Some of the books sitting on my bookshelf

My TBR list for the Summer/ Next semester

Choosing what to read is an organic process for me. While I always have some books on my bookshelf that are unread, a visit to a bookstore often leads me to buy others that end up skipping the line and becoming my next read.

I don't set goals, have a minimum number of books I should read each year, or have any organized system. No hate for those who take those things very seriously, but reading shouldn't be a goal, work, or chore. To me, reading is a fun and relaxing activity, and I try to keep it that way.

Anyway, here are a few to-be-read (TBR) books I hope to go through this summer, or most likely until 2024 (I'm not a super-fast reader). They are not in any particular order.

Todas esas cosas que te diré mañana (All the things I'll say tomorrow) by Elísabet Bevanet

Elísabet Bevanet is a Spanish author who has written 33 books and sold more than 3,6 million copies. She wrote the books adapted for Netflix's Valeria. I haven't read any of her books, but I saw many of them sitting in a bookstore in Spain, so I thought I would give them a try. Unfortunately, most of her books, like this one, haven't been translated into English yet.

Written on the back (translated by me):

By displaying exceptional skill, Elísabet Benavent hits the hearts of readers with a history involving time jumps that reconstruct in a hilarious and random way the stellar moments of a couple's relationship.

The Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano

I went to the bookstore mentioned earlier in Spain to find this book. I wanted to read it in its original version and was glad to find a 50-year commemoration edition. In the book, Uruguayan journalist and researcher Eduardo Galeano explains how the exploration of raw materials in Latin America has resulted in poverty, violence, and dominance.

Written on the back (translated by me):

I wrote Las Veinas to disseminate other people's ideas and experiences, which may help somewhat, in realistic measure, to clear the questions that have always pursued us: is Latin America a region of the world condemned to humiliation and poverty? Condemned by whom? Is it God's or nature's fault? Or isn't it, perhaps, a product of history, made by men and that by men can, therefore, be undone?

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

This much-acclaimed bestseller has been on my radar for a while. I also got a pretty beautiful hardcover version of it, which makes me happy.

Written on the jacket:

This is the story of the perfect worlds Sadie and Sam built, the imperfect world they live in, and everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest as it examines the nature of identity, creativity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I wrote before about how much I enjoyed Klara and The Sun, but Kazuo Ishiguro is actually better known for Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go.

Written on the book's back:

Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatizes her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship, and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged with a sense of fragility in life.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Written on the back:

“Across time and space, five young dreamers are bound by a single ancient text. Together, they will tell a story of a world in peril: of the power of words, of resilience and hope of storytelling itself.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See returns with a heart-breaking, magnificent epic of human connection and a love letter to storytelling itself."

Babel Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang

Written on the back:

Oxford, 1836. The city of dreaming spires. It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world. And its heart is Babel, Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.

Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Robin Swift thought Babel a paradise. Until it became a prison…But can a student stand against an empire?

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin is a prolific music producer whose light touch and keen ear have made him a sought-after figure in the music industry. He has won eight Grammys and worked with the most respected musicians, such as Johnny Cash, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lady Gaga, etc.

The Creative Act contains 78 short texts that outline what he believes creativity and the creative life are.

Written inside:

Those who do not engage in the traditional arts might be wary of calling themselves artists. They might perceive creativity as something extraordinary or beyond their capabilities. A calling for the special few who are born with these gifts.

Fortunately, this is not the case.

Creativity is not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. It's our birthright. And it's for all of us.

What am I reading now?

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

I'm almost finished reading Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth. I think it's worth its own review, which I'll probably do here on Read, Watch, Binge soon.

Apparently, there's also a shorter and cheaper version of this book that may be worthwhile as well.

Written on the back:

The struggle for gender equality has played alongside the unchanging belief that women must be beautiful. In this groundbreaking work of feminism, Naomi Wolf argues that our all-pervading emphasis on the importance of female beauty entraps women in the ceaseless pursuit of a physical ideal and colours perceptions of women at home, at work, in the media and in public life. With razor sharp insight and fascinating examples, Wolf exposes the tyranny of the beauty myth, its oppressive function and the destructive obsession it engenders.

What about you? Which books are you hoping to go through this summer or in the upcoming months?

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