10 libros que -no deberías- leer antes de morir

Siguiendo con el tema que, el amigo hombre molécula, denominaría como cultura libresca, encuentro la siguiente noticia:


Creo que no estoy de acuerdo en ni un sólo punto del decálogo que Richard Wilson, productor de televisión y autor de 101 cosas que no hacer antes de morir, ha publicado en el Times. Imagino que a este personaje le gustan los libros como las teleseries, “con una sinopsis que se pueda resumir en una sola frase en la que entre acción, romance, explosión al final y a ser posible un oso polar”. Pero me ha parecido una manera divertida de plantear una discusión sobre los libros que nos sobran. Adelante Mr. Wilson con su donoso escrutinio:

10. Ulises, de James Joyce:

9. El Señor de los Anillos, de J. R. R. Tolkien:

8. Por quien suenan las campanas, de Ernest Hemingway.

7. En busca del tiempo perdido, de Marcel Proust.

6. El hombre del dado, de Luke Reinhart.

5. Miedo y Asco en las Vegas, de Hunter S. Thompson.

4. El mito de la belleza, de Naomi Wolff.

3. Guerra y Paz, de León Tolstoi.

2. La Ilíada, de Homero.

1. Orgullo y Prejuicio, de Jane Austen.

Como dice el siempre bien ponderado Antónimo, crear una lista de los 10 libros que no deberías leer es todavía mucho más pedante que la lista de los 10 libros que no deberías dejar de leer y, en muchos casos, te incita a leértelos. Yo no creo que tenga 10 libros de los que recomendar que la gente evite leerlos a toda costa, eso sí, tengo un par que no me han gustado nada y que su lectura me ha parecido tediosa, aburrida y carente de significado:

1- A wedding in December. Anita Shreve. Les copio lo que dice Amazon: ABig Chill–like group reunites for a 40-something wedding in this melancholy story of missed opportunities, lingering regrets and imagined alternatives by Shreve (The Last Time They Met). Bill and Bridget were sweethearts at Maine's Kidd Academy who rediscovered one another at their 25th reunion. Bridget was already divorced; Bill left his family; the two have now gathered their Kidd coterie to witness their hasty wedding—Bridget has breast cancer—at widow Nora's western Massachusetts inn. The death of charismatic schoolmate Stephen at a drunken high school party hovers over the event. Stephen's then-roommate, Harrison, now a married literary publisher, remains particularly tormented by it, especially since he had (and still has) romantic feelings for Nora, who was Stephen's then-girlfriend. Abrasive Wall Street businessman Jerry, now-out-of-the-closet pianist Rob, single Agnes (who teaches at Kidd and has a secret of her own) and various children round things out. Tensions build as the group gets snowed in, and someone gets drunk enough to say what everyone's been thinking. Though Shreve's plot, characters and dialogue are predictable (as are her inevitable 9/11 rehashes), she sure-handedly steers everyone through their inward dramas, and the actions they take (and don't) are Hollywood satisfying. (Oct. 10)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. En mi opinión es un libro aburrido, con personajes que no son para nada creíbles (que suerte que todo el mundo salga del instituto consiga casi todo lo que quiere y además sea rico y atractivo a sus 40) y que me volvió paranoica acerca del cáncer de mama. ¿esta teta estaba aquí antes? Ah sí, tengo dos...

2- ... Venga, seguro que hay algún libro que podría recomendar fervientemente no leer... ¡CUMBRES BORRASCOSAS! ... No, tiene su gracia, sólo tienes que entender que -no- es una historia de amor y algo del costumbrismo inglés... hmmm... A mí me gusta Delibes así que este tampoco cuenta... hmmm... Seguro que Tor recuerda mejor que yo los libros que no me gustan, por los sapos y culebras que saldrían de mi boca al acabar de leérmelos. A ver.. .piensa, Anna, piensa... libros coñazos que no hayas podido acabarte... ¡lo tengo!

2- La Dalia Roja. Lydia La Plante. De nuevo, esto es lo que dice la red:

When the body of a young woman is found on the banks of the River Thames, the injuries turn out to have an unsettling similarity to the unsolved, 1930s Los Angeles case of Elizabeth Short - known as The Black Dahlia.

Detective Inspector Anna Travis is on the team investigating this horrible crime when Detective Chief Inspector James Langton is called in to take over from the original team leader. They have a prior working and private history and Travis is very hesitant and discomforted by the close presence of the volatile and erratic Langton. As the killer starts to taunt the murder team in a manner that follows the Black Dahlia case, right down to inciting local media to dub the victim The Red Dahlia, the team becomes increasingly aware that this a violent and vicious killer who thinks that taunting them is part of the game. It doesn't help that the victim herself is a bit of a mystery, and there are very few clues in her life to a possible perpetrator. Another copycat killing and Langton and Travis realise they have just a few days before the third victim and absolutely no concrete leads. An anonymous tip off finally leads the team to a suspect, and from there on the novel becomes a race to the finish to try to prove the seemingly unprovable.

There is absolutely no doubt that La Plante can write big rip-roaring books with good characterisations and THE RED DAHLIA delivers on that promise. Whilst La Plante does write good, strong, human female characters they are not at the expense of the male characters. Langton starts off an uptight, inaccessible workaholic, becoming more human and vulnerable, even troubled. You can see why Travis would find him so attractive. The killer, who is known from the time of the anonymous tip off, is pure evil, but not a caricature. There are some awful elements to the violence of the killings and to the events surrounding the suspect and his behaviour but these are handled carefully, with no attempt to shock or sicken the reader.

This is the second Travis and Langton book, the first being ABOVE SUSPICION, but you do not need to have read the first to get the second. THE RED DAHLIA really was a great read - involving; fast paced; nicely balanced in terms of revelations of the violence and horror and sprinkled with just enough personal life to make you engage with all the characters.

A mí me pareció un libro lleno de recursos muy básicos, del ABC del escritor de novelas policíacas en el que suplía la falta de trama o lógica de esta con larguísimas descripciones gore en las que insistía una y otra vez en el componente sexual.

Creo que hasta aquí llego, como siempre, les diría que no se acercasen jamás de los jamases a esos libros pero la última decisión es suya.