Bookworm Circle

“As a human document, Night is almost unbearable painful, and certainly beyond criticism.”

–A. Alvarez, Commentary

Many many tears later, I can affirm that reading a true account of the reality of Hitler’s prisoners physically hurts. Reading imagined horror is one thing. But reading the horror of someone’s actually remembrance is excruciating.

Elie Wiesel and his family were taken from their home in the spring of 1944. Less than a year later, both his innocence and his family were dead.

Faithful, educated people were reduced to their most base instincts, left with the sense that God had left them to rot. The only aim was to avoid death and every decision, all critical in the context of survival, came with haunting consequences.

Within that frame, the small acts of compassion suddenly take on so much significance. They’re moments that are heartbreaking precisely because they mean so much. A gesture of decency in a civilized world is expected, but in a world where burning people alive is no more than cleaning house, it means a glimpse of humanity.

The text is written very simply, with unembellished raw honesty. Wiesel shares the confusion, disbelief, fear, numbness, shame, and heartache that made up the days and nights of his imprisonment. He speaks in the voice of a witness forcing himself to testify, to meet a sacred obligation to tell what happened so that it doesn’t happen again…ever.

It’s a tiny book that you can read in one sitting. It took me several months, digesting only small bits at a time every couple of weeks. Not because of any excessive graphic description—which it doesn’t have—but because this is not a story, it’s a true account of how evil humanity can be.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

I haven’t gone bitter, it’s the title of a book. Believe it or not, my husband got the audio version (I forgot the reasoning), and I’ve been listening to it on his iPod Shuffle.

It’s written by Rory Freeman (a former agent of Ford Models) and Kim Barnouin (a former model with a Masters in Holistic Nutrition).

The topic is pretty much weight loss through healthy life style choices.

Some parts are pretty funny:

Scientists use formaldehyde to sanitize and preserve things…”they don’t f*ing eat it!”

“Government agencies don’t give a sh*t about your health.”

She made me burst out laughing more than once.

But then it takes a wrong turn. It gets way too preachy and uses scare tactics that sound flat out desperate and extremist.

Ever seen an animal rights rally with pictures of animals ripped to hell and farm workers torturing them for fun? Now you can hear all about it and feel like you’re there.

She goes on a disgusting, overly graphic, and emotionally manipulative description of every horrible thing that goes on in animal product factories.

It’s valuable to know the facts, but seriously, it’s entirely over the top.

I will say, the information on body function and the way we process food is very good. She does a great job of explaining how everything works and why.

But even here I wonder. I mean, sometimes the tone is conversational and relaxed. And then there’ll be several long and complex sentences in a very formal and academic style. She balances the tone in most segments, but blows it completely in several others.

Then there’s the exposé on the forces that are conspiring against us. Seriously, she actually says, “Trust no one.” Once again, her facts are great, but the delivery… oh the delivery. Soap box anyone?

Overall, I liked the book. Not a favorite. Not sure I’ll give at Christmas. But still, it has it’s good points.

First things first: This is a long one… but oh so worth it! Here’s the summary (or at least part of it) from the book side panel:

“…Set in the rich farmland of California,’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwining destinies of two families–the Trasks and the Hamiltons–whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry between Cain and Abel.

Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new, rich land. But the birth of his twins Cal and Aron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives, nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness, enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

…[Steinbeck] explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love’s absence.”

I read it a few years ago. Now, with summer just around the corner, I was browsing my shelves for some of the new books I have waiting to be read. As soon as I set eyes on East of Eden, I felt a rush of emotions remembering everything I thought and felt when I first got a hold of this novel.

The characters are so well written, they feel absolutely real, even the best and worst of the lot, which are usually the characters that are overshot.  That’s the best recommendation for this book.

Como dijo Woody Allen una vez, “El corazón quiere lo que el corazón quiere”. Y aunque tal vez él dijera esto como un pretexto para explicar su relación escandalosa con Soon-Yi Previn, la hija adoptiva de Mia Farrow, su novia en los años noventas, es la única explicación posible para dar sentido al amor del protagonista de la más reciente novela escrita por Mario Vargas Llosa, Travesuras de la niña mala.

Es el cuento del amor sin limites de Ricardo Somocuricio, un traductor Peruano que habla cuatro idiomas, por ‘la niña mala’, una camaleona infiel y mentirosa, cuya identidad y nombre cambia con cada encuentro entre los dos durante las tres décadas en que Ricardo persigue y ama a esta mujer.

Ricardo es un huérfano sin hermanos, criado por su tía después de la muerte de sus padres. A le edad de catorce años él encuentra a la niña mala por primera vez, una Peruana que se hizo pasar por Chilena, en Lima, Peru, en el ‘verano fabuloso’ de Ricardo, un verano de fiestas sin fin y la época de su primer encaprichamiento. Y a pesar de la falta de afecto y fidelidad por parte de la ‘niña mala’ en los años siguientes, sus traiciones repetidas y sus mentiras, Ricardo la ama y la persigue por varios de las capitales del mundo – por París, donde ella vive como esposa de un diplomático aburrido; por Londres, donde ella adopta el papel de la esposa de un caballero rico; por Tokio, donde ella vive como esclava sexual de un empresario recóndito; y por Madrid, donde ella pasa los últimos meses de su vida.

Por suerte Ricardo casi nunca sufre de celos, porque justo como él realmente nunca posee el corazón de la niña mala, ningún otro hombre es capaz de capturar su corazón tampoco.

La única ambición de la vida de Ricardo, salvo conquistar a la niña mala, es vivir en París, lo cual logra a una edad joven. Es aquí donde su verdadero amor empieza con su segundo encuentro con la niña mala, un encuentro por pura casualidad que resulta por su participación con elementos revolucionarios clandestinos. Es aquí cuando la historia central de su vida empieza, una vida interna de deseo y anhelo. Y así empiezan décadas de frustración y soledad por parte de Ricardo que nunca aprende cómo, ni tiene ganas de, amar a otra persona, y quien acepta la frialdad y distancia emocional del obscuro objeto de su deseo, a pesar de todo. Pero uno tiene que admirar la fuerza del amor de Ricardo, un amor siempre listo para perdonar, que acepta a la otra como es, que no tiene exigencia alguna.

Como dijo una critica de la novela, el cuento “es una admirable tensión entre lo cómico y lo trágico”, y muestra el amor como “el dueño de mil caras” – “pasión y distancia, azar y destino, dolor y disfrute”. Y yo no dudo en añadir, una explicación de amor como masoquismo eterno.

Henry DeTamble has Chrono-Displacement Disorder, which has him jumping from one moment in time to the next… literally. But he only jumps around within his own lifetime. Basically, instead of living his years in a normal linear fashion, he gets thrown about from one point in time to the other.

It’s not a controlled or purposeful leap, so we get to watch Henry stumble through, learning to deal with his temporal inconsistency while trying to build a life.

Part of that life, is of course, his wife Clare Abshire, who he meets as a little girl. As Clare grows, their lives continuously intersect, but his age doesn’t follow the linear progression of hers: when she’s 6 he’s 40, when she’s 20, he’s 28.

The story telling alternates between her point of view and his, so we get the perspective of the unwilling traveler and his partner in love and life who gets constantly left behind for unknown periods of time. Clare of course, grows up with this and finds clever ways to predict when Henry may be flung back to her.

It’s a great story that blends genetic science fiction with a love story rather well. The characters are well written and the story line fascinating. The author offers interesting dilemmas. I won’t ruin the end, but I loved it.

What’s especially cool about this book is that it’s told from four perspective, and there is no single omniscient narrator who is always telling you the objective truth.

The story centers around a murder that takes place in England in 1663. But each narrator has a different recollection of the events surrounding the incident, and they each assume a different guilty party.

The New York Times compared it to The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I agree, it’s got the same tension.

The title relates to Francis Bacon’s system of logic that says the essence of something is the process of reduction. The fingerpost refers to the sign at a crossroads: a post with arms or “fingers” radiating from it that point you in the direction to the various places listed. The idea is that to find the truth, you must first find where the stories of the four narrators intersect.

There’s a handy list in the back of all the characters detailing which ones were real people in history (lot’s of them) and which are fictional–and when they are fictional and based on someone real, the list give you the story and identity of the person the character was based on.

It’s a little long, but completely fascinating. Absolutely worth reading.

Es una novela interesante que se lleva acabo a finales de los cincuentas en Cuba. Mayra Montero toma algunos datos historicos y con ellos crea toda una fantasía estilo El Padrino.

Todo comienza con el asesinato del cruel y muy real mafioso Umberto Anastasia en Nueva York. Un periodista joven e inexperto llamado Joaquín Porrata descubre la conexión de esa muerte lejana con el crimen organizado en Habana, y claro, en el proceso le pasa de todo.

Montero descibe un mundo emocionante de matones, casinos, cirqueros, enredos amorosos y reporteros. ¡Bueno, hasta incluyó un leproso! Me gusta que desde el principio hay algo extraño o peligroso o raro, no nos hace esperar.

El personaje principal, Joaquín Porrata, de hecho me cayó medio mal, pero es buen personaje para el cuento. Y el personaje de Yolanda, la manca de la que se enamora Joaquín, es rarísimo y fascinante.

Este libro lo disfruté muchísimo. Es el reencuentro entre dos personajes que comparten una memoria pasada común.

Me recuerda un poco a Todos los fuegos del fuego de Julio Cortazar donde dos historias suceden en el mismo lugar aunque en distintos tiempos; pero en este cuento se maneja una intersección de los dos tiempos que resultan en una confusión interesante.

La mujer del presente se llama Isabel y la correspondiente del pasado, Livia. Me encanta el contraste entre la aprensiva e introvertida Isabel y la libre y juguetona Livia.

El hombre del presente se llama Luca y el correspondiente del pasado se llama Flavio. Con él sentí menos el contraste, pero igual me gustó el “par”.

Un elemento en particular que gocé mucho fue el hecho de que los personajes modernos están en Italia, país donde existe su memoria compartida, pero ninguno es de ahí. Ese pasado remoto los jala y los sigue.

Y sumado a esto están los recuerdos de la niñez de Isabel intercalados. Está bueno el libro. Se los recomiendo.

Hello world! Let’s talk about books! I’ll start us off.

This book was lent to me by a friend who know I love Middle Eastern culture. It’s the true story about the incarceration of a noble family after a coup in Morocco in the early 70’s, written by the oldest daughter, Malika Oufkir.

She talks about palace life, the confusion and pain of being a political prisoner for twenty years, and the surreal re-entry into a society that has changed beyond imagination.

She goes into all sorts of detail about the ways they coped and worked around the guards. The very real escape reads like an action movie. It’s fabulous.

And the pictures included in the book are a great touch. Especially because they show up after page 120, when as a reader you have gotten to know the people in the story rather well. There’s something very intimate about looking into their eyes and understanding these aren’t characters, they’re real people who have survived this.

She’s written a follow-up called Freedom, which I definitely want to read.