What I'm Reading These Days

I'm reading Suite Francaise these days for the book club and I found out through Facebook that a friend of mine is reading it as well. And he can't seem to put the book down. It intrigued me that he is enjoying it so much and then I found out he is a Balzac fan.


While in college I had a professor who was obssessed with Balzac. Her life's goal was to read all of Balzac's work before she leaves this world. Now that I look back she looked to be about in her 50's and to my 20 year old mind she seemed so ancient and I remember internally wishing her well and wishing that she indeed gets to have her dream fulfilled... Anyhow, I digress...

I found from him that he likes Balzac cuz Balzac mixes fiction with Journalism. So I'm now asking him what he thinks of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And this reminds me of when I had to read the "Autumn of the Patriarch" in college for my Masters Degree. OH MY GOD. I thought I'd go insane. The book barely has any punctuations or any paragraphs. You feel controlled by the author and imprisoned. You can't get away. There are no punctuations to allow you to get away. So slowly you start feeling insane... Quite an experience.

As a class we all felt so angry by the book. It has so much power over us. Quite an experience.
If you ever get a chance and you haven't read the book, at the very least I suggest that you take a look inside it and see what I mean. Just read a page or two... You won't forget the experience.