6
Followers
21
Following
The Good Times Are Killing Me
I'm a nerdy girl with too much time on her hands, and too many books on her to-read pile.
Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
Although I don't have an eating disorder, I could identify with some of the things Marya says here. She's very honest and doesn't try to sugar-coat anorexia or bulimia. In truth, you never fully recover from these conditions, and you can see her struggle with her past and her future in every page. I recommend this book to people wanting to understand eating disorders, to relatives of someone with anorexia, and to pepple who want a good, real read. This gets very Painful to read at times.
Anno Dracula (Anno Dracula, #1)
The alternate universe that Kim Newman draws in Anno Dracula is fantastic. The story mixes historical and fictional characters in a coherent and interesting way, staying true to the spirit of the period the book is set in. This was without a doubt a great read, one that I recommend very much to any Dracula fan out there.
The Mammoth Book of Vampires
I liked this collection way more than the Mammoth book of Zombies. "Midnight mass" and "Red Reign" were revelations, and I got the opportunity to revisit classics like "For the blood is the life" and "Ligeia". There are tales here that I will definitely read again in the near future.
Frankenstein
¿Quién es el monstruo en esta historia? ¿El humano irresponsable que rechaza a su creación sin asumir las consecuencias de sus actos, o el engendro apartado por su apariencia, decidido a cobrar por la fuerza el amor que le fue negado?Mary Shelley creó en este libro a dos personajes (para mi) inolvidables, llenos de cualidades y defectos con los que podemos identificarnos. Al margen de ciertos momentos del cuento que pueden resultar tediosos (nunca he sido fan de las exhaustivas descripciones de lugares y paises) "Frankenstein" para mí fue uno de esos libros que capturó mi atención desde el primer momento, así fuera solo por comprobar qué tan cerca al monstruo de las películas estaba el personaje literario.
Hannibal Rising
I was hoping that my disappointment with Hannibal Rising was caused by the spanish translation, but after reading some reviews here I guess that the original is probably not better. Harris doesn't give much ground for turning Hannibal from "righteous" avenger to cannibal monster, and there is nothing in this kid that reminds me of the evil Lecter of earlier novels. I won't try to watch the movie and with some luck this book will fade from memory leaving me with the monster I knew and loved.
The Graveyard Book
I can only say that I want my future children to read this book. I enjoyed it much more than Coraline - and I had a blast reading that one - because here Neil Gaiman deals with change, growth and the bittersweet memories of our childhood, while creating characters with depth and feeling. For a little while I even wanted to have grown in a graveyard with a misterious guardian and a man jack hunting for me :P
I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It
Although this story will not be part of "best romance" lists anywhere, is a really sweet and realistic portrait of what it means to be in love. You overlook flaws (even one as big as being dead), you get butterflies when he calls you and all of the sudden you're thinking about dying and becoming a zombie just to be with the "love" of your life forever. After all, craving for brains and being in constant pain is nothing when you're with the man of your dreams!!!!!!! In the end, "I kissed a Zombie and I liked it" reminded me that you can't change who you are or what you love for someone else, no matter how good it seems at the beginning, and that every little moment alive is priceless. Many teenagers swoon for "heroes" like Ed Cullen, wanting to meet a handsome, misterious man that has been waiting hundreds of years just for them, but a good relationship needs more than good looks and butterflies. Alley sees that at the end, teaching a valuable lesson to the rest of us who don't see it when it counts.
Virgin Suicides
I don't really know what to say about this book, except that it's going to stay in my mind for a long time. The prose is beautiful, and the way Eugenides portraits the Lisbon girls makes you feel like you're there, on the other side of the road, collecting pieces of hair and old photos and brushes, chasing after a group of girls that are beyond the love or the comprehension of the world.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
I know many people said they were dissapointed with the last Potter's books, but I gotta say that I love them. This one specially, because (to me) it does justice to a journey of seven years, and allows me to say good bye to beloved characters, even if the epilogue wasn't that great. If nothing else, this line makes the book priceless:[Speaking of you-know-who] “Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to” I had to step out of the meeting I was in for fear of laughing too hard. :P
Animal Farm: Centennial Edition
Terrific book. It's the ultimate story of how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Revolutions are fueled and ruined by greed, ignorance, fear, lazyness, and other human traits that will forever stain our attempts to erradicate poverty and inequality. I believe that the success of this book lies in the use of animals as characters. Seeing our own brutalities through the eyes of beings so different from us manages to disturb us deeper than anything else, specially when it's being done to a piece of history that has been endlessly trivialized by the media. Like in "Maus" (another great book), we are forced to face the parts of our nature that we try so hard to hide, and it helps us to understand that something big has to change in the core of every human before we can begin to see the slightest change in our society.
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them
"Reading Like a Writer" both taught and entertained me, exposing me to many authors I knew nothing about, and making me see books in a different way. I love to read (and have been trying to write coherently for as long as I can remember) but the idea of studying the way other authors deal with dialogues or characters didn't cross my mind till I read this book. It certainly has its flaws, (several quotes are more than two pages long, some endings of stories I didn't know are forever ruined) but it gave me enough reasons to revisit parts of my favorite books to see what makes them work so well.
El penúltimo sueño
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it's impossible for me to digest Angela's style. The dialogs are so forced that I can't believe anyone would think they belong to real people, and it was impossible for me to relate to any character. The love story was a cliche, so cheesy and predictable... this is a book that I wouldn't recommend except to die hard romance fans with a taste for overworked sentences and unrealistic characters.
Psycho II
I had great hopes for this book, but was left dissapointed when I realized that Bloch used this sequel to write his own parody of slasher films instead of a proper continuation to Norman's story. As a thriller is not that bad, but I liked Psycho so much that I was expecting something more... Psycho II starts great, with Norman returning to his old self and trying to end what was started 22 years ago, but things go downhill from there, and I quickly lost most of my interest.
Los ojos del perro siberiano
Hace mucho tiempo lei este libro como parte de las tareas asignadas en el curso de Español. Lloré al final, al igual que todas mis amigas, y prometimos no caer en los mismos errores de las personas retratadas en este libro: El SIDA es una enfermedad, no un motivo de discriminación u odio. Me gustó la narración, el tema, y los personajes, por lo que lo recomiendo como un buen libro juvenil.
A Christmas Carol
I've seen so many adaptations of this book but never felt like reading the original work until I remembered that my brother had a copy somewhere... it didn't take me long to find it, and less time to read it. Dickens mixes in A Christmas Carol humor, irony, love, and a wonderful narrative style that truly captures the spirit of the times and your attention. I really enjoyed it, and recommend it to all of you. :D
Eyes of the Dragon
This was my favourite book when I was little, and I have many great memories of it. Stephen King is a fantastic storyteller, he proves it here in this fantasy book filled with legends and evil and great characters. I really recommend it.
