Since the green seahorse print on my top matches the green of my skirt, I figured that I'd throw in something else green for you to see. These are my favourite green books. (I like arranging books by colour.) My first choice is Matti Hagelberg's graphic novel, Kekkonen. In it the longest serving (1956-82) president of Finland, Urho Kekkonen, is raised by squirrels, cracks bad jokes, is eaten by a whale Jonah-style, rises from the dead, and goes cross-country skiing with Elvis (among other things, not in that order.) Considering that Finland tends to be awfully protective of its historical figures, the scope of this book is astounding.
My second choice is Italo Calvino's The Baron in the Trees. I first read the book when I was in my teens, and was caught up in its environmentalism and the intense love affair between Cosimo and Viola. I guess literary critics tend to find the book childish, but I don't mind. It is still one of my favourite books of all time. 
Third, Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides. I am a huge fan of Eugenides.
Last but not least, I chose Eino Leino's letters to Aino Kallas. Both Leino and Kallas were such fascinating characters and talented writers. I always thought there was something deeply mysterious about their love affair, and I like keeping it that way. I have never read this book from cover to cover, because I am afraid of what I might find. I browse through it occasionally, reading one letter here, one there.
Tops: H&M (white), Mango (seahorse print)
Chiffon kirt: second hand / Fida
Pendant: Hietsu flea market
9 comments:
What a fantastic free-associative post! The description of the graphic novel makes me wish I could read Finnish.
And I ADORE that pendant. What fun.
Can you actually find anything, arranging books by color? We long ago had to alphabetize, and now have sub-categories: Eastern European literature, biographies, fiction and memoir, poetry, history, nature, dictionaries & encyclopedias, and cookbooks. Plus, my husband has some categories in the upstairs hall that I can't figure out at all--I think they may be, "books I want to read soon" and "books I want to read after that."
Green is a great color on you.
i love the outfit! the skirt looks fabulous and the books make me want to learn more languages :)
xx
Beautiful books and beautiful outfit.
@Charlotte: I had buddies in graduate school who did their 4 very full bookcases by color. They claimed that they could ONLY find things based their association by color. Which puzzled me because these two men were physically disorganized with the rest of their apartment.
These books look great! I love crazy books where weird things happen. I wish I could read them. :)
You are so adorable today!! I don’t tend to keep my books, once I read I pass them on….
Amazing, Rad--to remember that Chekhov's "The Lady With the Dog" is aqua, and thus in bookcase #3, while "The Wife" is gray, and in bookcase #8. Each to her own, I guess--the mnemonic devices of the soul. As I'm writing this NPR just reported that Kindles now outsell books on amazon.com.
Seriously, still can't get over how great your fringe (bangs?) is. Thanks for sharing books!
I love, love, love The Baron in the Trees. I go around buying it for people.
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