2021 Reading Challenge
- Goal
- 24 books, for an average of 2 books per month
- Finished
- June 15, 2021
Reviews and comment taken from my goodreads account. I may not translate these into full reviews here on E2, but if you really wish to, send me a message asking me for a particular review and if I don’t hate you I will acquiesce.
- Author
- Agatha Christie
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54344118-el-asesinato-de-roger-ackroyd
- Finish date
- January 6, 2021
Years ago, my sister—an avid Christie reader herself—advised me to read some Poirot, but told me not to start with this one because it’s one of the best and would leave me wanting for more.
Of course I didn’t listen and went straight in.
The good thing about reading lots of things is that I tend to forget lots of details, and I managed to read this one almost as if it were the first time. Loved it.
- Author
- Katherine Howe
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31914098-el-libro-de-las-brujas
- Finish date
- January 16, 2021
Really good book, hard to recommend. The subject is easy to explain: historical research before, during and after the—now infamous—Salem Witch Trials. The editor gathers multiple sources to give context on how and why these trials—and the general public perception of witchcraft—came to be what they were.
So, if the book is good and well written, why is it hard to recommend? Mostly because it’s hard to read: a considerable part of the book are transcriptions of old documents—properly attributed, annotated and commented on by the author. Their volume makes it hard to read due to its archaic language and similarities in subject and form [Note for E2: this means the Spanish edition, I don’t know how much of this «archaic language» is present in the original edition].
But this can hardly be blamed on the author. The subject is hard, nuanced and has been subject to misunderstanding for decades and centuries. Understanding these stories requires a heavy cultural, religious and historical background. There’s no easy way to talk about the history of witchcraft, and without these documents the book would be severely lacking.
3 Ultimate Book of Trivia: The Essential Collection of Over 1,000 Curious Facts to Impress Your Friends and Expand Your Mind
- Author
- Scott McNeely
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26586359-ultimate-book-of-trivia
- Finish date
- January 19, 2021
First of all, let’s get something out first: books on trivia are never perfect. «Facts» are checked and re-checked constantly, that’s how knowledge grows.
That said, my problems with this book are mostly in two categories. The first is that despite the research behind, there’s still several examples of misinformation, misunderstandings and general editorialization of the facts presented.
(For instance, is not entirely true that «The FDA allows mold, wormy bits, and insect parts into our food in the first place», because that makes it sound like they condone it. It’s more accurate to say that they establish safe limits because no one can ensure food is 100% “pure”, 100% of the time, 100% an the way from producer to consumer. But I guess using languages like this is what sells books)
The second comes from how this book is written. Many of the facts presented here are padded out in a tiresome «True or false?» format, which gets old quickly and could better be presented in a simple and concise paragraph.
Instead of asking five times what is the first/second/third most whatever, just write out a Simone list of the top 5 whatever. This style just makes the narrator look like a smartass trying too hard to be cool.
Overall, good content, poor decisions in format.
- Author
- Ikram Antaki
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30657976-ciencia
- Finish date
- January 28, 2021
First time reading Antaki and it’s a banger.
This book requires some mental background. These essays are not so much an introduction of their subjects so much as reflections on them. Many of these subjects are given as understood at a level beyond the most elementary and without it the reflections may not be as deep as required.
In my opinion, the only wrong thing with this book is that it seems to arrive to no particular conclusion in several chapters. There’s lots of reflections, discussion and unanswered questions, as it should in any good discussion of science. These essays without a solid ending point feel too long and a bit repetitive.
But it’s worth to get into this kind of discussion with this kind of depth, it’s worth to read and question. Science needs to be talked about beyond mere pop-sci communication, its relationship with everything else in life; and this book establishes good questions that seldom appear in shallow discussion. This book doesn’t want to communicate science but to dive into it.
5 Small Changes for the Mind: Improve Memory * Minimize Stress * Increase Productivity * Boost Happiness
- Author
- Brett Blumenthal
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24395606-52-small-changes-for-the-mind
- Finish date
- February 2, 2021
Read the whole thing here.
- Author
- E. H. Gombrich
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1556716.Breve_Historia_del_Mundo
- Finish date
- February 4, 2021
Good account of the so called «Universal» History, which is really European history.
Of course this book’s intended audience are not historians or similar experts, but school-aged kids that might want to approach History beyond the classroom. After all, Gombrich wrote this thinking of his own context (and it shows where he discusses the royalty of what would later become Germany)
Taking these limitations into account, it’s a great book, the kind that I’d like to be read before going to sleep. It’s an account of the good and the bad that we humans have produced over the last few millennia.
- Author
- Chris Baty (of NaNoWriMo fame)
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22267667-no-plot-no-problem
- Finish date
- February 19, 2021
This book is great… At one thing. This is the perfect way to understand and present the annual challenge known as nanowrimo, whose goal is to write a 50,000 word draft in 30 days.
The whys and hows are detailed in the book, but it all boils down to writing because it’s a great creative exercise. Of course, writing a whole book in a month is hard, which is why almost nobody does it.
I recommend this book to anyone who has heard of NaNo and wishes a bit of a blueprint, a guiding light during this weird and wonderful month. For those who already know and love it… It’s a good book, but probably not a useful one for you.
8 Find Your F*ckyeah: Stop Censoring Who You Are and Discover What You Really Want
- Author
- Alexis Rockley
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44601188-find-your-f-ckyeah
- Finish date
- February 25, 2021
This book is pretty much what someone like me needs. That is, this is a self help book for millennials who don’t like or are tired from all forms of self care, trendy advice, hashtag treat yo self, etc. This is not a book on how to «be happy» or anything like that. Rather, this is a well researched study on what is happening with our brains, the internal and external problems we face, and how to approach them.
This also means there’s a good deal of work over must do in order to get the most out of this book (after all, this is about you helping yourself). This is no easy task, but I believe it’s attainable.
So, why only 3 stars? Because… Well… This is not a panacea. Don’t get me wrong, this book can help wonders, but the catchy language is off putting, and constant. Yes, I get that it’s part of the brand and soul, but it tends to detract from the message in my opinion.
But if you do get to the end and follow this advice… You’ll be on your way to a better life. But only if you work for it.
Thank you.
- Author
- Takashi Umemura
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45731773-final-fantasy-i-ii-iii
- Finish date
- March 10, 2021
Very good work, given the raw materials!
I’m going to be honest: I’m a fan of the FF franchise. I’m biased that way. However, even I have to admit that the plot of the first few games are … Not the best. FF1 is a plain D&D town-and-dungeon campaign, FF2 is a retelling of Star Wars and FF3 is just starting to become something new.
That said, the novelization of these games is quite good, actually. The author didn’t fall for the temptation of putting more lore where there is none, and instead presented us with a condensed version of the adventures. Given that each have is only 50ish pages long, there’s no need for Grand Character Development (which mostly didn’t exist in these games), and instead there’s a good bird’s eye view of the adventures in general. Heck, there’s even some interesting game tips for those interested in playing the games.
- Author
- Alice Munro
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19302786-amistad-de-juventud
- Finish date
- March 10, 2021
It took me a long time to read this one because I didn’t want it to finish. Alice Munro is one of those authors that makes me believe writing is easy, because her prose and translation is clear, direct and well packed with ideas, stories and feelings. But don’t kid yourselves, building up this much story in just a few pages is harder than it seems and not everyone can do it. This book is a collection of ten good examples of the kind of writer I’d like to become.
- Authors
- Bruce Bueno de Mesquita & Alastair Smith
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24780850-el-manual-del-dictador
- Finish date
- March 13, 2021
(First of all, the rating I’m giving it is 3.5/5, but Goodreads only admits integer solutions to its review problem…)
You may see several reviewers mention that there is nothing new with this book if you’re familiar with this or that concept of Politics or have taken courses. While that may be true, the same can be said of most other non-fiction books, so it’s not a good reason to dismiss the book.
First, there’s the fact that the book rests on a good and healthy number of years, research and published papers by the authors, so at one point it must have contained original thoughts (or original enough to be considered of publication in academic journals) Several people, myself included, do not generally read academic papers in political science, so books like these are a good way of expanding one’s knowledge.
Second, some reviewers mention that the authors repeat themselves too much. While that may be true, I believe it’s almost a necessity for this kind of book. The core of the book is a relatively simple hypothesis, and the book is dedicated to explaining it and demonstrating how and when it can explain the world around us. In a book like this, it’s necessary to establish how and when the hypothesis works with as much detail as possible, and that may sometimes mean “repeating oneself”. To their credit, the book has a wonderful thing that many non-fiction authors seem to forget: a proper summary at the end of every chapter.
So, what’s the catch? I worry that the hypothesis seems “adapted” or “post-hoc”. One can’t help but wonder how much of this book was made to explain existing situations and how much of it can be used to predict future scenarios. Given that this book is now a few years old, it would be nice to review current events since its publication with the hypothesis glasses on, to see how well it’s aged.
In summary, this is an interesting book, and has interesting, well crafted and well written ideas. It’s true that they may apply to all walks of life where there is an organization of power, and they might be a simple and elegant way of thinking about how those with power use that power.
I’m not going to go all the way and say that it’s the ultimate hypothesis on power, but it’s certainly a clean one, and one that I’d like to apply whenever I’m in charge.
12 The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time Perfect Edition
- Author
- Akira Himekawa
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38326601-the-legend-of-zelda—ocarina-of-time-perfect-edition
- Finish date
- March 14, 2021
Manga.
So pretty.
No, it’s not the exact same story you played in your N64. It has been adapted to manga, so you get to skip the most boring parts and sometimes tedious battles.
13 Twelve Tomorrows 2013
- Authors
- Stephen Cass (Editor)
- David Brin
- Brian W. Aldiss
- Cheryl Rydbom
- Paul McAuley
- Nancy Kress
- Allen M. Steele
- Ian McDonald
- Nancy Fulda
- Kathleen Ann Goonan
- Greg Egan
- Justina Robson
- Peter Watts
- Neal Stephenson
- Richard M. Powers (Illustrator)
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19229116-twelve-tomorrows-2013
- Finish date
- March 17, 2021
I wish this would get reprinted as a proper book instead of “just” a periodical. This is a short anthology of 12 sci fi stories that could well happen soon (if they haven’t yet since 2013) The stories are concise and—save for one or two—well written. Fantastic read.
- Author
- Michael Crichton
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1930375.Prey
- Finish date
- March 23, 2021
First time reading Crichton and boy does he know how to pack action. Details in the story have dated a bit, but that’s hardly his fault, given that AI research is advancing by meals and bounds every day. I enjoyed the action, might come back for more.
- Author
- Orson Scott Card
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40268.El_juego_de_Ender
- Finish date
- March 31, 2021
Reread the Sci-Fi classic after a few years and… well, it tastes different now. Of course, it’s still a great book and makes strong points. However, after all the debacle with the author of Harry Potter I felt a bit queasy for reading a book by a person whose point of view is… not the same as mine.
If a person is bigoted, does it follow that all of their works must be so? That’s one question to launch a thousand replies.
There are problems in «Ender’s Game», for sure. The portrayal of women would not fly under today’s standards, and if you seek them, you’ll find lots of people who dismiss the whole book on account of things like this. They are in their right to do so.
I still like the book, but felt queasy about it.
- Author
- Isabel Zapata
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50934467-una-ballena-es-un-pa-s
- Finish date
- April 6, 2021
I’m convinced that in order to read poetry, one has to be a good poetry reader, which I am not. Even with my deficiencies, I can see that this small book has a lot of life inside, lots to learn, lots of wisdom hidden in plain sight. Like whales.
17 The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
- Authors
- Jeff Hertzberg & Zoë François
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17286778-the-new-artisan-bread-in-five-minutes-a-day
- Finish date
- April 6, 2021
I read this for a reason. See «Sometimes I deal with depression by baking bread»
- Author
- Umberto Eco
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71565.El_nombre_de_la_rosa
- Finish date
- Aptil 17, 2021
This book is lots of things to me, as it is to everyone who’s read it and liked. And the literary critics and academics of the world, but that’s another story.
I will write on this book here. Eventually.
- Author
- Amanda Gorman
- Nuria Barrios Fernández (Translator)
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57448479-la-colina-que-ascendemos
- Finish date
- May 15, 2021
I saw this on Joe Biden’s Inauguration.
I read a lot about its translations, and the many discussions and trouble around them. It’s a lot to digest and I’m not smart enough to provide a more thorough review on the translated words of a «skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother» other than this.
I have lots of things to learn. If my teacher will be a skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother, so be it.
- Authors
- Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9945964-dragons-of-autumn-twilight
- Finish date
- May 22, 2021
I will also write a full review of this one, but bear in mind that the relative low quality of this books comes from two sources:
- It’s older (80s) fantasy, and
- This series of books was written to coincide with an actual campaign published by TSR, so this book and the next two are more like novelizations of the campaign they wanted everyone to experience.
Save for these constraints, you’re reading a D&D adventure. Not the deepest, smartest Fantasy novels there are. But they have heart and they are good nourishment for my poor depressive mind.
- Author
- Tina Fey
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10962190-bossypants
- Finish date
- May 26, 2021
I’ll write more about this, later.
I once rated this 4. Now it’s back to 2.5 and the main reason is that now it bugs me to read such an American-centric book, even if it comes from one of the smartest, wittiest women I know of.
- Author
- Alejandro Navarro Yáñez
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40510643-el-secreto-de-prometeo-y-otras-historias-sobre-la-tabla-peri-dica-de-los
- Finish date
- June 6, 2021
One of the loveliest things I’ve read in Pop-Sci. The author takes us through the Periodic table to talk about the elements: how they were discovered, where their names come from, how they’re used…
But instead of going through them one by one, the elements are grouped by their general characteristics, which aids a lot to understand not just the genius of the Periodic Table itself, but the general work of chemists and laboratories.
Simple, fun book without too much complexity, great for younger people who wish to dive into Chemistry without the bothersome stoichiometry.
- Author
- Juan Villoro
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1293705.Safari_accidental
- Finish date
- June 11, 2021
One day, I hope I’ll be able to write this clearly, with this simplicity to reveal complex reality. I’ve never written Chronicles (I think) but there’s lots to learn from them for anyone who wishes to pin down the complexities of life down to the simplicity of a page.
- Author
- Natalia Borges Polesso
- Julia Sanches (Translation)
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52276439-amora
- Finish date
- June 13, 2021
This is a book about love, and as such is also a book about identity, love, relationships, family and questions without answers.
The short stories run a good spectrum between young and old people, between easier and harder circumstances, between bitter and sweet endings. The style might be a bit inconsistent, but the delivery is on point, without resorting to plain old smut.
To me the weakest part of the book is the last one with even shorter pieces, reminiscent of poems or stream of consciousness. However, these too are a window to others and should not be skipped, for there’s good wisdom to be gained here.
- Author
- Gretchen McCulloch
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46160965-because-internet
- Finish date
- June 29, 2021
(Verbatim from Goodreads)
Few books touch such a «new» topic, with such a broad appeal (we all use language) with such formality, while also being approachable even for a non linguist like myself.
If you have ever complained about how young people and/or the internet are «rUiNiNg OuR lAnGuAgE», this book is for you, provided you’re willing to be proven wrong.
More than an authoritative voice on how we use language in the internet, this is more of a snapshot at how the internet has helped us enrich language as a whole. Hopefully, this will lead is to better understand one another, the ultimate goal of language itself
26 Infinitas
- Author
- Haizea M. Zubieta
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43580078-infinitas
- Finish date
- June 26, 2021
This is a hard one to think about. Given that it’s a book written by a non-binary butch lesbian (their words, not mine) and it contains non-cis, non-straight characters, it’s sure to attract unfair criticism just because of that.
The premise is as sci-fi as it gets: in the future, humanity is functionally immortal at a price. When people reach 200 years of age, their bodies suffer drastic, rapid deterioration, which leads to people living quite literally inside their mind, confined to catatonic, immortal bodies while their consciousness is still active.
The negatives are there, but they don’t outweigh the positives: having many characters leads to no one being fully explored or developed. There’s an entire chapter dedicated to a particular character’s tragic past (being in an abusive relationship and escaping it) and then… nothing else of consequence happens. There is never another mention, reflection, or even victory over that. We’re never shown how that past has influenced the character; if that chapter is skipped one would never notice its absence…
Overall I found it «lighter» than I would have liked: the author has a brilliant idea for a world and setting and this book focuses on one extremely narrow part of it. That in and of itself is a virtue, of course, but this book brushes over many other interesting topics that deserve attention and we’re left hanging.
For the record, the book focuses on our heroine and the ragtag bunnch of misfits ending the Decadence. But among the way we see many other topics ripe for exploring through the lens of sci-fi, none of which get a lot of time in the spotlight:
- The transhumanist question of what’s the value of immortality without quality of life
- Income inequality
- How technology can actually widen the wealth gap
- The ethical, moral and legal place of euthanasia in a world with immortality
- The ethical, moral and legal value of selling one’s own body (in this fictional world, people may sell their organs to the rich so that they build new bodies)
- Author
- Szczepan Twardoch
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48735658-the-king-of-warsaw
- Finish date
- July 6, 2021 (DNF)
(Verbatim from Goodreads)
DNF at 40%. Despite the many good reviews, I don’t think this is a good book for me. The prose is slow, the POV changes jarring and the «unreliable narrator» trope loses its strength if the same person who claims to remember little also spends entire paragraphs describing minute details of people.
Even at this point, I’m still not sure what it’s the point of the book and I’m tired. I’m no stranger to violence in media but this one in particular does not resonate with me, perhaps it had to do with my non-existent background with European politics.
Try the book if you want. Historical fiction in the late 1930s Poland by itself means nothing to me
- Author
- Salman Khan (of Khan Academy fame)
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15898640-the-one-world-schoolhouse
- Finish date
- July 17, 2021
A wonderful book. The only downside to it is that it makes me even more worried about the current state of education worldwide.
Sal Khan shares what he’s learned through the years of creating a learning platform, some of the problems with our current education model and his vision for the future. The shortest takeaway is that he found through trial-and-error and empiric data what Education Researchers have found and published through academic journals for decades now: not only that the current system is broken, but how and why.
Granted, this is not an academic paper on education so it might be less rigorous than one might think. It’s closer to an extended reflection and call for action to make change to the way we teach. Most detractors of this book criticize Khan’s ideas as too ideal, fit for Utopia and idealized children. I disagree: even if the ideas presented were not feasible—and I think they are—we need this kind of vision to shake up the status quo.
- Author
- Jules Verne
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54479.Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days
- Finish date
- October 19, 2021
I have little to add to such a classic. I just want to add that nowadays it’s a bit weird to read something written with a very colonialist mindset. Of course, Jules Verne was not twirling his moustache thinking of the most devious way to portray other cultures, but following social conventions and taking the reader on a tour of the world.
30 Tipos singulares y otros relatos (Uncommon Type)
- Author
- Tom Hanks
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40672310-tipos-singulares-y-otros-relatos
- Finish date
- November 16, 2021
(Translated from my Goodreads review)
More than stories, a series of vignettes, each with a typewriter somewhere.
Tom Hanks presents us a collection of vignettes, scenes that take us to decades past in the United States. We see people, their hardships and thoughts surrounding family, relationships, fame… There’s a good variety of characters, situations and endings. Pretty much all vignettes are realistic with one notable exception that I’d classify as Science-fiction (and that vignette alone merits a whole book).
However, the book itself is a bit dull. It’s not badly written, but it’s also not amazing. The stories are interesting while read, but nothing else. I took a long time to read it because I lost interest and started reading something else for a few weeks.
In short: if you don’t read it you’re not missing much. It’s interesting to see a book by a celebrity of Tom Hanks’ caliber, and it’s refreshing to see that he’s got good writing bones in him. But only that: good.
31 Martin Gardner’s New Mathematical Diversions from Scientific American
- Author
- Martin Gardner
- URL
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18215814-martin-gardner-s-new-mathematical-diversions-from-scientific-american
- Finish date
- December 26, 2021
(Verbatim from Goodreads)
It’s always hard for me to rate this kind of book. On one hand, I love mathematics and I believe everyone could benefit from exercising their brains (through numbers, word games or whatever else). On the other, I must not judge a book only because I like the overall subject and I’ve liked an author before.
This particular book has some things going for it: at the end of all chapters Gardner regales us with addenda, whether it’s solutions sent to him by readers, alternative problems to solve or even new insights into the topics discussed.
The only bad thing about this particular book is that it’s both too long and too short. The chapters tend to delve a bit too much into the topics, and at the same time there’s not enough chapters, although the interested reader will get bang for their buck if they honestly try and solve/play with the problems presented here..