After reading a string of funny books, and then finding out that Roncagliolo had just published a new book and it was a comedy, I ordered it right away and read it. The book was funny and absurd. Scenes like the dentist office apology (flying "pointy" things) or setting his kitchen on fire after trying to get even with his ex-girlfriend steal the show and kept me page-turning. Roncagliolo sets the story in Miami and perhaps, aims for the American market. He parodied everyday fame and excess which helps to make this unbelievable story even more funny.

Of course there is the inevitable comparison is to "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" by Mario Vargas Llosa, the more famous Peruvian writer. Both stories center on the Latino soap opera (in Vargas Llosa's account - radio; in Rogcagliolo's - television) and yet they are two totally different books and both stand on their own.

The ending became a little too sentimental for my tastes but still a good laugh. Three and three quarter stars. I would still recommend it!

Paco still has his licks after four decades. I was not familiar with any of the material but apart from the opening cut, I enjoyed the music.

Neruda is a master poet and this material is tender, touching and full of images. Read to ponder the world.

I enjoyed this book and heard some good things about it so maybe I was expecting more. There are basically two stories here: the 100-year old man climbs out the window is set in the present tense and then there is story of the 100-year old man's life during most of the twentieth century.

I really enjoyed the present day story of how all the characters were intertwined and how things rolled along. The humor was very enjoyable and the characters so laughable that I often burst out laughing at "what just happened".

I was less than impressed with the historical aspect woven through his life. Some parts worked well but it became such a pastiche that I began to expect things to happen according to the time period. Then it just got silly and so improbable that I was wondering where he was going with it? On one hand, he make you laugh at how the Cold War was but on the other, one sees how sad this time period it really was. Its definitely not an Italo Calvino but very much a Forest Gump.

Its worth a read and when he is funny, its very funny but I didn't think it deserves all the hype.

WOW what a book. This book should be a 4.5 star in my opinion. The author was suggested by a friend and this book hooked me from the first page. The book itself won the Premio Alfaguara de Novela in 2006 and I can see why. This is a tense, political thriller set during Holy Week that Roncagliolo used his own country's recent war with the Shining Path guerrillas as material.

"Red April" begins with the gruesome find of a body burnt beyond recognition as reported by the Assistant Public Prosecutor, Felix Chacaltana Saldivar. Our central character is a young man who is good with his words but oddly lives in his dead mother's house and talks to her frequently. He meets a young woman working as a waitress in a nearby restaurant and they hit it off. When he is sent off to oversee the elections in a remote region, things begin to take a turn for the worse. Chacaltana soon discovers that "whoever he talks with, ends up dead" as the story twists around the events leading to Easter Sunday. This is "one hell of a wild ride story".

One cannot help but compare him to his more famous Peruvian colleague, Mario Vargas Llosa but Roncagliolo has a different style which stands on his own. An amazing read - bravo!

This is a remake of the Dracula story set in Mexico City in modern times. Told by someone else, it would be predictable and dull but Fuentes is good at creepy. Not as good as Aura but a good read in one sitting. I am not a fan of horror, just a fan of Fuentes.

This is an odd book. Written in 1969, the language feels a little dated (that 60s stuff) and the story gets complicated and weird. The basic premise is an old man, a woman and a boy are about to celebrate the boy's birthday. Then all hell beaks lose (literally). We jump around places and through time to discover the past of the old man and his connection with the boy. It becomes a gothic horror and you feel like you are in a Rod Sterling "Night Gallery" television show from the 60s.

I really like the language of Carlos Fuentes especially when he goes on a rant for several pages (one long paragraph). There is a great philosophical passage that makes you think and he was definitely challenging the reader's senses. When the horror part took over, I felt it needed something else. Not great nor bad.

I started the first chapter and disliked it fearing it was another book recounting the horrors of war in Afghanistan. But within a few chapters she laid out her view (the title of the book) and with stories from all around the Arab world, she convinced me. Men are liars full of bravado and so easy to unleash incredible violence on each other. The book draws to an end in an insane asylum in southern Lebanon when Israel attacked Hezbolla a few years back. It was a perfect anecdote for war, albeit a sad one.

America lies, the dictators lie, the religious groups fighting each other all lie. People deceive themselves so they can justify themselves. War is brought on by these lies.

Her book has some gutsy tales of horrors and the sad plight of these people. I wish we could benefit from war but one knows we won't. My only regret is that so much as happened since her book was published in 2010 and maybe for the better)

I picked this book up from City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco over a year ago. It was shelved for awhile and then started to read the book this summer. I didn't get too far since I knew about the historical basis that opened the book which didn't interest me. I shelved it for a few months then decided to finish what I started. Well I couldn't put it down. The historical introduction lays out his theory but once past this, the stories he told both mesmerized and horrified me. As a frequent traveller to Mexico, reading the "dirt" was not fun to do but importnat to know about.

Case in point. In December 2008 we got a super cheap deal to spend a week in Huatulco, Oaxaca and had a great time. We rented a car and despite the odd military checkpoint (we have been stopped on other trips), we visited a local town and a nearby coffee farm. Despite the odd travel issues (we almost ran out of gas coming back from the coffee farm) we had a great time and found the people warm and friendly and very poor. After reading Gibler's section on the Oaxacan Uprising, some issues became apparent. The cheap deal was offered to lure the tourists back after the Upraising in 2007. The people remain poor (one of the poorest in Mexico) but the numerous checkpoints were there because of the crackdown on the state to maintain security for the tourists but to keep the people in check. We were oblivious to what brews below the surface and they were always so grateful when we bought something or tipped our guide a 100 pesos (a week's wages). We love Mexico and will return despite the violence.

Gibler spent a few years on the ground seeing and talking with people from many regions. What Gibler spells out magnificently in his section on the Zapatista Revolution, the Mexicans who cross to the United States and the interview with the guerrilla in prison is that Mexico keeps oppressing the poor and the indigenous peoples while capitalism works for the rich and rarely trickles down. The violence inherited from the Mexican Revolution seems entrenched in the army and the politicians. He believes change is needed but it needs to change at the top more than at the bottom - the poor already seem to be involved with this process through the various uprisings. For those who travel frequently to Mexico, this book should be required reading.

This is a masterpiece of contemporary Mexican poetry. Kudos to the editors for such a vast range of work - from more traditional works to visually challenging material, to indigenous poets writing about their issues of living in a duel Spanish world to Heriberto Yepez's gritty realism of the life of Tijuana streets. There are funny poems, spiritual poems and visually stunning poems in this collection. The best part is the book is trilingual and it was great to read the works in their original language.

Of the many poets, here is a selection of the ones that struck me best:

Navidad by Gerardo Deniz is about a Santa who gets stuck in a flue. The people try to give him food but he gets fatter,drink of rum and no luck, an octopus who comes up only with the hat. Santa causes the smoke to back up in the Mexican apartments and then they get annoyed. Sadly he perishes and the bones fall down releasing him. The punch line is " what do we tell the kids?" I laughed as it was so perverse. After visiting Mexico at Christmas time and with all their "fake Santas" and trees without snow, things just seemed so surreal. Maybe this wasn't a funny story after all, Mexican Gothic.

Migraciones by Gloria Gervitz is full of rich imagery and beatiful language. Her reflections about life are poignant and moving. A real treat.

De como Robert Schuman fue vencido por lls demonios (On how Robert Schuman was defeated by Demons) by Francisco Hearnandez. I loved this poem in 24 verses. The story of Robert Schuman and his love for Clara and Clara's disturbed father) is retold with a musical sensibility and one can feel the pain and disturbing outcome of their love in this massive tale. His language has a real bite and some of the repeated phrases reinforce the tale.

David Huerta, the only one who I have heard of, left me a bit baffled and impressed at the same time. There were several love poems that were almost painful to read. The two I liked were The Cauldron and Light from Parallel Worlds. His Spanish flows and is very evocative.

Rabit-foot effectiveness... By Eduardo Milan is a wonderful query into why is only the foot called lucky, when the whole rabbit ended its luck to pass on this "good luck". Nice piece to ponder.

I loved the deep literary poeams of Tedi Lopez Mills and the playful words of Ernesto Lumbreras. His poem El cielo (The Sky) is a witty and masterful reflection of building a wall to make "good fences make good neighbors" while acknowdeging the sky is being lost to the wall. A nice visual pun.