Tuyo

Cada acorde de esta canción me recuerda a ti, a lo que fuimos y lo que no pudimos ser.

How strange, how odd.

What could these songs possibly have in common??

XVIV

Y si el mundo me duele,

que tu risa sea mi analgésico

Y si las heridas sangran,

que tu ternura me sirva de curita

Y si ya no me quedan lagrimas,

que tu abrazo sea mi aliento y mi alimento

Y si no me quedan ganas,

que tu amor me devuelva la alegria

Y que tu compañía sea siempre poesía.

— Dorian A.

Quisiera que no estuviera nadie más que tú cuando coloque amapolas, muchas amapolas, y memoria, tanta como amapolas, dos grandes ramos relucientes, sobre tu mesa de cumpleaños.

Paul Celan a Ingeborg Bachmann.

Llegó tu postal, en vuelo directo a mi corazón ... He vuelto a sentir la amapola, profunda, muy profundamente... A veces lo único que quisiera es irme y llegar a París, sentir que tocas mis manos, que me tocas entera con flores, y después otra vez no saber de dónde vienes y adónde vas.

Ingeborg Bachmann a Paul Celan.

_ Tiempo del corazón. Correspondencia. Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul Celan. Fondo de Cultura Económica. Trad.: Griselda Mársico.

_ Ingar krauss

So a while back @mage-pie recommended Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier, and as I do when I hear about a book and it sounds vaguely interesting, I chucked it on my want-to-read shelf on goodreads and mostly forgot about it.

Somewhat more recently, I went scrolling through my want-to-read shelf looking for something to buy to tide me through a family function that I expected to be boring (it was) and I decided on Tuyo, and I started reading it, but it was going pretty slowly and it's a long book so I was mostly picking away at it.

Then, yesterday, due to a confluence of circumstances including computer troubles and being at my parents' house, I found myself with a lot of time to read, and I finished the last 80% or so of the book in one gulp.

Anyway! I really enjoyed it. It opens with the main character being left as, essentially, a sacrifice to the forces that defeated his people in battle; he expects to be killed, but the enemy commander, only passingly familiar with the custom, decides he has other uses for him.

It's a very slow burn (not burn in the sense of romance; there are some hints of (het) romance towards the end of the book which might possibly become more prominent in the later books in the series, but the focus is firmly on non-romantic relationships), very much interested in exploring the culture clash between Ryo's home culture and the one in which he finds himself. There are, inevitably, parallels to real-world cultures, but the author seems to be deliberately avoiding setting up anything 1:1, and rather letting the cultures (and different physical types of humans) be their own thing. The reasons behind the conflict that kicks off the book, and the resolution of it, what in some sense might be called the "plot", has to take a back seat. This suited me just fine, but I can imagine some readers getting frustrated with it.

I really enjoyed the subtle yet pervasive magic of the world itself. One review I happened to see on goodreads mentioned wondering how the physics works, which strikes me as beside the point--of course the physics doesn't work in a world where the moon is always full on one side of a river and has phases on the other side of it. But I eat that shit up, the sense that magic isn't just something that you can do if you're a wizard, but something inherent in a world, bigger and stranger than people can comprehend or hope to control.

Anyway! I have a bad habit of not continuing series even when I like the first book and am looking forward to the next ones, so who knows when or whether I will read the rest, but I also felt that this book doesn't really need the rest; it has a perfectly satisfying ending of its own. Would recommend.

Me he arrepentido tanto en la vida, pero no de tí

Amibaster

📚 January Reading Round-Up 📚

January was a pretty great reading month! Finished a few books I'd started in December, while also binging some new ones.

- Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (good, very funny and bittersweet, full of detailed and lush descriptions, loved the last part the best, very different than the movie's plot)

- Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher (Delightful, funny, characters were a bit too self-deprecating but it worked nonetheless, all the feels)

- Manacled by Senlinyu (Very good, cried at a lot of parts, not my favourite iteration of this trope but a great addition, loved the fanart, interesting take on Draco Malfoy that I did enjoy)

- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Very good, loved the audiobook, funny and smart and heartfelt, MC has ADHD vibes, some cool twists, great intertwined flashback story structure)

- Fullmetal Alchemist Fullmetal Edition Vol. 5 by Hiromu Arakawa (Very good, thankfully some of the scenes didn't hit me as hard as the anime, loved the humour and the art style)

- The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani (Good, very intense, loved the second half of the book more, great character development and themes)

- A Darkness at the Door by Intisar Khanani (Very very good, binged it in a day, very poetic and lyrical and angry and cathartic, loved the romance and the friendships and the ending)

- Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier (Good, loved the beginning, not quite what I was expecting for the ending, great characters and communication)

Sabes bien que mientras tú seas tú, yo seré tuyo. Que giro alrededor ti, que sólo en ti he encontrado paz y alegría. Y que muchas veces me voy, sólo porque quiero volver.

- Jaime Sabines

De noche vienes y haces tuyo mi insomnio...

De noche vienes y el alma se achica y el corazón palpita más fuerte...

De noches vienes y me robas besos de esta boca que pide los tuyos y no estás,

De noche vienes y mis ganas se acumulan y tu cuerpo está lejano, distante...

De noche vienes y el amor me acongoja y la ternura se duerme solitaria...

De noche vienes... Pero no estás a mi lado...

¡Triste realidad! Jamás volverás...

Leregi Renga

It is very important to me that, because of the differences in life expectancy between the Lau and Ugaro peoples, Aras and Ryo have roughly the same number of years left to live. The gods looked at this Lau man struggling under his curse and said We will send him someone to help him who will be with him the rest of his life. They didn’t leave him alone.

Al final, todo se acumula hasta que ya no puedes más.

When you love yourself enough, meaning when you understand your needs enough and believe that they are worthy, you will no longer find attractive people who cannot fulfill those things for you . .

Cada Acidente - Fresno + Tuyo (2020)

Cês tão mentindo pra mim

Tamo longe de acabar

Todo mundo já sacou

Que se repete

Erra todo dia igual

Escravo do linear

Nesse tempo infernal

Tudo é pra sempre.

~Tuyo

Te pertenezco hasta que la muerte cite mi nombre, mi vida ya no será tuya, pero mi núcleo desmayado seguirá latiendo al ritmo de tu corazón. Y mis letras escritas para ti se difundirán en el cosmos, el infinito sabrá que seré tuyo, incluso cuando esté fuera de este mundo.

Edwin Silva