Las Mutaciones por Jorge Comensal

Las mutaciones by Jorge Comensal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

No se dejen engañar por la solapa, esta no es una novela de humor negro, tampoco tiene como protagonista principal a Ramón Martínez el exitoso abogado que pierde la lengua; tampoco lo es Benito el loro majadero que acompaña a Ramón durante el curso de su enfermedad. Esta es una novela sobre el cáncer y los efectos, no todos ellos devastadores, que tiene sobre las personas que toca.

Jorge Comensal ha escrito una novela interesante, divertida, honesta y hasta educativa; con personajes entrañables que comparten historias que hacen pivote con la odiada y poco comprendida enfermedad.

 
La prosa es perfecta y las escenas que plasma en la mente del lector son realistas y muy humanas. Aunque solo son 145 páginas no es un libro fácil de leer, sobre todo si el lector ha sido participe de situaciones similares a las planteadas en el libro. La razón por darle solo 4 estrellas es por que la historia me enganchó profundamente y sentí que el autor me quedó debiendo desenlaces para cada una de las historias que se entretejen. Sin duda de lo mejor que he leído ultimamente.

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Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[En Español abajo]

I guess this was intended as a young adult read in the style of Twilight or Harry Potter series; but then there's all those references to late 80's pop culture that hooked me on. The first chapters were a bit slow and trite; I kept going mostly out of nostalgia, since I relate to the ages and era of the protagonists Meche and Sebos. The story unfolds quite well half way through the book and wraps up succesfully.

Meche, Sebos and Daniela are a trio of teenage outcasts that find a way of casting magic spells through music, but magic comes at a price that will mark their lives for 20 years.

If you are a young at heart like me in your 40's you'll enjoy this story very much; at 249 pages it's a great over the weekend read. I enjoyed it a lot, it made me look back in youtube for music I hadn't listened in years.

[Español]

Supongo que este  libro fue pensado para el segmento adulto joven, leído al estilo de Crepúsculo o Harry Potter; pero luego están todas esas referencias a la cultura pop de finales de los 80 que me engancharon. Los primeros capítulos fueron un poco lentos y trillados; Seguí leyendo casi por  nostalgia, ya que me relacioné con las edades y época de los protagonistas Meche y Sebos. La historia se desarrolla bastante bien hacia la mitad del libro y termina con exitosamente.

Meche, Sebos y Daniela son un trío de adolescentes marginados que encuentran la manera de lanzar hechizos mágicos a través de la música, pero la magia tiene un precio que marcará sus vidas durante 20 años.

Si eres un joven de corazón como yo en tus 40, disfrutarás mucho esta historia; en 249 páginas es una gran lectura durante el fin de semana. Lo disfruté mucho, me hizo buscar en YouTube música que no había escuchado en años.

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Later by Stephen King

 

Later by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Español mas abajo]

I always get excited about King's new releases, but with Later I must confess the title threw me off; on top of that, being such a short novel made me keep my expectations low. If you read the bookjacket you'll instantly think: Oh! this is just a "I also see dead people" story; it's not. It's been said that "Good artists copy; great artists steal."... Well, then King has stolen "I see dead people" from "The Sixth Sense" forever.

Jamie Conklin, not only sees dead people, they talk to him, but they can only tell the truth. A detective woman who is also sweet on Jamie's mom forces him to solve crimes, but no good deed goes unpunished; later Jamie will have to pay with sweat and tears.

Later is a classic King's story with great characters, a fantastic original plot, a bit predictable, but highly enjoyable at 250 pages long. You'll like it a lot

Siempre me emociono con los nuevos lanzamientos de King, pero con Later debo confesar que el título me desconcertó; Además de eso, al ser una novela tan corta me hizo mantener bajas mis expectativas. Si lees la solapa, pensarás instantáneamente: ¡Oh! esta es solo una historia de "Yo también veo gente muerta"; no lo es. Se ha dicho que "los buenos artistas copian; los grandes artistas roban" ... Bueno, entonces King se ha robado el "Veo gente muerta" de "Sexto Sentido" para siempre.

Jamie Conklin, no solo ve gente muerta, le hablan y... ¡Solo pueden decir la verdad! Una detective que anda noviando con la madre de Jamie le obliga a ayudarle con resolver crímenes, pero ninguna buena acción queda impune; más tarde Jamie tendrá que pagar con sudor y lágrimas.

"Later" es una historia clásica de King con grandes personajes, una trama original fantástica, un poco predecible, pero muy disfrutable durante las 250 páginas. Les encantará.


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REAMDE by Neal Stephenson

 

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's definetly not my favourite Neal Stephenson book. I had great expectations after reading Snowcrash and Fall; or, Dodge in Hell. However I see great potential for a TV series here; plot is not very thick nor complex and it has quite enough exciting/thrilling scenes.

The niece of the owner of the biggest and meanest online game company get's involved with the russian mafia to track the hackers responsible for a ransomware computer virus named "Reamde". The search takes this multi-national and diverse group all around the world and the online universe, to chase the hackers.

I thought the prose was a bit long, but it has ups and downs that makes it quite bearable. Perhaps if some of the charachters weren't known to me from "Fall", which seems to be a sequel of this book, I would've been less anxious and might have enoyed it much better.

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If It Bleeds - review

If It Bleeds by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a while since I've read King's short stories or novellas, I particularly think some of his best work is in this format and I remember fondly The Mist and The Jaunt from my youth; both stories fed my fears of the unknown and poke on my curiosity. As a side note, let's not forget that the best motion picture of all times according to IMDb, The Shawshack redemption is based on Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. So we could say this guy not only knows how to write, but he'll make out a great story out of anything.

"Mr. Harrigan's Phone"
Apple fanboys will rejoyce with this short story. An old guy gets an iPhone as a gift and the gadget allows him to do some nasty stuff

"The life of Chuck"
Chuck is a jolly good fellow and we get to know about him in retrospect. It is not scary nor fantastic story, but SK gets you pretty hooked on his life.

"If it Bleeds"
I listened on Audible this book and let me tell you that Will Patton is the best audiobook reader of all times. The story is the right size for the format and I see a lot more novellas with the Holly Gibney charachter in the future; SK seems to be having a great time creating Holly's adventures and people seem to like her even more. This is the longest novella in the book and it is a detective story on the same track as "Mr Mercedes" and "The Outsider"; you won't have to read those other books, but perhaps you'll enjoy this one better if you do. Holly gets herself involved with investigating a horrible bombing attack on a boarding school. Her tenacity and intuition allow her to uncover a very particular perp, but at the same time put herself into harm's way.

"Rat"
I was liking a lot this story, but somewhere along the way I feel SK lost bearing. A no success writer aisolates himself in a remote cabin in the woods to pursue his next big project, only to find help from none other than a rat.

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¡Sálvese quien pueda! por Andrés Oppenheimer

¡Sálvese quien pueda!: El futuro del trabajo en la era de la automatización by Andrés Oppenheimer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Definitivamente un libro para abrir los ojos de quienes aún no ven el impacto que la Automatización, las Tecnologías de Información y Comunicacion (TICs) y la Inteligencia Artificial (IA) tendrán en nuestras vidas. No hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver y aquí Oppenheimer nos acerca los escenarios que impactarán nuestros oficios y trabajos. No te quedará duda, luego de leer este libro, de como afrontar a estos 3 jinetes del apocalipsis de los trabajos: La Automatización, Las TICs (Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación) y la IA (Inteligencia Artificial).

Aunque no es mi libro favorito sobre este tema de innovación disruptiva e impacto social, debo reconocer que es el que mejor aborda en lenguaje cotidiano los temas para el ciudadano promedio. Así que si solo has de leer un solo libro sobre el futuro del trabajo que sea este.

Otros 2 libros que me han gustado mucho sobre el tema son "Gracias por llegar tarde" de Thomas Friedman y "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow" de Yuval Noah Harari. El primero es el mejor en mi opinión, pero ambos mucho mas profundos y reveladores que "Sálvese quien pueda"

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On the Road by Jack Kerouac

On the Road by Jack Kerouac
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sincerely I don't know what all the fuss was about. Beat culture starter or not, It merely kind of was a half interesting story.

Perhaps the real story is that lots of americans were surprised by Kerouac's descriptions of diversity in the USA; completely desmitifying the Ma &  Pa rural America vs modern upbeat urban society dicothomy. For me, the best part was when he traveled to México and got the shits.

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