"Ahmed had spoken of an illness. But I felt that there must have been another explanation, which I associated with an uncompromising approach to life: absolute freedom, a radical realization of the ideal that I too had adopted one fine day-the ideal of living by and for books."

Loved it. Wasn't always a fan of the narrator, particularly at the beginning, with his objectification of Severina, but the novella was great, fascinating, and full of literary references.

Guatemala