March 2017: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
KeskusteluMonthly Author Reads
Liity LibraryThingin jäseneksi, niin voit kirjoittaa viestin.
Tämä viestiketju on "uinuva" —viimeisin viesti on vanhempi kuin 90 päivää. Ryhmä "virkoaa", kun lähetät vastauksen.
1rainpebble
For March's read, our author is: Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. Wikipedia
Born: March 6, 1927, Aracataca, Colombia
Died: April 17, 2014, Mexico City, Mexico
Nationality: Mexican, Colombian
Quotes:
"It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams."
"He who awaits much can expect little."
"Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry."
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. Wikipedia
Born: March 6, 1927, Aracataca, Colombia
Died: April 17, 2014, Mexico City, Mexico
Nationality: Mexican, Colombian
Quotes:
"It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams."
"He who awaits much can expect little."
"Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry."
2rainpebble
For March's read of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I chose to read his Love in the Time of Cholera. I certainly wish that I could better appreciate the talents of this author, whose words I love but whose works I do not.
This is another beautifully written book that while reading, I just wanted to whisper to the author; "Come on, come on, get on with it!". I couldn't wait for this one to end. I found the repetitiveness boring and my favorite characters were often the ones down in the quagmire. But to each his own.
It came highly recommended---I simply didn't appreciate it. And though it's average rating is 4 stars, I was only able to bring myself to give it 1 1/2 stars.
This is another beautifully written book that while reading, I just wanted to whisper to the author; "Come on, come on, get on with it!". I couldn't wait for this one to end. I found the repetitiveness boring and my favorite characters were often the ones down in the quagmire. But to each his own.
It came highly recommended---I simply didn't appreciate it. And though it's average rating is 4 stars, I was only able to bring myself to give it 1 1/2 stars.
3Tess_W
>2 rainpebble:, Sadly I started this book and only got about 25-30 pages in and put it down. Not saying I won't pick it up again, but I'm empathizing with your feelings about this book.
4Yells
>3 Tess_W: Ditto. I will try again though... I want to like it but I need to be in the right frame of mind to absorb it properly.
5sparemethecensor
I fall into the same camp as you guys -- I want to like his works but I just can't get it. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude last year and was just so constantly distracted and appalled by the incest storylines that I couldn't do it. I've thought about reading others of his novels but I hesitate.
6sweetiegherkin
>1 rainpebble: Thanks for setting up this thread, I got quite distracted by real life and haven't been able to visit LT very much lately.
Echoing a lot of other people's thoughts this month. I started One Hundred Years of Solitude and didn't get very far before giving up. Frame of mind might be the issue; I didn't dislike it per se, but it didn't grab my attention right away and I had too many things going on to really be able and sit with it for long.
Echoing a lot of other people's thoughts this month. I started One Hundred Years of Solitude and didn't get very far before giving up. Frame of mind might be the issue; I didn't dislike it per se, but it didn't grab my attention right away and I had too many things going on to really be able and sit with it for long.
7BookConcierge
Living To Tell the Tale - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3***
This is the first in a planned three-volume autobiography, taking the reader from Marquez’s birth in 1927 to his young adulthood in the mid 1950s.
In recounting his early life, the author also tells the history of Columbia – the politics, culture, troubles and triumphs of the people. He talks about his family and the women who raised him. And, of course, he talks about the women he loved, physically if not emotionally.
Marquez cannot tell a tale without some element of magical realism; that style is so ingrained in the oral traditions of Latin America. I loved those little hints in this story of a literary technique that this author perfected and brought to lovers of literature worldwide. In some scenes I was reminded of evenings spent on the porch in the dark of a summer’s evening, listening to my grandparents recount tales of their own childhoods. And while I generally dislike “cliff-hanger” endings, the one employed here was just perfect.
Still, I’m in no hurry to read additional memoirs by Marquez. This one definitely could have used some editing.
3***
This is the first in a planned three-volume autobiography, taking the reader from Marquez’s birth in 1927 to his young adulthood in the mid 1950s.
In recounting his early life, the author also tells the history of Columbia – the politics, culture, troubles and triumphs of the people. He talks about his family and the women who raised him. And, of course, he talks about the women he loved, physically if not emotionally.
Marquez cannot tell a tale without some element of magical realism; that style is so ingrained in the oral traditions of Latin America. I loved those little hints in this story of a literary technique that this author perfected and brought to lovers of literature worldwide. In some scenes I was reminded of evenings spent on the porch in the dark of a summer’s evening, listening to my grandparents recount tales of their own childhoods. And while I generally dislike “cliff-hanger” endings, the one employed here was just perfect.
Still, I’m in no hurry to read additional memoirs by Marquez. This one definitely could have used some editing.
8sweetiegherkin
>7 BookConcierge: Hmm, too bad it wasn't edited better. Do let us know if you do continue on with the other two parts of the autobiography.
9sweetiegherkin
Incidentally, here are some resources from my face-to-face book club about One hundred years of solitude and Gabriel Garcia Marquez in general: http://southriverbdg.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-magic-of-realism.html
10BookConcierge
>8 sweetiegherkin:
He never wrote the rest ... but I probably wouldn't continue in any case. While I appreciate Marquez writing, I've had it with his apparent fascination with "old man and nubile young girl" sexual pairings.
He never wrote the rest ... but I probably wouldn't continue in any case. While I appreciate Marquez writing, I've had it with his apparent fascination with "old man and nubile young girl" sexual pairings.
11sweetiegherkin
>10 BookConcierge: Oh, okay. Shows how much I know about his works ;P
Ah, yes, I could see how that's easily an uncomfortable theme to keep revisiting.
Ah, yes, I could see how that's easily an uncomfortable theme to keep revisiting.
