Reading any good books? II

[Lotesse]

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Twice in a row, literally back-to-back. I'd begun the book several years ago when my life & mind were too fractured & scattered to really pay attention, & so set it aside, indefinitly. But this time, I very literally could NOT put it down until I'd devoured it all, and the very next day, read it once again, cover to cover, without interruption, first page to last. An absolute literary masterpiece work of art.

My Life in France, Julia Child with Paul Prud'Homme.

Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain (third reading)

Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl

A Day in the Life of Ivan Desinovitch, Alexander Solszhenitsen. Read this book. And then quit bitching about how awful your life is. A page-turning, eye-opening masterpiece.

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner. He's a weird mf, but boy howdy he got the spirit & truth of the deep south right, & his mastery of poetic realism is crazy-real.

O, Pioneer!, Willa Cather. A. Freakin. Mazing.

Run River, Joan Didion. Her first novel; another amazing pageturner whose characters & their stories will stay in your permanent consciousness long after you remember you'd read the book. Brilliant.

I did an awful lot of reading this summer...

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by Lotesse

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Twice in a row, literally back-to-back. I'd begun the book several years ago when my life & mind were too fractured & scattered to really pay attention, & so set it aside, indefinitly. But this time, I very literally could NOT put it down until I'd devoured it all, and the very next day, read it once again, cover to cover, without interruption, first page to last. An absolute literary masterpiece work of art.

Yes,it's hard to adjust to the style- it's been called one of those books "more bought than read"- but once you get into it, just wonderful.

A Day in the Life of Ivan Desinovitch, Alexander Solszhenitsen. Read this book. And then quit bitching about how awful your life is. A page-turning, eye-opening masterpiece.

Again, absolutely- that final sentence just kicked me in the gut; when you realize everythig he's gone through has been just one day, with so many more to come.

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner. He's a weird mf, but boy howdy he got the spirit & truth of the deep south right, & his mastery of poetic realism is crazy-real.

Appreciate the genius of his longer works, but takes a lot of concentration.

I actually enjoy the Yoknapataphaw short story cycles more- easier to follow

[Lotesse]

Ciao, GrayMouser! Yes, that's absolutely true about the experience of reading 100 Years of Solitude. When I first picked up the book, I guess I read about a third of the way through & it wouldn't "stick," for whatever reason, it wasn't resonating with me and I couldn't get inside the fantasy at all. Now, several years later, it DID stick, and then sucked me so intensely intside the fantasy that I couldn't leave it & had to instantly re-read it. Marquez, what a writer!!what a GENIUS!!



I read a book about Julia & Paul Child and a few close friends of theirs during the early days of their work during the early War Years (WW2) with the CIA's predecessor the OSS, & then later through the McCarthy era & a long Cold War. Wonderful, engaging writing and an absolutely fascinating true story. Plus, many great photos. 2 thumbs up!

~A Covert Affair, by Jennet Conant

[Lotesse]

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers.