2024 Readings - Tumblr Posts
馃摎 My 2024 Readings 馃摎
Hello again! I hope that, between the more lewd content you can find on my blog, you can also enjoy some book reviews. This year, I plan to diversify my readings list and pick some more culturally significant books from time to time.
January
Alberti, Rafael. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n). Editorial Salvat, 2022.
Storni, Alfonsina. Antolog铆a Po茅tica (1968) Selecci贸n por Alfredo Veirave. Biblioteca Argentina Fundamental. Centro Editor de Am茅rica Latina.
Gaiman, Neil (1996) Neverwhere. Roca Editorial de Libros, Barcelona.
Christie, Agatha (1950) Tres Ratones Ciegos. Selecci贸n Biblioteca de Oro, Editorial Molino. Barcelona, Espa帽a.
February
Dinesen, Isak (1937) Memorias de 脕frica. Narrativa Actual. RBA Editorial.
B茅cquer, Gustavo Adolfo. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n) Editorial Salvat. 2022
Philip K. Dick (1987) The Collected Stories, Volume IV.
March
Dar铆o, Ruben. Azul... Cuentos, y Poemas en Prosa. Colecci贸n Criol Literario. Editorial Aguilar. S茅ptima Edici贸n, 1969.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1887) Estudio en Escarlata. Editorial Salvat. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022
April
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1890) El Signo de los Cuatro. Editorial Salvat. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1915) El Valle del Terror. Editorial Salvat. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022
Dar铆o, Rub茅n. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n) Editorial Salvat. 2022
Christie, Agatha (1937) Muerte en el Nilo. Editorial Planeta de Agostini. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022.
Mayo
Hern谩ndez, Miguel. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n) Editorial Salvat. 2022
Quiroga, Horacio. La Gallina Degollada y otros cuentos. Biblioteca Fundamental Argentina. Editorial ... 19...
Junio
Cort谩zar, Julio. El Perseguidor y otros cuentos. Biblioteca Fundamental Argentina. Editorial... 19...
Echeverr铆a, Esteban. La Cautiva, El Matadero y otros escritos. Biblioteca Fundamental Argentina. Editorial ... 19...
Christie, Agatha. Y no qued贸 ninguno (1939). Editorial Planeta de Agostini. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022.
Julio
Jim茅nez, Juan Ram贸n. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n) Editorial Salvat. 2022
Leroux, Gast贸n. El Misterio del Cuarto Amarillo (1907). Editorial Salvat. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022.
Lorca, Feder铆co Garc铆a. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n). Editorial Salvat. 2022
Christie, Agatha (1934) Asesinato en el Expreso Oriental. Editorial Planeta de Agostini. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022
Chesterton, Gilbert Keith (1910) El Candor del Padre Brown. Editorial Salvat. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022
Mart铆, Jos茅. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n). Editorial Salvat. 2022
Agosto
Varios autores. Los Poetas de Florida. Selecci贸n por Guillermo Ara. Biblioteca Fundamental Argentina. Centro Editor de Am茅rica Latina. 1968
Varios autores. Los Escritores de Boedo. Selecci贸n por Carlos R. Giordano. Biblioteca Fundamental Argentina. Centro Editor de Am茅rica Latina. 1968
Austen, Jane (1813) Orgullo y Prejuicio. Traducci贸n de Alejandro Pareja Rodr铆guez. RBA Editorial. Espa帽a, 2022
Milne, Alan Alexander (1924) When We Were Very Young
Mistral, Gabierla. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n). Editorial Salvat. 2002
Septiembre
Christie, Agatha (1926) El Asesinato de Roger Ackroyd. Editorial Planeta de Agostini. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022
Neruda, Pablo. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n). Editorial Salvat. 2022
Poe, Edgar Allan (1841) Los Asesinatos de la Rue Morgue y otros cuentos. Editorial Salvat. Barcelona, Espa帽a. 2022
Nervo, Amado. Poemas Esenciales (Selecci贸n). Editorial Salvat. 2022
Book Review: Poemas Esenciales de Rafael Alberti
My Review in a Tweet:
"If poetry isn't important, then why do they kill poets?". Rafael Alberti is an angry witness of the killings of his comrades, while spending his life lamenting the time he couldn't spend in the sea.
My Full Review:
Rafael Alberti, spanish poet of the 20th century, was an angry and bitter man.
And why wouldn't he be? His fellow poets, murdered by fascist regimes in Spain and Chile. His life-long lover, the sea, taunts him and pulls him in every time he's afar. Even the culture of his motherland seems to conflict him at times.
This particular selections of Alberti麓s poems constitute a biography of sorts, a touch-and-go parade through some moments of his life. The more recurring themes along his verses are the sea and the sailor's lifestyle, bulls and the toreros that defy them, Spain and the many cities Alberti lived in, the Communist Ghost and the fascist regimes that appeared in Latin America and Spain during his lifetime. Some of his poems work are obituaries of other poets murdered by their political views.
I particularly enjoyed his VERSOS SUELTOS DE CADA D脥A Primer y segundo cuadernos chinos (1979-1982) where he just casually adds new verses to a small notebook he carries in his trips. The shifts in his mood and the sudden topic changes with no warning and without rhyme or reason further enhance the journal nature of those poems and verses. Some passages are hilarious, some are melancholic and some would make prudes blush.
I reiterate my opposition to grade poetry books like I do with every other, suffice it to say that I liked it, even if I didn't quite get everything in it.
My Other 2024 Readings.
Book Review: Antolog铆a po茅tica de Alfonsina Storni
My Review in a tweet:
Storni's poetry swings between a crude and raw lament, and a gentle and melancholic yearn, walking on the edge of happiness and depression. Some of her works elude me beyond my grasp because of an innate womanhood that drives her art.
My Full Review:
Alfonsina Storni is a renowned poet from Argentina, a feminist icon of the past century and a topic of discussion with my mother. I inherited my passion for literature from her, so when she told me she couldn't connect with Storni's works, I had to find out if I could.
Now, having read some of the works thanks to this old selection of her poems, I feel like there's a world right next to the one I have lived in so far, a faint mirage of the world seen through the eyes of womanhood.
This isn't to say that I can't relate to or understand the feminist cause or the difficulties inherent to living as a woman, but Storni's poems make it seem and feel like an invisible pain that all women share in silence.
I knew before reading anything from Storni that she had a thing for the sea, a primal yearn to it, but it extends to all of nature, albeit a more gentle one towards everything else that isn't the deep blue of the ocean. She feels a deep connection to all living things, specially plants, and it shows in her poems, feeling herself like a tree of golden leaves and short branches.
She also finds a lot of inspiration in love and men. Those were some of the poems I found most entertaining, for they were sometimes hopeful and full of desire, and sometimes sad and almost remorseful.
In "Uno" ("One"), which I won't bother to translate to avoid butchering her poetry, Alfonsina talks so earnestly and almost in a lustful way of a stranger she meets on a train, pinning for him in a too familiar way. The comparisons she makes are reminiscent of nature and its goods and beauty, pointing at the honey color of his skin, the spring feeling of his presence and the copper sideline of his face.
Another common topic on her poetry is womandhood and, more specifically, the relationship between her and her mother. I found the next poem, "Palabras a mi Madre" (Words to my Mother), the most cruel, not because of ill feelings between one another, but because of the unexplainable distance and misunderstanding that taints their bond.
Overall, a conflicting and alienating reading, because it made me step out of my own experience as a man and peek behind the courtain of the women's world, for which I thank her.
My Other 2024 Readings.
Book Review: Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
My Review in a Tweet:
It feels like cheating when you point out the similarities between two works then the author himself mentions a character by name, but this book truly feels like a Lewis Carroll or even James M. Barrie story. Lots of suspension of disbelief tho.
My Full Review:
I truly dislike saying this about a book, but I have finally finished reading "Neverwhere". There are a couple of reasons why it took me so long, but the main one is the constant and intentional nonsense you are forced to deal with.
The biggest responsible for that is the worldbuilding (or the lack of it): Gaiman cheats when he describes the "Londres de Abajo" (I'm guessing he named it the "Under London" in English or something like that?) as this mirror reality under London (not very subtle) that just happens to have anything the plot needs and works with simple and straightforward rules, the most important one being the owing of favors. The randomness of the characters and locations they visit constantly throws you off.
In favor of the novel, I did like the "clasic fairy tale" feeling of it, where our protagonists meet some perilous tests, fierce foes and unexpected allies. All of these also had a certain "greek myth" or "folk tale" nature to them, like the Beast of the Labyrinth or the Huntress and the Warrior.
The characters are very likeable, but they fall a little short in being fully developed or having truly great moments for themselves. "This thing happens, then this other thing happens and we are done", the characters don't seem to notice any of it or truly react to the events around them, they just stroll through the plot. Only in the ending I felt like they were experiencing real consequences of the events in the story.
It was a nice enough reading, but I don't know if I would recommend it, except maybe for teenagers. I remain curious for the rest of Gaiman's works, specially "American Gods", "Good Omens", and finishing "Sandman" (of which I read the first two volumes).
5.5/10.
My Other 2024 Readings.
Book Review: Three Blind Mice, Agatha Christie
My Review in a Tweet:
Agatha Christie's stories are a little cheesy, but despite that, they remain charming and puzzling, encouraging the reader to decipher for himself who's the culprit. This book in particular reunites delightful investigators: Poirot, Mrs Marple, Harley Quin and Sergeant Trotter.
My Full Review:
This book is another "first" for me, as my only contact with Agatha Christie's works was through the movie adaptations with Kenneth Branagh as the famous detective Hercule Poirot.
Imagine my delighted surprise when I realized the first story on this book was no other than the play in "See How They Run" (2022), another wonderful and funny whodunnit.
Since I'm not british, I don't know the tune for "Three Blind Mice", but the author was able to communicate the silliness of the murderer and the unnerving nature of all children lullabies, no matter where they are from.
The misteries in the book rely heavily on the dialogues and interviews from the investigator to the suspects, leaving descriptions of characters and places very short and a little dry.
The mysteries themselves are quite entertaining, only a couple of them were "predictable" (which I can tell if it is a good point for Agatha, for laying out the clues for the reader, or for me, being "smart enough" to solve the mystery before the reveal). Some of them felt a little rushed or solved out of nowhere, but those were only a few.
This is what I would call a nice summer reading: short stories, easy to pick up and to put down once you finish a mystery, engaging and entertaining.
8/10
My Other 2024 Readings.