Clever Catalan

Guadalajara by Quim Monzó

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I have no idea why it is called Guadalajara. I may have missed something obvious, but I didn't spot anything when I flipped through after I finished reading it.

I suppose these stories might be called “high concept” in that most are premised on some clever what if core. Like what if there was story that is a reverse of Kafka's Metamorphosis where a beetle wakes up as a human? Or what if your apartment building acted like a MC Escher drawing and you could never get out?

Yep. They are all very, very, clever. I am just glad they were all very short. They all interesting but you really don't care about the characters. And another thing, most of them are so high concept he doesn't bother finishing out the endings of these “what ifs”. Many of them he sets the scene makes a few moves but leaves it up to the reader to decide what happens.

OK. I liked it. But I probably won't read another book by Mr Monzó



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More Sepúlveda

Full Circle: A South American Journey by Luis Sepúlveda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A somewhat rambling book by Sepúlveda that starts in Spain, follows stories to Patagonian and back to Span. Full of wild characters and wild stories. Some charming, some scary. A short book but it packs a lot, and he has lived a pretty amazing life. A life filled with bravery, danger and audacity and still giving off a feeling of soft curiosity (I am not sure what that means, but somehow it seems right, at least to me).

We get to see the unconventional charm of the unconventional people he meets. Like after the 18th Patagonian lying Championship...

“I lifted my head to look at the sky studded stars, thousands of starts.
'Nice Lie, that one about the louse,; says Baldo
'And the sky? All the stars, Blado?Are they another Patagonian lie?'
'What does it matter? Down here we lie to be happy. But we all know the difference between lying and deception.'” pg 111

I remember his novel about the old man who read romance , and after all the craziness in this book, his ending had me fighting back the tears that must somehow compare to the sweet emotions the old man in the other book was yearning for. Maybe it is just a simple display of a happy, pure expression of human connectedness(now that I think of it maybe that is a stretch; maybe we are just both sentimental suckers).

The story ends in a small village in Spain, where upon meeting his grandfather's younger brother for the first time the old man realizes the connection Sepúlveda writes..

“A serious look came into the old man's countenance...

Then Don Angel cleared his throat and pronounced the most beautiful poem life has rewarded me with, and I knew I had come full circle: I was at the starting point of the journey my grandfather began. 
Don Angel said:

'Maria, bring some wine, a relative has come from America.' ” pg 183

Thumbs up!
Good stuff.

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I Made This!!

Using a kit pinhole camera, the P-Sharan that comes as a perforated cardboard sheet with a pre-pinholed piece of plastic.

Basically it does all the hard work in this do it yourself project.

I still need to practice with this thing. I is REALLY hard to hold it still fr the 3 -4 second to take the picture. Even with a tripod.

A Very Fine Cat Indeed!!

The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly by Luis Sepúlveda


I know it is just a fable, an allegory or something. A message with a moral, but it felt like something more.

I know I am sentimental. I gush over kittens and puppies, not so much human babies since they remind me too much of adult humans. Anyway, now I have to admit I am a hopeless sucker for this kind of story.

A cat that immediately accepts a wounded Seagull as a friend, indeed, perhaps BECAUSE she was in need the cat felt morally obligated to act. And his cat friends all respond in kind honoring their cat code of behavior to fulfill a fellow cats commitment. And what fine fellows they all are!

Of course from a realistic view it is all ludicrous, cats helping dying birds, raising, caring, loving baby seagulls, none of it could happen (duh! You say). And the day is saved by a poet!! But I loved it all. And I am not sure why I bought it so completely, after all it is a slim story and if I count there are not a lot of details. But it seemed to be just right and I accepted it all.

Bottom line...I cried at the end, and loved it.



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I Love to Read the Man who Read

The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepúlveda

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had never head of this author and only by chance decided to read it. Of course its slim 130 pages was a draw.

Anyway, it was just what I needed. Set in the jungles of Ecuador it had the conflict of modernity with jungle life and people with just the right amout of magic realism. Except there really wasn't any magic realism. Why did I say that?

The thing is, it “felt” magical but really it was just a different way of looking at life. And it is a way I could never know except by reading this book.
AND and the same time there is the notion that reading is something special, although granted Antonio José Bolívar Proaño  reads books mainly to escape from bad memories. But still, it is nice to have somebody notice that reading can simply be a wonder.

“...he set off in the direction of El Idilio, his hut, and his novels that spoke of love in such beautiful words they sometimes made him forget the barbarity of man.” pg 131



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Ansco Flash Clipper - 1940's 1950's

Ansco Flash Clipper

From Ansco Flash Clipper The Ansco Clipper, Flash Clipper and Clipper Special were simple point and shoot cameras made by Agfa-Ansco, and Ansco from the 1940s into the 1950s. They took 15 images on 616 film. The lens board pulled out of the camera body for taking pictures, and collapsed to make the camera more compact when not in use. The focus and aperture were fixed, while the shutter had I and B settings.

From Ansco Flash Clipper

From Ansco Flash Clipper

From Ansco Flash Clipper

From Ansco Flash Clipper

From Ansco Flash Clipper

I Am Now War Weary

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A book about America drifting toward continual military engagement.

A good book but in telling the tale it meanders around in a somewhat anecdotal fashion.

First there was the founding father's intention to make war something difficult to pursue, especially by the president. But as time marches on the country grows accustomed to war to the point that the state of war becomes a habit.

Except it was actually pulled back after the Vietnam war with the War Powers acts restricting presidential use of force and the Abram doctrine of setting things up so any military action will require the American people be invested in the adventure.

Amazingly things change and after some pretty sensible talk by Carter, then come Reagan and things start to change in the other direction. A fair amount of the books involves recounting Reagan's sales pitch to increase military spending. Pretty depressing stuff since it is mostly based on lies, exaggeration and such.

For example there were completely wrong statements of US vs Soviet military strength and then John Wayne was so incensed about his lies about the Panama Canal treaty (not about war but about American might)...

"Even after John Wayne sent Reagan a private and personal note offering to shoe him 'point by goddamn point int the treaty where you are misinforming people'...Ronald Reagan doubled down." Pg 33

And as president he makes a dramatic speech about a WWI solder buried at Arlington Cemetery where a patriotic and inspiring diary was found on his corpse. Long story short, all lies and Reagan was told about it but went ahead with the speech.

Then there is the quote to justify his Iran Contra actions where he quotes Lenin, except Lenin nobody cant find where he said it except for the reference in a John Birch society book from a Russian who was 3 years old when Lenin died.

Well...it goes on and on. Basically Reagan was a liar of amazing regularity in order to grow the military, And it is a one way ratchet pushing to ever higher levels.

I suppose I get hung up on the out and out lying stuff more than I should, since later presidents managed to achieve the same goal but with less obvious deception (why lie when you can just redefine what true actually means). And in a way the lies are really just a small means to an end, so why should the means bother me more than the end? I suppose it is just that Reagan is so deified now and nobody else points out that he was full of it, and I am just a neurotic contrarian.

I need to just let it go. Really I do.

So it paints a sad picture of a people willing to be manipulated, especially when it has little cost to them.

Yeah, it is all bad.

I need a drink.


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