Steal That Book!

The first literature book I was intrigued and had to buy was The infinite Conversation by Maurice Blanchot, edited and translated by someone whose name i cant remember at Monte Ávila editores, in Caracas Venezuela.

The first book i remember loving as a kid was a Dinosaurs book my mother gifted me and that was later stolen from our house in San Felipe, years after we moved back to Venezuela.

The first book i stole was a nouvelle by Charles Bukowski, i Took it from a houseparty in an apartment i would eventually live at years after this event. I stole it to impress a girl i just met, i read it to her the next day and we slept together right after.

The first book i re-read was Rayuela (Hopscotch) by Julio Cortázar, it was also the first book i read together with someone i loved.

The first book that totally mindfucked me -´till dis day- was Ficciones (Fictions) by Jorge Luis Borges, the first tale of this book is my go to Reading whenever i Forget wich door led me into literathosis.

The first book i read in a sitdown was Los detectives salvajes (The Savage detectives) by Roberto Bolaño. I found in and the title just caught me, it costed almost nothing in a cheap Prize Edition, wich i hope i still have somewhere, and i bought it in a Beautiful bookshop in Mérida before taking the bus back to San Felipe, the day time bus so i could read, it was a 9/10 hour trip and i didnt stop Reading until i decided i wanted to Save some for later. I got Home and finished right away.

The first two books i read together where PIN PAN PUN by Alejandro Rebolledo (RIP) and the first three installments of the Harry Potter saga. I read them travelling with my brother, my father and His new Family. This was the moment that i realized that i didnt have to socialize if i Had a book in my hands and music in my ears. My father realized that too. He became worried.

The first book that was banned for me was The Castle by Franz Kafka. My father forbade to read it and subsequently obsessed me with the Author by default and as a result of this prohibition.

The first books i got caught stealing werent even for me, i saw a couple books someone wanted and got beeped getting out of the bookshop. Funnily i was with a couple of pretentious book friends and they acted as they didnt knew me (_:

The first book i remember buying because i really wanted it was ART NOW 1 edited by Taschen, i dont remember what age was i exactly but i remember that i was caught Buy the Cover strolling thru a Tecni-Ciencia bookstore in Barquisimeto, back when my brother, my mother and I started living together in San Felipe. In Venezuela. I couldnt Buy it when i saw it, we didnt have any money so as my brother and my mother stroll thru the mall i stood inside the bookstore looking and Reading this book. I was absolutly caught by the images and the Little explanatory text that came with them. I dont remember much of it now, but after we all cut some expensese my mom bought me the book and after that, with some time i memorized everything that made me want to do art from it. It was my only book with Contemporary images of the art world at that moment so i basically Learned everything in it by heart. I wanted to make art, i wanted to talk about it and i wanted the art that i would do someday to appear in a book like that.

Books have been my only stable relationship since im a child, books are the matter of my art practice and the very seed of everything important that has happened in my life, they continue to be that and as i get older our relationship gets better and better. Im greatful that books are there for me as i am there for them.