Random Ramblings

1) I finished reading a book named Memoria de Dragón (Dragon Memory, I'd say) by Javier Negrete. It's enjoyable and well-paced and I loved the main characters, but there were things that could've been better.
For example, I would've
- taken out the first chapter and the first paragraph of the second chapter
- made the POV more consistent
- changed the wording of a few sentences--especially the ones that rhyme and aren't supposed to
- double-checked the dialogues--specially those of the bad guys. There were some with extra cheese

Also--but this is more of a Technology Marches On problem--, the chapter where the main characters surf the internet is adorably outdated. ♥ It's like a how-to manual, even. And they find what seems to be a Geocities page with lots of animated gifs that takes a couple of minutes to load. :3

But all the Tolkien-related mentions give this book lots of bonus points, since it was first published before the LOTR movies came out.

2) I read Tomie, Gyo and Uzumaki (all horror mangas by Junji Ito) in one weekend. It was pretty epic. And fun too. (Fiction with body horror is the kind that repulses me and attracts me the most at the same time, what can I say.)
I like them, even though the grotesque was sometimes so over the top that it was hard to take it seriously. But I had fun, nevertheless. o/

Well, I finished The Poetics of Reverie and I must say that I ended up loving many parts of it. Specially the part where it says that to enjoy art*, one should embrace it with childish wonder. Otherwise, suspension of disbelief becomes impossible. To enjoy a metaphor becomes impossible. Thus, "only the child within can lead us to fabulous worlds."** I agree with that, and I say that can go for all the good things we experience in life.

What's the point of forcing ourselves to be all serious and "dignified" when we have every right to be wide-eyed and bouncy and to show the happiness we feel? But Rotterdam already covered that up a long while ago. (I need to re-read that one--when I get an edition that doesn't have the tiniest font ever :|)

And, all of that ties very good with the book about "Aesthetic Considerations About Gadamer's Hermeneutics" with the pink and cutesy cover I started reading this morning. I wish I could plan my readings this neatly, but chance makes a better job than I could.

The first chapter goes to explain that the the work of art is game that plays itself, and that the reader/spectator is indeed a player but, according to Gadamer, she doesn't play the game; she is played by the game because she buys into the make belief and follows the rules of the new world she's in.

The second chapter is supposed to go deeper into the matter of the spectator as the player, but I don't think I'll be reading it today.

_____
* The book specifically refers to poetry, but I'm including all arts because all of them can be poetic in their own way, and that's the whole point.
** I'm giving an English translation to a work that's originally in French and I read in Spanish. I believe I should go into hiding.

I'm so shameless, really.

Last Thursday, I bought the books 2-4 of the Percy Jackson series. That bookstore only trades paperbacks, and it seems the The Last Olympian is still in hard cover only. I still could've ordered it, but it's twice the price than each of the others and it's all sold out. Thus, I'm pretty much forced to wait. 8D Thing is, taotrooper and countlessuntruths said The Battle of the Labyrinth ends in a cliffhanger. O joy.

Today, when I went to my writing workshop, there was the presentation of a book called Una zarigüeya en mi mochila, that's pretty much what it says on the tin: the story of a girl who has a possum in her backpack. Sounded cute and fun, so I bought it and I got it signed. :D

I also bought:
* The Little Bear Book by Anthony Browne. The cuteness. It killed me.
* The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. I'd been wanting a copy of my own for a while.
* Maniática de la explicación by Adriana Falcão, which is about a girl who wants to explain everything. Many of her definitions are quite lovely and poetic.

And, a friend borrowed me a book about censorship in children's and YA's literature by Argentinian author Sandra Comino.

On the plus side, I finished Slaughterhouse-five last night and I loved it. But I need to let it sink in a little before I can comment properly on it.


PS. My neighbors still have the worst musical taste ever. :|