y3keo's reviews
95 reviews

Por qué volvías cada verano by Belén López Peiró

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challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Este libro nos lo introdujo mi prof. de Literatura Latinoamericana en quinto año del secundario, cuando escuché de qué trataba me dio mucha curiosidad pero no fue hasta dos años más tarde que decidí retirarlo de la biblioteca y darle la chance que merece.

Sabía y estaba mentalizado en que sería un libro fuerte, porque jamás va a ser fácil leer sobre abuso sexual, mucho menos cuando lo relatado es una historia verídica. Aún así, independientemente de si me mentalicé o no, es un libro que te destruye y que requiere leerse en un estado mental conveniente porque más allá de saber que esto es real, que estas denuncias, conversaciones, testimonios son reales, la narración de las mismas en voz de la autora, cómo lo cuenta, las palabras y recursos que usa es increíblemente desgarrador.

Belén López Peiró es una persona de gran resiliencia a pesar de todo lo que vivió no sólo por parte de su abusador sino del resto de su familia. Y muy talentosa para la escritura. Le deseo paz (sé que existe una continuación a este libro, Donde mo hago pie, y supe que a su abusador lo metieron preso, hace poco, después tantos años, ¿Habrá sido un alivio para ella? ¿Lo habría encontrado en el camino ya? ¿Seguirá doliendo?). Ojalá sane y viva toda la vida que tiene por delante; hay cosas que no se pueden borrar jamás pero no dudo de su fuerza para llevarse el mundo por delante.

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The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels

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hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.75

Started this one on Marx's birthday and then got distracted and completely forgot about it, sorry.

Had already read this in Spanish back in the day but since it came with the Little Black Classics Penguin boxset I thought I'd give the English version a read, too.

Gotta say, it is a text that reads stuck in its time and yet, holds up in itself to this day, as most can be applied almost two hundred years after it was written. Marx and Engels were visionaries that hit most of the nails in the head and no self proclaimed communist can go without admiring their minds and overlooking their genius. An absolute must read, of course; though I'll add that maybe not as much of an introductory text to communist literature as people seem to make it, there's other options I deem better for that like Engels's Principles of Communism.
Sordera y lenguaje: Neurociencias y Logogenia by Patricia Salas

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informative reflective fast-paced

2.75

Ante mi aprendizaje de lengua de señas y paralelo interés por las discapacidades quise buscar adentrarme a lo que es la literatura sorda para más entender la experiencia de la comunidad sorda, especialmente ahora que busco adaptarme a la comunicación con profesores sordos. Cuando pregunté en la biblioteca si tenían libros sobre sordera, me entregaron una pila de libros sobre los aspectos de la educación de niños sordos, y no era la perspectiva que buscaba realmente pero decidí llevarme este.

El libro como tal está bien, no es una lectura muy de mi gusto porque la mayoría de ciencias naturales están fuera de mi foco de interés y estudio, y creo que en cualquier otro caso no se me habría pasado por la cabeza leer algo como esto: las neurociencias (pero dije lo mismo del psicoanálisis e igual me leí 320 páginas de freudo-marxismo). En fin, es una lectura cuyo lenguaje no es tan difícil, accesible si se tiene un mínimo conocimiento sobre lenguaje académico o científico y por ello me enteré de mucho de lo que toca el texto sin haber leído sobre neurociencia anteriormente. No esperé que me interesara tanto hasta que comencé a leerlo, pero aún así siento que me dejó con la sensación de querer preguntar "¿y entonces?" Porque creo que la autora (que de hecho es sorda y cuenta también desde su experiencia; aquellas partes que me parecieron de las más interesantes), deja mucho al aire explicando el conflicto sin dar realmente soluciones concretas.

Aun así, noto que a los oyentes nos pone nerviosos la hora de tener que comunicarnos con una persona cuya lengua es enteramente distinta a la que estamos acostumbrados, pero pocas veces nos ponemos a plantear qué es vivirlo desde el otro lado y este libro nos da eso, una mirada desde adentro. Contrario a lo que creo se cree, no me parece que un mundo nos separe de las personas con discapacidad auditiva, para mí hay mucho en lo que nos podemos relacionar y reflexionar a la par.
On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts by Thomas De Quincey

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dark funny slow-paced

2.0

Notwithstanding the mindnumbing writing of the man of his epoch, or the fact that it fell flat on its own satire, this essay does shine light on a topic that, it seems, has been of interest for centuries. Murder, its morality and its art form. 

It brings questions to surface, like: can murder be celebrated, admired? When is it right for murder to be so? Is it, even right, for it to be so? What is so curious about who takes the life of who and why? I could write my own essay on this topic but I'll refrain from doing so now.

It was an okay read, not something that would come to mind to recommend, though.
The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue by Anonymous

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Did not finish book.
Bored the shit out of me, also, way too may names and unnecesary information, lmao
As kingfishers catch fire by Gerard Manley Hopkins

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
So beautiful and cleverly written that my unaccustomed brain couldn't take it. That means, I thought I knew English until I had to take three reads before understanding one of these poems, I was taking too long. Someday I'll come back to this.
Mrs Rosie and the Priest by Giovanni Boccaccio

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The first story had me so convinced I was going to hate the rest, but I didn't, the two in the middle were quite enjoyable.

It began off. I can admit the lady of the first story was a smart one and Andreuccio an absolute fool for believing himself so high up, but as a whole the story annoyed me more than anything.

The second one, I enjoyed. Messer Ricciardo was a pathetic excuse of a man and I totally get his wifes decision of staying with Paganino. I, too, would choose drowning in pleasure with a fourteenth century bad boy than with a rich guy that'd leave me to dry... and that takes me to story three, which I also enjoyed; I don't condone cheating but, eh, sometimes priests are just hotter, even if they're a little bit full of themselves. There's just something about sinning and the whole aspect of religion that gets me going a little...

But the last story...? I'm giving it half a star because in a way I enjoyed the sociopathy of it all but at the same time, ya gotta just be sick in the head. Planning to test that poor woman's patience and servitude for over a decade? Old man needed to be put down, seriously, and the fact that he got to enjoy a happily ever after... Had I been that woman his head would've rolled in front of the children, who, by the way, weren't even made aware of anything?! That's gonna be some trauma.


As per his writing: eh. I liked the euphemisms and the sexual descriptions were kinda funny but not histerically so. It was the 1300s and the roles of the time are clear. Bioccaccio is fine, but didn't intrigue me enough to read his full work.
Estrella Maligna Remina by Junji Ito

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

De todo lo que he leído del maestro Junji Ito, he de decir que este no ha sido mi favorito... Bizarro como todos e inicialmente atrapante pero no se sostuvo como en otros trabajos de él. Sentí que ya llegaba un punto en que la historia se volvía de más repetitiva, alargada y sinsentido para mi gusto a diferencia de otras historias en las que me fascinaba de principio a fin, dejando mucho que desear, especialmente en el final. También siento que un factor de esto sea el leerlo traducido y que por ahí se pierdan algunas cosas del original. Obviamente le doy sus dos estrellas y media por la magnificencia que caracteriza sus dibujos y porque a pesar de que me pareció más largo de lo que debería estuvo, simplemente, bien.

PD.: Me gustó más la historia extra al final, "Millones Solitarios".
Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller by Oliver Darkshire

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

When I first came across this title while looking through books on bibliophilia and the history of books and libraries I didn't think much of it. The synopsis called my attention and so did the reviews, I wondered how a memoir and/or chronicles of a rare bookshop and its staff could be as funny as they said, so I did the logical thing and bought it to be the judge of that. And I don't regret it one bit. Oliver Darkshire has such a way of narrating events that makes this book one of those you're very relunctant to put down and even finish because you want more of it. It is like you're reading through episodes of a sitcom and is the perfect mixture of all things funny and bizarre with just the perfect amount of self-deprication of a young gay with little to no prospects for the future (situation I am very much relating to as of now) and seriousness to treat (minorly, but still) things such a disability and queerness and youth around the bigger picture that is: books, and the love for books. And as a young transgay that loves books, I very much love this book specifically. I'm so glad to have decided it was worth a shot, because really, I was skeptical at first, thought maybe the humor might not be might thing, I didn't really know what I was diving into with this one but I have no doubts left that Oliver Darkshire is a genius storyteller; if he ever puts out anything else, I'll probably be one of the firsts in line.

First 5/5-star review of the year and it just makes so much sense to me that it had to be this one.
Cacería de niños by Taeko Kōno

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
Leí únicamente la primera historia, por eso lo que digo quizá no se relaciona cin el resto de las historias pero lo que leí fue un terror psicológico/body horror que juega mucho con la moralidad y el shock value pero que me pareció que cayó bastante chato en sentido de trama, por decirlo de alguna manera. Cumple su función perturbadora pero una vez que te acostumbrás no hace mucho, lo agarré esperando otra cosa.