Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
Quite disappointed with this book. In general, I feel there is a big issue with this book's expectations. It's not a well-researched essay about the history of books. If that's what you're looking for (like I was), you will be disappointed.
Let me start then with what the book really is about. This is a well written personal diary of anecdotes around the emergence of books. It's Vallejo's personal trove of stories, interpretations, bibliography, and treasured moments in the history of literature. I would stress the word "personal" as it's quite arbitrary. I must concede that she writes wonderfully well so, despite not being what I thought, I did enjoy both her beautiful writing and some anecdotes.
Now, this isn't a well-researched essay or a well-edited one for that matter. She takes a very myopic view of the emergence of words, writing, and books. One completely centered around ancient Greece and Rome. Her disregard for the emergence of culture in Mesopotamia, the growth of Babylon, or Persia is shockingly missing from her narrative. No mention of the Silk Roads and even more surprising, not an iota about China, their writings, or their book technology.
The narrative of the book is also atrocious. There is no coherence to the book beyond part I is "all I like about Greece", part II is "a little bit about Rome". She moves in a vaguely chronological way but she has no problem jumping centuries here and there or taking brief detours into her own interpretation of history, let it be recent or from the last century. If this was an experimental novel, I wouldn't mind at all. But she's not Cortazar and this is not Rayuela. This is marketed as an essay and it's nothing like that.
I can understand why some people love this book because it's a series of very well written tweets (or even haiku) about books and their history plus an extensive list of suggestions for books to read. In a society with serious attention deficit like ours, I can see the appeal for many for the constant jumping from story to story, theme to theme in a semi randomize way. However, if you're looking for a more logical, cohesive, and holistic, even boring take, on the history of books and words, this is not it.
Let me start then with what the book really is about. This is a well written personal diary of anecdotes around the emergence of books. It's Vallejo's personal trove of stories, interpretations, bibliography, and treasured moments in the history of literature. I would stress the word "personal" as it's quite arbitrary. I must concede that she writes wonderfully well so, despite not being what I thought, I did enjoy both her beautiful writing and some anecdotes.
Now, this isn't a well-researched essay or a well-edited one for that matter. She takes a very myopic view of the emergence of words, writing, and books. One completely centered around ancient Greece and Rome. Her disregard for the emergence of culture in Mesopotamia, the growth of Babylon, or Persia is shockingly missing from her narrative. No mention of the Silk Roads and even more surprising, not an iota about China, their writings, or their book technology.
The narrative of the book is also atrocious. There is no coherence to the book beyond part I is "all I like about Greece", part II is "a little bit about Rome". She moves in a vaguely chronological way but she has no problem jumping centuries here and there or taking brief detours into her own interpretation of history, let it be recent or from the last century. If this was an experimental novel, I wouldn't mind at all. But she's not Cortazar and this is not Rayuela. This is marketed as an essay and it's nothing like that.
I can understand why some people love this book because it's a series of very well written tweets (or even haiku) about books and their history plus an extensive list of suggestions for books to read. In a society with serious attention deficit like ours, I can see the appeal for many for the constant jumping from story to story, theme to theme in a semi randomize way. However, if you're looking for a more logical, cohesive, and holistic, even boring take, on the history of books and words, this is not it.
Me gustó bastante, todo lo que cuenta, pero sí se me hizo bastante pesado de leer. Es por eso que si el contenido no interesa no lo recomendaría
Eerste zin (proloog):
Mysterieuze groepen mannen te paard trekken over de wegen van Griekenland.
Fantastisch boek, mijn exemplaar plakt vol blad wijzertjes en staat vol notities en kleine schetsjes. Hier keer ik nog naar terug, zo interessant.
Mysterieuze groepen mannen te paard trekken over de wegen van Griekenland.
Fantastisch boek, mijn exemplaar plakt vol blad wijzertjes en staat vol notities en kleine schetsjes. Hier keer ik nog naar terug, zo interessant.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Not terribly systematic and focused primarily on ancient Greece and Rome, this is more a collection of interesting facts, anecdotes and authorial musings. But it's very interesting and thoughtfully written, so if you like a pleasant wander through the garden of time and have a bilbliophillic leaning, you might enjoy this book.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Olipas se mielenkiintoista lukea kirjojen syntytarina.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
relaxing
fast-paced
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced