The Spaces in Between

I really must make more of an effort to read one book at a time. I don't think it does a book justice to be digesting its worth while delving into another one, two, three or four. I won't even confess to the number I'm reading right now. And this habit of reading several works at the same time has crept into my writing. It means I'm working on several projects, not completing any with the satisfaction that I would like.

I think the last few months have seen an improvement though. I'm gradually learning to focus on one at a time...one to completion and then another...sigh... I read with urgency just to get to the another one I know is sitting there waiting for me to caress it...everything between one book to another, just spaces in between. I wonder if I'm doing justice to the writers' works to read to completion just to get to another...sacre bleu!

Ok, there has been an improvement, I have been reading one book at a time, and not surprisingly it coincides with the completion of 'The Recent Project' which took just about 2 months to get done. Now it's the editing which I find more time-consuming and tedious than the spontaneous writing process. If you stick around I'll tell you some more about it.
For now, I'll just share my recent reads.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon; compelling, engaging, but a bit predictable and anticlimactic. The journey of reading promised to take you somewhere and then it doesn't, making the best part of the experience the trip, not the destination.

The Witch of Portobello by Paul Coelho; certainly intriguing, but some parts read like cotton- candy self-help New Ageism and that gave it a cliched tone that almost ruined it.

Leaf Storm, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; a collection of stories which are unsettling and unnerving...just my kind of thing, a balance of mystery and realism, I see why he is highly regarded for his Magical Realism.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel; she has some clever little tricks, but the recipes aren't always smoothly blending into the narrative. This is a variation of chick lit with a sprinkling of magical realism...not sure the blend is always well executed but overall provides a variation in the delivery of 'a romance novel.'

Right now I'm reading Sylvia by Edgar Mittelholzer, which I got at a flea market a few weeks ago. I read his novel My Bones and My Flute when I was a teenager and I don't remember the narrative but I remember enjoying it, particularly for the supernatural theme. I can't say that Sylvia is enjoyable in that way, but I think it's useful for peering into a Caribbean psyche of the 1950s, when race and class/racial intermingling were some of the main determiners of social organization in Guyana. Let me get into the novel a bit more and then I'll let you know where I really stand on it.

Yes, if my recent reads are scrutinised, you will see an interest in Magical Realism and the supernatural. I will certainly share a bit more on that, later, when I get to the spaces in between my current read and the next...or my current writings and the next. For now, glance at my recent reads if you get a hold of them. And if you're as interested in Magical Realism(or what comes under that label) as I am, then you can take a look at works by Erna Brodber, Jamaica Kincaid, Nalo Hopkinson, Jean Rhys.

Un, deux, trois ti-mamaille, bai jab-la manger un ti-mamaille!!!! I see my job beckoning, responsibilty calling.

But I just want to stay home and crawl up with a musky page-yellowing brittle, cover-falling to pieces ancient piece of writing and let the jab jab starve from one less ti-mamaile to devour.

See you at the spaces in between.