The Return of the Caravels - Antonio Lobo Antunes

The poet pictured a horde of consumptives in hospital uniforms, crouching in the mist of the dunes, waiting for a laughable monarch who would rise up out of the waters accompanied by his defeated army. Ever since he'd returned from Africa, even the flow of time had seemed absurd to him, and he still hadn't got used to the slow quince-jelly sunsets, the lack of grass with its avid insect rustle, and he would move about the city as if on a planet created by the mechanics of imagination, keeping informed through items in the newspapers that were as enigmatic as the singing of whales.

Antunes has written an extremely complex, perhaps a little too much so, book that encompasses an expanse of Portuguese history. The book is surreal as it juxtaposes historical figure with modern times. Here we find the explorer's sailing caravels docked with modern oil tankers in the 1970s as a former African colony fails into chaos. Combine the melding of different times with long sentences abounding with descriptive metaphors and you have a book that will challenge the reader. Additionally, this is an author who loves to includes disgusting descriptions of biological fluids expelled from every imaginable source. As I began each chapter, I started wondering how many pages it would take to find the word "vomit" again.

So, why read a book with a main character dragging a coffin around with his decaying father's body? Because Antunes is a hell of a writer. He is masterful at creating original poetic descriptions. If you enjoy reading great writers, this book is worth the challenge. Some consider Antunes the greatest living Portuguese writer.

Pilgrims - Garrison Keillor

The first pilgrims through the International Arrivals portal at Leonardo da Vinci was Margie Krebsbach, face scrubbed, fresh, grinning, towing her husband Carl who looked stunned as if struck by a ball-peen hammer, and then the others came slouching an shuffling along, jet-lagged, brain-dead, and right away she spotted the thin, spiky-haired man in the blue blazer holding up the sign--LAKE WOBEGON--in one hand, high, and she let out a whoop and let go of Carl. "This is so neat!" she said, meaning the sign--the words "Lake Wogegon"--here!--in Italy!--Great God!

Disappointing! Hard to say when I love listening to Keillor and have enjoyed other writings by him. I was disappointed that the trip to Italy by a group from Wobegon included so little about Italy. Mostly, the book set up situations for the characters to tell stories about Wobegon days. I wondered why it didn't just occur during a family picnic with rounds of story telling. This may have worked better as a collection of short stories. As a novel, it didn't work for me. The story never seems to gain any traction to move forward and I found myself reading just to get to the end.

Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin

I long to be again among all those foolish people, running for metros and jumping off of buses and dodging motorcycles and having traffic jams and admiring all that crazy statuary in all those absurd parks. I weep for the fishy ladies in the Place de la Concorde. Spain is not at all like that. Whatever else Spain is, it is not frivolous. I think, that I would stay in Spain forever--if I had never been to Paris. Spain is very beautiful, stony and sunny and lonely. But by and by you get tired of olive oil and fish and castanets and tambourines--or, anyway, I do. I want to come home, to come home to Paris.

An excellent book detailing moral struggles in post war Paris. The writing is exquisite; the story engaging and compelling. Baldwin deservedly ranks as a great American writer. Having never read Baldwin before, I was instantly taken in by his great composition and unique voice. It is raw and gritty. Confusion, dilemmas, and estrangement dominate this predominately dark novel. However, the short book covers a deep array of human emotions and feelings. It is worth reading both for the expert writing as well as the thoughts and feelings it invokes. The book forces the reader to examine what is deep within us and often kept private. The writing is able to effortlessly take a fresh look at morals and sexuality. A very important book well worth one's time.