RFDRREADERS
READERS AROUND THE
WORLD
Questions:-
Please
introduce yourself! Everyone loves a glimpse into the lives of other people,
especially from foreign lands, so please tell us a little bit about your life
and where you are from.
- My love relationship with books
led me to risk telling my own stories and, as I answer Readers Around the World
questions, have already published an awarded short story and six books,
romances with families that transit between the big city and the countryside,
many breeding horses, as I do since 1990. I graduated in Architecture and
Journalism, and have a post-grad in Marketing. I am Brazilian, carioca and
botafoguense, meaning born in Brazil, specifically at the city of Rio de
Janeiro and that my favourite football club is Botafogo. For those in the know,
being born under these three epigraphs means you usually are either in total
bliss or in true inferno. A big, rich and beautiful country with so many
problems; the city which nickname is “Marvelous City”, surrounded by violence;
and a soccer team that goes from heaven to hell so often, signifies that my
seat belt is firmly fastened all the time and let the turbulence come! However,
I have been blessed and had the privilege to spend holydays and vacations at my
grandparents’ house in the countryside, climbing trees, eating fruit at their
feet, swimming in the local stream, riding horses. Therefore, this is a bit of
who I am: from asphalt to dirt, from blue to green, always trying to get the
best of it all.
What are
you currently reading?
- Just closed Aspergirls by Rudy Simone, very revealing. 10
Pound Penalty by Dick Francis awaits by the bed.
What genre
of books do you enjoy?
-Definitely fiction books are my favourites, but this does not impede my
reading non-fiction.
Name a few
of your favourite authors and favourite books and why they are special to you.
- Authors: Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, Ken Follett and Shakespeare. Ligia Fagundes Telles and Fernando Sabino. Daniel
Silva, Sue Grafton. Arturo Perez-Reverte. Marian Keyes. Books:
Machiavelli’s The Prince – it is so cunning, so perceptive! Small
Town Girl by LaVyrle Spencer – “you can take the girl from the small town,
but you cannot take the small town from her”. Noites Tropicais (Tropical
Nights) by Nelson Motta, an extensive look at a special period of time when
music in Brazil was in ebullience.
Favourite biography/autobiography?
- Agatha Christie’s autobio is the sweetest.
What is
one of the saddest books you’ve ever read?
- Tim Pears’s In a Land of Plenty. One questions if there can be
true happiness in life.
Name a book that made you laugh out
loud.
- Donald E. Westlakes’s Why Me? He is unlucky, he is clumsy and
he is a robber.
What is one of the most shocking books you’ve
read and why?
- Diego Marani’s The New Finnish Grammar. A man loses his
language memory. I had many nightmares with the perspective. Unfathomable.
What is your go-to comfort book? A book
you could read over again on a rainy afternoon?
- Susan Isaac’s Magic Hour. It has the perfect combination of
mystery, treachery, lost lives, and romantic love.
Do you have happy memories
of reading as a child and did you have any favourite children’s book authors?
- Only happy memories! The Brazilian Monteiro Lobato
was the best for me, with the world he created in a farm, with a granny, two
grandchildren, a cook with the hands of a fairy, a doll that spoke, a maize
corn that was a Viscount… Unforgettable characters, adventures in the moon, in
Ancient Greece, and we learned History, Geography, and Mathematics as we read.
What was
the last book that kept you up past your bedtime?
- The Perfect Horse by Elizabeth Letts. A true story about
courageous men who saved precious horses from danger during the Second World
War.
In what language are books typically
published in your country?
- In Brazil we speak Portuguese. It is the only country in South America
which was not under the Spanish influence.
Do you have easy access to most types of
books in your country?
- Thankfully, our country does not censure books.
Who is considered one of the most
respected, recognized authors, poets or playwrights in your country? (Living or
deceased.).
- There are many and I will cite the ones from the middle of last
century, maybe we could call them “moderns”: the poet Carlos Drummond de
Andrade (“I have only two hands and the sentiment of the world”); Vinícius de
Moraes, poet and musician (“There is too much danger in this life for the ones
with passion”); Jorge Amado, with his regional stories – maybe you have heard
about one of his work, now famous around the world, Gabriela Cravo e Canela
(Gabriela Clove and Cinnamon); the writer Clarice Lispector (“She believed in
angels, and because she believed, they existed”).
Is there a particularly popular author
or genre of books in your country?
- Paulo Coelho.
What book is considered a classic in
your country?
- Grande Sertão: Veredas
by Guimarães Rosa. The author describes life in a very harsh environment
of Brazil. It is poor, it is hard, it is dusty, it is dry. The characters are
exceptional and the rich language is a mix of the local dialect plus the one
invented by Rosa.
Are children encouraged to read for
pleasure and what are some of the most popular children’s books today?
– Recently we have experienced a boom in children’s literature, which is
great. St. Exupery, Lewis Carroll, the Brazilian Ziraldo, are classics; Harry
Potter and the Brazilian Thalita Rebouças for pre-teens and teens. And there
are several new writers, like Ronize Aline with her O Dono da Lua (Owner
of the Moon).
Do you have a local library and/or
bookshop that people in your community enjoy visiting? What are their names?
- Unfortunately, libraries and bookshops are disappearing from the
cities in Brazil. Near home in Rio de Janeiro, Argumento, Travessa and Timbre
are bravely resisting. In the village where I breed horses there is one which
sells and lends books, besides holding cultural events: Prosa & Verso
Livraria.
Please tell us about any interesting
traditions or customs in your country, community or family, involving books and
reading.
– I do not know why, but every one of my family reads – and likes! - the
books I wrote 😉
Where do you typically buy your books?
- Bookshops and Amazon for my Kindle.
What author would you like to have
dinner with?
- With Agatha Christie at a table set for 13. 😊
Do you have a question for an author
about one of their books? Who and what is it?
- Anne Holt’s 1222. The end was very clear until the moment, at
the last page, she mentions a person and, for me, it made no sense: who is this
character? What does it have to do with the story? Where did it come from? What
did I miss? It is funny, because, I was so astonished by it that I asked my
husband to read, then my aunt, who engaged a friend of hers and none could not
explain it for me. We were all dumbfounded, in the dark!
What fictional character would you like
to be friends with and which fictional world would you like to spend a week
living in?
-Jane Austen’s Elizabeth
Bennett should be a fun friend and J. K. Rawlings’s Hogwarts.
What are the most common nationalities
of the authors you tend to read and which countries are they usually set in?
- North Americans, English, Scottish, Irish, Brazilians. The places are
in the U.S., Europe and Brazil. Sometimes India and Middle East countries.
Have you ever seen a film adaptation
better than the book?
- No. I have noticed that some adaptations are totally different from
the books. For instance, Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Baby: except
for the main character’s preposterous pattern of behaviour, the book has
nothing to do with the film. However, enjoyed both tremendously, have reread
the book and watched the film several times.
Apart from actually reading, what else
do you enjoy about the world of books? (E.G. Visiting bookshops, reading
reviews, etc.).
- I spend hours in bookshops, choosing the next one, remembering the
ones already read, analysing covers, and seeing where my books are exposed, if
at all. I like to read reviews, but they are not always a guide. As my husband
is also a voracious reader, we enjoy time talking about the present book, if we
would recommend the other one to read it. We also analyse the stories, the
characters, the writer skills, the goofs; if it is a translation, whether it is
good or not…
Tell us a little bit about how you
became a book lover! Who or what inspired your love of reading?
- My grandmother would read aloud to me when I was very little. Later
on, an uncle did the same with my cousin and I. It was in his house that I
chose my first “grown up” book from the shelves: The Diary of Anne Frank. I was
10 years old. All in all, both sides of my family enjoy reading, I cannot
remember one single house without books overflowing out of the shelves.
We would love to hear about any unusual
reading habits or rituals you may have.
- Since 1999, when I finish a book, I write down an appraisal of the
story in a journal I keep nearby. Sometimes I post it on Facebook or my blog.
Please tell us about a time when a book
helped you through a challenging time in your life and if there are any
fictional characters who have inspired you in your life.
- Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray. It helped
me break a repetitive behaviour that was not good. After the reading I bought
it as a gift for several friends of mine.
What would we learn about you if we
viewed your book collection?
- I still reread my childhood favourites.
Where is your favourite place to read?
- A cuddly wingchair at my living room near a window.
Do you keep books you've bought or pass
them on? How do you have your books kept/displayed?
-My husband is also a big reader
and we have bookshelves, numerous and large ones, where the books are sorted by
author. He is a strict keeper, but I pass along the ones I know I will not
reread. A side note: I do not lend books! I may give them as a present, but
what is mine, is mine. In my whole life, I have lent 3 books which never returned,
soooooo…
What’s one word or sentence to describe
how books and reading have enriched your life?
– Books have been my most reliable company, through thick and thin.
Do you take a break between reading
books or do you usually always have one on the go?
– If the book was a really good one, it may take two to three days
before I open another, however, the next one is always awaiting on my bedside
table.
Outside of reading, what are your other
most enjoyable hobbies and interests?
– I breed horses, therefore, spending time with them is wonderful.
Tell us how a book or an author inspired
you to try something or go somewhere you'd never imagined doing before reading
it.
- Ernest Hemingway led me to drink a Bellini at Harry’s Bar in Venice,
Italy.
Is there a country that you would like
to visit as a result of reading books?
-Most certainly, Agatha Christie’s
Egypt.
Have you found reading or any particular
book(s) helpful to cope with these strange times we are in right now due to the
coronavirus?
- Not really. Reading is a must, period.
Do you have an anecdote about your life
with books? (E.G. A story about an unusual experience or meeting though a book
club, bookshop visits, etc.)
– I was a teenager and as usual was reading in the bedroom I shared with
two younger sisters, when suddenly something very big fell over the bed. What a
scare, but then, it was only one of my sisters who tried to see for how long I
would be engaged in the reading before I took notice of her. Since I did not,
she went and pulled a white linen over her head and dropped like a log at my
side! We still laugh about it nowadays.
What is your idea of a perfect Sunday?
– A hammock and a book, music playing softly on the background so I can,
maybe, pick one or two to be part of a soundtrack of the story on my mind.
Is there a literary quote you
particularly like?
– I used it as an epigraph to my first book: “Some men see things as
they are and say why: I sometimes dream of things that never were and say: why
not?” by George Bernard Shaw.
Anything else you would like to add?
-I
find it very hard to point out favourites when the subject is books and its
authors. I feel as having betrayed many. Therefore, here goes my “sorry,
fellows”, If I were to rewrite all of the above, with the exception of the
mentions to Agatha Christie, it would be completely different and other stories
and writers would be most certainly mentioned! Furthermore, it has been great
knowing “Readers Around the World” and following the Besotted Bookworm!
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