Sunday 9 March 2014

The growing pains of Adrian Mole




"Took stock of my appearance today. I have only grown a couple of inches in the last year, so I must reconcile myself to the fact that I will be one of those people who never get a good view in the cinema"





I have just discovered Adrian Mole by chance, in the second hand shop in front of my house.
Well, if you want to read something easy and funny, this is the right book. I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading: it is hilarious!
Probably you already knew, but I have just discovered that there is a full range of books and this is the second one from the series. I will have to buy the others also now!! (What a brilliant excuse to buy more books)
It is the story of a British teenager, dealing with growing up and family issues in a dramatic, yet hilarious way. The book is in form of a diary, so very easy to read.
Surfing the internet I found out there is also a TV series, you can find it here on youtube (Although not as funny as the book I'd say).

Thursday 6 March 2014

News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez

People often ask me who is my favourite writer. As for music, sometimes it is difficult to answer 'cause I like whatever makes me feel something,  famous or not it makes no difference. But yes, when they ask me this question at the end I always answer: one is for sure Márquez (the other is more recent and you will discover soon I am sure). It is a old love, started many years ago and never weakened. All started by reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, I was quite young and lots of people thought the book was boring, long: I simply loved it. Since then, once in a while I read another book from him. I don't like to read books of the same authors in a short period of time, I like to take a break from them, sometimes also long, in order to enjoy better the reading. This year was the time for News of a Kidnapping. If you ever read something by Márquez you will know all his writings are magic, they bring you in another world. This one is different 'cause it is a true story. It describe the kidnapping of ten leading people in Colombia by one of the "most important" drug trafficker in the world: Pablo Escobar.  It is a kind of written documentary; but I must say, evendo this book is surely different from the others, you can still catch the touching style of Márquez. The way he brings you into the story making you imagine all the characters, the situations, the emotions, it is typical of him. I always tell everybody that the only way to read him is with all your senses, and this book is no different. You could smell the dirty in the rooms, hear the whispering, see the darkness. Toward the end I felt like I knew a little Pablo Escobar, and I could enter into his mind.





It always amuses me that the biggest praise for my work comes for the imagination, while the truth is that there's not a single line in all my work that does not have a basis in reality. The problem is that Caribbean reality resembles the wildest imagination.

Gabriel García Márquez



 p.s. It is a case, but not completely, that I finished the book today in the metro, as today is Márquez's birthday and I am happy I could "celebrate" with him by reading his book.