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It's time for our monthly ONTD Reading Challenge recommendations post! This February, we invite you to
Come to Brazil by reading
books by Brazilian authors or that are about or set in Brazil (fiction or non-fiction).Here are some recs to help you pick your book of the month. If you want MORE options, please check out
this ONTD post of books by Brazilian authors and the recs listed at our
Goodreads challenge group!
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The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao (Martha Batalha)Unusually, this book (which was originally written in Portuguese) was only published in Brazil AFTER the translations had already been published abroad. Initially rejected by national publishers, author Martha Batalha took her book to foreign publishers, and found success as a best-selling author in several countries. Only then was her book the subject of a bidding war by Brazilian publishers. The Invisible Life... is
historical fiction, set in 1940s Rio de Janeiro, about two sisters who try to assert their independence and courageously carve a path of their own in a deeply conservative society.![]()
The Alienist (Machado de Assis)This novella by the most important Brazilian writer of all time is darkly ironic and supremely witty social satire.
A 19th century alienist goes to a small Brazilian town to operate an insane asylum in accordance with the scientific theories of the time, but finds himself committing more and more people to his institution as he sees signs of madness in everyone. But who is really mad?
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The Complete Stories (Clarice Lispector)Clarice is beloved of Brazilians for her unique worldview and storytelling. Her modernity, imagination and stream of consciousness style has led to comparisons to authors such as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and Franz Kafka, but the truth is she is a true original.
This new volume collects all of her stories (not the novels) and is a veritable treasure trove. Her novels have also been translated (for example,
The Passion According to G.H. and
The Hour of the Star), so check them out!
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Captains of the Sands (Jorge Amado)Jorge Amado is one of the most widely read Brazilian authors both in his native country and abroad.
Captains of the Sands portrays the lives of street children in the state of Bahia (where Amado was from) in the 1930s and is considered a "social novel". When it was published, in 1937, the government burned over 800 copies of it in a public bonfire, alleging it was communist propaganda (Amado himself was a communist).
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1808 (Laurentino Gomes)In 1808, Napoleon's army was just about to invade Portugal, when the Prince Regent decided to move the entire royal family, court and administration to Brazil (literally thousands of people from the elite), leaving the common Portuguese people to fend for themselves. You can't make this shit up. It makes for a fantastic page-turner.
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Exploration Fawcett (Percy Fawcett)Brazilians don't really have a lot of patience for gringos who go traipsing around the Amazon (with very good reason), but adventure buffs or fans of crackpot might enjoy the story of Colonel Fawcett, a British nut who wanted to "discover" a lost city in the Amazon, which he thought would be populated by an ancient race of white, blue-eyed people. He went missing and his son compiled his travel documents to make this book, which was a best-seller at the time. There were lots of expeditions to try to discover what happened to him, including one in which Ian Fleming's brother participated in (HIS book about it is
Brazilian Adventure). And the latest book about it is
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon which as you know became a (flop) movie recently.
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Perfect Days (Raphael Montes)A twisted young medical student kidnaps the girl of his dreams and embarks on a dark and delirious road trip across Brazil in the English-language debut of a young Brazilian crime writer. This is a psychological thriller not for the faint of heart.
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Nemesis (Misha Glenny)This is a good pick for readers of true crime. Misha Glenny specializes in writing about organized crime all over the globe, and here he turns his eye to Nem, one of the most dangerous and notorious drug traffickers in Rio history (currently behind bars, but still active), and how he fits in a complicated web of violence, corruption, poverty and power.
sources 12345678ONTD, what's your pick for this month?![]()
