God and Gabo

So, I finished Why God Won't Go Away and am so glad I picked up that book. Most people probably read this book in college (it was one of CornyT's texts he teaches from) so I am a little old for the religious eureka moment that you often have as a young adult but my belief system did undergo a paradigm shift. The authors argument that we have a biological ability to have spiritual experiences was convincing and their evolutionary explanations for the human need for myths and stories was profound. The author's argue that stories helped the species survive; imagine a hunter walking through the woods, hears a strange noise, sees nothing but remembers a run in with a tiger a few days back, is sure the noise is the tiger returning, and takes off maybe evading danger maybe just getting a good run in. Had the hunter not had the capacity to imagine or believe the tiger may be out there without seeing it would lead to an easy lunch for the tiger. All in all this book blends the arguments of science in a beautiful and harmonious way. Although be warned this is a very academic book and at times it is very repetitive and the attention to detail necessary for scientific papers does not make the most entertaining reading.
The third book of the year was Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores. I have been shopping around for a new book club and the one I am currently trying on selected this slim, novella for the month of March. What I loved most about it was it's quick reading, 119 pages. I finished it in three hours and felt so satisfied that I could book another book down on the ole' list. What I hated least about it was the subject matter. I can live with a less than likable protagonist and I can understand that this is allegorical and is more about aging than love but what I have a hard time argue away is that he could only love the girl when she was asleep. When she does say something he decides he loves her so much more when she is sleeping. *sigh* Besides that I also feel like the whole book was a little shallow although I do appreciate how it inspired a lot of thought and was not as easy to "get" as it was to read. This should be an interesting book discussion.