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joelogsliterature's reviews
86 reviews
Tres (Bilingual Edition) by Roberto Bolaño
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
No se parece a nada. Tres es un poemario impresionante. La primera parte resulta íntima, aunque nunca se revela por completo: una historia de amor, la de un hombre anhelante (el autor… esta obra tiene un aire autobiográfico) y su Desconocida, de cuya relación con él solo alcanzamos un vistazo. La segunda es más tradicional en forma y relata sus experiencias atravesando Chile y más allá con su banda. La parte final está llena de referencias literarias. Me sorprendió cuando mencionó a Boecio y Teodorico. Definitivamente me perdí mucho en esta sección por falta de conocimiento de la literatura hispánica, etcétera. Tengo ganas de volver a leerlo en el futuro, después de haber leído más de Bolaño. A veces es muy franco y no tiene miedo de tocar la vulgaridad.
Precedented Parroting by Barbara Tran
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I think some of the environmental motif’s actual messaging could have been more clear. I was surprised to see the epigraph given the proportion of the work based in this issue versus the author’s experience as a Vietnamese-American and especially in relation to her parents. Similarly the shifting to non-avian animals feels slightly off at times, but it’s never complete. I just don’t think that soaring feeling is tightly maintained. These are mere quibbles.
By Section 2, I was impressed. The cage metaphor is executed fantastically. Some of my favorite poems were: Blue from a Distance, Buttercups in Foil on the Windowsill, Loon Song (!!), Precedented Parroting pt1 (the other parts feel a bit mixed for me), the entirety of Môt: Rooted (apologies for my lack of Vietnamese diacritic options), Unframed, Hai: Present Tense [!!!] and the final page *ten for a bird you must not miss*.
I will see if Tran has anything else interesting sounding.
Props to Yen Ha as well. The cover design is great.
By Section 2, I was impressed. The cage metaphor is executed fantastically. Some of my favorite poems were: Blue from a Distance, Buttercups in Foil on the Windowsill, Loon Song (!!), Precedented Parroting pt1 (the other parts feel a bit mixed for me), the entirety of Môt: Rooted (apologies for my lack of Vietnamese diacritic options), Unframed, Hai: Present Tense [!!!] and the final page *ten for a bird you must not miss*.
I will see if Tran has anything else interesting sounding.
Props to Yen Ha as well. The cover design is great.
The Song of Roland by Unknown
3.5
Part of the canon of Middle Ages Europe, it is almost essential reading for someone interested in the period, but my rating is not meant to reflect historical significance. The second half of the poem is approached with all the grace of a sloth falling out of a tree. I like the idea that that part is an addition of the scribe who wrote the extant copy because the beginning is pretty strong. You should really read the main dramatic beats aloud for maximal effect. Maybe improvise a bit yourself on the formulas like the old jongleurs might have done. Anyway, I´d venture to say that most of the value of this text lies in its themes, especially insofar as they relate to the Crusades and people of the time: honor and chivalry, the ideal knight, (righteous) vengeance and mercy, manifest destiny, the role of God and feudalism. The structure is also fairly interesting with the tense shifting creating a dream-like atemporality at times and with the intra- and inter-laisse repetition being a nice basic demonstration of classical rhetoric, to greater or lesser effect at times. While lost in translation, it is also worthwhile to read the Anglo-Norman Old French excerpts provided to get some idea for the aesthetic quality of the meter, mainly the final (stressed) vowel assonance, which while loose, might remind one of Beowulf or other such compositions.
I originally read this in an older Penguins Classics edition with the translation by Sayers. I would suggest perhaps looking at both. I would not doubt if there's a great Norton critical edition as well. The introduction of the older Penguin edition discusses some things not hinted at in the reviewed version.
I originally read this in an older Penguins Classics edition with the translation by Sayers. I would suggest perhaps looking at both. I would not doubt if there's a great Norton critical edition as well. The introduction of the older Penguin edition discusses some things not hinted at in the reviewed version.
El ladrón del rayo ( Percy Jackson y los dioses del Olimpo 1 ) by Rick Riordan
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
Lo leí como audolibro en español. Nunca había leído la series ni había visto la pelí, pero siempre había oído elogios sobre ella como una gran novela de la literatura juvenil. Estuvo bastante bien, pero me resulta difícil no compararlo con Harry Potter. Es casi idéntico en muchos aspectos importantes. La yuxtaposición de ciudades modernas con criaturas mitológicas griegas es divertida, pero, por mi parte, hubiera preferido el escapismo absoluto. Los personajes estaban bien, pero en general no me dejaron mucha impresión.
Probablemente probaré el resto de la serie.
Probablemente probaré el resto de la serie.
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I believe this is an important book, but I also wonder if it might be too direct too early for much of its audience. If DiAngelo struggles so much to have liberal white women to recognize their place in the edifice of racism, then how would a conservative white man take such a book? I do not mean to say that is the intended audience. Rather my point is that those who might benefit from this are already ostensibly on the side of anti-racism, which is a meager portion of the populace. While it is valuable to identify common misconceptions, to state the obvious that <i>You are almost certainly racist. Even if you are not intentionally or consciously so, even if you have connections with black people, and even if you've faced difficulties yourself</i>, and to use that as a starting point for investigation into genuine remedies toward the amelioration of racism in America—while all of that is valuable, I think it fails to reach the potential of the ideas herein, which might be promulgated more broadly. Still, there is real value in giving reprieve from the worst of racism even if only for a few.
This book is really a starting point for those who are equipped with the prerequisites. Thankfully there is a helpful reading list to follow. I think this would be more striking for those wholly unfamiliar with the titular concept, but that was not at all how I came in. I think in 2025, the notion is commonplace, but it is also frequently watered down to mere frailty, which fails to recognize the pernicious power such fragility holds, both in the tears of white women and in the aggressions of white men. In this way, while most of this book was familiar, still some examples stood out to me: those examples that apply to my own racism. I was not entirely unaware of them, but it is also more comfortable always to push them aside as OK, which is to be more than complicit in this self-regulating façade for the broader racist structures at play.
In any case, this is a reasonably powerful little read. It is example-driven with minimal abstraction, and it pulls from the works of many others, especially Black people who, unlike the author, have direct otherwise inaccessible experience with the frustrations and injustices born of fragility. Remember: If it feels exhausting to approach racism with open humility and recognition like suggested, then imagine how exhausting it is to navigate it perpetually from the other end.
This book is really a starting point for those who are equipped with the prerequisites. Thankfully there is a helpful reading list to follow. I think this would be more striking for those wholly unfamiliar with the titular concept, but that was not at all how I came in. I think in 2025, the notion is commonplace, but it is also frequently watered down to mere frailty, which fails to recognize the pernicious power such fragility holds, both in the tears of white women and in the aggressions of white men. In this way, while most of this book was familiar, still some examples stood out to me: those examples that apply to my own racism. I was not entirely unaware of them, but it is also more comfortable always to push them aside as OK, which is to be more than complicit in this self-regulating façade for the broader racist structures at play.
In any case, this is a reasonably powerful little read. It is example-driven with minimal abstraction, and it pulls from the works of many others, especially Black people who, unlike the author, have direct otherwise inaccessible experience with the frustrations and injustices born of fragility. Remember: If it feels exhausting to approach racism with open humility and recognition like suggested, then imagine how exhausting it is to navigate it perpetually from the other end.
The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
While at times repetitive save the final book (which features the worst arguments by analogy but which fit well with a leap of faith), it is supremely worth reading today. Studying it historically or as a mastery of the classical forms—it is chocked with references—shows an incredibly impressive work, although mostly composed of pastiche. Many of the ideas here, themselves usually recycled but united in a novel secular-religious union, remain relevant bases for theologically informed philosophical investigation. Boethius remains relevant today. It is hard to overstate how singularly educated he was for his day.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
I’m ambivalent in some ways about this. Its didacticism is very mixed, and somehow it’s feel-good optimism feels capitulating, but I’m not at all for whom this was written. I hope it helps others. I certainly had a fairly good time, although this sequel was a lot less novel and so less exciting for the fantastical elements than the original. The big water scene and the finale scenes (final chapter + epilogue) were fun. The testimony was a bit frustrating but at least exciting.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.0
My third time reading this: 5th(?) grade, 9th grade, and now I’m far past grades. It’s very short and anything but sweet. In loneliness, the subjugated find some common ground. This book is about raising questions about that unity and gaining insight into the lives of working class people.
Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal by J.K. Rowling
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
3.75
It's still a bit of fun on re-read (listen) as an adult. Ponce's voice work is great. While I have more nostalgia for the movie (the book predates my birth by a bit), I think I still prefer the book better. The beginning leaves more of an impression, Peeves fits for it, etc.