Comics, children’s stories, mystery and poetry: the bookshop Futuro Imperfecto in Lorca makes a list of readings for LA VERDAD for this summer
In 2019, the Futuro Imperfecto bookstore, located on Calle Almirante Antonio de Aguilar in Lorca, took over from the old Álamo bookstore. The aim of Roger and Verónica, former engineers and now cultural entrepreneurs, is to be a cultural center, to revive the city of Lorca with meetings with authors and literary events. “Our main course – they explain – is something we organize in the spring, ‘Imperfect Fridays’, where we hold presentations in a nearby square. We love it because you can have a beer while listening to a writer speak.” For this summer, from all the titles for THE TRUTH, they have selected ten books that they recommend reading.
‘Manuela y los Cakirukos’ (Reservoir Books, 2022), by Miguel Brieva, is one of the works selected by the bookshop. It is the first children’s comic (recommended for over nine years) to be published by the author, as he had only published stories for adults until now. “It’s a riot of imagination, with incredible illustrations. Kind of a cross between ‘The Five’ and ‘Amazing Journey’.” Some cousins who go to their grandmother’s house in the summer, like every year, but this time they find a huge mystery.
Another new summer comic that will also be out this year is “IN” (Editorial Standard, 2022), by Will McPhai, illustrator and cartoonist for New Yorker magazine. It is his first graphic novel. An autofiction comic in which the main character is a copy of the author himself. It deals with the difficulties of socializing in a “subtle, intelligent, tender and comical” way. According to Lorca booksellers, “it’s great, very funny and sometimes a bit tragic.”
‘El plagio’ (Pumpkin Seeds, 2022), by Daniel Jiménez, is another work to be read during these hot months, although it has little to do with the previous two. Jiménez is a “fetish writer” for Roger and Verónica. It tells the story of his father, who was a member of the Los Pekenikes group for 50 years. In the 1990s, he created a new format for a television program and even made a pilot program. To carry it out, he spent all his savings. The directors with whom he had signed a contract moved to a private channel and a few months later they premiered a program with the same characteristics as the program his father had conceived.
With ‘The City of the Living’ (Random House Literature, 2022), by Nicola Lagioia, we are faced with a thriller, a black novel with crimes… But it is not a book to use. It is about a real crime that took place in Rome six years ago and shocked all of Italy. Lagioia, a journalist, went on to write a story for the newspaper where she worked, and became so obsessed with the story that she ended up writing this book. Linked directly to ‘In Cold Blood’, by Truman Capote, or ‘The Adversary’, by Emmanuel Carrère, “it can be read as if it were a non-mysterious novel, but it combines the best of non-fiction and journalistic chronicle” , stand out. “It’s not your typical empty summer thriller, it has a lot more backstory.”
‘Adults’ (Nordic, 2022), by Marie Aubert, is another mystery novel, albeit completely different from the previous one. A young girl, forty years old, joins the family in a cabin for her mother’s birthday; and this is where sparks begin to fly over unresolved problems. «A comic book, with very black humor, and a lot about relationships between people; in a Scandinavian style that shocks us, in the usual way of behavior of a Mediterranean family. We loved it.”
His list also includes a classic, such as “The Turn of the Screw” (Valdemar, 2022), by Henry James, one of the author’s most famous goth horror novels. «One of the best publishers in the field of recuperation of classics and horror and fantasy literature. Luxury edition with a new translation that must be read’, they emphasize. A young governess, sent to a mansion to care for two orphans, begins to believe that something or someone is maliciously stalking them.
Returning to books for young readers, they also recommend ‘La playa’ (Zahori, 2022) by Ximo Abadía. During these months, treat a very attractive theme: the beach. Through a great visual journey it gives a lot of ideas about what the little ones can do in this place. «All of Abadía’s books have a very social character, very vindictive. This book is very beautiful and very easy for early readers, or to read on summer evenings.
With a totally different genre from the previous one, they also select ‘Infocracia’ (Taurus, 2022), by Byung-Chul, for this list. The author is a Korean philosopher, although he always writes in German. It is very synthetic and concrete; in his works he usually focuses on themes such as the ‘burnout’ syndrome (professional exhaustion) or false freedom. “This book, this summer, after all we hear about post-truth and ‘fake news’, is very interesting.” Despite its brevity and succinct sentences, “it has a lot of depth and we believe that everything it offers is a very important perspective for today’s society,” explain the bookstore’s founders.
As for poetry, they choose ‘Completely Friday’ (Tusquets Editores, 2022), by Luis García Montero, a tremendous poet and storyteller. With his poems – “very delicate, symbolic and beautiful” – he appeals to the feeling of love. “They play an erudite role as well as something very simple and comprehensive, in the Neruda style. In the summer you can also read poetry; between bath and bath you can read a poem and stay upright’, they add.
They end this summer reading list with “Mothers, Fathers, and Others” (Seix Barral, 2022), by Siri Hustvedt, “a great academic, novelist and essential feminist of our time and not sufficiently justified”. A work published only a few months ago, in which many literary essays and literary criticism converge, and where he also tells a lot about his family, psychoanalysis, neuroscience or art. “It’s a mix of interesting things. The author writes like angels and with a super-necessary feminist perspective. We recommend this book, a cross between essay, autofiction and some literature,” they add.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
