If anyone is interested in having a discussion for the month of March, I have arbitrarily picked a book to read which I think will prove to be quite good.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I hope some of you will take the time to read it, and will participate in the discussion. I will be reading it regardless once it comes in from the library. I will also be opening nominations for the month of April at the present time, just to get a head start on this.

I am nearly finished with this one, so, questions to come in a day or so. For now, feel free to post your thoughts about the book if you are still in progress, or are finished reading.

Why does García Márquez use similar terms to describe the effects of love and cholera?

Plagues figure prominently in many of García Márquez's novels. What literal and metaphoric functions does the cholera plague serve in this novel? What light does it shed on Latin American society of the nineteenth century? How does it change its characters' attitudes toward life? How are the symptoms of love equated in the novel with the symptoms of cholera?

What does the conflict between Dr. Juvenal Urbino and Florentino Ariza reveal about the customs of Europe and the ways of Caribbean life? How is Fermina Daza torn between the two?

Dr. Urbino reads only what is considered fine literature, while Fermina Daza immerses herself in contemporary romances or soap operas. What does this reveal about the author's attitude toward the distinction between "high" and "low" literature. Does his story line and style remind you more of a soap opera or a classical drama?

After rejecting Florentino's declaration of love following her husband's funeral, why is Fermina eventually won over by him?

Why does Florentino tell each of his lovers that she is the only one he has had?

Do Fermina and Dr. Urbino succeed at "inventing true love"?

Compare the suicide of Jeremiah de Saint-Amour at the beginning of the book with that of Florentino's former lover, América Vicuña at the end. How do their motives differ? Why does the author frame the book with these two events?

When Tránsito Ariza tells Florentino he looks as if he were going to a funeral when he is going to visit Fermina, why does he respond by saying, "It's almost the same thing"?

Oh shoot I never saw the post about the book choice! You really need to make this thread more prominent