El Aula 19

El aula 19 es un libro excelente, que aun teniendo una extensión considerable, se lee rápidamente.  Como en otras novelas de Federico Axat, la trama fluye vertiginosamente, como en una montaña rusa, desconcertando al lector con inesperados hechos hasta llevarlo a un sorprendente final.  Los personajes están convincentemente tratados y descritos gracias a regresiones en la historia que, aunque en muchos momentos interrumpen la trama principal, los enriquecen y les dan vida.  Sin entrar en más detalles, diré que la trama queda excelentemente ligada y sin un cabo suelto, a pesar de la complejidad aparente que la historia plantea.  En una palabra: magistral.  Muy recomendado para amantes de la novela de misterio, intriga o terror.  No tardaré en leerme otro libro de este genial autor.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Some people usually ignore certain titles because they were written 40 or 50 years ago.  I know that new releases are tempting and for some readers they are prioritary in their reading lists, but honestly The Taking of Pelham 123 is a great book, no matter when it was written.  Spending some time on this novel is really worthy.

The Empty House, by Algernon Blackwood

I was glad to discover this author, after seeing his name and quotations in H.P. Lovecraft's writings.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes good ghost stories.  It's curious how such an old book can still scare the living crap out of the reader so easily. You can get a free, legal download for your e.reader at: http://manybooks.net/titles/blackwoo1447114471-8.html

It's a hell of a reading!

Brave New World

I began reading this book for two main reasons:

1. I bought it aeons ago and it turned out to be the typical procastinated reading over the years.
2. I had a very reduced list of books for my reading club and had to select one that would be short and completely different from the rest of the ones I had already chosen (consider that in that list I already had Dracula, The Catcher in the Rye and Mansfield Park). My first option was The Road, but the library didn't have enough copies of the book for all the members of the club,  so I decided on old Huxley's classic distopian novel.

After reading two thirds of the book, I can tell you I was kind of disappointed at it.  I cannot deny Huxley had the merit of writing something so daring and advanced at that time.  But my disappointment was caused more by the fact that the book was quite philosophical and deep,  I caught most of the themes, topics and symbols and understood them, but I fancied reading something else, more in the line of other distopian, futuristic novels such as 1984 or The Time Machine. Brave New World could be the ideal complementary reading for students of Philosophy, but not my cup of tea at these moments in which I really read for pure FUN.

Anyway right at the end the novel gets momentum and leaves a feeling of hopelessness on the reader. Thanks goodness that the reading was worthy in the end!


(Image taken fron the Amazon Kindle edition)