(A) Books
I love books. I love to read and I love to have books. Whenever I
move into a new place, I must have my books. I may not have
anything to eat, but I've got to have my books.
I mainly read fiction. I used to joke that my favorite authors are
Larry, Terry and Jerry. I love hard science fiction, which is where
Larry and Jerry come in:
-
Larry Niven:
Ringworld, N-Space (short stories), pretty much everything he
writes.
-
Jerry
Pournelle: usually in collaboration with Larry Niven, like for
the Mote in God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Oath of Fealty, the
Janissaries
-
Arthur C.
Clarke: The Rama series, short stories, Childhood's End
- Military SF:
Robert Heinlein's Starship
Troopers (the movie was awful),
David Weber's Honor Harrington
series,
Eric
Flint and
David Drake
-
Isaac
Asimov,
Philip K. Dick,
David Brin,
Ray Bradbury
I love
Terry
Pratchett, I've read almost all of this Discworld novels and
occasionally re-read them as well.
I'm also a great fan of
John Grisham's legal fictions: The
Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker,
The Partner... I think I've read them all. I've never been to
southern US states where most of his novels take place, but through
his writing I feel that I know them all. In fact, my favorites from
him are not legal fictions: A Painted House and the short stories
of Ford County.
I like military fiction from
Tom Clancy, though his latter novels
seem to have lost their mojo. My favorite is Red Storm Rising,
followed closely by The Hunt for the Red October and the rest of
the Jack Ryan series, of which my favorite is Executive
Decision.
Of the non-fiction books I prefer books on economy and post-WWII
history. I love airplanes, have been fascinated by them since I was
a kid, and tremendously enjoy air travel, even these days when
security and airlines appear to do everything in their power to
make people hate flying. I like books about Cold War history -
Francis Gary Powers's biography, books about spy planes and
satellites and things that were secret then but are on Wikipedia
now. Things like the Mitrokhin archives about the KGB, or books
about the scientific history behind the making of the atom and
hydrogen bombs.
I also love the out-of-the-box thinking of Freakonomics and Super
Frekonomics. I like to read biographies: Richard Branson,
Churchill, Madleine Albright.
Bill Bryson.
His books had a place of honor in my toilet, an honor few authors
share.
I mainly read in English. Most of my adult education was in
English. I'm a certified English-Hungarian translator and
interpreter, which is why I have a terrible time reading anything
in Hungarian that's been translated from English. I can't help
trying to guess what the original in English must have sounded
like. It's a frustrating and tiresome exercise, but my brain
automatically snaps to it. Anything translated from any other
language is fine. I loved the Hungarian translations of Bulgakov's
The Master and Margarita and Perfume by
Patrick Suskind. Also,
everything written by
Stainslaw Lem (should probably be
up there in the sci-fi section, but hey, it's my party and I cry if
I want to.)
Speaking of which,
(B) Music
Oh boy. I don't have a favorite band or type of music. I like jazz,
I like classical, I like hard rock, I like pop... I'm not picky.
There is good music in all of those. Here's a list of some that
come to mind:
AC/DC;
Aerosmith;
Air (All I Need is one of my
all-time favorites);
Alanis Morrissette (Jagged
Little Pill);
Anastacia;
Aretha Franklin;
Beastie Boys;
Björk;
Blur;
Bon Jovi;
Chemical Brothers;
Cranberries;
Dead Can
Dance;
Deep
Forest;
Dire
Straits;
Enigma;
Eric Clapton;
Fat Boy Slim;
George Michael;
Green Day;
Grid;
Guns'N'Roses;
Gwen Stefani /
No Doubt;
Jimi Hendrix;
Les Négresses
Vertes;
Madonna;
Massive Attack;
Michael Jackson;
Nirvana;
Prodigy;
Rage Against the
Machine;
Ray
Charles;
Sophie Ellis-Bextor;
Tarkan;
Ugly Kid Joe
(C) Food
I love to eat. I eat pretty much everything, even broccoli (hey,
not even President George H. W. Bush liked broccoli). I used to
hate Asian food, because when we moved to Paris, we lived on the
16th floot in a 32 story building. The ground floor had an Asian
restaurant and by the time the fumes made it up to the 16th floor
through the garbage chute in the kitchen, the smell was far from
pleasant. My genuine hatred for Asian food went on until a friend
of mine from Hong Kong invited me to his house for some real
Cantonese food that his aunt made. It was only later that I found
out that most Chinese have very big families, and the person he
referred to as his aunt wouldn't even by considered as family in
Hungary. Still, the food was excellent, and I have no reservations
about ethnic food at all since then. In fact, even if it smells
nasty, I'll try it. I have not problems with vegans, it's their
choice. I do have some problems with barely cooked innards of
beasts, so it's safe to say I'm not a huge fan of tripes / pacal.
My dad loves it; I'd rather have chicken. Or frogs - yes, my years
in France have had an effect. Crunchy frog legs, yummy. Oh, and
snails, too, with garlic.
So, the list of things I don't like is quite short and inevitable
Hungarian: pacal (tripes) and fõzelék (think about a vegetable stew
that's been boiled to disintegration and beyond). Maybe sheep
brains, though Indiana Jones had it, so it can't be all that bad.
Eyeballs, perhaps, though eyeballs have bad PR. I feel for
them.
I cook maybe twice a week. I can never seem to get the portions
right, always make too much food, so I end up eating the same dish
for half a week. My favorite spice is herbes de Provence. My
favorite drink is Dr. Pepper (this week, subject to change and
availability). I make a mean chili con carne. It's best when it
smells like a Mexican's armpit, though I tend to add a dash of
Heineken beer for that extra taste.
I love pizzas, I love sushi, I love a good steak, I love a good
salad, I love a good soup. I have a weakness for Thai food - my
favourite dish is tom yum kung. It took me a while to figure out
that lemon grass and coriander are not the same, but both are
indispensable for a good tom yum. My mother used to make excellent
moules frites when I lived in France, miss that stuff a lot.
