What we've been reading

Whenever we travel we try to find books that reflect or take place in the environment we are visiting. For this trip we have about a half dozen. One was a series of vignettes that took place in Oaxaca, written in 1924 by DH Lawrence. It's called Morning in Mexico I read that first and found it interesting but didn't think Loring would like it. Loring first read a graphic novel called Death in Oaxaca that we didn't realize at first was a graphic novel. I havent' yet read it but will. He, then I, read a novel called Lost in Oaxaca. He said, and I agree, that it wasn't great literature but a fun read because of the locale. I'd classify it as chick lit, you know, when you can tell on the first pages that'she's going to fall for the handsome Mexican she thinks she hates. And then there's the Oliver Sacks one, Oaxaca Journal. I'm a big fan of his and have read many of his books. Loring, not so much. But this one was not about psychiatric conditions like his famous Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and others. It was actually about hunting for ferns in Oaxaca with a group of fern enthusiasts and experts. Yes you read that right, ferns. He apparently was part of a group that met regularly at the Bronx Botanical Gardens. A man of many interests. Loring has already read, and I am now reading, a book called Land Without a Continent. The author is Matt Savino. He drives overland from California down thru Mexico, visiting some of the places we've been and are going. He's very funny and observant, and self deprecating. I think it may be self published. I think there's only one more of our local interest literature, which actually isn't local to Oaxaca, but is a novel by a well known Mexican writer. I just read a review of her newest book in the Boston Globe. But the one I bought was a previous one. Her name is Cristina Rivera Garza. and book is Liliana's Invincible Summer. I had not heard of her previously, but thought it was a good time to discover a new Mexican writer. I'll let you know what I think of it after I've read it. I also continue to read the Boston Globe daily, although maybe a bit less thoroughly. It's easy to distance oneself somewhat but not entirely from events in the real world. As I read various stories I wonder how much the style and content of what I am reading influences my perceptions and observations. Driving here I notice, for instance the black trunks and branches of certain trees. I don't think I've ever noticed that before. Are they different trees or am I influenced by the precise details and observations of a writer like D.H. Lawrence or Oliver Sacks? And do the anecdotes of Matt in Land Without a Continent heighten my awaremeness of the amusing aspect of certain situations, like the 17 empty beer bottles on the table of a couple on the beach, or the two young women posing repeatedly in the shallow water, doubtless soon to be posted on some social medium?