TOUR POR LOS NO-LUGARES
A new year and a whole lot to read.
This past few months have been really busy and what is the first thing that suffers. This blog of course.
I finish my reading year with 43 amazing books. 9 shy of my original goal but still pretty impressive.
On the pages front I’m at 132,216 total pages.
So the goal for this year is to read 61 books, that’s 52 of my new list and 9 from last year, and 50,000 total pages.
Happy Readings!!!!!
Thursday art events in Juarez -El Paso
Hope to see you in Juarez
Tomorrow is a day for art exploration in both El Paso and Juarez. first of all there is the Last Thursday art walk. There are a number of places in downtown El Paso which will have special openings, and in Juarez there will be three locations-the same as last month-which should be video linked as well as I believe with Loftlight studio in El Paso.
Then at the Rubin Center, Theater Mitu is opening a video installation about their intense, amazing “mythical documentary” about Juarez. This is happening from 5-7. Anyone who had the chance to see the show knows how much work went into this two year investigation.
Over at the Museo de Arte in Juarez there will be a presentation of the series of books called Arco de Seres Imaginarios. This is scheduled for 7.
So get out there. I understand the Kosher Taco truck is going to…
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Book Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five 2013
It’s becoming sort of a regular thing for me to take an awful lot of time to write a new post, but this I have a very good reason.
I just finish reading the longest book of the year, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I kind you not, it took from May 7 to July 9, that’s 63 days.
An enthralling tale set during the middle of the 12th century during The Anarchy in England, it explores the intrigue and conspiracies that started brewing during King Stephen reign. The story spans over half a century.
But to me it really revolves around the building of a new cathedral in Kingsbridge. The other historical references are merely a back-drop in which the story unwinds.
I loved all the architectural references I think it gives the story a great deal of strength and it make feel you’re standing there cover in dust, watching how this beautiful building rises slowly from the ground. I especially liked how you become witness to the architectural shift from Romanesque to Gothic.
My favorite characters of the novel are Tom, the master builder who thinks that his sole purpose is to build the greatest cathedral known to man. Jack, the young man who turns from being a menace to a great stonemason. And lastly the beautiful and successful Aliena, she defeats all odds and becomes a beacon of light in all the darkness that try to engulf them.
I would have given the novel five stars but somethings didn’t quite click, mainly two things. The fact that William Hamleigh was a cliche of a villain got pretty old really soon and also the fact that Aliena had to suffer extremely throughout the novel was kind of a drag, how much bad luck can one person have. Other that it’s really a behemoth of a story ,a really long and satisfying read.
The other book that I finish, and the one that puts me right in the middle of this year, was Shame by Salman Rushdie. Written in the style of magic realism the story revolves around mainly the violence that is born out of the feeling of shame . It takes flesh in an innocent girl,that as a small child became sick with encephalitis.
She wreak havoc on one and all of the characters, sort of an retribution for all the wrong they gave to the world. Not a easy read, I sometimes got lost but found my track pretty quickly, but beautifully written and executed.
So that’s 12,424 pages down, 37,318 pages to go.
Total Pages : 124,004 pages
Books Twenty-One, Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three 2013
This past few weeks have been kind of busy.
I have been putting together, along with my wife and some friends, an art expo that links two cities in two countries, Ciudad Juárez in México and El Paso in the United States. The last post of my blog is actually a re-blog from a very king gentleman who has taken the time to write about this project, Mr. David Sokolec. You can see the original post here: http://borderartdialogue.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/last-thursday-comes-to-juarez/
So all this running around hasn’t stop me from reading but it has from writing.
In this weeks of absence I finish three marvelous books, two from my favorite mexican author Carlos Fuentes and one by the nobel laureate south African author J.M. Coetzee.
The first of Fuentes book was “La silla del águila” set in the year 2020, the United States had left México in a communication darkness, no phones, no e-mail, no internet. So all the politicians have to communicate through letters and does so breaking one of their cardinal rules, don’t leave any written evidence of your little scams. Full of backdoor deals and double face characters, the stories take you on a wild roller-coaster ride that will only end up with someone sitting in the coveted “eagles throne”.
As most of Fuentes book is timeless and a sharp criticism of the way our country is manipulated by a small group only for their benefit.
The second novel was the last this great author ever publish, has we lost him in may of last year.
The book “Federico en su balcón” was intented to be presented in the International Book Fair of Guadalajara in November by the author, but as before mention, he sadly past away some months earlier.
The book revolves around the figure of Friedrich Nietzsche as he stands in the balcony of is hotel looking as the world runs its course suddenly he starts a dialogue with he next door neighbor. Between them a complex story is spun, a bloody revolution where it’s characters are sort a rhetorical form of Nietzsche and Fuentes, almost an autobiography, where the story may unravel in any period of history. For me you can see echoes of other classic characters of Fuentes. Full of symbolism and hidden meaning I think this one will have to be read at least a couple of times.
The last book was “Infancia”. Coetzee gives voice to a 9 year old boy in the 1950’s who goes to live to a suburb of Cape Town. With all its brutally and simple pleasures the story gets you in to the depths of the conflicted inner thoughts of the boy. As most of this author work the center of it all is guilt. The boy feels a tremendous amount of it
From lying in school about being catholic to feeling guilty of being white in an African country. To me this is an remembrance of the authors own past, a past that somehow got forgotten a long time ago and was resurrected in a complex and lyrical book.
So that’s 11,050 pages down, 38,692 pages to go
Total Pages: 122,630 pages.
Last Thursday comes to Juarez
For a couple of months now downtown El Paso has been the setting for a successful “Last Thursday” art walk with various restaurants and art spaces taking part. According to a report in El Diario, a local Juarez group is expanding the event internationally, and tomorrow night will have the first opening at three locations here in Juarez. The group is named BAZART and according to spokewoman Brenda Ceniceros (whiose installation at CUDA I recently reviewed) the shows will open simultaneously at Asenzo, Alquimia Pizza and El Garces with skype connection linking all three venues. They are hoping to make this a truly international event, expanding the dialogue between the two cities as well as delinking the art from the control of more traditional instutions. More power to them.
It is scheduled to start at 7. If you are really ambitious you can go to both sides of the border…
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Book Twenty 2013, Claraboya
The first book written by José Saramago in 1952, but the last he publish, posthumous.
It was lost for about forty years, the publisher only got back to him
when he was already an acclaimed author.
The story revolves around a building in Lisbon were the many lives of its very particular residents becomes to unravel. Through jumping from apartment to apartment in each chapter we can see tiny worlds forming in each house all of them with their internal wars and blissful moments.
Full of wit, tragedy, longing, the very worldly necessities of their every day lives, Saramago explores what became the omnipresent theme in all his novels, the beauty and hideousness that is the human condition.
His clear and powerful voice is already there, lazed with beauty and grace we become witness to the birth of one of the most illustrious literary genius of this century. For my money it is the second best novel I have ever read by the master Saramago second only to “Ensayos sobre la ceguera”.
So that’s 10,140 pages down, 39,602 pages to go.
Total Pages : 121,720 pages
Books Eighteen and Nineteen,2013
This past few weeks I read two amazing books, mind you that I’m not that into science fiction I’m more of a fantasy guy. That been said I think that one of the books I read is probably the greatest science fiction novel I have read.
To start of I read the Second book of the trilogy, written by the Italian writer and archaeologist Valerio Massimo Manfredi about the enigmatic Macedonian king, Alexander the Great.
This book chronicles the quest of Alexander to conquest Asia. As he marches on he recovers some Greek cities that had fallen into the hands of the Persians His journey takes him south until he reaches the Libyan desert were he founds himself in the ancient enigmatic land of Egypt, there he decides to build the greatest city the world has ever seen, Alexandria.
He also encounters who is perhaps is greatest enemy and the only one that could challenge is march down Asian territories, Memnon of Rhodes, the Greek mercenary commander of King Darius III army. Alexander himself call him the only worthy enemy he has encounter .
In all this is a very entertain book that introduces us to one of the greatest man to ever walk this earth.
The second book was Orson Scott Card’s behemoth of a book.
Ender’s Game follows little Andrew ” Ender” Wiggin, the boy genius who is the only hope for our planet to defeat the ever present “buggers” threat, an insectoid-like creatures that have tried to invade earth on a couple of occasions.
The novel follows Ender training in battle and commander school and you witness how his military genius blossoms at a very tender age.
With a tremendous pace and several plot twist this is a book that I think will be revisited several time in the coming years.
So that’s 9,723 pages down, 40,019 pages to go.
Total Pages 121.303 pages .
Books Fifteen,Sixteen, and Seventeen 2013
So I have been away for a while, you know how it is with life.
But that hasn’t stop me from reading.
In this past weeks I have finish three amazing books, one graphic novel and a very interesting magazine about generations throughout human history.
The first book I finish was “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman, this intricate story follows the witty Lyra Belacqua and her dæmon, a sort manifestation of ones soul in the form of an animal, Pantalaimon. Our heroine is trown into a perilous journey where she must face the mysterious Lord Asriel and his quest to find the enigmatic origin of the substance known as “Dust”, the ruthless Mrs.Coulter, the exiled armored bear Iorek Byrnison, the child-stealing Gobblers, the honorable gyptians and even several clan of witches. With it’s profound subject matter and beautiful narrative this novel is destined to become and ageless classic.
The second novel is Kerouac’s masterpiece “On the Road”, a chronicle of the journey throught a infinite number of miles that Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty travel in order to find the meaning of their existence. A rocky road fill with jazz, drugs and the ever stretching mystical highways of america. This novel tap into my need to go out and explore the world, to find some epiphany with the radio blasting and the road unfolding before me.
The third book was the collection of short stories “Smoke and Mirrors” by Neil Gaiman. I will highly recommend this book to witness the large scope that Mr. Gaiman can cover. Some of my favorite stories are collected in this volume like “The Price” the story of the brave black cat, or ” Murder Mysteries” the thriller about the murder of an angel. I also found new material to me, especially the tip of the hat to H.P. Lovecraft.
As you can see the range of this novels are all over the place, but and with any good book they make take a journey into the unknown.
So that’s 9,044 pages down, 40, 698 pages to go
Total Pages 120,624 pages
Book Fourteen 2013, Norwegian Wood
A beautiful novel laced by lost love and forgotten lovers, our narrator Toru Wanatabe, takes us on a reminiscence of his college years, his sexual conquests and mishaps.
But the main drive of the story is the infatuation of our narrator with two lovely ladies, Naoko and Midori.
As a back-drop to the story our narrator bear witness to the Tokyo student protest in the late 60’s. An event that was behold in many other nations.
As always Mr. Murakami weaves an intricated story full of beautiful moment as well as heart-wrenching events, all of this accompanied by a radiantly poetical narrative.
Of the three novels I have read of this japanese author this is my favorite.
As an interesting fact, the name of the novel comes from a Beatles song of the same name, and has mention throughout the novel as the favorite song of Naoko.
So that’s 7,651 pages down 42,091 pages to go
Total Pages 119,231 pages
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