Share your thoughts

[Jasmin]

I'm going to start with The Head of the Saint because it is way shorter than One Hundred Years of Solitude ;) And I'm really not sure how long One Hundred Years will take me to finish it.

[Terry]

Jasmin wrote: "I'm going to start with The Head of the Saint because it is way shorter than One Hundred Years of Solitude ;) And I'm really not sure how long One Hundred Years will take..."

Good decision! Reading 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' takes about one hour per year. ;)
Seriously though, it requires a close, patient reading or makes no sense whatsoever.

[Lena]

Yay for books under 200 pages. Already finished my first one: Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez. The German translation was very readable and the story was very interesting (it's literally the title) so this has me excited for more! And I will definitely try out more by Márquez, although I guess his other books are rather different?

[Nicole]

I've started Eva Luna, only one chapter in so far, but the writing is beautiful!

[Jasmin]

I finished The Head of the Saint and really liked it! Now moving on to One Hundred Years of Solitude.

[Bryttany]

I just finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and absolutely adored every second of it.

[Alícia]

I haven't been able to read anything so far. I have to take my final exams next week and I also have a couple of books I was sent for review, so I don't know if I'll be able to join the readathon this month :( Hopefullt I might be able to read something by Gabriel García Márquez the last week of June

[Nicole]

I have finished Eva Luna by Isabel Allende.
Really liked it, the writing was absolutely beautiful and even though it wasn't really a magical book or anything it kind of had a magical/fairytale feeling to it. probably because of her beautiful writing style.

Had some doubts between 4 or 5 stars, ended up going with 4, though it might be more of a 4,5 I guess.

[Nicole]

Also, since I have a lot of unread books at the moment I don't think I will be picking up anyhting else for this readathon this month, though definitely intereseted in reading more by Isabel Allende and trying out other South American authors.

[Terry]

I've had to change my reading plans due to varied circumstances. I'm reading Borges essay collection 'Seven Nights', and next I'll read some of Neruda's poetry, or perhaps 'The Tunnel' by Sabato.
... Enjoying everyone's comments!

[Terry]

Last week I finished 'The Tunnel' by Ernesto Sabato. It is a first person narration, told by a crazy artist serving time in jail for murder. He narrates the story from the first time he saw his future victim to just after he killed her. He is an unreliable narrator in the sense he makes deluded statements presented as fact, but the reader can see past his statements to the reality of his increasing madness.

There are a few scenes presented as comedy, such as his comments on art critics. Some of this works, some does not.
The problem is that his crazy behavior becomes absurd, like a comedic satire of crazy. He is so clearly deranged that the woman would catch on to his madness long before she actually does in the story.

I expected more chills, or more artistic insight into the breakdown of a mind, than is present here. This is an ok story about a too-obviously deranged man and the most clueless victim in the history of the world.

[Jasmin]

I'm about to finish One Hundred Years of Solitude and I really liked it. I'm also glad that I took my time with it because I could really get invested into the story and the characters. I don't think I would have liked it as much if I'd rushed through it.

I think I'm going to start El túnel after that. I probably won't be able to finish it this month but that's okay.

[Terry]

I finished 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair' by Pablo Neruda, a few days ago. It's a terrific little collection translated by W.S. Merwin, with a brilliant introduction by Christina Garcia and peppered with illustrations by Pablo Picasso.
Many years ago I was bored with all those, sometimes highly regarded, love poems comparing someone to a weather pattern or a plant. Neruda's poems thankfully are far better. The nature references are there, but handled with far more skill and imagination. Even in translation, Neruda's great skill with words is evident. This speaks well also of Merwin's ability as translator.

[Terry]

Hi. I read 'Leaf Storm and Other Stories' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this afternoon. The title novella is good, but the better gems to me are the six short stories that follow. One can see why Marquez won the Nobel Prize. In this fine translation by Gregory Rabassa, we see the author's deft touch with a wide range of subject matter. his brilliance with language, his ability to make the fantastic seem real and the real, or realism, to become fantastic. Marquez can not only subtly shift between realism and fantasy, he merges the two, makes them exist together, and the best trick of all, makes the merger seem normal, as though it were foolish to see life any other way. This is of course the famous Magic Realism, a style minted, I believe, by the South and Central American writers. Marquez is certainly brilliant at it.

[Terry]

My final book for this month was 'Seven Nights' by Jorges Luis Borges, translated by Eliot Weinberger. It is a collection of seven lectures, in print basically essays, given by Borges. They are fascinating to read. He covers topics including Dantes' Divine Comedy, Nightmares, Thousand and One Nights, Buddhism (though his understanding of this topic is a bit shaky), Poetry, The Kabbalah, and Blindness. He pulls a vast knowledge of literature and philosophy to inform his arguments. His intelligence and erudition are truly inspiring, and the essays great fun to read.

[Mom2triplets04]

Bryttany wrote: "I just finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and absolutely adored every second of it."

I read that one in April. Didn't know he was south American. In June I read his other book "Adultery". I gave it 5 stars.