March Reading List

As I'm preparing for some longer posts and interviews, I thought I'd share some books I'm reading or that are on my to-read list.

• 1565: Enquanto o Brasil nascia. Written by tech journalist Pedro Doria, this book looks at the early history of Rio de Janeiro and to a lesser extent, São Paulo. Since it's written by a journalist rather than a historian, it's a much more fun read, giving you some amazing descriptions of what Rio looked like during the colonial period. It's a fascinating read for history buffs, though it's only available in Portuguese at the moment. I'm a huge history nerd, so I ordered this for a sort of absurd price and waited a month for it to arrive in New York.

• Brasil, País do Presente. Also written by a journalist, I'm eager to get my hands on this book. It's by Daniel Buarque, editor-in-chief of content at Terra and a blogger who writes about Brazil coverage in the international media. The book examines Brazil in the eyes of the United States, looking at the continued clichés Americans tend to reference when it comes to Brazil, as well as Brazil's changing image as an economic giant.

• O Jeitinho Americano. Written by American Brazilianist Matthew Shirts, who is editor-in-chief of National Geographic Brasil and a columnist for VEJA SP, this book is a collection of stories about life in Brazil, where he has lived for over 25 years. It also as looks at Brazilian and American cultures and the differences between the two. It's also available in e-book format which should make buying it from abroad a bit easier.

• Brazil Is the New America: How Brazil Offers Upward Mobility in a Collapsing World. "As the future of the American economy seems to get bleaker by the day, it is tempting to look abroad for business opportunities. Europe and Asia don't provide much hope, but what about somewhere that's both closer to home and sunny year-round? In "Brazil is the New America: How Brazil Offers Upward Mobility in a Collapsing World," James D. Davidson shows that the current financial situation in Brazil is a haven for those looking to make money in a world in turmoil." In other words, could be interesting, or could be kind of bad. But I'm curious.

• A alma encantadora das ruas. Paulo Barreto, also known as João do Rio, was a writer and journalist living in Rio at the turn of the 20th century. He was quite the colorful character, and this book is a collection of his newspaper articles published between 1904 and 1907 describing a changing city. I've had this one on my list for a while, and luckily it's considered public domain and can be downloaded from the web.

• Já Matei por Menos. I first learned about Juliana Cunha's blog, Já Matei por Menos, through Alex Castro a couple of years ago. I started following her blog and later befriended her when she was in New York last year. Juliana is a journalist and student by day, and a blogger by night. (She's currently on an amazing adventure in Asia, which she's chronicling on her blog). Her first book is coming out soon, featuring some of the best posts from her blog about her life in São Paulo and her travels. It's available for pre-sale in Brazil, and although the site doesn't accept foreign addresses, you can also order directly from the publisher.

Comments

[Jon]

Hi Rachel! Great to see about new books coming out, I'll be looking at some of those too.

I read Brazil is the New America recently. It was entertaining and thought-provoking (not convincing, but thought provoking), but the title is entirely misleading. 80% of the book is spent arguing that global warming is a conspiracy, that Obama is personally looking for ways to fleece wealthy citizens and revoke their passports (and thus, you have to get out before it's too late!). The book gives surprisingly little insight into Brazil itself, and when it does, it's frequently nonsense. Take, for example, long passages about Brazilian women, how Brazil is important for marketing because it's a melting pot (a point I would hesitate to accept - just because Brazil has a lot of races doesn't mean it encapsulates global consumption habits... in my experience Black and White consumers have more similar preferences in Brazil than they do in the US), and a few other fairly superficial observations you wouldn't expect in a book with this title. Anyway, if you want to spend a lot of time thinking about the downfall of the US, go for it. If you want to learn something new about Brazil's geopolitical/economic importance, I liked some of the historical geographic/economic analysis, but there's not a lot about modern Brazil that isn't common knowledge.

[Jon]

Also, your link to the Daniel Buarque book appears to link to the wrong book. There are two books with almost identical titles by different authors.

[Rio Gringa]

Jon, I fixed the link - thank you for pointing that out.

And you know what? I'm definitely going to skip Brazil is the New America. Don't have time for that! Thank you for filling me in--and saving me the time!