Be Careful, Pay Attention: Not Everything Is At It Seems.

Be careful, pay attention: not everything is at it seems.

Meanwhile, I offer you this (?

Well, I was planning on reading Dracula for Halloween/October too but it was a little more dense and longer, I had to work and then I had a trip for a week, so I didn't manage to finish it on time. Maybe I'll read it in-between other stuff this month, but I'm also preparing for final exams so I don't know haha

I didn't have time for pics either this week, I'll see what I come up with

Is this a comfortable POV for you?

Book Review: Batman. Dark Nights: Metal. Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, John Romita Jr.

My Review in a Tweet:

It's so disorienting to read comics sometimes. I could follow the story but I had no idea where it came frome, because I don't even know what other comics I should have read before. Despite that, it was a good story with amazing artwork and really interesting character designs.

My Full Review:

I should clarify from the get-go that a friend lent me this book so I read it mostly out of curiosity. Having to fill in the gaps of the previous issues of this comic can be a difficult task if you have no idea what to read (I went in blindly, fearing spoiling myself) and have no access to the comics.

Despite all those (clearly personal) obstacles, I found the reading quite interesting, at least beacuse of the intrincancies of the plot and the flashy new designs some of the characters were sporting. I knew secondhandly the Batman who Laughs, but I wasn't sure why he was here. I enjoyed his presence nonetheless.

Seeing Baby Darkseid was great, I saw that design before but I didn't know it was from this specific comic:

The other highlight for me was Dream from the Eternals:

A fun comic that I didn't quite understand but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. The artstyle was a delight to me, with more interesting compositions and framings.

7/10.

My Other 2023 Readings.

Book Review: Historias de Cronopios y de Famas, Julio Cortázar

My Review in a Tweet:

Imagine you get a box filled with puzzle pieces, but they are all from different puzzles. You may see a familiar figure here, another face there, but no matter how you try to arrange the pieces together, you are sure it's not the meant image. Reading this book is like that.

My Full Review:

I became aware yesterday of my inappropriate lack of Argentinean authors in my reading list this year, and trying to mend that a little, I found this little book in a bookshelf while visiting my parents for the holidays.

While quite short, this book reminded me how much I ignore. I felt in a clear cultural disadvantage, where Cortázar (who some people may call the greatest Argentinean author) was playing a joke at my expense. I don't say this negatively.

Historias de Cronopios y de Famas is a collection of short stories, vague poems and... Nonsense. That's when the ignorance I felt started to creep in. I'm not sure of the exact literary current Cortázar belongs to, but this book read to me like an absurdist ramble without crossing over to dadaism.

I tend to believe that there are some clear themes of social and economic classes coating the short stories of the Cronopios, the Famas and the Hopes: they work as fictional and bizarre versions of Argentina's middle-to-low, high and (cultural) elite class respectively (I'm not sure about the Hopes). Cronopios are despised and treated condescendingly by the Famas, mocking their behavior and traditions, all too jovial and effusive and lazy; the Famas think too high of themselves and tend to use and abuse the other two; the Hopes seem to be trapped in an academic gasp, stunned by the lack of refinement of the Cronopios.

Even the short stories not directly related to the Cronopios and Famas act as a display of Argentina's idiosyncrasy, helped by the explicit mention of some elements, some places of this country (and more specifically, from Gran Buenos Aires).

But you have to remember that none of the stories really make sense. They are almost poetical, oneirical, nearing the realm of magical realism, very popular in Latin America.

The narration and writing themselves demand a lot of the reader's attention and time, forcing them to engage with the book to find some sense.

Again, I say all of this in a positive light: it's a challenging book in almost a literal sense, it presents itself innocently, like a bunch of nonsense, but soon you start to feel like there's something more underneath, like if under this outer coat of surrealistic and abstract tales laid a more tangible and grounded coat of the same color, merely a different tone but same color nonetheless.

I'm not sure how well this book would be received by non-argentinian or non-spanish speaking persons, but it's a good book anyways.

7,5/10.

My Other 2023 Readings.

Merry Christmas to everyone ✨