"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." -One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1970.
I finally did it...I finished reading One Hundred Years of Solitude! I'm not sure how much time I spent on the book because I took a detour for three days and read We Will Always Have Paris by Jennifer Coburn. Reading this book was somewhat like taking cough medicine: I didn't like the taste but in the end, reading this epic novel will be good for me. It will help me on Jeopardy, it will assist me in having meaningful conversations with my friends, and the vocabulary will help me become more intelligent. But to me, it didn't really "taste good." I'm glad that I read it though, because I have heard this book mentioned many times, but I had no idea what it was about. So, now I know. One Hundred Years of Solitude was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1965, and in 1970 it was translated into English. Garcia Marquez is a native of Colombia and wrote several books. In 1982 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, so this man can definitely write. But this book just didn't fit my personality. The paragraphs are very long, and there isn't as much dialogue as I normally see in a novel. I felt almost as if someone was narrating a play for me. Also, since this book is a translation, the syntax and language don't flow easily for me. Still, I do appreciate this book and the time that the Columbian spent on it.
One Hundred Years of Solitude covers the time between the invention of ice and the invention of airplanes. It chronicles the lives of Jose Arcadio Buendia and his family. He and his wife, Ursula, had three children: Colonel Aureliano Buendia, Jose Arcadio, and Amaranta. The story begins here with tales of war, revenge, lunacy, love, lust, and gypsies. There are so many characters who have similar names, that it's often difficult to keep the characters straight. I admit that I didn't always know which character was doing what, because the names are so similar. Yet I persevered and was able to get an overall picture of what happened during the 100 years. At times I felt like it would take me 100 years to complete the book but I'm glad that I persevered until the end so that I could appreciate this great classic novel.
Last week I wrote a post called "We'll Always Have Paris Too" in which I discussed Coburn's book, We'll Always Have Paris. I enjoyed the book so much, especially because my daughter and I have also taken a magical trip to Paris, the City of Lights. Not only is the book sentimental, but it's humorous, so it was great fun to read. When you travel abroad, you HAVE TO keep a sense of humor, because things don't always go as planned. I sent Coburn an email to tell her how much I enjoyed her book, and she quickly responded. It was so nice to hear back from her and to know that she was going to read my blog! It's nice to know that someone in California is interested in my thoughts about a book that I sort of found by accident at Barnes & Noble. Incidentally, some of my greatest book treasures have been found by "accident."
Here are the next ten books that I've read since 1984:
1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
2. A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
3. Feather Crowns by Bobbie Ann Mason
4. God Answers Prayers by Anna Hill Matthews
5. The Color of Water by James McBride (it was once a Durham Reads book;I attended his reading)
6. The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
8. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (we attended his book signing here in Durham)
9. Teacher Man by McCourt
10. 'Tis by McCourt
Tonight I'm going to look through the bag of books that I got from my parents in Kentucky. I'm sure that there's a good book in there somewhere, so I look forward to sharing that with you later on. Meanwhile, what would you like me to read next? Have you read One Hundred Years of Solitude? What did you think of it? Leave me your comments, and thank you for reading!
-Melissa
I read 100 Yrs of Solitude as an undergrad, I think -- not a class assignment, but like you, had heard about it and was intrigued. I had recently read Borges' Labrinths as an assignment in a philosophy class, and was primed for it. I remember liking it a lot at the time, although 35 years later, I couldn't tell you why.
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