Hurricane Maria came at night and stayed with us for over twenty hours. Those winds of over 200 kilometers per hour ravaged the entire island and left us with no water, no electricity, and some of us, with hopeless glazed looks in our eyes. The older generation recalled big hurricane San Felipe in 1927 and the younger recalled Georges. I, for one, had a virginal experience with María, and faced with a new reality, no Netflix, no way to contact my family in the United States or even in the other side of the island, I turned to my books for comfort. Thank God I tucked them all away–unread– in bags in my closet. If I had not done that, the water would have claimed them all for itself. So, since that 20th of September ( in more or less than 45 days), I wound up reading 20 books. Here is part one of my book menagerie!
#1 – “A Winter’s Night Dream” by Andrew Matthews
This is a cute book I bought because of its title. It’s a Young Adult book, so at some points I found myself rolling my eyes at the text. It revolves around an English teacher’s students who he advises they “Go out and fall in love! It’ll do your understanding of literature the world of good.” So, two students do indeed that, but their love endeavors deflate like balloons on the grass. Always being the weird yet wise teacher, he advises these two students and in the end, they finally understand Shakespeare.
#2 – “Dreamland” by Robert L. Anderson
Remember Insidious? That movie where the characters do astral projections? This book reminded me of it because it’s about a girl who can step into other people’s dreams. However, it’s not a mere hobby; her physical health decays if she doesn’t walk into dreams. But she has to follow three paramount rules: never interfere, never be seen, and never walk into the same person’s dream more than once. At first, I thought it to be predictable, but by the middle it took a turn towards the unexpected. The boundary between the real world and the dreamland deteriorates, and when the main character breaks the rules, she discovers the complex truth of her being.
#3 – “Shattered” by Sarah N. Harvey
This was a weird book. It’s basically about a “girl next door” who catches her beau in the act of cheating on her. Enraged, she shoves him and he falls, getting a concussion. Shocked, she calls 911, and then runs away to her house. Feeling oh-so guilty, and in need of atonement, she decides to change her life so as to be ashamed of her body, have a hateful job, and delete all her social media accounts. Yet, life is curious enough to present her with good people who change her perspective in the midst of her self-mandated purgatory.
#4 – “Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 12 Stories for Late at Night”
This was a fun one, since I love scary stories. This book gathers short stories by Ray Bradbury, MR James, John Collier, Evelyn Waugh, CL Moore and seven more. These stories are nothing like the scary stories Hollywood has us accustomed to. They are more like suspense; they make you think and really weird you out. Some of my favorites were “The Whole Town’s Sleeping,” “Vintage Season,” “Second Night Out” and “Our Feathered Friends.”
#5 – “Love & Misadventure” by Lang Leav
In a style very similar to Michael Faudet, this book of short poems tackles topics of love, sorrow, and sentimentality. Leav dedicates the book to Faudet, who is her partner, and if you read Faudet’s “Pretty Dirty Things,” their style is one-of-a-kind. Leav divides her book in three parts, Misadventure, The Circus of Sorrows, and Love, which are represented by three of Leav’s own artworks. Devouring this thin book in a day, here is one of the pages, titled “Always”:
#6 – “1984” by George Orwell
I finally read the entire thing and there is only one thing to say: everyone must read this book. It is way too close to our reality to be ignored. Everyone is being watched by the government, the entire economy is a monopoly, there is eternal war, brainwashing, and the ones who dare to go against the current are tortured into submission. Let’s not forget the slogan:
“War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength.”
#7 – “Three Dark Crowns” by Kendare Blake
It’s one of those Young Adult books you buy in the spur of the moment because the cover looked cool. However, by the second chapter, I was hooked. This is a story of three triplets, whom are witches and princesses. Meant to compete against each other on their sixteenth birthday, the one who kills the other two will be the Queen. This story comes at a time where society is tiring of this tradition, especially when all three are good enough. Each chapter comes from each of the girls’ point of view, one is a naturalist, the other is a poisoner, and the other is an elemental. Wrapped with amazingly creative history within the story, this book was truly a ride.
#8 – “Brain on Fire” by Susannah Cahalan
This one had me crazily into it, since my father had a “Summer of madness” of sorts when he was diagnosed with Guillaim Barre, a nervous disorder that affects the entire body. Like Cahalan, he was lucky to get out alive and to get better fast. Imagine being a normal collegiette running between coffees, classes, meetings, and assignments and then suddenly be sensitive to light, violently switch between euphoria, jealous rage and crippling sadness, unable to sleep at all, have extreme mental fog, then have seizures and a psychotic state. On top of it all, imagine going through hell and then a month after, faced with the challenge of learning to write, organize your thoughts, daring to talk to other people, all with no memories whatsoever of what happened during that month. Cahalan’s story is amazing, terrifying and so deliciously written that I found myself unable to put it down.