I Love St Andrews

(Brown and Gamble, C. and G.. I Love St Andrews. Cover. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Cartographie Press: 2015)
       I saw this book on a window of The Citizen in St Andrews and thought it was a very cute book, judging by its cover. I ended up buying it from Waterstones, St Andrews.
       My favourite illustration of this book is on the first two of its pages: a picture of West Sands on a sunny day with a subtle hint of purple hue. Yes this book does bring back memories of my time here as an undergrad. I am doing my PhD now, and it has been eight years since I first arrived in St Andrews. I did not buy this book solely because it reminds me of times past but because I love St Andrews.

The Course of Love

We speak of 'love' as if it were a single, undifferentiated thing, but it comprises two very different modes: being loved and loving. We should marry when we are ready to do the latter and have become aware of our unnatural and dangerous fixation on the former.

(de Botton, A. The Course of Love. p. 222. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Hamish Hamilton, 2016)

       Thank you to Arvo Muñoz Morán, former student of mine, for giving me this book as a birthday gift. The Course of Love is not just a "love story", it is the telling of the experiences one will almost certainly live when one takes the decision of getting married. It is different from previous love stories that I have read because most of them end in the "happily ever after", whereas in this book "ever after" is the second part of the book, out of four.
       What comes after one gets married, that is, the actual marriage, is not an easy thing to describe. Indeed only afterwards do the inconveniences of learning to live with someone else become a blatant reality. However this is not new, this we all knew without the need of reading any book. What was a novelty was that I got a glimpse at what other people might think when these arguments occur, a glimpse at what may be the likely causes of disputes, and what the other person might be thinking in those circumstances. Ultimately, I thought, learning how to be ready for marriage is similar to the process of growing up and becoming more mature. Like the process of transitioning from being a teenager to an adult.
       When reading through very unpleasant episodes of Rabih and Kirsten's marriage, I could not help but ask myself: "Why would anyone want to go through these unpleasantries with the foreknowledge of them happening and of them being so ominous?" Then I remember the feeling. I hope that when the time comes I am a better person, more mature, and more understanding.

El nombre del viento

I want to thank Carmen Reyes Luna, former student of mine, who gave me this book. Thank you for introducing me to this world and thank you for your good work. As the title of this entry might suggest I read this book in Spanish. It is a translation from the English, its original title is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It was a good experience to read again in Spanish. I had not done it in a few years now.
       It seems natural of literature, to me, to talk about characters that have innate extraordinary abilities. Like being able to learn new things in just a few hours and excel at them from the very first time they did it. That is the case of this book. Its protagonist, Kvothe, can do anything. He is meant to be a prodigious child who knows more than all his classmates at university (a kind of magical university) and does things better than anyone else without putting much, if any, effort. Perhaps at another stage of my life I would have accepted this setting. However, I have adopted a less flexible perspective on this matter. I believe that success is always the result of good effort, not of an innate talent. It is because if this strong belief that I had a hard time accepting the narrative. In fact, I am not sure I accepted it.
       That was not the only issue I had with the book. In my opinion, Kvothe is an arrogant, violent, and impolite person. I do not think Kvothe realizes this because he often talks about how educated he believes he is and also talks about formality and good manners. I just disagree. There was an episode during which he openly threatened a lady, Denna, of knocking her unconscious if she refused to do as he said. But in a later episode when he learns that a potential patron of Denna had struck her to save her life, he suddenly is of the opinion that a man who harbours even the thought of punching a lady is foul, evil, and unworthy of her. These are not the only occasions when I thought Kvothe's behaviour was unacceptable. Furthermore, it seems to me that the novel also wants to foster the stereotype of resentment against the upper class by repeatedly arguing that people that are not poor must be untalented, and that poor people know better because it is only them who have seen truly harsh things in life. Again, I just disagree.
       The story is told as memoirs that are being dictated to a person who is interested in recording them. There are some breaks in their telling that bring us to the present day. Present day Kvothe seems to be a more amiable and humble person. These breaks gave me a relief from being in constant disapproval of his past behaviour and opinions.

Berlin Alexanderplatz

If it's true; but Franz, why he's a bit stupid, he let's 'em do anything with him. That's why they threw him out of the car. That's the kind of fellows they are. That's the kind of society he goes with. (Döblin, A. Berlin Alexanderplatz. p. 269. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Continuum, 2004).
       This is yet another book that had been lying in my shelf for some years. It took me long to finish reading it. Sometimes I did not have the determination to sit down to read, some other times the way the book was written made me not want to read it. Most of the time it was the way the book is written. It is too reflective, and the plot is constantly interrupted by these meditations on ghastly thoughts.
       The book is about Franz Biberkopf who is recently discharged from jail and is determined to live an honest life. But he does not manage to live an honest life, all the contrary happens. Throughout the book he sees himself involved in a myriad of cirmes, mostly because he is unable to assess the consequences of his actions and cannot tell between right or wrong. Franz surrounds himself with ghastly people who, in seeing how naïve he is, trick him into committing crimes. This makes me think about how when a person is under a depression spell he cannot see beyond his own feelings and cannot see what the path to solving his problems is. It is not until one is experiencing some calmness that the answer becomes clear, but it is still up to us to take the very difficult decision to change our ways. To leave the path we had been following and decide to make a radical change of course.
       I am not sure I would recommend reading this book. Depression is indeed a serious matter and we should all know what it is and how to overcome it. But perhaps there are better ways to learn about this topic.

Games At Twilight

Games At Twilight is a collection of eleven short stories that elegantly describe everyday life circumstances. Ms Desai's descriptions, though detailed, are spry and engaging. When I finished reading some of its short stories they left me with the impression that nothing elaborate happened. Rather, reading those stories was an opportunity to reflect upon common day-to-day events, to reflect upon one's life.
       When briefly discussing this apparent bareness of content with Heidi Zeigler, she told me that sometimes authors intend to show how life is a string of unmemorable events and that only in specific moments does an epiphany come to us. That only on those rare epiphanic occasions we get the clarity of vision to make a (relatively) important decision. And that these moments are precisely what makes our lives interesting. This sentiment, methinks, accurately describes what Ms Desai achieved in this book.
       Another interesting and important aspect of this book is Ms Desai's graceful and educated use of the language. I quite enjoy reading texts that are rich in new vocabulary to learn. Of course, this is relative to each of our own limits of knowledge. What I meant to say is that I loved delving into my dictionary and learning the meaning of so many interesting words that appeared in this book.
       I highly recommend reading Games At Twilight and am very much looking forward to having the opportunity to read more of Ms Desai's literary creations. Many thanks, Heidi, for introducing me to these worlds.

Half of a Yellow Sun

"Grandpapa used to say, about difficulties he had gone through, 'It did not kill me, it made me knowledgeable.' O gburo m egbu, o mee ka m malu ife."

"I remember."

"There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable," Kainene said.

(Adichie, C. N. Half of a Yellow Sun. p. 435. United States of America: Anchor Books, 2007).

       I firstly want to thank Heidi Zeigler for having lent me this fine book. Half of a Yellow Sun is an intense book that tells about the Nigeria-Biafra War. Even though this is not the first book I read that is based in Nigeria, it feels as if this is my first approach to Nigeria's history. Ms Adichie achieves portraying a Nigerian mood, especially by including words in Igbo, that got me quite involved in the story. Her blunt treatment of classism, xhenophobia, and racism certainly reminded me of some unfortunate aspects that also happen here in Mexico.

       One of the things I enjoyed particularly about reading this book is that it taught me about real events in other parts of the world. Each time I have the opportunity to expand my knowledge and undestanding of human history I feel grateful for being aware of more of it. It was harrowing to read about the desolation that comes with war but at the same time it was amazing how Ms Adichie is able to convey these feelings of desperation through her writing.
       Reading this book also reminded me how similar humans are despite our being in different sides of the world. This is something I wish I had more present in my mind.