Sunday, May 27, 2018

Pequeño Pais (Gael Faye)

Pequeño Pais

Gael Faye

Gaby vive en Burundi, África, hijo de una mujer tutsi y un fránces que viajó al pais a hacerse una vida. El momento histórico de la historia sucede antes de el genocidio en Ruanda, país vecino, y la guerra civil en Burundi.

Gaby pertenece al callejón, junto con sus amigos de aventura Gino, Armand y los gemelos. Pasan sus días robando magos de las casas del vecindario y se refrescan en el río que tanto adoran. Los días del verano pasan, compartiendo el tiempo en una combi rota en un baldío abandonado.

Sin embargo, la vida de Gaby cambia cuando sus padres se separan. En una visita a Jacques, amigo del padre de Gaby, la tensión entre ambos se tona en el aire. Muy pronto su madre abandona la casa y pasa sus días alejada de sus hijos. El padre pasa noches fuera de casa,  dejando a Gaby y su pequeña hermana Ana solos.

Su tío Pacifique decide unirse al grupo tutsi rebelde que busca recuperar el poder de Ruanda de la étnica hutu, pronto la guerra se cuela en la vida de Gaby. Cuando viajan al casamiento de Pacifique en Kigali, el rumor de la proximidad de las matanzas se palpa en el ambiente.

Cuando el grupo rebelde avanza, llevando a multitudes de hutus a movilizarse en éxodo a Burundi, la madre de Gaby viaja a Kigali intentando encontrar a sus familiares. Sin embargo, las atrocidades que ve la llevan a la locura.

La guerra civil se acerca a la vida de Gaby, y sin quererlo, deberá tomar una posición, eligiendo un bando sobre otro.

Una historia de crecimiento, dolor y pérdidas, Gaby debe dejar su niñez atrás y volverse un adulto en un mundo en que el contexto histórico cambiará todo a su alrededor.

Ganador del premio Gouncourt que eligen los estudiantes adolescentes en Francia, claramente refleja las preocupaciones y duda que ellos deben enfrentar cuando la historia interfiere en sus vidas, modificándola para siempre.

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Friday, May 25, 2018

Hope was Here (Joan Bauer)

Hope was Here

Joan Bauer

Hope is a teenager that lives with her aunt Addie as her mother has left her to continue her waitressing career. When we find Hope at the beginning of the novel, she is leaving Brooklyn as her aunt, who is a cook, has to find a new job. Her partner stole their money and went away with one of the waitress.

As they move on the road, Hope thinks about the times she has to leave her friends and change school. When they get to their new destination, they meet G.T. Stoop, the owner of Staiways Diner. At the front of the diner, you can see a phrase that says 'welcome'. G.T. explains to Hope and Addie that his Quaker ancestors built the two-sides stairways to welcome people  wherever they were coming from. His hospitality remains the same. 


The diner is not only where Hope puts her energy. G.T. is running for mayor of the town and his campaing leads the teenagers of the nearby school to fully become involved. The cooker assistant, Braverman, is a young boy who soon attracts Hope's attention as he expresses his passion for the possibility to change things. 

When the numbers present T. G. as the winner, things become darker and darker. However, T.G.'s illness is what really worries the town. He has cancer and some believe that he is not going to live by the time of the elections.

A story full of heart and ideas, it displays the power the citizents have when they decide to make use of it. It is a useful narration to make teenagers ask themselves their roles in society and how even the tiniest movement can influence people's lives.

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Thursday, May 24, 2018

Fish in a Tree (Lynda Mullaly Hunt)

Fish in a tree

Lynda Mullaly Hunt


If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its life believing it is stupid


This YA novel narrates the story of Ally, a teenager who struggles with words. For Ally, letters move like ants in the page, or they mix up making reading impossible. Ally used to love Maths, but since the calculations become narrations with characters and settings, she also hate those lessons, too.


However, Ally didn´t always have this relationship with words. When her grandpa, a retired soldier, read aloud Alice in Wonderland, she could imagine every single object in the story. In fact, every time somebody says something unusual, she is capable of creating these movies full of pictures in her mind.

Ally doesn´t have friends at school. She feels that everybody thinks she is dumb or simply slow. However. when she makes a gentle gesture towards Keisha and she understands that Albert has his own way to see life, she starts  a change in her days for the better.

What really modifies Ally's life is Mr. Daniels. The new teacher has decided to help Ally and to make her trust him, something that is really a challenge as she is bullied at school by the popular girl of the grade.

A real heroine that fights to overcome her problems as she realises that she can obtain what she wishes with hard work and friends. this is a story that is a good example of what children with difficulties at school, both social and academic, has to endure every day.

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Sunday, May 20, 2018

Apple y Rain (Sarah Crossan)

Apple y Rain 

(Sarah Crossan)

Esta YA novela comienza con lo que según la protagonista, Apple, una adolescente de 14 años, es su primer recuerdo. Siendo una pequeña niña, Apple cuenta la noche en la cual su madre desaparece de su vida. Estando en su habitación, escucha gritos en la cocina. Sin embargo, no puede bajar las escaleras por la puerta de seguridad. Su abuela y su madre están discutiendo, su madre envuelta en una campera verde. Cuando se va. mira hacia donde esta Apple pero ni  siquiera se despide.
Cuando se retoma la narración al presente, Apple vive con su abuela Bernardette, una mujer estricta que la acompaña a todos lados. Apple tampoco es feliz en el colegio. Su mejor amiga Pilar se esta alejando de ella, uniéndose a las populares, y dejándola sola, vagando por los corredores.

Mr Gaydon, el profesor de Lengua, comienza sus clases con poemas que buscan que los alumnos expresen sus ideas y sentimientos. A pesar de que Apple escribe bellos poemas, siempre entrega escritos superficiales por el miedo de que sus verdaderas emociones sean expuestas.

Un dia, inesperadamente, su madre reaparece y todo su mundo cambia. Luego de pelearse con su abuela, y decide irse a vivir con ella. Pero cuando llega a su departamento, una sorpresa la espera.

Una historia contada con amor e inteligencia, una historia real sobre una chica real, y lo que hace cuando encuentra a alguien más roto y perdido que ella misma.

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Friday, May 18, 2018

Hag-Seed (Margaret Atwood)

Hag-Seed

Margaret Atwood

This novel is a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare´s The Tempest. It narrates the story of Felix, an aged director of theatre that is betrayed by his assistant Tony, who has, step by step, taken over his job and replaced him. Felix moves to a derelict warehouse in which he plans his revenge.

He starts talking with his daughter, who died when she was a toddler and it would have been a teenager. She remains invisible to others, according to Felix, but he can hear her living with him in the warehouse.

When he loses his job, Felix starts working as a theatre teacher in the nearby prison. There. he successfully trains inmates to express themselves and show a different side of their personalities.

When he finds out that Tony and Sal, another of his enemies in the theatre board, are visiting the prison to see a representation of a play, he decides to put The Tempest on stage. He is going to be Prospero and he hires a young actress called Anne-Marie to represents Miranda.

At the beginning, the convicts don't understand why he has chosen this play when they feel more attracted to plays such as Macbeth o Richard III. They dislike the presence of magic  and, especially, of the fairies. However, with the help of Anne-Marie they take the play for themselves and make the performance unique.

When the time of revenge comes, Felix/Prospero is ready to use his actors to shock his enemies, leading them to an experience they will never forget.

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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Bajo el árbol de los Toraya (Philippe Claudel)

Bajo el árbol de los Toraya

Philippe Claudel


Esta novela del autor francés comienza con un viaje que hace el narrador a dónde vive la comunidad de los Toraya. Estos entierran a sus muertos en sabanas para que pronto se conviertan en parte de la tierra. También entierran a los niños que fallecen dentro de un hueco de un árbol, por lo que cuando el hueco se cierra, pasan a ser parte del mismo.

En esta narración, el narrador se cuestiona sobre la esencia de la muerte a causa del fallecimiento de su mejor amigo Éugene. Mujeriego y apasionado, Éugene tiene 5 hijos de 5 mujeres diferentes, siendo el más pequeño tan solo un niño. Preso de un cáncer fulminante, se lo comunica al narrador por teléfono, como una humorada, creyéndose lo suficientemente fuerte como para ganarle.

Sin embargo, la muerte que lo ronda se lo apropia. En una visita al hospital, en sus últimos días, Éugene le pide al escritor que lo saque a la calle. Después de insistir denodadamente, logra convencer a su amigo. Juntos se acercan a un café. Allí verán a Milan Kundera, escritor checo que Eúgene admira, relatando la importancia que sus cuentos, ensayos y novelas han tenido a lo largo de su vida. Éugene expresa sus ideas abiertamente, sabiendo que será su última posibilidad de estar fuera del hospital. Poco tiempo después, Éugene muere.

Una novela que nos hace reflexionar sobre la vida y su fragilidad, sobre la muerte y su potencia. El autor cuestiona las decisiones que ha tomado, los caminos que ha dejado de lado, las oportunidades que
ha visto pasar. Así nos llevará a intentar entender el lugar que ocupamos en el mundo, y como valorar nuestros días en él.

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Saturday, May 12, 2018

The smell of other people's houses (Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock)

The smell of other people's houses

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

This novel  narrates the story of four 16-year-old characters in the 60s in Alaska. The historical setting is the moment when the fact of statehood was discussed and Alaska stopped being  a territory and becomes state 49th.

One of the characters is Ruth. She lives with her mum and dad happily until tragic engulfs them and her life changes forever. She goes to live with her grandma together with her sister Lily. Grandma is stern and at times cruel, making Ruth look for love in the arms of a boy called Ray. When she gets pregnant, the fragility of her future reveals itself in front of her.

Dora suffers her alcoholic mother and father, who even threatens to attact her. She becomes a member of the family of her friend Dumpling, who sincerely accepts her and protects her when fortune knocks at her door.

Alyce desires to dance ballet more than anything in the world. However, the auditions to enter a dancing school collides with her working in her father's boat during fishing time. As she is in the boat, she sees a boy falling from the ferry that passes by and, as he recues him, she finds the courage to take her life in her handds.

Hanks is only 16 but he feels as old as time. His father died in a storm in the sea and his new stepfather is abusive towards his mother and his two younger brothers. He decides to escape taking the ferry but soon problems arrive and he realises that things are not going to be as easier as he thinks.

This novel deals with strong themes such as teenaged pregnancy, alcoholism, violence and abandonment. It is cyclical and the stories of the characters are interwined. However, the story is so well-constructed that the connections are not forced, they fluid naturally, leading the readers to a world of truth and discovery.

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Monday, April 30, 2018

A separate peace (John Knowles)

A separate peace

John Knowles

This novel narrates the lives of teenagers who go to a boarding school in Devon in 1944. The boy who tells the story is Gene Forrester. He deeply admires his friend Phineas (Finny), who is the best athlete in the school, adventurous and decided to break all the rules.

An adult Gene remembers their days during the time of the Second World War. The idea of enlisting is always surrounding them as they believe they have to show their masculinity to the other students.

One of Finny's ideas is to climb a tree and jump to the lake from above. Gene follows him since he always feels his friend is pushing him to his limits.

This is not a plot-driven story. The growth of the characters is the essence. Gene and Finny learns to expand their friendship, even when obstacles seem to break this fragile connection. They discover each other, their ambiguities and weaknesses. the way a friend shape their days, even when tragedy engulfs them.

A coming-of-age story, critics have connected this novel with The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger.  Adults will remember the delicate link that onnected them to their friends, the days in the secondary school when being outside in the sunshine was more important than classes and grades.

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Sunday, April 22, 2018

La danza de la araña (Laura Alcoba)

La danza de la araña

Laura Alcoba

Laura Alcoba relata su niñez y comienzo de la adolescencia en la trilogía creada por los libros La casa de los conejos, El azul de las abejas, y esta novela. Siendo hija de miembros de la organización guerrillera Montoneros, desde pequeña conoce los silencios y secretos en los que debe vivir para sobrevivir.

En esta historia Laura tiene unos doce años y vive en Francia con su mamá y una compañera de lucha de esta llamada Amalia. El padre de Laura es un preso político en la cárcel de varones de La Plata, donde ya lleva seis años de sentencia por terrorismo.

Laura tiene una comunicación fluida con él por carta y, a pesar de tener que cruzar el océano, se sienten muy cercanos y comparten secretos. Un día, el padre le cuenta a Laura de un hombre que tiene una araña pollito de mascota, encerrada durante el día en una caja, la que hace sonar con su movimiento cuando lo oye llegar. Éste la libera y la araña se deja acariciar.

A partir de esa carta, Laura decide que ella también quiere una araña de mascota. Pronto elabora todo un plan para transportarla en avión. Sin embargo, su padre le hace ver la imposibilidad del plan.

Más adelante, Laura usará la imagen de la araña en varias oportunidades, comparando los eventos que le suceden tanto a ella como a los que la rodean. Por ejemplo, hablando de la enfermedad de Amalia, ella dice " En ese cuerpo que es cada vez más una oreja sorda, Amalia está presa, como la araña. Pero nadie puede abrir la puerta de su jaula."

Una historia que muestra la cotidianidad de los refugiados argentinos y sus hijos en el exilio, cuenta el crecimiento de una niña que se convierte en una mujer joven en un país lejano, con un padre preso, la fragilidad de sus días y la incertidumbre que los rodea.

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Saturday, April 21, 2018

Exit West (Mohsin Hamid)

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid

"the whole planet was on the move...
without borders nations appeared to be becoming somewhat illusionary, 
and people were questioning what role they had to play"

This novel narrates the story of Saeed and Nadia, two people that, like many others, have to leave their country which is destroyed by war.
Although Nadia wears a full-lenght black dress, she rides a motorcycle and lives alone, something that is not very common in her Muslim country. Saeed meets her in a class in university and they start going out together.

However, rebels are getting stronger and taking big areas of the cities. Electricity, food and water become scarce and they see themselves forced not to leave Saeed's house.

Soon, the legend of doors that travel in space and enable people to leave their homes and become materialise in another ones, Saeed and Nadia decide to try one of the door and their lives as refugees start.

Hamid writes that

"To flee for ever is beyond the capacity of most: at some point even a hunted animal will stop, exhausted, and wait its fate, if only for a while."

The author deals with current issues such as the rights of the refugees to have  better lives, the reaction of the natives of the countries in which the people fleeing arrive and the notion of love, loyalty and courage.

An important record of the times we are living, the fate of these characters stays with readers even after they finish the book.

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Friday, April 20, 2018

The Noise of Time (Julian Barnes)

The Noise of Time

Julian Barnes

This novel tells the life of Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich during the Soviet era.

The story starts with the image of a man waiting outside the door of his flat at night, fully dressed and with a suitcase beside him, while his family is sleeping inside. He is waiting for the KGB officers, to take him to interrogation, to the labour camps in Siberia, to death.

The fear the protagonist Dimitri feels never disappears in the whole narration.Stalin has been in the theatre to evaluate his opera and he has gone before it finishes. Dimitri sees this as a bad omen and decides to be ready and not to give the officers the possibility to humilliate him by taking him away in front of the neighbours in pyjamas.


The novel reflexes the ideas of this composore in a time when old comrades vanish from historical records, burocrats decide over music and art, and children denounce their own parents.

A study on time, Barnes writes that 

' What could be put up against the noise of time? Only that music which is inside ourselves - the music of our being - which is transformed by some into real music. Which, over the decades, if it is strong and true and pure enough to drown out the noise of time, is transformed into the whisper of history.
This was what he held to.'

With the analysis of the protagonist's emotions and thoughts, Barnes is able to face the essential questions people ask to themselves about being a coward or a brave person in moments of terror, when power determines what is art and what is not, making it a good, but above all, the time we have to fullfil our fate or totally avoid it.

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Monday, April 16, 2018

Vincent (Barbara Stok)

Vincent

Barbara Stok


Narrating the life of Vincent Van Gogh in Arlés and his days in the asylum in Saint-Rémy, this graphic novel stand as a new way to become aquainted with this master painter. 

The story begins with Vincent leaving Paris after feeling overwhelmed by the city. His brother Theo is with him. Theo is Vincent's most loyal supporter, emotionally and financially, allowing him to concentrate on his art.


Arriving to Arlés, Vincent enjoys the colours of the countryside, painting trees and fields, explaining that they resemble the sea and the endless horizon over the waves.

With his new friend, the postman Roulin, he spends his time in the tavern, having relationship with a prostitute. However, his strong temperament makes him uninvited with the locals.

His desire to create a house for an asociation of painters becomes real when Gauguin, a painter that Vincent admires, arrives to Arlés. However, Vincent's mental health starts deteriorating rapidly, and with it, his relationship with Gauguin. When the latter anounces his idea to return to Martinica, Vincent's famously described event with his hear happens.

Consequently, he decides to recluse himself in an asylum in Saint-Rémy, where he paints such colossal paintings such as "Starry Night".

A gorgeous path to Vincent Van Gogh's troubled heart, this graphic novel leads the readers to a moment in time when the world of art changes forever.

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Sunday, April 15, 2018

An elephant in the Garden (Michael Morpurgo)

An elephant in the Garden

Michael Morpurgo


The story happens in Germany in 1945. The war is ending and the terrifying Red Army is coming closer and closer to Dresden, the city where Elizabeth, the protagonist, lives. She shares her home with her mum Mutti, her dad Papi and her little brother Karli.

Papi is sent to the front and the family has to survive in a time when food becomes scarce. Mutti works in the zoo and her favourite animal is Marlene, a young elephant, named after the singer Marlene Dietrich,  When the bombs of the Allies start falling in the city, Mutti decides to escape to the countryside with Marlene and her children. As Karli suffers of asthma, he rides Marlene most of the journey.

When they get to their uncle and aunt's farm, a surprise that will endanger their lives is waiting for them,

A powerful telling of the lives of the Germans living through the catastrophic ending of the war, escaping the horror the Red Army is inflicting on civilians and trying to survive thinking about their relatives who are fighting in the front.

Abook for middle-school kids, Elizabeth's voice hepls readers to connect with the destiny of this family and the elepanth Marlene, a symbol of the desire to live, even in the darkest day of History.

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Sunday, April 8, 2018

Home Fire (Kamila Shamsie)

Home Fire

Kamila Shamsie

This narration is a retelling of the Greek myth of Antigones. If you have read the myth, you would recognise several elements present in this book.

Isma is the eldest sibling in a English family of islamic beliefs. She lost her father when she was very young as he was being conducted to Guantamano as a prisoner.  Her siblings, the twins Aneeka and Parvaiz didn´t even meet him. They only way they knew this father was a silence surrounded by the questions of policemen and agents, trying to find out if the members of the family were connected to extremists in a way or another.

Now Isma is free and is in America to continue her studies. She meet Eamonn, the son of a powerful British Muslim politician, and apparently, she feels contradictory emotions towards him.

However, Eamonn travels back to England and meets Aneeka. They soon start a loving afair.

The problem is Parvaiz. He has been having connections with jihadist fighters and apparently has taken the struggle of the Muslims in the world in his own hands.

This narration shows a family dealing with their positions in the world as Muslims and British, how people perceive them and the preconceptions they have of them.

A very current novel, it is a good entrance to the debate going on in the world at the moment while enjoying beautiful writing, powerful characters and an evolving plot that would engulf the reader up to the end.

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Sunday, April 1, 2018

Oración, Carta a Vicki y otras elegías políticas (María Moreno)

Oración

Carta a Vicki y otras elegías políticas

María Moreno

Vicki Walsh y sus compañeros se encontraban durmiendo en una casa a fines de 1977 cuando el ejército los acorrala y les exige que se entreguen. Vicki deja a su pequeña hija de apenas un año en la cuna y sube a la terraza, desde dónde se defiende disparando contra los soldados que los cercan.

Al verse vencidos, sabiendo lo que les espera a los que caen en manos del ejército, deciden suicidarse, gritando "ustedes no nos matan, nosotros elegimos morir",

Así lo explica Rodolfo Walsh, padre de Vicki, rememorándola como toda una luchadora.

La autora toma la muerte de Vicki como el comienzo del análisis de las acciones y propósitos de Montoneros, el rol de las mujeres que sobreviven a la tortura en los campos de concentración, la parte que las H.I.J.A.S juegan en el reconocimiento de sus padres desaparecidos.

Un libro destinado para los que están interesados en la temática. No es para todos, ya que considera la lucha Montonera como heroica, situándose en el lado de la izquierda de los eventos durante la dictadura militar.

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Thursday, March 29, 2018

The Witch of Napoli (Michael Schmicker)

The Witch of Napoli

Michael Schmicker


In the year 1899, Tommasso is a photographer that is working for his uncle, earning very little money. He decides to introduce himself to the editor of the local newspaper and when he gets the job, his first assignment is to followed Alesandra Poverelli.
Alessandra Poverelli is a mentalist that appears to have the power to move things with her mind and to talk with the dead. One day, Tommasso gets the picture of Alessandra making a table float and both their lives change forever.

Camillo Lombardi, a psychiatrist, decides to investigate Alessandra and when he becomes a witness of the supernatural that surrounds her, he plans to make a tour around Europe showing and analysing Alessandra.

However, Nigel Huxley, an English supernatural detective, believes Alessandra is a fraud. Determined to unfold her tricks, he would follow the tour trying to find theright situation to expose her.

A novel full of twists and interesting characters, the reader becomes engulfed by the fight between beliefs and ideas, rationality and superstition, the idea that behind every magic trick  truth is waiting for us.

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Sunday, March 18, 2018

La respiración violenta del mundo (Ángela Pradelli)

La respiración violenta del mundo

Ángela Pradelli

Lo único que Florencia sueña es la voz de una nena gritando Emilia.

Emilia es hija de Adriana y Ernesto, dos miembros de Montoneros. Perseguidos por los militares que tomaron el poder en 1976 en Argentina, deciden separarse para mantenerse a salvo.

Adriana alquila una casita en Burzacco y, junto a Emilia, su hija de 6 años, pasan los días llenos de silencios dibujando, la pasión de Emilia. Solo visitan a la abuela Lina, madre de Ernesto, en La Plata. Un día Lina le compra a Emilia unos zapatitos verdes, que ella atesora con todo su corazón.

Una noche los militares atacan la casa y se llevan a Adriana, embarazada, y abandonan a Emilia. Pronto, una llamada telefónica avisa a Lina de lo sucedido. Le aclaran que Emilia fue dejada en la casa, que "debe estar cerca".

La desesperada búsqueda comienza, y como cientos de abuelas en esos tiempos, no parará
hasta Lina encuentre a Emilia.

Escrita como una crónica, el estilo es áspero y sin sentimentalismo. Busca contar la brutal represión del estado hacia los movimientos de izquierda, sin importarle llevarse a mujeres embarazadas y a niños y bebés.

Esencial relato para conocer lo que miles de jóvenes vivieron en esos días, muriendo por sus ideales de lucha por los pobres y desamparados.

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Friday, March 16, 2018

La Musa (Jessie Burton)

La Musa

Jessie Burton

La historia pasa en dos tiempos diferentes y en dos países distintos. En Londres en el año 1967, Odelle, una joven de Trinidad que lucha contra la discriminación por el color de su piel, consigue el trabajo de sus sueños cuando es contratada como mecanógrafa en ele Instituto de Arte Skelton. Quién la contrata es una misteriosa mujer llamada Marjorie Quick. A pesar que Odelle se gana su confianza pronto, cuando su amigo Lawrie le muestra una pintura que su madre mantuvo por años en el living de su casa, pareciera que un joven promesa desaparecido vuelve al ruedo, con millones de libras en juego. Sin embargo, no todo es como parece.

La segunda narración sucede en España en el año 1936. La joven Olive Schools se muda con su padre Harold, un marchante de arte vienés, y Sarah, su madre inglesa heredera de una fortuna, a un pueblito de Andalucía. Olive ama el arte e incluso consigue entrar en la Escuela de Artes en Londres. Sin embargo, decide quedarse y pronto se hace amiga de Teresa, la chica que limpia y cocina para la familia, y de su hermano Issac, quién pinta y es un ferviente defensor de la República. Sarah le encarga un retrato de ella y Olive como regalo para Harold, pero cuando la pintura es revelada, la vida de todos cambiará. La Guerra Civil llega y los atrapa.

Ambas narraciones son contadas alternativamente, creando una lectura atrapante, intentando descubrir los destinos de los personajes y como las relaciones entre ellos dan forma a la novela. La autora presenta los eventos de manera inteligente, llevando al lector a devorar las palabras y las vidas de estos personajes que quedarán en la memoria del lector, cuestionando las decisiones que toman, dejándose llevar por sus sentimientos y sueños.

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Monday, February 26, 2018

Las últimas voluntades del caballero Hawkins (Jesús del Campo)


Las últimas voluntades del caballero Hawkins

Jesús del Campo

A la vuelta de la isla del tesoro, Jim Hawkins decide reabrir una posada en Inglaterra. Pronto, se hospedarán diferentes personas que llenaran los días y noches del joven con las anécdotas de sus vidas.

El fránces Louis-Guillaume Brossac fue el primer huésped, quién le enseñó lo básico de su idioma al señor Hawkins, mientras le relataba la historia de su abuelo y la cortesana que le enseñó a jugar al ajedrez.

Geoffrey Anderson fue el siguiente, quién relató su estancia en el hospital y llegaba a la posada buscando paz y bienestar. Pronto fue considerado un amigo, compartiendo las noches mientras este le enseñaba a leer con los periódicos que llegaban de Londres.

El señor Ambergate contará las aventuras del capitán Walpole en los mares del Sur mientras el pintor holándes Adrian Vrijbloed pintará un portrarretrato del joven posadero.

Más adelante los visitará la hija del señor Ambergate, Edna, quién se transformará en una presencia esencial en la vida de Hawkins. Sin embargo, su partida lo dejará en un estado de ansiedad que intentará acallar con largas cabalgatas a través de los bosques y pueblos.

Situándose en los tiempos del comienzo de la Ilustración, las ideas y emociones discutidas entre Hawkins y los distintos huéspedes lo llevarán  a crecer como persona, convirtiendo su deseo de escapar de su pasado en una aceptación de como el mismo da forma a su presente, y las amistades que florecen en su posada, el futuro al que tanto le teme.

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Tuesday, February 20, 2018

The Lieutenant (Kate Grenville)

The Lieutenant

Kate Grenville


This novel narrates the story of Daniel Rooke. At the beginning, it displays Daniel's interest in astronomy and the sciences. As he grows up, he enters the navy in order to travel and to be able to work as an astronomer.

In 1778, he sets out in a journey that is going to change the History of the world. He is a lieutenant in the first fleet that is taking prisoners and is going to establish a colony in New South Wales.

Having a letter of recomendation by the Royal Astronomer, he is allowed to set up a tent separated from the rest of the garrison. His main aim is to chart the contellations and to wait for the comet that is going to be seen for the first time after hundreds of years.

However, the stars are not the only things that he is going to chart. Becoming patient and humble, he is contacted by a group of natives that live nearby but have been suspicious of the invaders' intentions.

Soon, a relationship between Daniel and a young aborigen girl called Tagaran grows. This connection is going to make Daniel not only  learn the language but also the fact that the natives are not as different from himself.

In times that not being western was dangerous, Daniel is trying to build a society in which everybody's rights are respected, even the natives who are considered inferior by the English.

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Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Por último el corazón (Margaret Atwood)

Por último el corazón

Margaret Atwood

La novela narra la historia de Stan y Charmine. Al comienzo, ambos están viviendo en su auto, asustados de los vándalos que pueden atacarlos. Cuando la burbuja financiera explotó en Estados Unidos, a pesar de tener títulos universitarios, ambos pierden sus trabajos y la casa donde vivían, sobreviviendo con las propinas que ella consigue en su trabajo de mesera.

Pronto conocen el proyecto Positrón, el cual incluye una vida con trabajo y casa. Los habitantes de esta ciudad rodeada por altos muros deben vivir un mes en sus casas con sus trabajos civiles y otro mes en la prisión haciendo trabajos relacionados con la vida allí.

La prohibición más importante es no tener contacto con sus alternos, que son las personas que ocupan la casa cuando Stan y Charmine están en la prisión, y viceversa.

Este mundo idílico pronto se envuelve en una espesa atmósfera de silencios y desconfianza, donde parecen que los personajes están atrapados en una tela de araña en la que se juegan sus vidas.

Una auténtica aventura con crítica social, la autora nos lleva a un futuro posible, dónde para tener derechos se deba vivir encerrados.

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Monday, February 5, 2018

Beneath the Apple Leaves (Harmony Verna)

Beneath the Apple Leaves

Harmony Verna

This story is set in 1914 in Pennsylvania in the United Staes. Andrew's father is a coalminer who takes his son into the mine and makes him promise never to work in it. His father has great ideas for Andrew, planning to send him to college to become a veterinain. However, when he dies in an explosion in the mine, Andrew's life changes dramatically. Her mother goes back to Poland and he goes to live with his a husband Wilhelm Kiser.

With a promise of working in the railway,Andrew is going to work as a brakeman as his uncle. However, in the first day he sufferes a terrible accident that changes the prospects of his future life. His uncle decides to move to the countryside, Eveline's longing desire. 

However when they arrive to their new home, they realise that the life in the countryside is not as idyllic as they think: hard-work and a harsh coming winter, the leaking roof of the farmhouse and the almost non existent grass. On the other side, they meet Lily Morton, a soulful girl that is going to help them to settle down and steal Andrew's heart.

When the war starts in Europe, the German descendatn families start suffering the implications of their origin and people's discrimination because of that.

Showing the reality of the time, the author brings us a beautiful story of endurance and love, of sacrifice and loyalty, ofw hat people are
capable to do for their family even in the darkest of times.

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Monday, January 29, 2018

El buscador de Guacas (Luisa Gonzalez)

El buscador de Guacas

Luisa Gonzalez

Aurelio Del Peral trabaja el esparto durante toda su vida, convirtiéndose en su propio jefe en su exitoso negocio, y su esposa Narcisa Pozueta contaba el dinero que Aurelio conseguía. Sin embargo, con la llegada del ferrocarril a El Salado, se vió obligado a vender su negocio y convertirse en un jubilado más.

La pareja contaba con tres hijas: Plácida, y las dos pequeñas Segunda y Humbelina, quién nació con una discapacidad motriz.

Ama, de Amadora, es la empleada de la familia y quién lleva adelante la casa al igual que la crianza de las niñas. Con el paso del tiempo se ha convertido en la amante de Aurelio, a quién ama dulcemente. Es él quién por primera vez escribe su nombre en la tierra cuando ella se lo pide.

Sin embargo, cuando Aurelio y Narcisa fallecen en una epidemia de la fiebre tifoidea, todo el dinero que habían ahorrado permanece oculto en algún lugar de la casa. Plácida revuelve toda la casa buscándolo con la ayuda de Ama. Sin el mismo, no tendrán manera de sobrevivir.

En el pueblo aparece Leonel Pereira. Él se denomina a si mismo como "buscador de guacas", de tesoros escondidos, y se instala en el antiguo depósito del negocio de Aurelio.  Pronto, Plácida lo contactará.

Una novela llena de poesía y aventura, los eventos se encuentran envueltos en la magia del ambiente, llevando al lector a adentrarse en el pueblo de El Salado. 

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Sunday, January 28, 2018

Tulip Fever (Deborah Moggach)


Tulip Fever

Deborah Moggach

The story is set in The Netherlands during the time of the tulip fever the title makes reference to. It narrates the story of Sophia, the young wife of Cornelis an ageing merchant, and her passionate affair with the painter Jan Van Loos.

At the beggining of the novel, Sophia and Cornelis are having lunch when Cornelis proposes her to have a painting done to outlive their own mortal lives. The painter arrives some days later and since they set eyes on each other, Sophia and Jan become in love.

A subplot is the story of Maria, Sophia's servant, and Willem, the fishseller. She is a simple girl from the countryside who, despite being uneducated, has some practical sense that make her more capable of dealing with every day problems than Sophia is.

Sophia and the painter starts meeting in his studio and she feels the thrills of having to run through the streets of Amsterdam  trying not to be found. 

I didn't fall. I flew! I have been given the airy immunity of an angel.

Soon they are planning how to get together for ever. However, Cornelis is a powerful man and they know that he can find them wherever they go.

When Maria gets pregnant and Willem disappears, Sophia feels she has the opportunity to escape the prison her life with Cornelis has become. 

With a narration full of references to the beautiful paintings of that time, the book discusses the immortality of art and how it simply represents what the painter sees of the world, not the truth itself.


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Monday, January 22, 2018

La posada de las Almas (Luisa Gonzalez)


La Posada de las Almas

Luisa Gonzalez

La posada de las almas es el cementerio del pueblo de Campos. El protagonista, Eliseo Soler, visita la tumba de su esposa Cruz todos los días para leerle un poema de amor que él escribió. También, su rutina lo lleva al bar La Gloria dónde se encuentra con su mejor amigo Telesforo a comer almendras garrapiñadas y tomar una copita. Su casa la maneja María y en Capellán, una ciudad cercana, vive su hija Luz y su nieta Cruz. 

Cuando empieza la historia, Eliseo se encuentra preocupado por una noticia que le hizo llegar Jacinto, el hombre que tomó su lugar en su antiguo trabajo. Nos enteramos que el gobierno quiere construir una represa donde se encuentra el pueblo. Esta noticia llevará a sus pobladores a preguntarse a si mismos que quieren de su futuro, contándonos su pasado y presente, los cuales hacen a la narración rica en descripciones.

El lenguaje que usa la autora es poesía pura, leyéndose frases como:

El piar de los pájaros en las copas de los pinos impedía el silencio o formada parte de él.
Memoria y nombre es lo único que queda de los muertos.
Por eso cuando Eliseo Soler se desanudó de su apretón, se sintió como aventado por las astas de un molino.

Basada en un hecho real en España durante la época del franquismo, la novel relata la batalla entre unos pequeños David y un gigantesco Goliath.  Quién gane es solo cuestión de tiempo, pero las que siempre ganan son las palabras.

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Wednesday, January 17, 2018

The Power (Naomi Alderman)


The Power

Naomi Alderman

This story is a speculative fiction as it is set in a near future and the events are likely to happen, taking into account our current worldwide situation.

Suddenly women have the power to electrocute by touch. This new evolutionary situation brings a lot of changes in the relations between men and women. This power is developed by teenagers around 15 years old and these girls can pass this ability to grown up women.

The narration is told in four big areas, telling how these events change the lives of four people.

One of them is Roxy, the daughter of a criminal who looks for revenge for the death of her mother. The second one  is Tunde, a young man who becomes a journalist uploading videos in Youtube showing the new phenomenon around the world. The third story narrates the story of Margot, a politician decided to pull up her career with the women's powerful circumstances. The last one is Allie, an adopted teenager that escapes her abusive father and becomes a religious icon.

An exploration of power, identity and the unpedictability of the future, this novel leads the reader to a new world. However,women may not be better rulers than men.

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Friday, January 12, 2018

Witchlight/Corrag (Susan Fletcher)

Witchlight/Corrag

Susan Fletcher

This novel is just poetry. The beautiful language in which the life of Corrag is narrated and her connection with nature display the author's love for this character. 

At the biginning of the story, Corrag is imprisoned as she is considered a witch that has helped some of the MacDonald clan to survive a massacre perpetuated by English Soldiers. She narrates her life to Mr. Leslie, an Irishman that is trying to discover King William's implication in the massacre. Being a Jacobite, his cause is to re-establish King James to the throne.

The narration is full of paragraphs that emphasise Corrag's intimate connection with nature:
Things come to us like gifts. They do. Gifts come, and we must take them - for they are the world saying here- this way.

Your heart's voice is your true voice. It is easy to ignore it, for sometimes it says what we'd rather it did not - and it is so hard to risk the things we have. But what life are we living, if we don't live by our hearts? Not a true one. And the person living is not the true you.

Her wisdom populated the pages of the book. Her herbs heal bodies and souls. Her knowled
ge comes from her love to all natural elements that surround her, learning with every step she takes in her life.

- that there will always be the signs that a life was lived. Children, tales, words they said. Places thay named. Marks they left in dust, or on a bark. People they love, and told so.

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Sunday, January 7, 2018

Eleanor Oliphant esta perfectamente (Gail Hoenyman)

Eleanor Oliphant esta perfectamente
Gil Honeyman

Eleanor es la protagonista de esta novela que relata su vida. Ella trabaja de oficinista de 9 a 5, conversa con su madre todos los miércoles y se sumerge los fines de semana en botellas de vodka para que el tiempo pase. Así ha vivido muchos años.
Eleanor no tiene amigos y no se lleva con sus compañeros de oficina. Sin embargo, pronto conoce a Raymond, el encargado de informática, quien de a poco introducirá cambios en su vida.

El evento que comienza a unirlos como amigos es cuando un abuelo se desmaya en la calle y ambos lo asisten. Mas tarde, lo visitaran  en el hospital y de allí, siguen reuniones familiares, cumpleaños e incluso un funeral.

También sucede que Eleanor va a un concierto y queda "enamorada" del cantante. Con la idea que el destino los unirá, comenzará a cambiar su imagen exterior con el fin de atraerlo.

Con cada situación, el lector verá como Eleanor comienza a interactuar con otras personas lo que la llevará a cambiar su actitud hacia los demás y sus ideas con respecto a su trágico pasado y a su futuro.

Eleanor es un personaje que se hace querer y a quien se le desea un final feliz, aunque le lleve desenterrar horrores de su pasado que lleva marcadas en su rostro.

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Friday, January 5, 2018

The birth fo Venus (Sarah Dunant)


The birth of Venus
Sarah Dunant

Alessandra Cecchi is the protagonist of this historical fiction set in Florence in the 1400s. She belongs to an aristocratic family connected to the Medici in power.

She loves painting and knows how to read and write in Greek and Latin. She would love to dedicate her life to the Arts but at that time of History that was forbidden to women. When her father hired a painter to illustrate the roof of the family chapel, she soon feels attracted to him. She tries to get his help and to improve her skills towards painting.

However, the bachelor Cristoforo Langella seems to be interested in Alessandra and later she gets married being only 16 years old. Innocent and gullible, she makes a deal with him that soon she is goint to regret as her husband becomes a complete stranger.

Besides the twists of the plot, the reader enjoys the description of the sculptures, paintings and even the faccades of the buidings in Florence at that time. The Renassaince is its plenitude.

The political upheaval at the time is also something realistically portrayed by the author, with the powerful influence of the Catholic church in the city.

A powerful narration of a part of an important classical period  portrayed in the life of a girl who will have to fight for her rights in a time that only seems to imprison her.

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Tuesday, January 2, 2018

The Secret Scripture (Sebastian Barry)


The Secret Scripture

Sebastian Barry

This novel narrates the story of Rosennae, a hundred-year-old lady who has been imprisoned in an asylum for most of her life. Alongside her narration, we find the story of Dr. Greene, the psychiatrist that is trying to unearth the reasons why Roseanne has been sent to the hospital.

As this is portrayed in the way of both characters's personal diaries, we soon learn Roseanne loves for her father and the distressful situation of her mother. However, Roseanne is not a reliable narrator, and many of the critical events of her life are contrasted with the findings of Dr. Green through the documents written by Fr Gaunt, a priest who had a lot of power in Roseanne's little town.

Roseanne's marriage with Thomas Mcnulty seems to be her way out of loniless. However, it soon become her dismay.

Dr. Greene fights with his marriage, being separated from his wife but living in the same house. Soon tragic engulfs him.

This book travels through the themes of humans's questions about life and the essence of gief and memory. A real page-turner, the end is going to find you totally unprepared, leaving you with the feeling that love  always wins.

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