this is one of those absolutely manic comic books. from the mix of references to the speed of the action. the thing is all over the place. it makes for an entertaining read but don’t expect super deep stuff. nice artwork.

this is the best book i’ve read in months. 1600 pages of pure brutal dark creative weirdness. seriously, this book is sooooo dark and it has so many things: magic, machines, artificial intelligence, demons, beasts, political struggle, racism, extreme body modification, rebellion, interracial sex… the place: New Crobuzon, a fictional 19 century like city with many intelligent species and slums and poverty and serious xx century city like issues. the main character: a troubled renegade scientist that has a romantic relationship with an insect female and gets commissioned to help someone fly. things go from there and they get very intricate. highly recommended if you’d like something More out of your fantasy literature.

my first discworld book. and The first discworld book. it’s entertaining and sharp and ridiculous, and it has lots and lots of references. but i haven’t turned into a fan yet. i guess i must read some others. but next time i feel like reading something funny i think i rather go with tom robbins.

given to me by friend Dave. he handed it and said: see what you think about this. nice little portable paperback that you can take on the bus. the story grabs you and literally it takes you nowhere -which i like. it’s ugly and complainy and disgusting at times. it’s not horrific, in the sense that it’s a horror book, it’s more like an existential anomaly, like it puts you in the uncomfortable place of the characters you are reading. there is no monster really, except for the characters themselves. i thought the quote that ends the books sort of gives too much away, it could have done without it.

great compilation, very inspiring pieces. title a little too pretentious. really, too pretentious. or maybe it’s just my antimonarchyc sentiment. why would they be kings – i don’t know -. some of them are really good. or should i say, most of them. the separation between fiction and nonfiction has always intrigued me. people in the spanish speaking world rarely use it. but it’s such a handy one. nonfiction being a category much larger than journalism or essay or sociology or ethnography. very handy indeed. that is to say, the pieces in this book range between the investigative book and the humorous article on a weekly journal. but inspiring they are and they do range in style. my favorite style wise was “Host” by David Foster Wallace. most boring one: Fortunes’s Smile by James McManus, all about poker, so it was very hard to follow.
Losing the war by Lee Sandling was very sad but had a lot, a lot of insight into II world war – worth reading – and six degrees of lois weisberg by malcom gladwell had beautiful sociological explanations. there are a few jewels. nice introduction too.

i have a difficult relationship with him. mildly impressed with his urban novel “Erase una vez el amor pero tuve que matarlo” i’ve been reading every other thing he publishes thinking “i’ll give him another chance”. most of the time it fails to impress, sometimes i get pleasant surprises. at least he’s one of colombia’s most irreverent writers with a penchant for bukowskian humor and seemingly no fear to experiment. and that’s a great deal for a mildly successful young colombian writer. the stories in this book range from the bukowskian to the cheesy. and really, the cheesy ones are the ones i was mostly impressed, i wasn’t expecting them. recurrent theme in the stories: the father gone. all over the place, like a soft spot in a rotting mango. at the end i wouldn’t recommend the book. he is still just OK. it wasn’t a transformative experience but i still hope efraim keeps on trying.

i just came back from colombia and read this book in the plane. enjoying my return to speaking spanish for a little bit. i’ve always liked fernando V. he is intense like no one else. his prose is agile and nice to read. the book doesn’t have an academic format but it has plenty of academic discussion blended with just pure ruthless opinion. he is quite versed in greek and latin so a lot of discussions are quite authoritative. fernando V. despises the catholic church, seriously. he completely destroys a lot of its arguments and tells you the brutal bloody story of 20 centuries of killing and destruction the catholic church has perpetrated. it’s brutal, it’s so brutal, so many killings… fernando loves animals and he spends quite the time speaking for them and pointing that jesus never did so.
the reading is recommended – i’ve never read a translation though – but if you read in spanish, it’s good, well, if you like his work, his prose, his way of being. it goes well with the recent movie “religulous” – very similar -.

very simple yet quite polished. short fantastic stories. some sad some dreamy. the line is so simple and so expressive. nice to see some work by Dupuy by himself.

a diary about writing a comic book in comic book form. practice what you preach. it’s good. these guys have amazing narration skills. it reads almost like the monsieur jean but it gives you an idea of how things are done between these two collaborators. might be a map for the collaboration endeavors.

oliver sacks reads like fantasy or scifi but he’s an actual working practicing neuroscientist with incredible talent for storytelling. this book reads like the others, from the fascinating to the pure horrifying. some of the stories give lots of insight into musical related events to the musician and non-musician alike.