The floating bookshop did not open today. I accompanied my friend Arlynn to the doctor for her pre-surgery tests. We waited nearly two hours. Afterward, she treated me to lunch at a Turkish restaurant. I was adventurous, ordering a dish called Manti, best described as small tortellini-like thingees covered in yogurt sauce. Yick. It was sour. Of course, I wiped the plate clean, as I didn't want Arlynn to feel bad. At least the appetizer was delicious - stuffed grape leaves. I wasn't crazy about the bread, although I had three pieces, since I was so hungry by the time we got there. There's nothing better than real Italian bread.
Among the scores of books Arlynn has donated to the cause was Oscar Hijuelos' novel, A Simple Habana Melody, which I really enjoyed. It is the story of a great Cuban composer, pre-Castro, who writes a little ditty for the love (unrequited, at least physically) of his life, a Carmen Miranda-type singer. The names of real music giants are sprinkled throughout the narrative, which follows the protagonist through his entire life, except for the two or so years he spends at Buchenwald. It is a Holocaust novel that does not dwell on that horrific event, although its effects are clear. Hijuelos, the son of Cuban immigrants, was born in NYC in 1951. In 1990 he received a Pulitzer prize for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, which was made into a successful film, its title truncated. He was the first Hispanic to receive that distinction. My only criticism of A Simple Habana Melody is that it is a tad over-written. Otherwise, it rings with life's truths, especially that an artist's real love is his work. On a scale of five - four.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://vicfortezza.homestead.com/
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