Deckchairs

Deckchairs

Quote

The true university these days is a collection of books.
-Thomas Carlyle

Sunday 27 September 2009

Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez


I have wanted to read something by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for ages and picked up this one many times before I finally bought this second hand copy earlier this year.
Many hail this as one of their favourite books or author and so I felt there was a void in my reading repertoire that needed correcting.
The premise of the story, an exploration of the many facets of love in all of its forms, spanning generations and written in a style that many pay homage to made it irresistable, so I was looking forward to indulging myself.
Over 6 weeks and 132 pages later I finally succumbed to the idea that maybe this was not the right time to read it. It is not really the book to be honest, the writing is beautiful and there have been some luscious passages. I was quite enjoying the story and have certainly struggled through much less interesting books, but for some reason I failed to be excited whenever I thought of picking this one up. It just wasn't there!
There could be a few explanations for this...
Depending on my commitments at work or otherwise, I sometimes can only snatch 10 minutes or quarter of an hour here and there and I found that this was not a book that sat well with this, being better in longer bursts to establish the plot again. I was also a little distracted after enjoying a great holiday in Devon, and I know that sometimes you are just not in the right mind to read. So with another 69 books on the TBR pile all vying for attention and trying to catch my eye, I decided to put it down, for now. The bookmark is still in it so I hope to pick it up again, when the time feels right. I am very much of a mind that if you are not clicking with a book, then to call it a day and read another.
It was difficult getting into another one too, and I picked up and started about 3 others before settling on the Toni Morrison (see further down on my sidebar), further supporting my theory that my reading head had gone on its own holiday without me!
Hopefully my reading crisis is over, fingers crossed.

3 comments:

Petunia said...

I just plain didn't like this one. I watched the movie after I read it and I still didn't like it. I had heard some calling it their favorite love story but I was put off by all the characters and their romantic escapades. But I really liked One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Leah said...

Thanks Petunia, I'm glad it is not just me. I may give 100 Years of Solitude a go at some point because it was clear that he is a gifted writer.

Jeane said...

I haven't read this one, but struggled to get through a few of his other books. They take a lot of contemplation and quiet stretches of uninterrupted reading time, which I don't have a lot of lately.

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