With winter fast approaching and indoor activities turning into the norm, there are few that beat the prospect of sitting down under a warm blanket with a book. 

In this week’s review of what our staff is reading, we have a varied selection, with fiction that goes from dystopia to ponderings on grief as well as nonfiction delving into the fascinating and deliciously entertaining world of film and industry culture.  

Cadáver Exquisito by Agustina Bazterrica (Clarín Alfaguara, 2017, 256 pages)

After a devastating virus strikes the animal world, humans resign themselves to the fact that, faced with the need for meat, we will have to start eating humans – after all, it deals with the overpopulation problem, doesn’t it? A bereaved man who runs a meat packing plant unexpectedly finds himself in a situation that forces him to question that of which we cannot speak. 

I first learned of this book when a friend loved it so much that she wrote a BBC feature about it headlined “Can a book make you vegan?” Indeed, its powerful, viscerally horrifying prose is so moving that it won the Clarín novel prize in 2017. It has been translated into English as Tender is the Flesh. – Amy

Grove by Esther Kinsky (Fitzcarraldo, 2020, 280 pages)

A recently bereaved woman decides to go on a trip to a small town in Italy. She wanders around describing her surroundings and the people she meets in an intimate tone that hovers between the banal and the sublime. A novel set to the pace of the narrator’s walks, it is an exploration on the effects of grief and the sometimes puzzling ways it manifests itself. – Juan

Diario de la Filmoteca by Fernando Martín Peña (Blatt & Ríos, 2023, 435 pages)

Film historian and curator Fernando Martín Peña runs the essential Buenos Aires Filmotheque, a pillar of film preservation in Argentina —he also hosts cult TV show Filmoteca. His Diario de la Filmoteca (Diary of the Filmotheque) is a rich and entertaining glimpse into the everyday life of his rare and necessary craft, filled with anecdotes and amazing pieces of film and cultural history. Peña is not only a human film encyclopedia, but also a sharp and honest writer with a piercing knack for comedy. – Agustín

Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan (MCD x FSG Originals, 2019, 384 pages)

Have you ever wondered what a world without the internet would look like? Would it be a dream or a nightmare? The greatness of this sci-fi novel by Tim Maughan lies in the fact it doesn’t give a definitive answer. Instead, it paints a graveyard of techno-utopias and failed revolutions. The book is divided into chapters set before and after a worldwide hacking has shut down the Internet globally, each one a reflection on big data, international surveillance, and the ways we connect with each other. It’s intelligent, dynamic, full of compelling characters and mysteries, and riddled with locations and ideas that hit too close to home. Caja Negra published a Spanish translation of the book titled Detalle Infinito that is easy to get in Argentina.  – Facundo

What books are on your nightstand? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!