Gabriel Garcia Marquez

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

Opinions please.

Currently reading Love in the Time of Cholera, enjoying and am in the early stages and interested to know that if you are a fan are you also a Louis de Bernieres fan as he says GGM is his biggest influence.

[PillowedLapHound]

Have not tried LDB, but have you read any Isabel Allende?

[EnglandAllenPoe]

100 years solitude? worth reading.

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

Next on my list.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Love GGM but never managed to get past the first chapter of Captai Corelli's Mandolin. Maybe because I had seen the film first. Yes definitely worth reading 100 years of solitude and also yes to Leaf Storm and Autumn of the Patriarch.

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

CCM needs perseverance. It took 3 attempts for me but was o worth it.

[midnightexpress]

Love GGM, though haven't read it for years. IMO, 100 years of Solitude is his best. Would avoid No one writes to the Colonel. Agree with Pillowed that you might like Isabel Allende, esp House of the Spirits and Eva Luna. Also try Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa. I like CCM, but the first chapter is annoying, because it's not very good, and is nothing like the rest of the book. In fact, you could probably read it without reading the 1st chapter. I haven't seen the film as can't abide either Pnelope Cruz or Nicholas Cage.

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

The film was awful I didnt even watch it all.

[midnightexpress]

Oh I mean Autumn of the Patriarch, not No one writes to the colonel. It's hard going - the sentences last for pages and pages (really), so most irritating for bedtime reading when you just want to get to the end of a paragraph!

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

I am finding the chapters incredibly long actually. I like to finish a chapter before bed but just not possible.

[PillowedLapHound]

I loved No-one writes to the Colonel, or "El Coronel no tiene quien le escribe", as I read it in the original Spanish

[midnightexpress]

Sorry, yes, I clarified my mistake further up, pillow.

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

Ohhhhh Pillow read it in Spanish. I long to be able to read everything in its original form.

[PillowedLapHound]

It was on the list for our Spanish A Level- I doubt I'd manage it now. But it was great being able to do it at the time.

[tribpot]

I read it in Spanish too (No-one writes to the colonel) and it was still pants :) (I think I read it for A-level but we must have done at least one GGM at Uni).

I agree re: Allende. I wrote an essay in my final year about the role of the men in The House of the Spirits, mainly to annoy my lecturer, who had spent 3 weeks regurgitating the huge number of published articles about the women in The House of the Spirits (seen as the female answer to 100 years of Solitude). Unfort I had not realised there were no other articles about the men in THOTS and so actually had to come up with original thought! Nightmare!

[PillowedLapHound]

Tribot, I think I have always just had a soft spot for men and their cocks

[tribpot]

LOL. I'm saying nowt!

Btw on the subject of Capitano Correlli, one of the few books I have started and given up on. But then I'm no fan of GGM either, cocks 'n' all.

[PillowedLapHound]

I will never forget the weeks of discomfort our (male) Spanish teacher went through as his class of Catholic schoolgirls discussed earnestly how beautiful the Colonel's cock was, and how his cock was his only source of real pride in life, and if it could just go the distance and show it was up to the job, everything would be ok...ah, happy memories

[cestlavie]

GGM is a wonderful writer.

Louis de Berniere's trilogy (starting with "The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts") is incredibly heavily influenced by GGM especially in certain parts. The jungle and animal flights of fancy being staggeringly reminiscent of "One Hundred Years of Solitude". The trilogy is, incidentally, a far more engaging piece of work than de Berniere's other work - much more beautiful, brutal, magical and funny.

Personally, I think my favourite piece is probably "One Hundred Years of Solitude" - it's a slightly broader canvas than "Love in the Time of Cholera", which is also rather wonderful. In terms of his other work, the non-fiction "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" and "News of a Kidnapping" are great, and show the range of his talents.

[EnglandAllenPoe]

have you also tried Italo Calvino?

Castle of Crossed Destinies was confusing, but got there in the end...

[EricNorthmansmistress]

100 years of solitude is completely extraordinary. I do also love LDB but prefer his latin american trilogy - you can really see the influence of GGM. Captain Corelli was mediocre and the recent one - Birds without wings - I couldn't make headway with at all and gave up.