Disclaimer: These reviews are not necessarily trustworthy. Read whatever you want.
A Long Walk to Freedom
The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
1994
Great book. Excellent history lesson about the freedom struggle in South Africa from the start of Mandela's life with some prior history mixed in. It is fascinating to go into the mind of an amazing freedom fighter and politician and understand the logic behind decisions made by leaders of the African National Congress. Mandela writes beautifully while simply and used a few handfuls of English words I did not know. He also employs a unique array of sentence structures I can't remember encountering elsewhere. He presents the information unbiased and mixes in a surprising amount of humor. There are plenty of times in history when white people have been unfair dicks, but I didn't know much about this really awful one; I'm glad I do now. Big, beautiful book, must read. One thing that comes to mind is that for the ~27 years Mandela was in prison, he was only photographed once, when late in that period he left to visit with the South African president.
The Life Before Us
Romain Gary
1986
Translated from the French
Nice book, pretty quick read. This was the Cornell University summer reading book for incoing freshman some years back. I have a terrible memory for books, this one included. I remember it being written in the voice of a 10-year old orphan. Plenty of humor, if you have the chance, you may like it.
100 Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1967
Translated from the Spanish
I'd skip it, but make sure to read Love in the Time of Cholera by the same author. Florencia, a traveling Argentine woman I met here described Marquez, or Garcia, as "a delightful writer", which I absolutely agree with. Here, Marquez presents a book with a bazillion characters most of whom have some version of the same name, Jose Arcadio Buendias. The family tree on the opening page is proof. The pages turn without any real hardship as the writing is always delightful and the creativity, or possibly truth, behind the anecdotes is marvelous. I didn't perceive much of a story or grander meaning and felt my reading pace slow a bit when it came to finishing this book. To this day, I wonder at how our AP Spanish teacher at Berkshire could have thought to assign this book in Spanish for summer reading. I had well enough trouble in English. I hung in for about three sentences then threw in the towel. He never mentioned it that year in class.
Daughter of Fortune
Isabel Allende
1999
Translated from the Spanish
Sadly, I've read very few books by women and I was excited to get into this one. I'm about 3/4 of the way through right now. The upshot here will be that I'm enjoying this book very much, but with a few comments. It's extremely accessible and the pacing is perfect. It feels a little light on real character development and also a little light in terms of education. I love when I learn a topic from a book, like learning about apple farming, cider-making and old-school obstetrics in Cider House Rules, and I'm blanking on more examples. This book seems to graze over the topics, around the mid-1800's, of maritime travel, Chinese medicine and the California Gold Rush but it seems to lack the expertise of the author on these subjects. It is a strong eye-opening look at upper class Chilean society of the same period. That all said, I look forward to sitting down with this book to finish it and wouldn't hesitate to grab another Allende book.
A Long Walk to Freedom
The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
1994
Great book. Excellent history lesson about the freedom struggle in South Africa from the start of Mandela's life with some prior history mixed in. It is fascinating to go into the mind of an amazing freedom fighter and politician and understand the logic behind decisions made by leaders of the African National Congress. Mandela writes beautifully while simply and used a few handfuls of English words I did not know. He also employs a unique array of sentence structures I can't remember encountering elsewhere. He presents the information unbiased and mixes in a surprising amount of humor. There are plenty of times in history when white people have been unfair dicks, but I didn't know much about this really awful one; I'm glad I do now. Big, beautiful book, must read. One thing that comes to mind is that for the ~27 years Mandela was in prison, he was only photographed once, when late in that period he left to visit with the South African president.
The Life Before Us
Romain Gary
1986
Translated from the French
Nice book, pretty quick read. This was the Cornell University summer reading book for incoing freshman some years back. I have a terrible memory for books, this one included. I remember it being written in the voice of a 10-year old orphan. Plenty of humor, if you have the chance, you may like it.
100 Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1967
Translated from the Spanish
I'd skip it, but make sure to read Love in the Time of Cholera by the same author. Florencia, a traveling Argentine woman I met here described Marquez, or Garcia, as "a delightful writer", which I absolutely agree with. Here, Marquez presents a book with a bazillion characters most of whom have some version of the same name, Jose Arcadio Buendias. The family tree on the opening page is proof. The pages turn without any real hardship as the writing is always delightful and the creativity, or possibly truth, behind the anecdotes is marvelous. I didn't perceive much of a story or grander meaning and felt my reading pace slow a bit when it came to finishing this book. To this day, I wonder at how our AP Spanish teacher at Berkshire could have thought to assign this book in Spanish for summer reading. I had well enough trouble in English. I hung in for about three sentences then threw in the towel. He never mentioned it that year in class.
Daughter of Fortune
Isabel Allende
1999
Translated from the Spanish
Sadly, I've read very few books by women and I was excited to get into this one. I'm about 3/4 of the way through right now. The upshot here will be that I'm enjoying this book very much, but with a few comments. It's extremely accessible and the pacing is perfect. It feels a little light on real character development and also a little light in terms of education. I love when I learn a topic from a book, like learning about apple farming, cider-making and old-school obstetrics in Cider House Rules, and I'm blanking on more examples. This book seems to graze over the topics, around the mid-1800's, of maritime travel, Chinese medicine and the California Gold Rush but it seems to lack the expertise of the author on these subjects. It is a strong eye-opening look at upper class Chilean society of the same period. That all said, I look forward to sitting down with this book to finish it and wouldn't hesitate to grab another Allende book.
You should write "Love in the Time of Bee Stings."
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the next installment of books worth reading with Max Benjamin.
ReplyDelete