Books

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Two brothers murder a man out of honor and the narrator reconstructs the events afterward.

You gotta read it.

I don’t often feel unqualified to review a book, but I do here. Woefully so. I can normally look back on a book and say “this is the technique, that’s why it felt so poignant.”

But Marquez has a way of mysteriously pressing on a psychosexual-emotional-social funnybone that makes my whole consciousness tingle inexplicably. What would be a routine scene in the hands of another author just absolutely sings in his universe, consistently.

If you’ve read 100 Years of Solitude, you know what I mean. This book feels like a long newspaper account from that universe. It’s kind of like a bizarro murder mystery.

Highly recommended for all.

Excellent Advice for Living

Kevin Kelly, the Wired guy, writes a series of extremely brief pieces of guidance ranging from practical to profound.

He admits up front that it’s not all brand new, but it’s all clearly stated and it’s a masterful aggregation. 

There’s no fluff and no filler. It’s got a negligible degree of pretentiousness, despite the title. It grew out of a series of letters to his kids. That love, joy, and skin in the game comes through.

I don’t think any adult could read it without finding something already internalized, nor do I think that anyone could go through it without finding something worth adding to his or her internal rule book. 

I’m going to read it again with my kids this weekend.

Recommended for everyone.