Was loving the meta vibes i got from the first page alone so I can't wait to see how crazy it gets

If you liked that you’ll love the book

Narcissus and Goldmund — Herman Hesse

He’s just a good f***ing writer, isn’t he? Hesse’s ability to evoke and describe emotions and eloquence is genuinely unmatched. There’s something quite beautiful in how profoundly sad his works are. Goldmund, the restless romantic nomad, and Narcissus, the cold grounded intellect come together as the duality of man and dovetail into a bond of permanent love and friendship until the end.

4/5

loved this novel when I read it like ten years ago and it meant a lot to me. definitely one of those books that really resonate with you if you read them at the right time in your life. by far my favorite work by Hesse

Read this last year. Such a beautiful experience.

Need to read this one

A Promised Land - Barack H. Obama

"I had become a mere conduit through which people might recognize the value of their own stories, their own worth, and share them with one another."

This is like his personal diary from 2004 to 2011, if you want to read how everything in that time period unfolded through Obama's eyes, this is the book and I think this is why it's selling like crazy.

What I got the most out of this book was how much he valued and appreciated everyone he worked with and how they all created the image of Obama we have. From David Axelrod inventing "Yes We Can", Jon Favreau (not the director) writing his inauguration speech, Michelle keeping him in check on whether his motives are pure and real, the millennial campaign staffers explaining social media to him and why he needed to jump on Web2.0, the older Senators pushing him to run when he didn't believe he could. All these people he ran into transformed him into the person we know now and he's giving credit where it's due, always true to his mistakes, honest about his doubts and transparent about his thoughts and that's why his supporters will always love him, because he's radiating a sense that he was always trying to do the best he realistically could do as a human being.

yes yes yes, so much yes!!! what a journey, Hesse is amazing

my reading has gotten off to such a slow start this year. life has gotten so busy I can tell I'm not gonna be able to read as much as I want to

here's what I've read so far this year

El Gaucho Insufrible by Roberto Bolaño (read in Spanish)

another collection of short stories by Bolaño, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. again, it's something about his prose that really captures me. this wasn't my favorite short story collection of his, but it had some gems and I especially liked the title story

7.5/10

Secrets of Question Based Selling by Thomas A Freese

I've got to add skills sales to my repertoire so was looking for a good book to teach me the basics. it's always hard to find a good business book without it being obvious or redundant, but I liked this one a lot and found a lot of the content and his general explanation of his sales strategy useful. I've been implementing what I've learned which is a good sign. definitely recommend for somebody who wants to learn how to sell

8/10

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (read in Spanish)

this author man...

dark tale about a witch in a small Mexican town found murdered and looking at her last days and the people she got mixed up with. very macabre, with just about every uncomfortable topic you could think of. Melchor's writing style is so chaotic too with no paragraphs, long chapters, and stream of consciousness prose. it can get tiring but it also gets you engaged, tho honestly I liked her newer novel Paradais a bit more. so dark tho, definitely reading something light next lol

7.5/10

Been working my way through Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. So good, and got me wanting to talk like these wizards.

I need to get back to reading

Hurricane Season was intense, I didn't like all of it but it definitely leaves an impression. I kinda felt like the city was a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. That jail scene was crazy too

yea Melchor sure can paint a harrowing picture. check out her newest novel Paradais if you're interested, same style but I think I liked it a bit better

"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace

Holy smokes. That took a minute to get through, admittedly it is long, but each sharp second of reading this book is rewarded with words you cannot believe could possible be strung together. I don't really know what else to say about the book other then if you haven't read it don't be turned off by the large word/page count.

If you have read it:
The entire thing is a prologue which is both infuriating and also hilarious. I can't believe a human had that much to say about singular characters and followed nearly none of it up. Like how Hallie and Bim meat? What happens to O in the glass receptacle? What's the word on Pemulis? What are the consequences of the AFR playing against ETA? Also I wasn't the biggest fan of how it ended. Specifically with that specific scene. Like I enjoyed the writing and the story, but to end it with THAT story felt like a little much imo.

While reading this book i realized it would be difficult to rate this book, overall I just think people should read it. I feel that this is at least a top 15 American piece of literature, maybe not as important as say "Moby D***" or "Gravity's Rainbow", but still feels very American in the topics covered and how they're approached and dealt with.

Next I will be reading "White Noise" by Don DeLillo so I can watch the movie.

Just finished Morning and Evening by Jon Fosse.

4/5 stars.

The shortest summary is that this book is about life(the meaning of life) and death. The book starts with the birth of Johannes and it ends with the death of Johannes. Past and present are constantly switched in the book, if you don't pay close attention you'll have no idea what you're reading.

The atmosphere that is created with the prose of Jon Fosse is what makes this book so great. He knows how to make everyday life interesting and big.

just finished:

dirty snow by georges simenon

was very dope and def took me for a ride. really enjoyed all the imagery, and how much was implied/unsaid.

first book i read in entirety on my computer, downloaded from libgen, since finding a physical copy was gonna take months lol

def inspiring me to read more books like that

oh im supposed to rate it too? 4/5

She's got a short story collection called This is Not Miami with an English translation coming this year. Will be interesting to see how her style works with some short stories

Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen 1)

4/5

Was a bit confused for a long period but once I started to understand everything, the book was very engaging.

A retelling of some famous fairy tales with some gothic, sensual twists. The first story here is killer but everything else fell a little bit flat for me. Some beautiful writing but stories that just didn't do anything for me at all

Pynchy is a mad b******. This hurt my brain but was a lot of fun and short enough that it didn't become frustrating. I've only read this one and Inherent Vice and they feel spiritually connected to each other - d***gy LA mysteries unfolding around a confused protagonist with themes of conspiracy, paranoia and the mainstream vs counterculture. One day I'll get around to his big books but I feel like they might actually kill me

read that in Spanish last year. that was the first book I read from her actually. I liked it but it was even more harrowing because it's all non-fiction stories that happened in Mexico

Man she really needs to let some light in. Take some time off, go birdwatching, listen to ABBA and watch cartoons or something. Get away from all the brutality

Humans said one thing with their bodies and another with their mouths and everyone had to spend time and energy figuring out what they really meant.

The final book of the Xenogenesis Trilogy centers around a new main character and it is the most alien of the three. Here, as the reader, we see the world through the eyes of third alien gender, ooloi. I will say as far as a conclusion, I don't think this feels very conclusive. To me, this trilogy is basically a look at human evolution/reengineering at three different points. It begs the questions what does it mean to be human? what does it mean to evolve? what does it mean to be "saved" but to lose all agency in the process?

the books never give you a straight answer. what it does give is three different perspectives on those theories.