11 posts tagged with "literature"

It's strange that someone who loves books as much as I do reads only 7–15 books a year. There are two reasons for that.

The first reason won't surprise you: like virtually everybody else in the world, my attention span and my ability to focus on reading have diminished in the last two decades or so, as a side-effect of constant screen exposure. I'm not too concerned about this, though, because at least I keep on reading. Not only that: about half of my reads are difficult, stuffy, old books — and often on paper, where there are few distractions available. (In contrast, many people nowadays seem to read non-fiction only, or contemporary literature only. Some of my fellow nerds read mostly — or only — technical books, articles, or blog posts. And there are even people who seem unable to read text for more than two minutes unless it's displayed on a bright, colourful piece of glass.) But even I don't seem to be able to read for hours on end like I used to in my youth. On my ~2h30′ flights to and from Frankfurt, I usually read most of the time, but not all the time. I manage to read for around one and a half hours or so, and then get distracted by my phone — like everybody around me.

Inspired by my friend Fidel, I'm publicly sharing some of my resolutions for the new year.

This (turn of the) year I have not thought much about this nor made an actual list, unlike some other years. But certainly there are a few concrete goals in my head, some of which I already mentioned on my recap of 2024.

Here go some of the goals I can divulge, hoping to put some social pressure on myself.

The year comes to an end in a few hours, and some of the digital services and apps that I use on a daily basis started nudging me as early as one month ago about my various stats and achievements throughout 2024, with the hope that I'd boost them on social media. I'm old school and prefer blogs to walled gardens, and since I have not been writing here much as of late, I thought I'd use those stats as a way to recap my year.

So here go four apps I use a lot, and my “achievements” on them during the year — in increasing order of importance to me.

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Regalé esta novela a mi mujer por su cumpleaños porque yo llevaba una temporada leyendo cosas muy buenas sobre el libro (sí, tengo la desfachatez de regalar a la familia libros que luego pretendo leer yo también). Especialmente en redes sociales no hacía más que encontrar alabanzas a la novela. La premisa me parecía intrigante y muy alejada de mi mundo, y al estar basada en la experiencia personal de la autora, yo anticipaba aprendizaje y estímulo. Además, Alana S. Portero es madrileña como nosotros y solo un poco mayor que nosotros, así que esperaba encontrar referentes comunes (hasta donde su vida y las nuestras se intersecan, que tampoco es tanto).

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I always thought I had read this short story thirty years ago or so already, because it was included in a volume that my parents had at home… but I could not remember much. I had a vague image of a decrepit vacant mansion being invaded by the surrounding vegetation, and ultimately destroyed by it.

Then in December last year my wife and I visited Ronda in Southern Spain, and I was fascinated by this old mansion, Casa del Rey Moro. Visiting the house, and reading about its history, the House of Usher (or the distorted memory I had of it) came to my mind immediately, and I resolved to read Poe's story (again?) soon.

Is it me, or is this getting a bit better?

Still too damn long and still too damn detailed. And too damn overemotional (the amount of stress it can still cause grown-up Proust that one time that his mum didn't show up in his room to kiss him good-night that summer evening when he was a little kid!). And too damn posh and affected.

But on this fifth volume there were a dozen pages here and fifty pages there that were real engaging or real funny. And a few memorable quotes and brilliant reflections on life and love (of which I share a few at the end of this post).

“Love, what is it but space and time rendered perceptible by the heart”

(Ver mis subrayados en el primer libro y en el segundo libro.)

Ideas que me hicieron sentir reivindicado en alguna convicción mía previa (por ejemplo, cosas que escribí hace ya años en Vīta), ideas que me hicieron gracia, ideas que me inspiraron, o ideas que me espantaron.

Pillé este tebeo de la biblioteca municipal un poco al azar (mis hijos solo quieren que les lea sus libros, y no son muy pacientes cuando yo me paseo por los estantes de adultos). Hojeándolo rápido, el dibujo no me pareció sobresaliente; y la premisa se me antojaba un poco infantil, un poco rollo pulp. Creo que me decidí a sacarlo prestado sobre todo porque me impresionó y me intrigó la cita superlativa de Stephen King que ponen en la portada («la mejor novela gráfica que haya leído jamás»).

Ha sido un gran descubrimiento.

It is very rare that I disagree with Morgan Housel — I identify with his ideas about well-being, learning, and money. But this time, I have to.

A few days ago, he wrote (my emphasis):

“A book you’re not into after 10 minutes of attention has little chance of a happy ending. Slam it shut and move on. You’re not a failure if you quit a book after three pages.”

According to Housel (I haven't been able to verify the quote), Charlie Munger once said:

“Most books I don’t read past the first chapter. I’m not burdened by bad books.”

Admittedly, Housel is in good company: other very smart intellectuals that I like and follow seem to agree with this strategy. Tyler Cowen said (NB: seventeen years ago):

“I start ten or so books for every one I finish. I don't mind disliking a book, and I never regret having picked it up and started it. I am ruthless in my discards.”

Naval Ravikant says:

“I feel no obligation whatsoever to finish the book. If at some point I decide the book is boring […] I just delete it. […] Don’t feel the obligation to finish any book. Don’t treat it like a linear tome or treatise that has to be read in order and the way the author intended beginning to end.”

Well, I disagree with them all!

Let's talk about one of my favourite things in life (books) and one of my least favourite things in life (contemporary mainstream feminism).

To do any kind of analysis of the world of books we can start by dividing it into three main areas, or groups of people involved: writers, readers, and publishing houses. The first two groups are self-explanatory. The last group comprises all professional activity bridging the gap between the person who writes and the person who reads: publishers, editors, proofreaders, translators, marketers, etc.

What are the sex imbalances in those three areas?

Let's review some facts.