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booksnpunks's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars. Me and Zambra are actually best friends. This non-fiction book is a collection of his short reviews, essays and lectures on literature and most specifically on the Latin American literature that shaped him as a writer. I loved his chapter on Josefina Vicens, Cortazar, and his section about Ribyero’s homage to Borges actually almost made me want to cry. But I just devoured his musings and analysis on Roberto Bolaño especially delving deep into Bolaño’s poetry which I have only explored very little of.
“‘Imminence of a revelation that never comes,’ says Borges of art. That’s what emerges from 2666: the imminence of a revelation that never comes.”
I’m leaving this novel with a long, long reading list of things I need to check out. This little collection has really made me excited to discover more translations and I just feel like I picked this up at the exact moment I needed to. Megan McDowell’s really heartwarming introduction was just the cherry on the cake for me. I really urge anyone interested in literary criticism and Latin American writing outside of the ‘boom’ to read this as soon as they can.
“‘Imminence of a revelation that never comes,’ says Borges of art. That’s what emerges from 2666: the imminence of a revelation that never comes.”
I’m leaving this novel with a long, long reading list of things I need to check out. This little collection has really made me excited to discover more translations and I just feel like I picked this up at the exact moment I needed to. Megan McDowell’s really heartwarming introduction was just the cherry on the cake for me. I really urge anyone interested in literary criticism and Latin American writing outside of the ‘boom’ to read this as soon as they can.
emsemsems's review
5.0
‘Madame Bovary sounded like porn; everything French sounded like porn to me. In that regard the movie was disappointing, but I watched it twice—I never again trusted movie versions, and ever since then I have thought that the cinema lies and literature doesn’t (I have no way of demonstrating this, of course). I read Flaubert’s novel much later—I tend to reread it every year, more or less when the first flu hits. There’s no mystery in changing tastes; these things happen in the life of any reader.’
No doubt that I will read this again at some point. This is really, really fucking fantastic. But bear in mind that I also really, really fucking love Latin American literature (also, I never really understood why I have always unashamedly preferred them to French literature (even the ones that I consider as my favourite 'French' authors/writers are Algerians), and Zambra basically wrote my feelings out so accurately in (various points of) the book). Also I love how Zambra thinks that ‘he doesn’t even drink (yerba) mate’ is a proper ‘insult’. Made me laugh. And on top of all its brilliance, the entire book is well seasoned with ‘dark humour’, which I obviously (always) enjoy very much as well. Full RTC later.
Some chunks of excerpts from the book that I really, really enjoyed reading below:
‘Extremely intelligent children, I tell myself with certain indulgence, don’t read the books that adults make them read: they don’t want to be extremely intelligent, since wanting to be intelligent is extremely unintelligent. Intelligent children dominate to perfection the art of playing dumb, and thus they reach adulthood absolutely unscathed, perfectly free of the harsh punishments that intelligence tends to bring.’
‘My generation grew up believing that Chilean literature was brown, and that there was no such thing as Latin American literature. When, at the beginning of the nineties, we started seeing literature of exile and Latin American books and books by gringos and Europeans and Japanese, we read our own writers as if they were foreign and the foreigners as if they were our own. Yukio Mishima was our Severo Sarduy. César Vallejo was our Paul Celan. Macedonio Fernández was our Laurence Sterne. Raymond Carver was our Raymond Chandler. Álvaro Mutis was our grandpa. Robert Creeley was our mute friend. Marguerite Duras was our Delmira Agustini and Delmira Agustini our Edgar Allan Poe. Emily Dickinson was our first love. And Borges was our Borges—It’s no joke: a lot of Chilean writers thought it was a tragedy that Bolaño was Chilean. Maybe it bothered them that he didn’t renounce his nationality. I’m not exaggerating if I say that most Chileans don’t want to read Chileans, much less Latin Americans.’
‘Some years ago I wrote a pretty unfavourable review about Carla Guelfenbein’s first book, and in light of the current commentary about El Resto es Silencio [The Rest is Silence], her most recent novel, I was wrong back then. It’s too late to find out, I have to say, since no one is going to deprive me of the pleasure it gives me not to read certain books, and the truth is I wouldn’t read another novel by Carla Guelfenbein even if Coetzee himself recommended it to me.’
‘There are many Bolaño stories I like, and it would be hard for me to choose just one, but there’s no doubt when it comes to choosing the one I like the least. When I read ‘Buba’ the first time, I thought it was clear that Bolaño was not a football fan, and that impression stayed with me until I reread it an hour ago and discovered there was nothing in the story that would allow the inference that Bolaño was uninterested in football. The problem was, rather, that we his readers are too interested in the sport.
The problem with ‘Buba’ is a problem with reality: we find it ultimately unrealistic that a Chilean could ever have a record like that of Acevedo, who has gone to several consecutive World Cups. It’s painful to accept, but the truth is that if Acevedo were Argentine or Uruguayan, the story would seem irreproachable to us. Bolaño knew this and laughs affectionately at us as he bestows on us great, imaginary triumphs. We have one consolation, minor but perhaps useful in facing the game this afternoon: we wouldn’t believe the story, either, if Acevedo were Peruvian.’
bfmermer's review against another edition
4.0
Zambra'yı ne kadar çok sevdiğimi her fırsatta dile getiriyorum, o yüzden Okumamak hakkında pek bir şey söylememe gerek yok sanki.
Her denemede yazarın edebiyata, okumaya nasıl büyük bir tutku duyduğu anlaşılıyor. Gazete köşesi için incelediği kitaplardan, Şili'deki edebiyat dünyasından, kendi yazma tecrübesinden, hayran olduğu yazarlardan, Pessoa'dan, Borges'ten, Shakespeare'den, Bolano'dan, Lispector'dan ve daha onlarca isimden bahsediyor Zambra. Zambra'nın denemeleri de romanları gibi içten yazılmış, büyük laflar etmeden okuru etkisi altına alıyor. Sanki yanı başınızdaymış da sohbet ediyormuşsunuz gibi okuyorsunuz, bu açıdan Meltem Gürle'nin muazzam kitabı Kırmızı Kazak'ı da hatırlattı bana.
Açıkçası kitap incelemelerindense genel olarak edebiyattan, okur olmaktan, Şili'den ve hayranlık duyduğu yazarlardan bahsettiği denemeleri daha çok sevdim. Bunda incelediği birçok kitabın dilimize çevrilmemiş olmasının etkisi de büyük. Gerçi bahsettiği ve daha önce hiç duymadığım bazı yazarları kenara not aldım, böyle bir faydası da oldu bana. Çiğdem Öztürk'ün çevirisi ise yine kusursuz.
Aklıma takılan tek nokta acaba kitaptaki denemeler Türkçe baskı için yeniden sıralanabilir miydi oldu. Böyle derlemelerde -eğer kronolojik sıra gözetilmiyorsa- denemeler okura kolaylık sağlayacak belli bir akışa göre sıralanıyor, ancak Şili'de yaşayan biriyle Türkiye'de yaşayan biri için aynı sıralamanın kullanılması mantıksız bence. Adını duymadığım, Türkçeye çevrilmemiş yazarların kitap incelemelerini üst üste okuyunca kitaptan biraz koptum çünkü. Kitaba yeniden bir editörlük yapılması doğru mudur, yazar ya da orijinal yayıncı kabul eder mi bilmiyorum ama okur olarak böyle bir şey işime gelirdi benim.
Zambra hep yazsın, Çiğdem Öztürk çevirsin, biz hep okuyalım. Çağdaş edebiyatta okurken bu kadar keyif aldığım, böylesine sevdiğim çok az yazar var.
Her denemede yazarın edebiyata, okumaya nasıl büyük bir tutku duyduğu anlaşılıyor. Gazete köşesi için incelediği kitaplardan, Şili'deki edebiyat dünyasından, kendi yazma tecrübesinden, hayran olduğu yazarlardan, Pessoa'dan, Borges'ten, Shakespeare'den, Bolano'dan, Lispector'dan ve daha onlarca isimden bahsediyor Zambra. Zambra'nın denemeleri de romanları gibi içten yazılmış, büyük laflar etmeden okuru etkisi altına alıyor. Sanki yanı başınızdaymış da sohbet ediyormuşsunuz gibi okuyorsunuz, bu açıdan Meltem Gürle'nin muazzam kitabı Kırmızı Kazak'ı da hatırlattı bana.
Açıkçası kitap incelemelerindense genel olarak edebiyattan, okur olmaktan, Şili'den ve hayranlık duyduğu yazarlardan bahsettiği denemeleri daha çok sevdim. Bunda incelediği birçok kitabın dilimize çevrilmemiş olmasının etkisi de büyük. Gerçi bahsettiği ve daha önce hiç duymadığım bazı yazarları kenara not aldım, böyle bir faydası da oldu bana. Çiğdem Öztürk'ün çevirisi ise yine kusursuz.
Aklıma takılan tek nokta acaba kitaptaki denemeler Türkçe baskı için yeniden sıralanabilir miydi oldu. Böyle derlemelerde -eğer kronolojik sıra gözetilmiyorsa- denemeler okura kolaylık sağlayacak belli bir akışa göre sıralanıyor, ancak Şili'de yaşayan biriyle Türkiye'de yaşayan biri için aynı sıralamanın kullanılması mantıksız bence. Adını duymadığım, Türkçeye çevrilmemiş yazarların kitap incelemelerini üst üste okuyunca kitaptan biraz koptum çünkü. Kitaba yeniden bir editörlük yapılması doğru mudur, yazar ya da orijinal yayıncı kabul eder mi bilmiyorum ama okur olarak böyle bir şey işime gelirdi benim.
Zambra hep yazsın, Çiğdem Öztürk çevirsin, biz hep okuyalım. Çağdaş edebiyatta okurken bu kadar keyif aldığım, böylesine sevdiğim çok az yazar var.
kilburnadam's review
5.0
Not To Read is a collection of over 60 essays by Alejandro Zambra, a Chilean writer, that covers a range of literary topics. Zambra shares his personal reflections on the literary world, childhood books, and readings that have shaped him. He criticizes the way literature is taught in Chile and the high prices of books. Zambra's concise and flowing writing style engages readers and demonstrates his genuine passion for literature. The essays cover a range of topics, from book reviews to literary musings, and offer touching anecdotes. Zambra emphasizes the importance of reading rather than writing and highlights the technical difficulties of composing different types of literature. Not To Read is a wonderful collection full of wit and insight into the world of literature.
qdony's review against another edition
4.0
Me gusta mucho como lee Zambra y como lo explica. A lo largo del libro, da la sensación de que lee escritores y no libros. Está lleno de frases a subrayar.
Si vas de un libro a otro por asociación de ideas o reflejo, como me pasa a mi, "No Leer" es una encrucijada en el camino.
Lo he leído en versión electrónica prestada de la biblioteca, pero creo que lo compraré. Es un libro muy particular.
Si vas de un libro a otro por asociación de ideas o reflejo, como me pasa a mi, "No Leer" es una encrucijada en el camino.
Lo he leído en versión electrónica prestada de la biblioteca, pero creo que lo compraré. Es un libro muy particular.
loldesh's review against another edition
5.0
Saat kavramını unutturan uzun bir sohbet, soğumuş kahveler ve keyifle ilgili.
İlkbaharın henüz ilk günleri.
Bi' dost.
Eskimeyen şarkılar ve bi' duygu:
Muhtemelen minnet.
Hiçbiri ve binlercesi.
Okumamak, aslında okumak ve Zambra.
İlkbaharın henüz ilk günleri.
Bi' dost.
Eskimeyen şarkılar ve bi' duygu:
Muhtemelen minnet.
Hiçbiri ve binlercesi.
Okumamak, aslında okumak ve Zambra.