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Lauli's 50 books for 2016
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Feb 08, 2016 05:08PM
Book # 1
Mascaró, el cazador americano by Haroldo Conti
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Book #5
Próxima estação Volume 2 - Contos de trem, metrô e outros transportes urbanos by Alfer Medeiros
Book #8
Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quinceyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book #11
The Kite Runner by Khaled HosseiniMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I found this book gripping, well-written, but also terrible in its content. And by terrible I mean hard to digest. There were times when I felt I couldn't read on, it was just too much. However, I made myself continue because life can be terrible enough for some people, especially if you happened to be born in a part of the world which has been the battle ground for international superpowers and religious groups that are dangerously fanatical, and where ethnic cleansing is not considered an atrocity.
I personally walked out of this book having learnt a bit more about Afghanistan's history, culture and current problems. As regards the protagonist, although at times he seems quite unjustifiable in his decisions and actions (or inaction), it is his search for redemption which makes the novel move forward, which I guess renders him more likeable. The prose is nothing extraordinary (Atonement, on a similar note, is so much better), but it is well-written, and the story is powerful enough to make the book worth the reading.
Book #12
Spies by Michael FraynMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have always been very fond of coming-of-age stories, and this is a particularly fine specimen of the genre. Subtle, well-written, exquisite in its use of motifs, it submerges the reader in the suburban world of WW2 England, a world where it's particularly easy for children to experience adventures and make-believe conspiracies, as parents are either away at the front or too worried about the rations, blitzes and enlisted relatives to care about what the children are doing outside. The juxtaposition between the point of view of the grown-up narrator, and that of his old childhood self, creates an area of unreliability which makes the reader question what is being presented as a fact through the protagonist's eyes. Can we trust this child to be telling us the truth? Is he reading situations accurately? Also, the connection between childish games and adult tragedies is masterfully interwoven by the author, in a way which reminds me of another masterpiece in the genre, "The Go-Between". A worthwhile read.
Book #13
A Mercy by Toni MorrisonAlways a pleasure to revisit Toni Morrison! This was a re-read, and I really appreciated the book a lot more this time around, so much so that I changed my rating to 4 stars.
Book #14
La grande by Juan José SaerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
La última obra de Saer cumplió con mis expectativas y hasta las superó. No es una novela de acontecimientos. Casi todo lo que sucede, sucede a nivel del lenguaje. Saer hace con las palabras lo que los grandes maestros de la pintura hacen con óleos y pinceles: conjura imágenes poderosísimas, de una singular belleza, y transmite paisajes emocionales ricos y complejos. Algunas partes me resultaron algo tediosas, como toda la disquisición acerca del preciocismo. Pero el asado final es de una vividez inolvidable. Y tiene una de las mejores últimas frases de novela que recuerde haber leído.
Book #15
El Solicitante Descolocado by Leónidas C. LamborghiniMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
La poesía de Leónidas Lamborghini es poderosísima en cuanto a la intensidad con la que transmite a través de imágenes, alusiones, fragmentación y la combinación de elementos provenientes de los más heterogéneos campos de acción (economía, educación, fútbol, por nombrar algunos) la experiencia nacional. Este libro es un tour de force que nos lleva arrastrando por algunos de los episodios más oscuros de la historia argentina (como los fusiamientos de José León Suárez) para cuestionarnos qué es ser argentino, qué traumas recurrentes, qué rasgos culturales y psicológicos, qué fuerzas estructurales nos moldean y nos mueven como sociedad.
Book #16
Sátiras by JuvenalMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Se me hace bastante difícil reseñar un libro así. Abordar literatura clásica siempre es un desafío debido a nuestra distancia temporal y al desconocimiento acerca de ciertos datos contextuales. Si bien mi edición repone muchos de esos datos, ciertas ironías y guiños humorísticos se me escaparon irremediablemente. El género satírico (a diferencia de la épica) es un género del aquí y ahora, y eso hace más dificil la lectura de este tipo de libros. Sin embargo, me llegaron hondo las sátiras que apuntan a las debilidades más universales del ser humano, y por ello mismo son atemporales: la ira, la gula, la avaricia, la vanidad. Una joyita es la sátira XIV, que expone cómo los vicios de los padres se extienden a través del ejemplo hacia sus hijos y los corrompen, cómo una visión del mundo distorsionada puede arruinar la vida de los hijos y también de sus padres, cuando ven que sus hijos están fuera de control. Por supuesto, hay que hacer oídos sordos a la misoginia y la xenofobia que predominan en el libro, y que claramente responden a la cosmovisión del corazón de imperio.
Book #17
Memoria del fuego #3 by Eduardo GaleanoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
¿Qué decir de este libro? Nos entretiene y nos duele, nos eleva el espíritu y nos hunde en los abismos más profundos de la maldad y la codicia humana, nos presenta a los héroes públicos y anónimos del continente americano y a sus peores opresores y dictadores. No puede contarse de otra forma la historia del siglo XX en Latinoamérica, siglo de revoluciones y totalitarismos, de reivindicaciones y matanzas, de esperanza y de terror. Todo esto nos ha pasado, y por eso es fundamental la lectura de este libro para todos los latinoamericanos. Para que podamos saber de dónde venimos y hacia dónde queremos ir. Como dice Galeano, "me siento más que nunca orgulloso de haber nacido en América, en esta mierda, en esta maravilla, durante el siglo del viento"
Book #18
The Pupil by Henry JamesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
As usual, James treats us to exquisite, ornate, intricate prose, some of which you have to read twice to get the gist of. As usual, I find it hard to tell who I liked in the story: probably the young boy, who is the victim of dishonest, ruthless parents who will do just about everything it takes to keep up a life of luxury they can't really afford. Pemberton, the protagonist, is often unforgivably naive and shamefully manipulated by the scheming Moreens. James once again shows us the social game, and how those who face life open-heartedly are bound to fail and end up tragically.
Book #19
The Beast in the Jungle and Other Stories by Henry JamesMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This wasn't my favourite book by Henry James. The action dragged a bit at times; actually, for most of the story, nothing whatsoever happens. However, we leatn at the end that the protagonist's inaction is the whole point of the narrative. As usual with James, it's brilliantly told, as regards both language and focalization, but it wasn't my cup of tea.
Book #20
The Winter Vault by Anne MichaelsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had to read this novel for university, so I didn't have any expectations about it, but I must say I found it quite exquisite. The journey the writer takes us through involves Egypt and Sudan, Canada, England, Warsaw, in a time period spanning the mid-twentieth century, but at times going back further, even to the earliest beginnings of human civilization. Fragmented in its chronology and narration, what brings the pieces together is the fact that it deals with roots, identity, loss and mourning, and makes us reflect on how much of who we are is connected to the soil on which we grew up and were raised, the bonds with land and kin, and those who preceded us. It is also a complex exploration of the relationship between man and environment, economic power, dominance and displacement, how we stand in connection to the planet and to those who inhabit it with us. I recommend this novel, as it provides good food for thought.
Book #21
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest HemingwayMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
After reading The Old Man and the Sea, I was under the impression that Hemingway was better at writing short stories than as a novelist. This one proved me wrong. Hemingway masterfully develops his iceberg theory here, presenting us with a clean, Spartan prose, and involving us in the story through the use of symbols, understatements, wonderfully vivid dialogues, and the most memorable descriptions of fishing and bull-fighting, which I normally detest, but he makes me actually want to take part in them. Brett Ashley is one of the most fascinating characters I have come across. A vixen, a femme fatale, but good at heart, and marked by desires which she knows she cannot possibly fulfill, since the man she has fallen in love with has been rendered impotent by a war wound. Deep, subtle, complex, this novel definitely captured my imagination and made me want to take off to Spain!
Book #22
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene WeckerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. I didn't expect to like it (the title is frankly terrible in its literalness), but found myself caught by the atmosphere of XIX century Manhattan, of a cosmopolitan society in the making and the plight of the two main characters, who are outsiders whose will-power and possibilities of a future are limited, and who need to survive and blend into a completely alien environment. Wecker craftily lures the reader into the story, makes us sympathize with Chava and Ahmad, and along the way reflects about profound issues like immigration, good and evil, responsibility, power and the role of women in society. An enjoyable and worthwhile read.
Book #23
Absalom, Absalom! by William FaulknerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
How to possibly describe this book? It's a unique reading experience. I felt like I was caught in a vortex from which I could not possibly escape, swirling in a whirlwind that leads irrevocably to the past, to the sins of antebellum South, the evils of the war, and the aftermath, all craftily and breathtakingly interwoven with the extraordinary story of Thomas Sutpen and the wake of destruction he left behind in his attempt to rise above his social constraints and prove himself to the world. It's the best novel I've read by Faulkner, and I think one of the best literary works of the 20th century and in world literature.
Book #24
Pylon by William FaulknerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
It took me some time to begin to appreciate this book. I was expecting the usual Faulkner (the South, the usual cast of Yoknapatawpha families, tragedy, gothic twists, fires), and ended up watching stunt pilots in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. I felt that was on my plate was not what I had ordered. Plus,the novel is extremely experimental in its use of compound words, and riddled with aviation jargon from the period between the world wars: it might as well have been written in Chinese.
However, as the reading progressed, I warmed up to the cast of characters and got the intertextuality with Macbeth and Eliot's "Prufrock" and "The Wasteland", and that changed the way I read it. It's extremely complex and full of imagery that refers to death, to sexuality, to boredom and meaninglessness. I would definitely not place it among Faulkner's masterpieces, but it makes an interesting read. Plus, the film adaptation, Douglas Sirk's "The Tarnished Angels", IS a masterpiece in itself, so even if the novel had only served to provide Sirk with the material for his film, its existence would have been justified!
Book #25
La guerra no tiene rostro de mujer by Svetlana AlexievichMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Me pareció fascinante este libro de Alexievich, donde a partir de los testimonios de muchas mujeres rusas combatientes de la segunda guerra mundial, se va tejiendo un complejo retrato de su rol en la guerra, las dificultades que enfrentaban, sus reacciones ante el combate, la muerte, el amor, la supervivencia... Un libro impactante y profundo, que nos da acceso de primera mano a las complejas personalidades de las heroínas anónimas del mayor acontecimiento del siglo XX
Congratulations! You've reached the half way point in your goal for the year.
Book #26
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew WallaceMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Having seen the Charlton Heston movie, I was expecting a technicolour epic filled with gladiators, chariots and galleys. Of course, it's all there, but there's a lot more depth to the novel than that. Interwoven with Ben-Hur's story of betrayal, revenge and redemption, there's the story of Christ, from the arrival of the Magi to Bethlehem, to the crucifixion. The question which hovers over the novel and haunts Ben-Hur for a great part of it is what to make of the coming of the Christ: is he to become the King of the Jews, leading a rebellion to bring the Roman Empire and its abuses to an end? Or is he merely heralding a kingdom of the soul, a revolution to take place inside each man?
I am an agnostic, and therefore I'm not that interested in Christian literature, but I found this book gripping in its action, but also very interesting as regards the philosophical questions that Ben-Hur stumbles across in his quest for redemption, and which allow him in the end to move on from a bloodthirsty revenge scheme to an attitude of love for humanity and the desire to help promote spiritual redemption.
Book #27
La balada del álamo carolina, Tomo II by Haroldo ContiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Uno no puede evitar, al leer este libro, que se le estruje el corazón. Junto a los cuentos más evocativos de la vida provincial en la zona donde creció Conti (Chacabuco, Bragado, Luján), que oscilan entre el vuelo lírico y el humor irreverente, hay reflexiones acerca de sus amigos uruguayos que ya no están, ya sea porque murieron a manos de la represión o debieron refugiarse en el exilio, y referencias a sus compañeros de lucha en Buenos Aires, como Paco Urondo. La evocación melancólica del pasado, la referencia a un presente plagado de urgencias y fugas, permiten vislumbrar el espíritu de la época, la idea de una utopía que ha llegado a su fin y un tiempo que es cada vez más corto porque la sombra de la muerte se cierne sobre todos. Conti fue secuestrado y desaparecido apenas un año después de escribir la colección de textos de "La balada del álamo Carolina", que son un testimonio vivo y maravilloso de su poética.
Book #28
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George OrwellMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
To begin with, I must confess at first Gordon annoyed the hell out of me. All that moaning about money while claiming to be above money and not to care about it got on my nerves. But then I started sympathizing with him. I think Orwell craftily puts us through the miseries Gordon endures (at times I swear I could feel a rumbling stomach and the last pennies burning in my pocket) and makes us sympathize with his futile adolescent rebellion against money and the system. In a way, it's every artist's plight: whether to satisfy friends and family and become a bread-winner, a benefitial member of society and a keeper of aspidistras, or to stick to your guns and devote yourself to art at the expense of luxury, popularity and even the prospect of a family: a sort of priesthood with a vow of celibacy to the arts. It's beautifully written, like everything I've read by Orwell, oscillating between irony and a truly poetic turn.
Book #29
La Burla del Tiempo by Mauricio ElectoratMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
La acción de la novela oscila entre los últimos años del siglo XX, cuando el protagonista, Pablo Riutort pierde a su madre y se topa con un fantasma del pasado, y principios de la década del 80, cuando un joven Pablo y sus amigos de clase media alta deciden incursionar en la resistencia al régimen pinochetista sin medir del todo las posibles consecuencias y desconociendo la lógica propia de ese tipo de lucha: todo vale, desde poner en peligro la propia integridad y la de sus conocidos, hasta mentir descaradamente.
Pero lo más interesante de esta novela es el modo en que está narrada. Saltos temporales, cambios abruptos de voz narrativa y diálogos enteros reproducidos con discurso indirecto libre, lo cual le otorga una cualidad oral muy marcada y distintiva. Con gran maestría, Electorat nos sumerge en el corazón de una época oscura para Chile y el continente, y a la vez nos muestra sus consecuencias, sus cicatrices y sus cuentas pendientes. Una lectura sumamente recomendable.
Book #30
Middlesex by Jeffrey EugenidesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I believe I have just been treated to one of the great American novels of the 21st century. Epic in scope, spanning a time period of 53 years, it takes the reader on a tour-de-force from the Greek and Armenian genocide in Turkey, across the ocean into Ford-dominated Detroit, through World War Two, the racial riots, the Bohemian San Francisco underworld scene, and again to the old continent. All this through a fitting narrator, who can best synthetise America's constant metamorphoses: a hermaphrodite who gets to learn about her/his condition during adolescence and is faced with the need to reinvent her/himself and come to terms with family history in the search for identity. A truly unforgettable read.
Book #31
Inherit the Wind by Jerome LawrenceMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
We all need the freedom to think our own thoughts, to challenge tradition and established belief in favour of what our own judgement tells us. This is the gist of this wonderful play by Lawrence, where the titanic battle between Drummond and Brady involves several antagonisms: tradition vs. modernity, Darwinism vs. Creationism, north vs. south, country vs. city... But deep down, it all comes to the belief that each individual must be free to pursue their own line of thought, whatever it may be, and voice it, and share it with others. As a teacher, it's what I believe we're here to do. So I sympathized with Drummond and with Cates.
Book #32
Antes de que cante el gallo by Cesare PaveseMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Las dos nouvelles contenidas en esta obra ("La cárcel" y "La casa de la colina") tratan acerca de la soledad, la alienación, en un caso en el exilio, y en el otro en la guerra. En ambas obras brilla la prosa de Pavese, que puede apreciarse aún a través de la traducción, y su maestría al retratar a dos personajes aislados por las circunstancias, pero también por su propia inacción, por su incapacidad para comprometerse con los acontecimientos históricos y las otras vidas que los rodean. Nunca tuve que pasar por una guerra, pero siempre me pregunté cómo reaccionaría de tener que hacerlo. ¿Me lanzaría a la batalla descabelladamente en defensa de los míos y de mis ideales, o me acurrucaría, como los personajes de Pavese, en cualquier lugar medianamente seguro a esperar que todo pase?
Book #33
La luna y las fogatas by Cesare PaveseEsta novela es una de esas obras que, paradójicamente, son a la vez hermosas y terribles. El narrador vuelve a su pueblo natal tras una larga ausencia, habiéndose perdido, entre otras cosas, los sucesos de la segunda guerra mundial, y su primera reacción es la nostalgia por un mundo más primitivo e inocente, el mundo de la luna y las fogatas, el conocimiento de la naturaleza, las supersticiones, la vida sencilla. Sin embargo, a medida que avanza la narración, vislumbramos el lado oscuro de ese mundo rural de las colinas del Piamonte: las terribles desigualdades entre pobre y ricos, la explotación de los aparceros por parte de los terratenientes que a menudo deviene en tragedias, los rumores y los engaños que arruinan reputaciones y vidas, el horror de la guerra... Todo ello presentado de forma sumamente poética, mezclando el horror con la belleza, y exponiendo cómo la naturaleza supera a la muerte y se abre camino. Las personas, en cambio, deben cargar el resto de su vida con aquellas imágenes del horror, con el recuerdo de los que no están, y la culpa de no haber podido hacer nada por salvarlos.
Book #34
A Town Like Alice by Nevil ShuteMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I found this book quite gripping. Actually, I found it difficult to put it down to turn to the more mundane chores at hand. However, I must say that the first part was to me far more interesting than the second. Jean Paget's ordeal in Malaysia (which I was disappointed to find out was NOT based on actual historical truth) and Joe's sacrifice for her were infinitely more riveting to me than their enterprise to civilize the outback. I must confess that what annoyed me a bit was the idea that it took a British woman to take a look at the town and realize what it took to modernize it, a very colonial idea, if I may say so. Plus, the treatment of the natives seemed quite appalling (there's evident racial segregation in the town, and the characters are constantly saying things like "There are 10 people working for me, not counting the abos" - who are obviously not people). So it started really well, but I got a bit disappointed as the reading progressed. But all in all, I did enjoy reading it, in a best-sellerish sort of way.
Book #35
La vida es un tango by CopiMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Demasiado delirio para mi gusto. Sé que es parte de la estética de Copi, y he leído otros escritores de la misma escuela, como César Aira, pero aquí cualquier intento de trama se diluye en una serie de sucesos incoherentes, grotescos y fantasmagóricos que a mi humilde criterio no tienen sentido alguno.
Book #36
Drown by Junot DíazMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This brilliant collection of short stories by Junot Diaz is composed of pieces which are units in themselves, and at the same time act like a jigsaw puzzle. Each story throws light on the others. In this fragmentary fashion Diaz puts together Yunior's life, his childhood in Dominica, his conflicting relationship with his absent father, his migration to the USA, and his teenage years in the New Jersey underworld. An insightful book, with a wonderfully vivid narrative voice, and a sensitive and realistic approach to the issues of migration, uprooting, poverty and invisibility.
Book #37
La cabeza del cordero by Francisco AyalaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Esta serie de relatos de Ayala gira en torno a la guerra civil española, como lo explica el mismo autor en su proemio. Sin embargo el tema no se toca de lleno: no hay batallas, ni héroes, ni villanos; ni siquiera coinciden cronológicamente los cuentos con la guerra. Ayala se enfoca en las secuelas que la guerra deja en cada individuo: en los exiliados, en los sobrevivientes, en los ganadores y perdedores, en la sociedad toda. La obra ahonda en los efectos más duraderos de cualquier conflicto civil: el desmembramiento de los lazos familiares, el desarraigo, la desconfianza y los traumas psicológicos que afectan de por vida a las víctimas.
Book #38
Sacred Hunger by Barry UnsworthMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rarely does one come across a novel so magnificent in scope, so rich in characters and so profound in its portrayal of human greed, human cruelty, but also human kindness and mercy. It's a remarkable testimony of the brutality of the triangular trade which was the backbone of the growth of the British Empire. I had never read such a stark account of the slave trade in all its aspects, from the capture of the slaves to the purchase, transportation and handling of humans as if they were commodities only for the sake of the "sacred hunger" for money. A truly unforgettable read.
Book #39
The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo TolstoyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The most remarkable aspect of this nouvelle, in my opinion, is the horrifyingly detailed first-person account of the jealous paranoia that slowly builds up until it makes Pozdnyshev murder his wife. With the additional complexity that, being a first-person narration, it is not clear to what a degree we can trust Pozdnyshev to be telling the truth, or if the whole story is just the rambling thoughts of a madman. There is something hypnotic in Pozdnyshev's narration, something like what Conrad termed "the fascination of the abomination".
Of course, Tolstoy makes his motives in the afterword, which for me kind of ruins the effect of the narrative voice. Needless to say, I can't but strongly disagree with Tolstoy's approach to marriage and sexual relations, which suggests that the only purpose of love relationships and sexual intercourse is reproduction, and that the impossibility to conceive children should be accompanied by a chaste abstinence. I'd rather believe Tolstoy was as paranoid as his character than accept that he condones the murder in the novel and justifies it.
Book #40
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman CapoteMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I can't begin to say how much I loved this book. I was scared when I picked it up that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, as I've always been a fan of the movie and was eager to read the novel. However, I needn't have feared. The novel is exquisite, Holly Golightly is, if possible, even more alluring than Audrey Hepburn's big-screen rendition, and the narrative voice is compelling, melancholy, sweet and caring. And the ending of the novel makes much more sense than the film's.
Book #41
Un dios cotidiano by David ViñasMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Viñas sitúa la acción de la novela en un colegio salesiano pupilo en la provincia de Buenos Aires durante la década infame, con el trasfondo de la Guerra Civil Española (muy discutida en Argentina debido a la enorme cantidad de inmigrantes españoles que habían llegado en las décadas anteriores). El personaje principal, Carlos Ferré, lucha internamente contra un padre que es un renombrado político liberal y que toda la vida lo ha torturado por no considerarlo un digno heredero, y su afán de acercarse a Dios y ayudar al prójimo perteneciendo a una institución plagada de disputas internas y de prácticas autoritarias. El libro, a través de algunos muy buenos diálogos y monólogos internos, explora conflictos morales como autoridad vs. autoritarismo, libertad vs. libertinaje, convicción vs. fanatismo. Sobre todo ahonda en la cuestión de cuáles son las decisiones, las acciones y los posicionamientos que definen nuestra identidad, y en qué medida se ven limitadas por la presión de los demás.
Book #42
The Invisible Man by H.G. WellsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Gripping, fast-paced, suspenseful, and well ahead of its time, like everything Wells wrote. It's impossible to put it down once you've begun reading it. What I enjoy the most about Wells' novels is the fact that they are set in the XIX century, which makes everything very surreal. The narration is also wonderful: the story is re-constructed from witness accounts, and so there are always dark areas where the narrator speculates uncertainly about what might have happened. Brilliant story-telling.
Book #43
El otoño del patriarca by Gabriel García MárquezMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Esta es la novela mejor escrita de todas las que leí de García Márquez. Al mejor estilo de "Absalom Absalom" de Faulkner, la novela va tejiendo la historia de un dictador centenario, con sus debilidades, sus excesos, sus brutalidades y sus miedos, condimentada con montones de acontecimientos típicos del realismo mágico (huracanes, pestes, mujeres que se desvanecen en el aire, mares que son robados pedazo a pedazo) y a la vez capturando de forma descarnada y vívida la terrible realidad de los países del caribe durante el siglo XX (dictadores impuestos por los poderes extranjeros, empréstitos a cambio de los cuales las potencias imperiales saquean el territorio, matanzas clandestinas, corrupción, guerras civiles, etc, etc). La proeza de Gabo y la dificultad para el lector reside en la no utilización del punto aparte, las oraciones que duran a veces diez páginas (o en el caso de último capítulo, toda la extensión del capítulo) y donde se suceden diversas voces narrativas sin ningún tipo de advertencia o marca que indique el cambio del narrador. Una novela realmente formidable, que recompensa con creces las dificultades de la lectura.
Book #44
Herzog by Saul BellowMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is my fourth attempt at Saul Bellow, and I thought this one would make the charm, finally allowing me to see clearly why he was given the Nobel and all that jazz. As matters stand, I remain underwhelmed. Is it well-written? Definitely. Is it entertaining? At times it is. At other times it's the just pointless whining of a well-off intellectual who can afford to ramble around the country on planes and rented cars playing off his anger, his frustration and his heartbreak until he feels them no longer. I fail to see how this could have been such a best-seller when it was first published. I'm still to be won over by Mr Bellow.
Book #45
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. JeromeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I found this novel hilarious from beginning to end. It's the amusing account of a journey along the river Thames undertaken by three quite useless and pampered young men and a particularly vicious fox-terrier. The narration is entertaining, ironic, sweet and informative at the same time, which means you walk out of the book feeling cheerful, but also having learnt a lot about British history and geography, and even about sailing.
Book #46
Rosshalde by Hermann HesseMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is one of my favourite novels I've read by Hesse, together with Steppenwolf. Its theme reminds me somewhat of some of Henry James's fiction: it deals with the plight of the artist who wants to pursue spiritual and artistic fulfillment, but who also wants to do his duty by his family. Veraguth is torn between these two loyalties, represented in the novel by his best friend, who encourages him to travel through Asia exploring the world and his art, and his son Pierre, on whom Veraguth dotes. The novel is extremely Romantic in its tone and theme, exploring a conflicted human soul and its connection to the environment, to his art and his famiy.
Book #47
La muerte como efecto secundario by Ana María ShuaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Esta es la mejor novela de ciencia ficción argentina que he leído desde las magistrales obras de Bioy Casares, particularmente "La invención de Morel" y "Diario de la guerra del cerdo". Entre esta última novela y la de Shua encuentro muchos puntos de contacto que sería interesante explorar. Ambas están situadas en una Buenos Aires muy parecida a la del presente, pero con elementos dislocados y exacerbados, lo cual resulta particularmente perturbador, como el paisaje de una pesadilla donde lo familiar se vuelve extraño y amenazante. En ambas cunde en la sociedad el rechazo a la vejez como símbolo de los límites de las posibilidades humanas, de nuestra propia finitud, y como un elemento a esconder y aniquilar. En ambas se presenta un futuro en que la violencia se ha vuelto un lugar común, algo con lo que todos conviven y de lo cual, en el mejor de los casos, deben aprender a defenderse.
El elemento que distingue a esta novela de otras del género es el modo de la narración, una primera persona que se dirige a un receptor que resulta ser su ex-amante. La relación sumamente conflictiva entre el narrador y su padre es el motor de la acción de la novela, y la excusa para explorar un futuro no tan lejano y no tan distinto de algunas cosas que comienzan a sucedernos (la proliferación y naturalización de la violencia, su uso como entretenimiento en los medios de comunicación, el culto a la imagen y las apariencias, la división de la ciudad entre barrios cerrados y barrios tomados, el encierro y atrincheramiento de los ciudadanos). Shua declaró que esta novela no es ciencia ficción, sino una novela de anticipación. Es aterrador pensar que pueda ser así.
Challenge: 50 Books
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