Javier Marias and Garth Risk Hallberg

A rare opportunity to hear Javier Marías, NYPL’s newest Library Lion, as he reads from his remarkable new novel, Thus Bad Begins. “One doesn’t really read Marías for plot. One reads him for the language, the elegant hypnotic voice, the philosophical digressions and observations … for his ability to make the smallest parts of the world come alive, and his penchant for philosophical narrative claims, ones that invite and require unpacking … I found myself most loving the book for its pages, brilliant observations, its musings and its suspenseful elegant voice … And I could not put it down.” — LA Times

[ramdularsingh]

Here is another creative genius added to the list having so many authors the Nobel Committee failed to honour with the Nobel Prize for Literature. Marias deserved the honour all the way but he passed away without the prize. Any way he will live in his masterpieces for hundreds of years to come.

[Lonesome_lopez]

The interviewer went full Dude on Marias here, and you can tell in his voice that he is kind of frustrated, almost as if he is not quite connecting. Then again, Marias talks about the same things each time he is interviewed, he must be getting weary of it.

As for the last question he answered, it's clear enough where he gets his female voice and his female perspective from when you read the pages he has dedicated to his mother, Dolores Franco. I think all of the women in Marias's work seem to borrow something from her, especially the intelligence, the kindness and the humor.