I was in thrall to Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novels. Still am. I was reading Marquez, on a major Marquez kick, at the same time I was heavily into listening to Smiths records. The 80's. Had an amazing stereo system that was always playing at ear-splitting volume in a tiny apartment. Marquez conjured another world. I loved "One Hundred Years of Solitude," but I think the "Autumn of the Patriarch" is really my favorite Marquez. It's "difficult" read. Rambling, pages-long sentences. Snaking through my consciousness. Magical. Other-worldly. Marquez reminds me of Melville. Two authors that rank above everyone else. Although I guess I'd put David Foster Wallace in their camp too. You can't deny their power, the totality of their all consuming work. Takes over your life for awhile. I'd read Marquez in silence. It would take concentration to track with him. Then I'd take a break, and put a record on. Often it was the Smiths. Their sound really had nothing to do with what I was reading, but in strange way it was the perfect counter-point. It was kind of an accidental mash-up that made some kind of perfect artistic sense. Art. Transformed my life.
