about things to read

I do not know if virtual reading in a very general way and with the so-called ebooks that allow it to be done with electronic books in particular is advancing as my great friend and tremendous poet Juan Freddy Armando understands, a book-man and free , a ¨lletraferit¨ that in Catalan literally translated would be a ¨wounded by letters¨ and that is what they call addicts to books, to reading, has been nothing less than Director of the National Library, always concerned that people read, what you can, from thoughtful works, classic and modern literature, novels of all kinds, even if they are from the past and from the west by Marcial Lafuente Estefanía, newspapers, magazines and even commercial catalogs if they are at hand, the fact is that read, read, and read, because to read is to know and to know is to grow and be a bigger and better person.

It is very possible that this perception of Juan Freddy is a reality and this would be a very good and much-needed breath of oxygen for current and near future culture. A serious, neutral study, without political overtones, very complete and even with a certain continuity as we have already proposed in previous writings, would give us guidelines to draw up a more accurate reading strategy than the current one, if there is one.

This government that prides itself on being progressive and a changer of everything should dedicate a dozen million pesos, a budgetary “chilata”, for these investigative purposes that would provide numerous intellectual benefits at extensive levels, and also economic ones, since the publishing industry would be strengthened. in a big way.

From this modest writing, Juan Freddy, to whom I am asking permission to use his name from here because I know that as an enlightened man he will grant it to me, and I, who am an outstanding candidate for the Nobel Prize for Biting and Relaxed Literature, launch from through this modest tribune and in the manner of medieval knights a challenging steel glove. Let’s see if some brave official culture picks it up and carries out such an interesting proposal. Amen. So be it.

Now, the reading that is still current and that we could still call it classic and that is already almost “from before”, that is, that of the printed book, that of turning and stepping on pages with your fingers, that of the recent ink smell so comforting and promising that it should be developed as a perfume for faces and lapels, it seems to be in frank decline.

A fact reported by the Catalan writer Anna Carreras Aubet in the very serious newspaper El Punt Avui seems to confirm this. Pay attention because if it weren’t true, it would seem like one of my ecalifragistic disparatuous fiction themes.

In Spain there are important bookstores and franchises that publish advertisements like this: “Eighteen people between the ages of 25 and 50 are wanted to attend a book presentation for two hours”. Please do not be too surprised because there is still more and better, the notice of yore continues like this ¨some of the people will speak in the colloquium asking the author four questions¨ and as a delicious dessert of the matter each participant is offered 20 euros (about 1,200 pesos) and 12 euros more (700 pesos) to buy the presented book. Crazy right? Well know that to put the lid on the knob that money is put by the author! Yes! the author! I repeat that if it were not for the recognized reliability of the newspaper and the author of the news, it would be difficult to believe.

Of course I have an experience that seems to justify the appearance of ads like the one described. Once I had the opportunity to present a very interesting book by a Spaniard who had lived for a long time in several Latin American cities, dealing with native tales and in which one of them, very interesting by the way, takes place in our country.

The act was in the Spanish Cultural Center, a suitable day was selected, at a suitable time in the afternoon, and it was spread quite neatly in various media in the capital, press, television and radio.

Arriving at the agreed time, half an hour later, the next hour and an hour and a half later, the presentation had to be suspended because not a single person attended. Neither the famous Checheré, nor the aperitif lambe professionals who attend these events to save dinner and leave with an even redder nose than when they entered.

The writer, quite accustomed to these cultural sit-ins in Creole squares like ours, did not give it too much importance and both he and the few friends who accompanied him were the finishers of the picadera, which was abundant and tasty.

It is not surprising that in twenty or thirty years those who want to see a “real” book of ink and paper will have to go to the Museum of Obsolete Things to observe the last published copy and admire the magnificent cobwebs around it. Please, let’s read, read, read, read, read… like this to infinity