A Moveable Feast- By Ernest Hemingway

Book Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Ernest Hemingway talks in ‘A Moveable Feast’ of when he lost his manuscripts. How painful must have been for a writer that had dedicated his soul and body to give shape to his ideas. We all know how hard it is to lose an important text, but being a young Hemingway, still unsure of his method, without even knowing if that method was reaching its potential and if his lyrics would someday find fame, could have been devastating, as his wife lost his suitcase in a Parisian train station in 1922.

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Tokio Blues- By Haruki Murakami

Book Reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Talking about Haruki Murakami is dangerous. Because you take the risk of categorize him and this is not possible. Murakami is a Japanese writer, author of various novels, all of them fantastically written and extremely imaginative and detailed. They have a lot of political, social and literary content. Murakami has hundreds of thousands of followers that constantly advocate for a Literature Nobel Prize. I read that when thousands of people idolized him in Japan in the nineties he hated it. Now the feeling runs through the whole world. I am not sure what he thinks about this.

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When We Were Orphans- By Kazuo Ishiguro

Book Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This review has no spoilers.

I have dedicated this week to Japanese authors. Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki. Although he was raised in England and all reviews refer to him as British, I do think it is precisely his Asiatic background what has allow him to write such beautiful pieces of literature.

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Little Fires Everywhere- By Celeste Ng

Book Reviews

Pop Culture

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I have always been attracted to currents of thinking, not necessarily to adopt them myself, but to know why is something likeable to people. This way I feel that I can get a hitch of what people is thinking and why a trend is a trend. And this is why I bought this book. Because it is a national bestseller. Because it is a television series whose protagonists are Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. Because it is everywhere I look. I wanted to know what was it about.

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The Difference in Power

Politics and Feminism

People like to get emphatic and overwhelming demonstrations about theories. It’s ok. I can do it. My theory: When women are in power they need to be in charge. Because when women dictate policy, they are much more favourable to women, to children, to the elderly. They tend more to fight climate change and poverty. They spend more financial resources in education and other social policies. They are more compassionate, with migrants, with refugees. They are more inclusive, with different racial and religious communities, with aboriginals, with the LGBTQI populations. They have managed better the response against COVID in their countries. Jacinta Ardern. She is the proof of my theory. She is the practice of this very truth.

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The Moons of Jupiter- by Alice Munro

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Book Reviews

This review has no spoilers but a recap of my favourite tales. Everyday life magnificent stories!

Says Alice Munro in the introduction to her book that once a story is published she cannot read it again, not even can she remember the details that someday gave the story its shape. 

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The Shadow of the Wind- by Carlos Ruiz Safón

Book Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This review has no spoilers. It is a posthumous honorary review to one of the best Spanish speaking authors that have ever existed!

Because it is not what he says. Although that too. It is more the way he says it. It is the description of the human emotions, that sometimes are so predatory. It is the analogy, the magical idealism, the use of the dialect of those years, the Spanish traditions of the XX Century that we thought were long gone.

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Literature Lover

If there is something I find difficult is to make a description of myself. For me, the best way is cutting layers from outside into the inside. Let’s see: I think I am an average woman of 1.67 cms high, brown hair and eyes. Nothing much nothing less. However, I was always skinny as an arrow. You must be thinking ‘how lucky is she?’ or ‘yes, now what?’ but be mindful that I was growing up in the 80s in Colombia, the country of the beautiful curvy-perfectly-measured women! So it was not always fun. I should say being all bones and skin brought me trouble at school as a lot of jokes were directed at my appearance -from constant questions about the state of my health to some comparisons at cartoons and so on- so, for the first 18 years of my life, I focused my efforts in trying to enlarge my body.

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Happy World Book Day

MyStories

Today is World Book Day. I owe books so much. But I think what I am most grateful for is that books have allowed me to dig deep into my father’s soul hidden places.

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Coronavirus times- Coming to Terms with the New-

MyStories

The beginning of my confinement was peaceful. I was already a bit isolated in my new hometown in France, as is a small, quiet place. The only change was that my kids school closed. Ok, I said to myself, this is a scary situation and the kids need to be here with hubby and I.

I am a big reader so whenever I have five minutes to read I take them and delight myself immersing into other people’s lives. It keeps me sane and I can stay at home reading books for quite a while, besides, reading has the advantage to take your fears  away while the book is open and you are enjoying your reading.

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