I´m sorry Higor but I have to be fair and divide my Top 5 into Brazilian and foreign writers.
My list is:
Brazilian Writers
1 - Feliz Ano Velho, by Marcelo Rubens Paiva (it is an amazing and real story that portrays pain and happiness using the recent Brazilian History as background – I was lucky to meet the writer in a fair 10 years ago);
2 - Primeiras Estórias, by João Guimarães Rosa (I´ve read it twice, I cried and laughed in both of them);
3 - Contos Novos, by Mario de Andrade (I just love the Modernists, specially this book of Mario's, because all of the short stories happened in a São Paulo that I would have loved to live in);
4 - Memórias Póstumas de Braz Cuba, by Machado de Assis (there is not so much to talk about it, except that it is the best book ever written in Portuguese - I have read the book twice, I just loved the movie and the play is outstanding);
5 - Crônicas Escolhidas, by Rubem Braga (the short stories show the bohemian Rio de Janeiro, and the importance of the little moments of our lives).
Foreign Writers
1 - Selected Tales, by Edgar Allan Poe (I fell in love with Poe when I was 17 years old because I found out that he was a huge influence on Machado de Assis and the inventor of detective stories– I read him in Portuguese at first and then in English, which, I have to confess, is very difficult);
2 - The Witching Hour, by Anne Rice (I have read all her books, but this one is different because it portrays a family of powerful wicthes since the medieval age up to now, it is an odyssey with 1.000 pages);
3 - Die Verwandlung (A Metamorfose), by Franz Kafka (I read the book in portuguese and is pure fantastic realism with lots of metaphors - delightful);
4 - And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (when I first read Agatha Christie I was 12 years old, and since then I have never stopped reading her– I have got approximately 30 books of hers, some in Portuguese others in English – I am just crazy about detective stories, it doesn´t matter if it is in a book, movie or tv series);
5 - Sofies verden (O mundo de Sofia), by Jostein Gaarder (I first read it when I was 17 years old and it is important to me because it was the first book that I bought with my own money, and when I started reading it opened my eyes to a whole new world – I have to confess that I have been reading it for the second time after 11 eleven years and it is amazing how a book can change when you read it again, actually only the great ones can do it).
So, that´s all folks!
Daiana Cabral Barbosa, CPE 1, mornings
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Daiana,
ReplyDeleteThanks a million for sharing these. I mentioned "Sophie's World" in my post, and it is also very important to me because it was the first book I read for fun and really enjoyed it thoroughly. As for "Memórias Póstumas...", I agree 100% with you.
Marcelo Rubens Paiva is a heck of a writer, and "Feliz Ano Velho" is, as you fairly put it, amazing. I'd love to have the chance to have a conversation with Marcelo; he must be a very interesting person to talk to. (By the way, have you read "Malu de Bicicleta", also by him? It's a very enjoyable read as well, and I'm sure you'd love it!)
xxx
Higor.