That was the summer of 2008. And now it's the summer of 2010 and it has become kind of a ritual of mine: watching SATC episodes on long, hot, sweaty evenings when the heat is so unbearable that you cannot fall asleep. Episodes uncounted, almost until the birds start chirping and the sun is about to rise. 

It's no surprise, I guess, if I say that I am a big fan of SATC. The TV show, I mean. NOT the book. That I am most certainly not a fan of. I've had the book for at least four years but never gotten around reading it until a few days ago. Of course, I went throught the first ten pages or so right after I purchased it (just as I do with every other book), but I guess I did not get hooked, so I just tossed it on my shelf. It kind of have been teasing me ever since so I finally brought myself to read it. Made myself to read it. Cause it wasn't reading itself for sure, if you know what I mean. Didn't even come close to being a page turner. Basically, it's just a bunch of stories about relationships in NYC: how they go and how people act these days. But I just didn't get it. It was like the pitching of several different stories: you get the summary, the outline, but not the real thing. That was my feeling with SATC, the book. Something was really really missing that the show most definitely has: style and the uniqe atmosphere of New York City. And, maybe even more importantly, good characters whom you have the chance to get to know and either fall in love or fall in hate. with them That bit is undoubtedly missing from the book. There are so many short-short stories in it with so many minor characters that there's no way you could get to know and like them. Except for, maybe, Carrie. Her character is quite well written and so is her relationship with Mr Big. 

Over the years there were times when I admired Carrie because she's stylish, chic, a hip journalist/writer, and she could make it: living the American Dream in Manhattan. Then there were times when she annoyed the heck out of me, because I believed she acted real bitchy and selfish most of the time, and she was yet another whining thirtysomething spinster who could not shut up and simply appreciate her life. She always wanted more, especially when it came to relationships, and then when she had it, she didn't want it any more because she felt that her independence was threatened. These days I am quite okay with her, I think hers is a great character, though it still annoys me when she is whining and bitching around.

Anyway, my point is that the TV show is a classic, it will never run out of style; however, the book which the show is based on does not even come close to being entertaining, or even being readable, for that matter. 

I won't mention the movies either, because I think they are unwatchably, horribly awful. Seriously, I almost vomitted on the screen when I was watching the first movie... 

Nevertheless, I still love the show, especially on long hot summer nights.

“Go be that starving artist you’re afraid to be. Open up that journal and get poetic finally. Volunteer. Suck it up and travel. You were not born here to work and pay taxes. You were put here to be part of a vast organism to explore and create. Stop putting it off. The world has much more to offer than what’s on 15 televisions at TGI Fridays. Take pictures. Scare people. Shake up the scene. Be the change you want to see in the world. You’ll thank yourself for it.” Jason Mraz

I never thought Jason Mraz could be so philosophic. This quote could be my ars poetica, I guess.

via http://pulped.tumblr.com

:)

via http://happythings.tumblr.com

because it will make all the difference

” I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig-tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but chosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one… by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.” Sylvia Plath

(photo via weheartit.com)

agreed

Life isn’t about how many people call you and it’s not about who you’ve dated, are dating, or haven’t dated at all. It’s not about grades, money, clothes, or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn’t about if you have lots of friends, or if you are alone, and it’s not about how accepted or unaccepted you are. Life just isn’t about that. But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It’s about how you feel about yourself. It’s about trust, happiness, and compassion. It’s about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance, and building confidence. It’s about what you say and what you mean. It’s about seeing people for who they are and not for what they have. Most of all, it’s about living your life to touch someone else’s.

(via fuckyeahconfidence)

As I sit here munching…

  
…I have to admit that I am completely addicted to Jelly Beans. I love them, cause they are sooo yummy. Jelly Beans haven’t been around in my life for a long time, but, boy, did I fell in love with them quickly! I have always known about  JBs but as it’s American stuff you can’t buy it here in Hungary in every supermarket. Then I saw that one store was having an American week and for this occasion they are having and selling super yummy Jelly Beans.  Of course I knew that this was my one and only chance, so I went and bought a pack a few days ago… and that’s when the addiction part started. Today I wandered back and got some more… lucky me, the American week isn’t over, neither have they run out of Jelly Beans yet…

Hmmm. it’s quite difficult to stop once you open the pack and start munching. I try to be a big girl though and control myself.

Naturally, I blame the Gilmore Girls for my Jelly Beans addiction. (Who else would I?!?) They are the ones always eating junk food (they really couldn’t be more American in that way…) and also the ones who have had such a great influence on my life, my habits, and way of seeing things… So, of course I can’t resist being influenced by their addictive-American-pop culture-junk food consuming habits  either…

…since I love writing lists

(Photo via http://kari-shma.tumblr.com/) 

As it is July already, we are done with the first half of the year. ( What a wonderful logic I have, don’t I?!) So I ran through those New Year’s Suggestions I scribbled down back in early January, checking how I was doing with the things I suggested to myself. Well, I am not doing too well with most of them, actually, not doing anything about them at all, but we are only half way through the year, aren’t we?  I am doing quite okay with two of those things though, at least. One is Project 365 (will probably write an entry about it some time soon) and the other is reading at least one book per week. This blog became a sort of book journal, since most of my posts are about the books I read and my feelings on them. I read novels, write about them, and no one hardly anyone reads it. ( This latter is the journal part, if you haven’t figured yet.) Anyway, I am a complete and utter bookworm (surprise, surprise), addicted to reading and buying books (hopefully and eventually writing them too) on almost an unhealthy level.

By taking my geekiness on an even higher level, I shall list the books I have read  and purchased in the first half of 2010. Here it goes:

Books I have read:

1. A Self-Portrait in Letters by Anne Sexton
2. The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson
3. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
4. Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates
5. An Education by Lynn Barker
6. A Memoir of Iris Murdoch by John Bayley
7. I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
8. My Life in France by Julia Child
9. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
10. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
11. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
12. Little Children by Tom Perrotta
13. Swimming Sweet Arrow by Maureen Gibbon
14. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
15. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
16. The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
17. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
18. Girls in Pants by Ann Brashares
19. Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
20. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
21. Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes
22. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
23. Nesze Neked Terézanyu! by Rácz Zsuzsa

It seems I am a little bit behind for I should be at 26 books, shouldn’t I? But I guess I will catch up in the next couple of months…

Books I have purchased in 2010:

1. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
2. The Puffin Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
3. White Oleander  by Janet Fitch
4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
5. The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson
6. Little Children by Tom Perrotta
7. Holy Fools by Joanne Harris
8. My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman
9. Swimming Sweet Arrow by Maureen Gibbon
10. My Life in France by Julia Child
11. Front Row by Jerry Oppenheimer
12. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
13. The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud
14. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
15. Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert
16. Bögre Azur by Varró Dániel
17. Everyone Worth Knowing byLauren Weisberger
18. My Life in Provence by Peter Mayle
19. Forrest Gump by Winston Groom
20. A Good Life by Jay McInerney
21. Three Willows by Ann Brashares
22. Szerelmeim Könyve by Salinger Richárd
23. The Boys Are Back in Town by Simon Carr
24. Nesze Neked Terézanyu! by Rácz Zsusza

I have the feeling that I forgot to include a few books… Nevertheless, even if I did, I think I am doing pretty well.:)

I heart reading.

(And writing lists. I may post my “Summer Reading List” tomorrow. Just so I can take my geekiness on the next level.)

“I never let my school interfere with my education”

So, I guess I haven’t been very active around this blog lately. I could say that  I’ve been busy, since it  was the end of semester at the uni and then there was the exam period and I studied my butt off. But that’s not true. I  have to admit that I care less and less about university by each term. I know it’s  an utterly arrogant thing to say, but I just don’t feel that they have too much to offer me any more regarding my education. You know there’s a Mark Twain quotation that I bumped into a couple of years ago: “ I never let my school interfere with my education”. Back then I thought it sounded cool, so I kept it, and started quoting it here and there. And then, a few weeks ago it hit me: I became this quotation, I really live by it now, and it isn’t only a cool sentence anymore. Because lately I utterly refuse almost everything that the university tries to trick me into. Nowadays I use my critical thinking skills more than I have ever had (It’s a bit ironic though, for I had a seminar titled “Critical thinking”  few terms ago. So apparently I do not turn everything down college has offered me.), and I refuse to learn anything that I think I will not need in the future or that won’t be useful. Or maybe, simply I have had enough of university. Who knows?

Nevertheless, I am aware that I still have a whole lot to learn, but I decided  that I prefer learning  not at university but in the school of life (that’s the cliché of the day, hurrah!) and not from textbooks and not teachers or critics’ opinions but through experience. I do know that I still have to read an endless number of books ( after all, I have this yearning in me to read all the books in the world… or at least the good ones), I still want to travel the world, learn numerous other cultures, suck in as much art and beauty as possible, and pick up a few skills as well. But I don’t believe this all can be done by sitting by a school desk. That’s  why I don’t think this university of mine can offer me too much any more. And that’s way I don’t let my school interfere with my education.

Anyway, the school is over, I finished another term (there is still two to go until my BA degree), only had two exams in this period, and got those done too. Spent quite some time hanging out at home in Miskolc in this past couple of months, and enjoyed it fairly much. This week though, I am sticking around in Budapest, for the organization I am volunteering for is having a “project week” this week, and we are trying to get some work done and making some steps ahead in our tasks. On Friday I will go home again though for a week or so and spend some time at my  Grandma’s. However, I cannot lay back and let myself relax and not care about anything, for I must find a summer job ASAP. I must make some money, for I do not know what I will live on in September… Not to mention that there will also be a Coldplay concert in Budapest in September and I really really should/ would love to go, since I missed it two years ago… This chance came around again, I must not miss it this time!