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Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Still Winning at 50!: Longevity in Literature and Film

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What makes a book have that kind of longevity? For some, film or TV adaptations have managed to keep alive stories that might otherwise have become lost over the years. Others are award winners, or repeatedly taught in schools, being reintroduced to new readers every year. But all of these stories share at least one quality: they’re moving and inspiring, capturing some kind of magic that never seems to fade. It’s rare for a book to be printed more than once, and even rarer for a story to last multiple generations. But, there are definitely certain books that we all turn to again and again, speaking to readers regardless of the era. In honor of these books with longevity, we’re…

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5 “Staycation” Reads That Will Really Take You Places

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It’s already mid-August, and even though the sun is bright and the beaches are warm, it’s starting to feel like summer is winding down. There aren’t a lot of weekends left before autumn arrives, and by this point most of us have used up all of our vacation days or are lamenting the end of our summer budgets. But have no fear! Just because you can’t leave town doesn’t mean you can’t still have an awesome weekend. August is the perfect month for a “staycation,” or for making the most of where you live and holing up in your home for some very necessary you-time. Of course no staycation is complete without a good book! From romance to nonfiction, a…

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Remembering the master of magical realism

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Though he was 87 when he died, it seems somehow inconceivable that the passing of Nobel Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez isn’t just a wrinkle in the rich, malleable fabric of one his tales of magical realism. And yet, just like in his 1967 masterwork One Hundred Years of Solitude (translated into English in 1970), history inevitably repeats itself and death is one such repetition we must endure, though in Solitude’s fictional Macondo, ghosts and spirits remain to accompany the living. It would be fitting that of all the writers to leave this earth that Garcia Marquez, the consummate blender of magic and reality, would stick around in some form or another. In the meantime, this is the perfect…

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The night I danced with Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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I’ll never forget the night I danced with the late, great Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In 1989, I set off across country to drive to Los Angeles with the idea that I would start my career in the City of Angels. Along the way I stopped in Park City Utah and was lucky enough to be hired as an intern at the Sundance Institute. During the summer the Sundance Institute holds workshops and that year they had slotted in a special workshop with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you   remember it. –Gabriel Garcia Marquez I had the important duty of checking off names when people came…

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Six literary worlds to visit with your tax refund

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Tax day is upon us and if you’re one of the lucky few then you’re getting an awesome refund right about now. Instead of blowing it on a new summer wardrobe or a trip to Costa Rica, why not visit some of the best imaginary worlds from your favorite books? This is your chance to see far-off lands, mythical creatures, or just relax with some Hobbits on a grassy knoll. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate tax day then to step out of this world and into one that has never heard of Turbo Tax. The Center of the Earth from Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth  What’s brilliant about the Center of the…

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My dear, you SHOULD give a damn

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Lists are everywhere. Books are everywhere. So it makes sense that lists about books are omnipresent. There are lists of the best books ever written, the worst books ever written, the books you should read before you die, the books you should read to make sure you never die (immortal vampires, anyone?), and everything in between. I hate to be the one to break it to you that it is impossible for you to read all the books currently in publication, let alone the thousands coming down the pike. Even with that new-fangled app that purports to let you read a novel in 90 minutes (that’s a gripe for another time), you simply won’t get to turn every page of…

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