4) The book you hate the most

This is a hard one. I don't remember really hating a book. There are quite some books I don't like or that I didn't even finish, but there isn't one particular book that I hated so much I burned it or something. So I'll just talk about 4 different books that I don't like for different reasons.

Let's start with the most obvious one: Twilight. Yes, I actually read it. It's badly written. Take any random fanfiction story written by a 14 year old girl on the internet and you probably got about the same quality (I'm not saying that there is only bad fanfiction out there. But most of it is bad). The characters are stereotypical, the main character is boring and it gives a weird, creepy and unrealistic picture of love and relationships. How come noone finds it repulsive that a 100-year-old-guy (or whatever his age was) is romanticly involved with a 17 year old girl? I mean, yes, he looks young, but I don't think the reason why old people shouldn't hook up with underage people is just because they look old. Anyway. I think the vampires in this book are stupid sparkling super heroes that can do about everything, which is annoying. For me, the fascinating thing about vampires has always been that on the one hand they are immortal and have certain powers but on the other hand they are also very weak, e.g. die when exposed to sunlight. Anyway, this book wouldn't bother me as much, if it was just a stupid book that about 10 people read. Whatever. But a LOT of people read it, especially young girls, and I don't want them to have Bella as a role model. Seriously, if there is an old guy creeping into your bedroom every night and watching you sleep, that is NOT romantic. Call the fucking police. Thanks.

Book number 2. This is probably a little more controversial than Twilight... the bible. I personally don't believe in god, but that's not what this is about. If people want to believe in God and in Jesus etc. that's fine with me. What I don't like about the bible is that it makes no sense. It is full of contradictions and "love thy neighbour" can be seen as the central message just as much as "god hates fags". And yes, of course, people could make up these messages without the bible as well, but they would be taken less seriously. Most people haven't read the bible themselves, so if someone says "ok, here it says guys shouldn't sleep with guys, look, it's in the bible" they can't say "yes, but here it says something completely different". There are a lot of christians who don't read the bible but rather listen to what priests etc. say about it - which makes sense, as they are the experts on the field. I do the same thing when I go to the doctor. I'm usually not questioning his expertise. However, the difference is that my doctor's opinion might be wrong but is at least based on science, while the priests opinion is based on his personal beliefs and the little part of the bible backing up these beliefs, written by people ages ago, in completely different times! So yes, I don't hate the bible itself, I just don't like how it's used and that it still has such a big impact on society.

Book number 3. Something completely different. Stephen King's "Insomnia". I used to be a huge Stephen King fan and still own shelves of Stephen King novels. This was the last book I read by him. I don't know if it's just because I have gotten older and my taste changed or because this book is particularly bad, but I didn't finish it, because I didn't like it at all. I don't remember much of the story, just that it made no sense at all. It was about this old guy, who couldn't sleep and then he got younger and then he fucked someone and other people were killed and then he and his also-now-young-again-girlfriend went into some kind of cave, I think? I don't know. It was boring. And I don't understand why people have to fuck all the time. Yes, of course, if it makes sense it's alright if it's in the book but in this book it wasn't necessary at all! Even worse it is in "it", where, if I remember correctly, a bunch of 12-year-olds (6 boys and 1 girl) have to get some gang bang action going to get out of the canalization. WTF? ... anyway, nothing really to hate about "Schlaflos". Just not worth reading.

Book number 4: Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie. I probably only dislike this book so much because I had to spend so much time with it and then fucked up the exam. It's just a book about clinical psychology and psychotherapy. Some chapters are well written, others not so much. It hardly discusses depth psychology and psychoanalysis, which I think it should. I'm not a fan of psychoanalysis at all, but still I think there should be a chapter in a book like this, just for completeness sake. But of yourse it's not, because cognitive behavioural therapy people think psychoanalysists are weird (which they are) and not scientific and therefore students shouldn't be taught about it - I bet it's completely the other way around at other universities. I don't know. I understand that not every aspect of a field can be taught at university, but most therapists still are depth psychologists or psychoanalysists, so it's not just some weirdos you can ignore. Why not trust the students to be critical thinkers who can deliver their own reasonable judgement?

X) Books you just bought

I'm adding this category, because I just bought a book in the best bookstore ever (they have a cat! And you get free coffee and sometimes even cookies! And there are books! And the owner knows so much about books! And a cat! A real cat! Which you can pet!) and I wanted to share it with you because I think it's absolutely brilliant. It's called "Letzte Mahlzeiten - Die Aufzeichnungen des königlich bayrischen Henkers Bartholomäus Ratzenhammer" (by the way, wouldn't the correct form be bayerischen? But maybe I'm wrong here) and it is just what it sounds like - a book about people who were executed and their last meals, including recipes. How awesome is that?
Bartholomäus Ratzenhammer (even the name is epic!) was born 1860 and became the last Bavarian royal executer. When the guy, who wrote the book, stumbled across his writings, the authorities told him he could keep them. And as he seemed so interested in the whole thing, he could take the old guillotine as well. Apparently he didn't take the guillotine, though, which is weird. In my eyes, a guillotine makes a fitting accessory for every living room. Anyway, the book covers the lives, deaths and last meals of 17 people. One of them is Cossipidus P., a monk who first published the A-Z of penalties of hell, starting with "Abbrennen der Genitalien" and ending with "Zerwuzeln der Hirnmasse" he started killing people after listening to their confessions and blessing them, so he could be sure they would go to heaven. He started with his grandparents and later invented a confessional with a pit full of acid underneath, accessable through a trapdoor he could control. Very creative, the guy. Other than that he had a very chaste and modest life. In the night of his execution, however, he felt that a little bit of sin was necessary and so he demanded not only a four-course meal (bread soup with royale and lovage, pasta with cabbage-sauce, cauliflower with cheese and berries from the woods with sour cream) but also - understandable - someone to fuck. He only got his first wish, though. Poor guy.

3) Your favourite book

My favorite book. That's a tough one which I probably wouldn't have been able to answer until just recently when I read „Lord of the Flies“ by William Golding. Oh. My. God. Such a fantastic book! I already wrote a blog post about it, so go and check out that one. The following post is probably going to be more spoileresque, so if you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading.

To summarize the plot: A bunch of children, who are evacuated from a war, land on a deserted island. While at the beginning they are very civilized (e.g. elect a leader in a democratic way) and all work together to build a signal fire, things quickly get worse, when they start fighting because some people don't fulfill their duties, as they want to hunt rather then keep the fire burning. It turns into a conflict between two boys (Ralph and Jack) and with the help of group dynamics soon two rival groups are formed. After killing one boy by accident and one intentionally it ends with an all-against-one situation. The whole island is set on fire and the group hunts down Ralph, the former leader of the group in order to kill him. Surprisingly he is rescued by a naval officer. They saw the fire and came to rescue the kids (See what he did there? They are rescued by the military, which is involved in a war. So even though Ralph is rescued from immediate danger, the world out there contains the same danger, just on a bigger scale).

I know, this story on it's own doesn't sound too exciting. But it is incredibly well written and he uses such incredible good metaphors, which capture so much truth. For example the Conch. The Conch is some kind of seashell, which Ralph (the first leader) and Piggy (the nerdy fat kid) find in the beginning of the story. When blown it makes a sound that can be heard all over the island. Ralph uses it to gather all the children from the island. They later establish that during an assembly the one holding the Conch, has the right to speak while everyone else is supposed to listen. When people don't pay attention to that rule (which especially Jack, the latter leader, and his hunters never really do), Piggy get's really upset and just says „I got the Conch!“ over and over again. Later, when Ralph and Piggy go to Jack's Camp (after the group has split up), Piggy is killed by a huge rock that is thrown at him, and the Conch bursts into smithereens. This is the final end of civilization (represented by the Conch) and reason (represented by Piggy). And how could you find a better metaphor for civilization then the a Conch? It's beautiful and fragile. Everyone admires it at first, it's what ties the boys together at first (it's a sign for the assembly, for the rules they establish, for a democraticly elected leader). And then it bursts – so easily. Which is exactly what this book is about! But I already talked about this in my last post on Lord of the Flies. Gosh, I could keep on talking forever. Well, let's just talk about one more thing: The Lord of the Flies, which gave the novel its name and which is, by the way, a translation for Belzebub, is (in the book) the head of a killed wild sow, stuck on a stick and left somewhere on the island as a sacrifice for „the beast“, which the boys fear. It starts to rot and more and more flies are attracted to it, thus the name - it transforms from an innocent sow, suckling its piglets, to a grotesque, disgusting, scary thing, just as the the kids „rot“ and transform, most of them out of fear, too. So both (the transformation of the kids and the lord of the flies) is created out of fear and develops a life of it's own - something nobody really wanted to happen - but at the same time, it's man-made. It's not happening without things people do. It's not some evil power seducing the innocent kids, but it's something they all have inside of them that even starts the whole process.

… congratulations, you are at the end of this post. Sorry for geeking out about this book ;)

2) The book that you want to read next

I have a pile of books on one of my bookshelves, where I put the books I want to read. Usually it grows faster then I can read the books and there is always more than one book. When I finish a book I either take the book that's on top of the pile or I choose another one, because the one on top doesn't tickle my fancy at that particular moment. So here are the books that are currently in the pile:

Alan Weisman "Die Welt ohne uns - Reise über eine unbevölkerte Welt", which is a book about what would happen in this world if humankind died, based on scientific knowledge of biologists, physicists, geologists, architects etc. I think it will be very fascinating to read.

Moreover I got Oscar Wilde's "The picture od Dorian Gray". I don't think it needs any further explanation. I'm particularly interested in the character of Lord Henry, as one of my friends hates him, but at the same time says that he reminds him of a mutual friend, who, in turn, doesn't hate Lord Henry at all, but takes it as a compliment. I'm interested to see, whose opinion I will share or if I'll just decide that both of them are mental.

Book number 3 is "Glücklich sein" by Sonja Lyubomirsky, who is a psychologist who does a lot of research on happiness. It's a really interesting topic but as I haven't read the book yet, I have no idea if it's any good. I do remember reading one of her papers, though, and I enjoyed it. The book is not a psychological textbook, but written for normal people, by the way, so if you want to read something about more scientific psychology then the interpretations of fairytales, that I talked about yesterday, go ahead.

On we go. Book number 4 is Terry Pratchett's "Nation". I'm not a fan of Terry Pratchett at all. I tried to read two of the Disc World novels and didn't enjoy them at all, but I'll give this one a try, a) because it's not a disc world novel, b) because someone who doesn't like Pratchett either said it was enjoyable and c) because a youtuber I really like said that it was fantastic. Let's see if that's true. Maybe I will become a Pratchett-fangirl after all.

And the last book on my pile: "Ulysses" by James Joyce. It's supposed to be really complicated and I think I will read the wikipedia article before I read the actual book but I guess I will feel very educated after I read it. Also, who knows, maybe I will actually enjoy it.

1) Book(s) I'm currently reading

As probably most people do, I read multiple books at a time. When I get bored with a book or it's just too scientific for me at some point or something, I usually start reading another book. After a while I either continue to read the book or I decide that it's not worth it and put it back on the shelf. So here are the books I'm currently reading, starting with the one that I started reading first:

"Genome - the autobiography of a species in 23 chapters" by Matt Ridley. It's a very, very interesting and well written book that talks about a gene on one of the chromosomes in each chapter. The only reason it takes me so long to read is that it's quite complicated and I don't feel like reading complicated stuff most of the time when I'm also reading/studying/doing things for university. I feel too exhausted for it most of the time. Nevertheless, as I said, a very good book and worth reading, if you're interested in stuff like that. It's also a very sharp contrast to the other book that I've been "reading" forever:
"Black Dagger - Nachtjagd". This book was given to me by a friend and, well, it's a very good book do read during times of a lot of exams or while you're awake the whole night because you hurt your foot, because you thought it was a good idea to have a physical fight with a friend, because everyone needs to be in a fight once in their life, but you fail utterly, because you're a nerd. If either of this is true for you: read this book. Very easy to read, very predictable and a lot of sex. If you're not: don't. It's really not very well written and as I said very predictable. I don't know if I'm going to finish it. Maybe, maybe not. Oh, by the way, it's about vampires. And if you have to choose between Twilight and Black Dagger, I would definitely recommend Black Dagger. Maybe my lack of enthusiasm is also due to the fact that I'm very picky when it comes to Vampire-stuff. I love some of it and hate some of it.
Anyway, a third book I'm currently reading is the original version of the Fairytales by the brothers Grimm. As most people don't know, quite a bit was changed by Jacob Grimm after the first version was published, either because it seemed to make more sense that way or because it was less dirty. It's quite interesting to read the original, if you have the more common version in mind, but fairytale-porn is missing. But sometimes fathers marry their daughters. Or, to give an example of a fairytale that probably most of you know: The witch in "Rapunzel" finds out that she secretely seeing a guy, because she is pregnant. That doesn't happen in the version most people know. Also, the book has a hilariously stupid introduction by some psychoanalysis-guy, who tells the readers that they want to sleep with their mothers. Or that the people in the fairytales want to sleep with their mothers. Or maybe nothing of that sort. But it's hilarious. For that pleasure, however, you don't need to buy the book but can simply read the Wikipedia articles about various fairytales (e.g. Der Froschkönig) and check out the wacky interpretations of psychoanalysists.
On to the final book, which is the one that I'm reading the most. "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a classic and I'm all into that at the moment for some reason. Also it takes place in Dresden, where I study right now, and I know two people, who love Kurt Vonnegut, so I decided to give it a try. So far I do like it. His style of writing is very... hm... elegant, I would say. It's also pretty easy to read, which is nice, as I don't have that much brain capacity to spare at the moment. As I only just started to read it, however, I can't really say much about it and will thus quote the back of the book. "Slaughterhouse Five, an American classic, is one of world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most." and also "splendid art... a funny book at which you are not permitted to laugh, a sad book without tears".

Books, books, lalalala books

The lovely Gisi gave me the idea. She actually stole it from somewhere else, but whatever. Stealing stuff is fun (please don't quote me on that)! Anyway, this is how it works:
All in all you write 31 blog posts about books.
1) The book(s) you're currently reading
2) The book that you want to read next
3) Your favorite book
4) The book you hate the most
5) A book that you can read over and over again
6) A book you can only read once
7) A book that reminds you of someone
8) A book that reminds you of a place
9) The first book that you ever read
10) One book of your favorite author
11) A book that you used to love, but that you hate now
12) A book someone recommended to you
13) A book that makes you laugh really hard
14) A book from your childhood
15) The 4th book from the left on your shelf
16) the 9th book from the right on your shelf
17) Close your eyes and take a random book from your shelf
18) The book with the prettiest cover you own
19) A book that you always wanted to read
20) The best book that you read in school
21) The worst book that you read at school
22) The book that has the most pages
23) The book that has the least pages
24) A book, that noone would have thought you read
25) A book with a main character that describes you pretty well
26) A book you would read to your kids
27) A book with a main character that is your idol
28) It's so good that this book was made into a movie!
29) Why the hell was this book made into a movie?
30) Why the hell wasn't this book into a movie?
31) The book you gave to other people as a present the most

I will post number one later today, after I finished my stupid university-stuff.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Golli to do something called "Bücherstöckchen". Here is how it works:
- you take the book which is closest to you
- you open it on page 123
- you look for the 5th sentence and post the next 3 sentences
- you tag 3 other people to do the same. I'm gonna leave that part out because I actually don't know a lot of people who blog.

Also, I'm not going to tell you which book it is. You can try to guess ;)

"Yes."
"Did he say anything?"
"No."

Haha, good luck with guessing!