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22 | SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | JULY 2018 | Library Advisory Committee I hope everyone is truly enjoying their summer at Sun Lakes with its beautiful grounds, plethora of activities, summer music, and of course – great people! Thank you to all who donate books – we appreciate it so much. There are many great hardcover books that have been donated for a wide variety of authors. I'm sure you can find an interesting book to add to your summer list. My favorite genre is historical fiction – I am the "fly on the wall" for fascinating events and historical people. Along with books I read in the past, I was reminded of a particular style that I think totally engages the imagination of some readers. There was a boom in Latin American writing from the late 1930's with the peak from 1960 to 1970; some books utilized a style termed "magic realism." Let me describe two. Gabríel Garcia Márquez is Colombian although he's traveled throughout Latin America. Some stories are set in other countries but his magnum opus (for which he won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982) is One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). It tells of Columbia's history - founding through current. Jose and Ursula Buendia get married and leave their home to find a better life. Jose, in camp along a river one night, dreams of "Macondo," a city where mirrors reflect the world within it. Dreams and visitations by ghosts are prominent in the lives of the Buendia family. Their house and town will be founded on this site, even though it is isolated. A band of gypsies visits the town yearly, providing a break from everyday, and introducing the families to modern technology such as telescopes and ice. The narration is steady and accepting – this is life – seven generations of Buendias. Outsiders (and the Colombian government) "discover" the town bringing changes. There is a power struggle before elections, financial troubles become greater. Aurelio is involved in politics but is then disillusioned; he retreats to an art studio until his death. The railroad comes bringing many foreign settlers and the United Fruit Company which starts a plantation and hires many from town. First prosperity then tragedy as thousands of striking workers are killed by the Columbian army backing the owners. The city is ultimately destroyed by a hurricane; the bright mirrors a dream of a brave new world that is cruelly denied by the harsh reality of dependence and entrapment by ideology. Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate (1989) is set during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. Tita, the protagonist, caretakes her mother; by family tradition she may not marry if Mama is alive. Very frustrated with her life, especially in young womanhood, she only expresses her emotions when she cooks. The kitchen and Mexican food therefore are most important to Tita; her feelings are in the food. The title refers to boiling water for hot chocolate or someone whose emotions are at the boiling point. Tita falls in love at first sight with neighbor Pedro; he is in love too. He can't marry Tita – Mama Elena suggests he marry her sister Rosaura instead, which he does. Tita makes the wedding cake but is overcome with sadness and her tears go into the batter. All at the wedding who eat cake become emotionally wrought, weep, then become violently ill. Submissive when younger, now Tita, with passion, thwarted dreams, and anger realizes a path of rebellion and pours her emotions into her cooking. She cuts her finger while making quail with rose sauce; her sister Rosaura becomes ill but another sister Gertrudis is instantly aroused, later seducing a revolutionary. Pedro becomes aware of passions and love she has for him. Later Tita loses her virginity to Pedro. After Rosaura's death, Pedro asks Tita to marry him – she wants to but is tormented by her mother's ghost who tells her that she and her child are cursed. Eventually her spiraling emotions lead to a fire and the family house burns down.

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