The complex relationships in his life and world travel make for a great read. One of his teachers as a child was Gabriel Mistral. ]]>
This English politician (1804 - 1881) wrote novels, started as a Radical, ended as a Tory, and gave one of the greatest quotes about politics in a speech in the house of Commons, March 3rd 1845 . "A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy." This was not an insult, he himself being a Tory was a Conservative. A very complex man with a complex mind that loved irony and knew how to use it. ]]>
"This really shows a poet who had an international following and political influence."
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A Nobel Prize winning poet, with a love of Whitman, writes a book full of adjectives and an active life. Selected for the diplomatic service and an elected member of his county's government, he died as Allende was assassinated in his native Chile.
If you can read Spanish get the original. If you have an understanding get a simultaneous translation. ]]>
Narratives that blend absurdist situations and clear language. They are almost snippets of Samuel Beckett with a sheen of Franz Kafka. ]]>
Hemingway writes about other writers he met while in Paris with his first wife. The stories are funny, sad and sometimes cruel. His caricature of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the way he describes Gertrude Stein shows a man who wanted to discount those that helped him, but his meeting with James Joyce shows his famous sense of humor that could win him friendships.
His description of food, surroundings and people are tight, terse and filled with energy. This is a complicated memoir filled with writerly gossip that is short and has a melancholy ending.
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by Anonymous
I really liked this translation. You get to see an approximation of how the forms of alliteration were used. Much of the boasting, the lists of gold and material possessions along with the denigrating of ones opponents reminded me of rap music! ]]>
by Isabel Allende
This was a tough book to read because it is different from all her others. This has her daughter dying and she is essentially writing a letter to someone who will never receive it, while having a conversation with herself. ]]>
by Laura Esquivel
I loved this book! ]]>