Reading Around the World Vlog- Part 1: The Americas

Reading some books from countries I've never read from in the Americas and the Caribbean (with varying success!)
✨Books Mentioned✨
The Country Under my Skin - Giaconda Belli
Lucy - Jamaica Kincaid
Conversation in the Cathedral - Mario Vargas Llosa
Open Veins of Latin America- Eduardo Galeano
✨Videos mentioned✨
• Every Country I've Rea...
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Storygraph @sarahsreadingjournal
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[@LibroParadiso-ep4zt]

Good day from Texas.
Conversations in the Cathedral is an early Llosa novel and one of his most challenging due to the use of time in the narrative. Llosa is one of the last living writers of that great generation which included Garcia Marquez, Jose Donoso, Carlos Fuentes, and so many other Latin American authors. Llosa as a youth was deeply affected by French writers like Alexander Dumas and Gustave Flaubert. He wanted to be a writer early one but his father thinking nothing good would come of it sent him to military school to "clean up" those ideas. It had the reverse affect leading Llosa to write his first novel, The Time of the Hero, based on his terrible experience there. The rest is literary history.
In the 90's Carlos Fuentes, one of my favorite authors, wrote "The Buried Mirror" to correspond with a documentary that aired on public television here. It's a broad history of Europe and particularly Spain's influence on Mexico and South America. What Fuentes is so good at doing is his ability to understand and discuss the old and new world in an engaging manner, giving perspective to the complexities inherent in each. Recommend it.

[@Sarahsreadingjournal]

@LibroParadiso-ep4zt that's really interesting background information. Thanks for sharing! I may try some of Llosa's later works then. And you've definitely sold me on Carlos Fuentes- he sounds like a really interesting author so will try out some of his stuff!

[@LibroParadiso-ep4zt]

@@Sarahsreadingjournal There are many English language interviews with Fuentes (and Lllosa) on youtube. His more famous books are "The Death of Artemio Cruz" and the novella "Aura." The latter is a good place to begin, I think. His literary essays are illuminating, too. He was good friends with Milan Kundera, William Styron, and many film celebrities. He had residences around the world, including one in London. He had a brief and tempestuous affair with American actress Jane Seberg made famous in Godard's "Breathless." Fuentes wrote a fictional account of their relationship in "Diana, the Goddess who Hunts Alone." Fuentes introduced me to many authors who remain favorites to this day like Alejo Carpentier, Juan Rulfo, Juan Goytisolo, and Julio Cortazar.

[@LibroParadiso-ep4zt]

@@Sarahsreadingjournal I found the first episode of The Buried Mirror on youtube, if you are interested.
th-cam.com/video/tQP0P95MfqU/w-d-xo.html

[@Sarahsreadingjournal]

@LibroParadiso-ep4zt oh cool, thanks for the recommendations! Will definitely check him out. I own a couple of Julio Cortazar books, so will get to him shortly 🤞

[@LibroParadiso-ep4zt]

@@Sarahsreadingjournal Julio Cortazar is fantastic. His stories are uncanny and sinister at times. In time I'll make a video about his work. He translated Poe's work. I have one volume only, the other has proven elusive.

[@karadaema]

I liked seeing your book choices. But the massive difference in the low volume of your speaking sections and then the loud volume of your B-roll background music bits made this video kind of uncomfortable to listen to.

[@Sarahsreadingjournal]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm still pretty new to youtube so still figuring out all the technical bits 😅 I'll bear that in mind for future vlogs!