Alexandra García Galván's Blog, page 4

Book Review: break your glass slippers by Amanda Lovelace

"fairy godmother says villains almost never look like cackling witches, cruel stepmother, or bratty stepsisters, they're so much quieter than, & i think that's what makes them so menacing. in some chapters of your storybook, you'll find them hiding everywhere -even in the faces of those you hold dearest. they never reveal their true intentions until you've already trusted them too much & just like that, everyone you know has turned into a stranger."
I read "the princess saves herself in this one" back in 2016 and I completely fell in love with Amanda Lovelace's style and, if I'm completely honest, I think that book made me change my opinion about poetry books. Even so, I didn't read the rest of "Women Are Some Kind of Magic" books, I don't know why, but I did read "to make monsters out of girls" and it made sense to me perfectly again because I was in a very bad place.

Sadly, I didn't feel any connection with this book. I love the concept, and, for some reason, I love Cinderella (Disney's Cinderella), but I felt nothing. There are a couple of verses I liked but not enough to feel the same way I felt with the previous books.
There are illustrations that fit with the poems, there are illustrations that are repeated several times, but what's worse is that there are some blank pages, which makes the price of the book insane. I think they could've tried more poems or even different illustrations to make it better.
The only reason I'm giving this book an extra star is that I can see a personal evolution in Lovelace. I'm pretty sure that she's transformed from a queen into a fairy godmother whose magic spells are actually these words specially created for broken hearts and desperate souls. 
Respect! 
I could read this book thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing ;)

AMANDA LOVELACE began writing books of her own, & so she did. When she isn't reading or writing, she can be found waiting for pumpkin spice coffee to come back into season & binge-watching Gilmore Girls. (before you ask: team jess all the way). The lifelong poetess & storyteller currently lives in New Jersey with her partner, their moody cat, & a combined book collection so large it will soon need its own home. she has her B.A. in English literature with a minor in Sociology. 

Book Review: Dark Celebrations by Calvin Demmer

"Being asleep meant an escape from feeling; being awake only brought truth and reality."
I've felt a little bad recently, so I spent more time than usual reading a book like this. What I mean with this is that this is a light reading, regarding pace and structure.
Once again, I had the chance to read Calvin Demmer's chilling stories and I'm happy to say that there's no way I can not love this book. I don't believe in the supernatural but man, I do enjoy reading about it. This book, in particular, has the exact amount of suspense that you don't need to be a supernatural enthusiast to enjoy it. Everything captivates you since the beginning, and the art by Beth Rocksteady is a win! I would've loved to see more.
Even though we are talking about different stories, the world-building is complete, you don't need a lot of character backgrounds to understand them or to understand the context they're in, which is fantastic due to normal stories' shortness. ENJOY the plot twists.

I honestly started to expect a big connection to everything in Unidentified Fatherly Object and with the biggest revelation. I knew Fred would die but after everything was clarified. At the same time, I liked all the stories on their own.


My personal favorites were:Labor Day HuntHappy Dark YearDying ValentineShe Will Rise

And, I'm not sure about this, but it seemed like there was a reference to The Call of Cthulhu. I say I'm not sure because I haven't read the book but that was what I pictured when I read the last one.
I hope you enjoy it as I did!
I could read this book thanks to the author.
CALVIN DEMMER is the author of The Sea Was a Fair Master and The Town That Feared Dusk. When not writing, he is intrigued by that which goes bump in the night and the sciences of our universe.

Fragmentos de color sin pincel

Alexandra apesta para la poesía dadá...  y también para los demás estilos de escritura, pero esto le saca canas esmeraldas.

Después de buscar y recortar palabras y de ordenarlas de dos maneras, en la primera separando por color y en la segunda buscando una historia, me di cuenta que la historia a la que estaba llegando es una que ya me es MUY conocida. 



Esto ya lo he contado aquí en el blog. Resulta que, desde hace como 13-15 años, he estado tratando, en serio TRATANDO, de escribir algo que tiene relación con las palabras que escogí al querer realizar esta actividad. 



He retomado mi historia y la he dejado no sé cuántas veces, he perdido libretas de maneras catastróficas, he cambiado enormes partes de la trama pero he dejado diálogos a lo largo de los años, en fin. 



El punto es que parece que es una historia que no me dejará en paz y esta actividad ha sido mi "pequeño recordatorio" que tengo un bendito documento de Word al que no le he añadido ni quitado nada desde hace una eternidad a pesar que dije que iba a aprovechar mi año sabático (y luego estamos encerrados, no tengo excusas).

No voy a leer

Por ahí en Twitter me encontré este Booktag, pero como nadie me etiqueta y yo soy bien metiche, pues lo voy a hacer aunque no me inviten porque a veces me aburro :) Es simple: esto se trata de poner el por qué no se van a leer ciertos libros.

1.- Saga que no voy a continuar:

Divergente de Veronica Roth

Recuerdo que me costó bastante comenzar el primer libro, pero el final me gustó, de hecho me dejó bastante enganchada, por lo que decidí comprarme el otro casi enseguida. Pero definitivamente no llegó a atraparme de tal manera a como lo había hecho ya Los juegos del hambre. Terminé el libro aún así, me compré el tercero, pero nunca lo leí. El estilo de Veronica Roth me gusta mucho, así que espero que pueda leerla luego en algo que no sea una serie.

2.- Autor que no volveré a leer:

Siento que esta es difícil porque se me vienen muchos escritores a la mente por el hecho que he leído libros bastante malos, pero esta vez me voy a ir por el hecho que he terminado con el corazón roto y porque me ha dejado decepcionada.
J.K. Rowling


Ha intentado darle el beneficio de la duda, pero cada vez hace las cosas peores en vez de remediarlas. Me quedo con Harry Potter y nada más, nada de Robert Galbraith, nada de los spinoffs dentro del universo mágico. Esa mujer necesita un alto. Está sedienta de poder. Y me duele porque fue mi ejemplo a seguir la mayor parte de mi vida.

3.- Libro que no reelería jamás:
American Psycho de Bret Easton Ellis

Sabes que estás leyendo a un narrador en el que no puedes confiar, pero ese no es el problema, el problema es que... todo es muy explícito... y muy asqueroso. Yo tengo límites. Hay una escena con un ratón y el ratón no es el problema.

4.- Autor que nunca voy a leer:
Robin S. Sharma


No tengo nada en contra de él, pero ya he intentado leer libros motivacionales y de ese estilo y simplemente no son lo mío. A lo mejor en la secundaria sí lo hubiera leído, porque había una extraña moda en ese entonces en donde estabamos leyendo a Paulo Coehlo a Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez y barbaridades de esas, pero ahorita PASO.

5.- Libro que no volveré a retomar:
The Elephant In the Mirror de Annette Earl

Mi ex me recomendó este libro un par de veces, pero me dijo que no gastara dinero en él porque su hermana lo había escrito y como que no son los mejores amigos del universo, lo que no le dije fue que luego lo conseguí en audiolibro. Pero tuve el mismo problema que con Sharma. El libro es motivacional. Intenté escucharlo e incluso seguir los ejercicios, pero definitivamente no fue lo mío. Además, con eso de la ruptura, no quise seguir dándole cuerda al asunto, así que BYE.

¿Cuáles son los que tú no vas a leer? 

Y mi madre todavía me pregunta por qué soy una inadaptada social

Mi mamá no le preguntó nada a nadie desde que llegamos a mi nueva escuela, simplemente saludó con una sonrisa de oreja a oreja a todo mundo y con su estruendoso "buenos días". Con mucha seguridad, me llevó a un salón que tenía el número 10 arriba del marco de la puerta. Sin embargo, yo noté que había una hoja recién pegada con cinta adhesiva que indicaba que el grupo era el 2-20 cuando yo tenía que dirigirme al 1-10.

—Mami, creo que este no es mi salón.

—Claro que sí. El día que te vine a inscribir me dijeron que ibas a estar en el grupo 1-10 y este es el salón 10. Tiene sentido.

—Pero aquí dice que...

—Yo creo que ya casi va a tocar el timbre y el salón está casi lleno. ¿Por qué no entras y agarras un lugar? Yo me quedo aquí hasta que entre tu profe.

—Mami, todos aquí se ven bien grandes...

—Pues ya ves que todos siempre han sido más grandes que tú, con eso que te metí a la primaria a los cinco años en vez de a los seis.Y no me quedó de otra más que entrar. Sentí cómo muchos me clavaban la mirada.

¡NIÑA NUEVA!

"Ok, Ale. Es normal que la mayoría ya se conozca. Esta escuela también tiene primaria y seguro quisieron quedarse en su primer año de secundaria aquí también. Ok, pero, ¿entonces cómo vas a conseguir amigos si ellos ya se conocen? ¿Te van a ver feo porque eres una nerd, porque vienes de escuela de gobierno y porque vienes becada?"

Uno de los únicos lugares disponibles era uno que estaba justo frente al escritorio del profesor. Como no quise que las miradas duraran aún más, escogí ese mesabanco y miré a mi mamá, quien me siguió sonriendo, pero esta vez de manera cálida. Me calmé por un momento hasta que tocó el timbre y ella, fiel a su palabra, se marchó hasta que el profesor entró.

El profesor saludó, muy altivo, y aun así la mayoría lo saludó con gritos de emoción, como si se tratara de su profesor favorito.

La mayor parte de la clase consistió en el profesor haciendo preguntas sobre las vacaciones de verano y todos respondiendo entusiasmados y también haciéndole preguntas. Pasaron unos angustiantes 40 minutos cuando el profesor decidió pasar lista. Al terminar preguntó si había alguien nuevo o si alguien había hecho falta de mencionar.

Obviamente me tuve que poner de pie.

Me pidió mi nombre y apellidos y él había terminado de anotar cuando comprobé en su lista que yo no era la que me había equivocado de salón.

"Computación II. Secundaria. Salón 10. Grupo 2-20 ."

Y de todas maneras, tratando de no llorar, pregunté con voz aguda:

—¿Este no es el salón de primer año?

Y el profesor, como ya lo había demostrado por cuarenta minutos, tuvo la desfachatez de soltar una risita.

—No. Esto es segundo.

Y tachó mi nombre de un jalón. No dijo nada más, pero se me quedó mirando con una sonrisita burlona.

Sin voltear a ver a los demás, agarré mis cosas y salí del salón lo más rápido que pude. Sentí cómo las lágrimas salían por fin y cómo mi cara pasaba de caliente a fría de un momento a otro. Casi podía escuchar al profesor haciendo un comentario respecto a mí hacia el salón en ese preciso instante y no sabía si iba a acabar vomitando.

La dirección estaba casi a un lado y una de las prefectas me vio y se acercó a mí. Fue muy amable, me calmó y me llevó al salón correcto.

Nadie preguntó por mi llegada tardía. Todos se veían tranquilos, como todos aquellos en su primer día de clases en una escuela nueva, pero obviamente no tuve tiempo de tomar apuntes de esa primera clase porque la hora había terminado.

Antes de que entrara el siguiente profesor, la directora pasó y nos dio la bienvenida, así como también nos pasó nuestros horarios.

Me había perdido de mi primer clase de biología, pero ya venía la segunda de computación.

Book Review: Ink and Arrows by Shruthi Viswanathan

"You can ease your anger with revenge, but you can't ease the emptiness with anything."

Rea is a Suveri, a woman whose powers are granted thanks to the tattoos she has on her skin. She is a "human" that has the ability to handle magic. She looks for revenge for his father's death, which was in the hands of humans who exploited her tribe's magic.
After being arrested for trying to kill her father's murderer, Archduke Sebestyén of Alisia gets her free in exchange for her tattoo knowledge, and she only accepts if he grants her three wishes. As the story passes, both start to save each other, Sebestyén saves a stubborn and famished Rea while bringing her food to her somewhat cottage, and Rea saves him with her peace and companionship.
Sebastyén's royal position changes drastically when the war ends, which makes him realize his relationship with Rea is in jeopardy and that he just can't have it all because of his father and the kingdom. While Rea's feelings are clear, he has to make a choice.
The chemistry with the main characters, their acceptance to their feelings, and the sexual tension are very clear, which makes you root for them even more. Although the pace was pleasant, I would've liked more examples of Rea's powers and the tribe's traditions as well as Sebastyén's intentions to change Suveri lives and its repercussions in the kingdom. This would've been well-developed in a longer book. At the same level, I think it's a shame that we can't see enough of Sebestyén's brother, Arnold.
I felt the ending was written in a lazy way, so this book left me wanting so much more. I still enjoyed it while it lasted.

SHRUTHI VISWANATHAN is a fantasy novelist who is always lost in her head. Her best friends are imaginary characters who sometimes end up on the pages of her books. When she’s not writing, she likes to try out new restaurants, play video games, and read books that will take her on unforgettable journeys.

Reseña de libro: Una pena en observación de C.S. Lewis

"¿Te diste cuenta en algún momento, amor mío, de lo mucho que te llevaste contigo al morir? Medespojaste hasta de mi pasado, hasta de las cosas que nunca compartimos".
Esta es la primera vez que leo un libro de C.S. Lewis que no sean "Las Crónicas de Narnia". Pensé que leería algo de su material de ciencia ficción primero pero, como lo leí por ahí en internet, no eres tú el que busca este libro, es el libro quien te encuentra.
Leer las palabras de un autor que son de un libro que no tenía intención de ser publicado se siente como una invasión a la privacidad al principio, pero a medida que se va leyendo, se descubre una gran cantidad de similitudes entre uno y otras personas, y este es un increíble recordatorio de que no somos diferentes cuando nos referimos al amor o al dolor, no importa la nacionalidd, no importa la distancia, no importa la era.
Este libro te ayuda a llevar el duelo porque encuentras oraciones que necesitas de alguien que en verdad entiende, de alguien cuyas palabras fueron escritas en ESE momento de desesperación. Lewis fue capaz de poner todas las interrogantes que aparecen en nuestras cabezas cuando perdemos a alguien (aunque este libro fue escrito desde una perspectiva de duelo por muerte, también es relevante cuando uno se enfrenta a la separación de un ser amado, el cual fue mi caso).
No soy una persona religiosa, lo intenté pero fallé hace años; siempre me ha desagradado cuando las personas se acercan a mí para hacerme sentir mejor diciendo que Dios obra de maneras misteriosas y cosas como esas. Las palabras de Lewis se sintieron diferentes. En su desesperación, él cuestiona las intenciones de Dios, pero al final, se puede ver la evolución y la aceptación, porque no importa lo mucho que se culpe a una deidad o que se intente encontrar las respuestas, esa deidad no va a traer a esa persona de regreso, así que, si la relación fue pura, uno siempre puede volver a esos recuerdos hermosos.
-"Sé que la cosa que más deseo es precisamente la que nunca tendré. La vida de antes,las bromas, las bebidas, las discusiones, la cama, aquellos minúsculos y desgarradores lugarescomunes".
Y sí, duele hasta donde no, pero es lo que tenemos y con lo que podemos trabajar. Lewis se reconcilió con Dios al visitar esos recuerdos y catalogarlos como perfección.
Una pena en observación es mi pequeño recordatorio de que necesito reconciliarme, no con un dios o diosa, sino conmigo misma.

C.S. LEWIS fue un notable autor británico del siglo pasado que trabajó como crítico literario, como profesor y hasta como locutor de radio, pero especialmente se lo recuerda por algunas novelas que escribió, tal es el caso de Las Crónicas de Narnia, historia que en los últimos años incluso despertó una enorme atención y atracción a raíz de su adaptación cinematográfica.

Book Review: A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

"Did you ever know, dear, how much you took away with you when you left? You have stripped me even of my past, even of the things we never shared."

This is the first time I read a C.S. Lewis book other than "The Chronicles of Narnia." I thought I'd read some of his science fiction material first but, as I read somewhere online, you don't look for this book, this book FINDS YOU.
Reading an author's own words in a book that wasn't intended for publication feels like an invasion of privacy at first, but while you keep reading, you discover a huge amount of similarities between you and other people, and this is an incredible reminder that we aren't different when it comes to love or pain, no matter the nationality, no matter the distance, no matter the time.
This book helps you grief because you find sentences you need from someone who really understands, from someone that wrote those words in THAT moment of despair. Lewis was able to put all the questions that come through our heads when we lose someone -although this book was written from the death-grief perspective, this is also relevant for a separation of a loved one, which was my case.
I am not a religious person, I tried to but failed years ago; I've always disliked when people approach me and try to make me feel better by saying that God works in mysterious ways and stuff like that. Lewis's words felt different. In his despair, he questions God's intentions, but in the end, you can see evolution and acceptance, because no matter how much you blame a deity or try to find your questions answered, this deity can't bring you that person back, so if your relationship was a pure one, you can always go back to those beautiful memories.
"I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace."
And yes, it hurts like hell but is what we have and is what we can work with. Lewis found his reconciliation with God while looking back at his memories and seeing them as perfection. 
A Grief Observed was my tiny reminder that I need to find reconciliation, not with a God/Goddess, but with myself.

C.S. LEWIS was an author, essayist and Christian apologist. He is best known for his children's classic series – The Chronicles of Narnia. Clive Staples Lewis was born on 29 November 1898 and lived until 22 November 1963. He was born in Belfast, North Ireland into a Protestant Ulster family.

Book Review: Women on Top by Michelle Miller

“Women on Top” gives you the idea that you’re going to read about women that create paths for others to follow or to influence people in some way.
The title fools you as well as the book cover.
Reading about women that enjoy their femininity, their works, their sex life is perfectly fine, the problem is that this book is about spoiled women that have a lot of privileges in their lives (I know they’re people that have good luck and that can have extraordinary experiences, that’s not wrong, what’s wrong is their personalities). The thing about these characters is that their main purpose in life is to find men, based on their appearance or status; the thing about these characters is that their resilience is proven if one of them sweats.
The stories could’ve been handled better, especially because these are short stories. Here you can find descriptions that aren’t relevant, things that won’t be mentioned again, and even tables attached as if they were essays.
The pacing, in general, is slow at the beginning of each story and too fast at their endings, which makes you feel dissatisfied. They’re unnecessary flashbacks, masochistic love, and some naïve woman. Also, there’s mentioned that the universal feminist dream is ending up with a man and family. Equality? Not in this book.
Both women and men have no depth, they only have lives filled with lies, pathetic people, expensive wine bottles,  and fashion brands, whose purpose is to show knowledge in that area somehow. Almost everything is about convenience and s*itty people can still get some kind of reward.
The image of love is wrong, although we all can fall in any of them, of course (masochistic, toxic, stupid). There’s a sentence that made me cringe intensely. A man takes one of these women to an art gallery because it had reminded him of her. That sounds kinda cute, right? And the resemblance turns out to be: “[He took her there] because he was thinking about her vagina.” Add a sarcastic smile here, please. Oh, mother of Thor!
The few tiny good things, a couple of sentences, intertextuality, and plot twists aren’t enough to make this book worth it. I’d definitely not recommend this book to anyone unless, like the author, such person has a fetish for khakis and calves.
I could read this book thanks to NetGalley and Amazon ;)

MICHELLE MILLER wrote pseudonymously until the publication of her debut novel, The Underwriting, which was translated into twenty languages and developed for television with Fox. She holds a BA and MBA from Stanford University and, in a past life, worked at JP Morgan's private bank. Michelle lives between London and Asheville, North Carolina, where she was born and raised.

Book Review: Forgive Yourself: These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction by Jared Singer

"Goodbyesare exactly like that—no matter how ready you thinkyou are for them,they always leave you with somany things you want to say."
Reading this book wasn't what I expected. I know that reading someone else's poetry you enter in a part of their soul that is not always available to anyone else. Poetry can get very personal. It's not only a writing genre where you put words together to make them rhyme, but it's also a process where you express what you can't say with your voice in a certain moment, and I feel this process is different than writing a diary because mind and heart look for the correct words or even invent them to capture them on a piece of paper to never let them go.
Jared Singer talks about different kinds of love: the one that is romantic, the one that comes from friendship, the one that comes with one's identity and culture and self-love but also about their counterparts, like a partners' loss because love is gone, the loss of friends due to suicide or hate crimes, the loss of one's self, which happens often and can involve any of the aforementioned losses and, therefore, the need of self-destruction as well as the path to acceptance.
I'd say "TOXICITY" and "I STILL MISS YOU" were poems that felt like a bunch of slaps because they reminded me of myself. And that's the thing about poetry that differs from characters in novels. Even though these aren't your words, you can find your feelings finally expressed and that you are not the only one that thinks the same.
The only one I disagreed with was "YOUR SLEEPING PILLS." Didn't I get the point of it? Maybe. But as someone that has been in treatment for months, I can't tell myself that I don't need them. Of course, my body and mind would love not to take them, that I'd be better off without them in a certain way, but taking those pills is something that I need to get used to since what I have is not something that will ever end. Still, even with those pills, I do have those moments of self-destruction (you need to read the poem to understand such moments).
I could read this book thanks to NetGalley and Button Poetry ;)

JARED SINGER is an audio engineer and poet currently living in New Jersey. He grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and came to maturity in Brooklyn. This life has taught Jared that both beauty and hardship will find us wherever we go, and cannot hide from either. What we can do is choose which we look for and which we focus our life around. Jared is proud to have his poems focused on joy, science, and learning from his worst moments.