Thursday, April 12, 2012

Book suggestions?

 I just finished Umberto Eco's last book, The Prague Cemetery and it's time to start reading something else. Any suggestions? I have to say that The Prague Cemetery was a bit hard and dense to read, though it is full of  historic illustrations and sketches. The story, that takes places in nineteenth century Europe, is based on historical facts and it really shows how reality is weirder than fiction. If your thing is history and you like suspense, intrigue and spies you will enjoy it. I am not sure I did, it was surely interesting, and I learnt a lot. It made me research and find out more about the actual historical events behind it, but most of all it made me sad. And it made me sad because the kind of dreadful events taking place in the book, the plot, the prejudices... it all sounds too familiar. This kind of stuff is still happening nowadays, take for instance this excerpt:

"... For the enemy to be recognised and feared, he has to be in your home, on your doorstep. We need an enemy to give people hope. Someone said that patriotism is the last refuge of cowards: those without moral principles usually wrap a flag around themselves, and the bastards always talk about the purity of the race. National identity is the last bastion of the dispossesed. But the meaning of identity is now based on hatred, on hatred for those who are not the same. Hatred has to be cultivated as a civic passion. The enemy is the friend of the people".

I want to believe that as mankind we learn from the past, that we will not make the same mistakes again. That a multicultural, friendly society where we embrace the differences, where we recognize that the richness is in those differences, and learn from each other, while interacting peacefully and harmoniously is possible.

13 comments:

  1. I just read Wedlock by Wendy Moore... It's non-fiction but it's an incredibly intriguing story. It's about an unusually educated woman in 18th century Britain that manages to get a divorce from her abusive husband and keep her money and her kids... something that was basically unheard of until I think the 20th century. It's quite inspiring and a very satisfying read.

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    1. Sounds interesting ! I will add it to my list !

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  2. Also this is where I get all my book recs... http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks

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  3. Estas recomendaciones me intrigaron http://www.jasminestarblog.com/index.cfm?postID=1363&good-reads-unbroken
    No se si leiste Under the Tuscan Sun, pero si no lo hiciste te lo recomiendo, es un canto a la vida :)

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    1. Under the Tuscan Sun... vi la pelicula y me gusto mucho, me recordo a la de "A good year" ! Voy a checar esas recomendaciones !

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    2. El libro es totalmente diferente! Lo unico que tiene en comun con la peli(que AMO) es que una americana compra una casa en Cortona y la renueva.

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  4. Un libro que me gustó fue Eat Pray Love y me diverti horrores con la serie de Sookie Stackhouse (que es para no pensar, me relajaba despues de los examenes). Libros que tengo en mi lista para leer son "A lucky child"del juez de la Corte Internacional de Justicia Thomas Burgenthal,sobreviviente de Auschwitz( una autobiografia), Joy for beginners y the school of essential ingredients. Pero estos dias lo que leo son libros de fotografia!

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    1. Eat Pray Love lo lei... Sookie Stackhouse voy a buscarlos y me anoto los demas para la lista! Joy for beginners suena bien !

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  5. I love that people still read! - sounds silly but I struggle to believe it with my friends! I just finished "the end of the affair" by Greene and I loved it (but I am a tad biassed!)

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    1. Oh I will look for that one then ! I think there are still quite some people who read, but it is true that not everyone... in my family I was the weird one. A cousin once told me my eyes would become square haha.

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  6. I will start The Chronicles of Narnia today!!!
    Oh, Amanda, I just received you package and I was beyond thrilled opening the box! :) Thank you so much, you're a sweet.
    And OMG those waffles are delicious! They remind me the ones my sister brings me from Chamonix (how lucky is she to have a brother-in-law living there?).
    Now I'm just excited to try the mole recipe. I'll get back to you on that.

    I don't have many book suggestions for now. I've been diving in photography, sewing and watercolor books lately. Call me crazy... :)

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    1. I am glad it's there ! I hope you like the books :) I wanna hear about your watercolor and sewing adventures. You have to let me know how the mole goes ! -and you are definitely lucky with your brother in law ! Everyone goes crazy over stroopwafels... they are quite typical here , sometimes they sell them freshly made on the street too .

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