i love allende and the women who wrote "like water for chocolate" (name?), though. if you haven't read "aphrodite" by allende, i highly recommend it - sex + food. what's not to like? 
Yeah, I read that! 
Pretty hot stuff. Isabelle Allende is a good writer. I loved Paula, the book she wrote to her daughter, who died of porphyria. That was incredibly sad.
haven't read "paula", but then i don't like sad books. i'm a miserable enough cow as it is.
Miserable books always cheer me up, for some reason. I guess because they help me put my own shit in perspective.
No, you would not like Paula. It's pretty rough. Porphyria doesn't sound like the easiest way to go.
She did an amazing job writing about the experience though. Blending magical realism with such harsh reality couldn't have been easy.
