Maira's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 18 Mar 2025 08:26:24 -0700 60 Maira's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Solenoide 219471816
Sua vida se resume a ir da escola para casa. Uma casa enorme, em forma de navio, construída por um cientista sobre um solenoide � um gerador de campo magnético que atrai todos os temas e obsessões literárias do escritor Cărtărescu, transformando a rotina do professor primário, para além do nonsense educacional e do terror do sistema de saúde, em um caracol de reflexões sobre percepção da realidade, literatura e filosofia. Tudo isso em Bucareste, capital cinzenta de um país sob regime ditatorial e empobrecido, uma cidade melancólica e sufocante, às vezes fantasmal.

Magistralmente escrita, Solenoide é uma obra monumental, que põe em xeque as próprias bases do romance.]]> 784 Mircea Cărtărescu 6587955258 Maira 0 currently-reading 3.67 2015 Solenoide
author: Mircea Cărtărescu
name: Maira
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Shaping of Middle-Earth (The History of Middle-Earth #4)]]> 92005 471 J.R.R. Tolkien 0261102184 Maira 0 currently-reading 4.05 1986 The Shaping of Middle-Earth (The History of Middle-Earth #4)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Talk When Kids Won't Listen: Whining, Fighting, Meltdowns, Defiance, and Other Challenges of Childhood]]> 56413695
For forty years, readers have turned to Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, the book The Boston Globe called, “the parenting Bible,� for a respectful and practical approach to communication with children. Expanding upon this work, Adele’s daughter, Joanna Faber, along with Julie King, coauthored the bestselling book, How To Talk So Little Kids Will Listen. Now, Faber and King have tailored How To Talk’s tried and trusted communication strategies to some of the most challenging childhood moments.

From tantrums to technology to talking to kids about tough topics, How To Talk When Kids Won’t Listen offers concrete strategies for these and many more difficult situations.

Part One introduces readers to the How To Talk “toolbox,� with whimsical cartoons demonstrating the basic communication skills that will transform readers� relationships with children in their lives. In Part Two, Joanna and Julie answer specific questions and share relatable stories, offering practical tools for addressing issues such as homework hassles, sibling battles, digital dilemmas, problems with punishment, and more. Readers can turn directly to any topic of interest and find the help they need, with handy “reminder pages.�

Through the combination of lively stories from real parents and teachers, humorous illustrations, and entertaining exercises, How To Talk When Kids Won’t Listen offers real solutions to struggles familiar to every parent, grandparent, teacher, and anyone else who lives or works with children.]]> 397 Joanna Faber 198213416X Maira 5 4.40 2021 How to Talk When Kids Won't Listen: Whining, Fighting, Meltdowns, Defiance, and Other Challenges of Childhood
author: Joanna Faber
name: Maira
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Uma Guerra Sem Igual: Como Atenienses e Espartanos Lutaram na Guerra do Peloponeso]]> 17828518
Ao longo de quase três décadas, há 2.400 anos, as cidades-estados helênicas de Atenas e Esparta envolveram-se em um conflito sangrento que resultou no colapso de Atenas. Embora o número de escritos sobre essa guerra seja vasto, Victor Davis Hanson nos oferece uma abordagem nova. De maneira cronológica, ele faz um relato completo que reflete os antecedentes políticos da época, trazendo também uma importante compreensão de como esses acontecimentos ecoam nos dias atuais.

O autor retrata como atenienses e espartanos lutaram na terra e no mar, em cidades e áreas rurais, e detalha o emprego de amplo escopo de táticas, desde sítios até assassinatos planejados, tortura e terrorismo. Também avalia os papéis cruciais desempenhados por guerreiros como Péricles e Lisandro; artistas como Aristófanes; e filósofos como Sófocles e Platão.

A perceptiva análise de eventos e personalidades sugere muitas questões sobre as quais vale à pena refletir: foram Atenas e Esparta como os Estados Unidos e a União Soviética, dois superpoderes que lutaram duramente? A Guerra do Peloponeso teria ecos nos intermináveis e frustrantes conflitos no Vietnã, na Irlanda do Norte e no atual Oriente Médio? Ou teria sido mais semelhante à própria Guerra Civil americana, uma ruptura brutal que desfez o tecido de uma sociedade gloriosa, ou mesmo à cisma do presente século entre liberais e conservadores, uma guerra cultural que manifestamente controla políticas militares?]]> 518 Victor Davis Hanson 8501078298 Maira 2
Besides what's with those nonsensical comparisons between Athens c. V b. C. and the modern US? He could have left his political opinions a little less obvious and be a little less annoying. Another thing that really pissed me off: calling names and making judgmental values about democracy vs oligarchy, saying Athens was Good because it was democratic and Sparta was Bad because it was not - something a true historian should never do, and I know him to be a true historian, so what the heck?

There are some good things about it, but they get lost in the midst of this awfully-assembled book, but I think the most important is: if you want to know about the Peloponnesian War, go read Thucydides, Herodotus, Plutarch, and other primary sources. There's no need to waste your time (and get annoyed in the process) with this book.]]> 3.80 2005 Uma Guerra Sem Igual: Como Atenienses e Espartanos Lutaram na Guerra do Peloponeso
author: Victor Davis Hanson
name: Maira
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2005
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves:
review:
This book is nearly unbearable up until page 300 - so much so I abandoned it for three years before I had the nerve to pick it up again. The amount of repeated information astounded me when we're talking about a historian like Victor Davis Hanson. One would have thought he could be more concise in his arguments. Well, here he's not.

Besides what's with those nonsensical comparisons between Athens c. V b. C. and the modern US? He could have left his political opinions a little less obvious and be a little less annoying. Another thing that really pissed me off: calling names and making judgmental values about democracy vs oligarchy, saying Athens was Good because it was democratic and Sparta was Bad because it was not - something a true historian should never do, and I know him to be a true historian, so what the heck?

There are some good things about it, but they get lost in the midst of this awfully-assembled book, but I think the most important is: if you want to know about the Peloponnesian War, go read Thucydides, Herodotus, Plutarch, and other primary sources. There's no need to waste your time (and get annoyed in the process) with this book.
]]> Voragem 40488867 246 Jun'ichirÅ Tanizaki 8535931120 Maira 4 3.68 1928 Voragem
author: Jun'ichirÅ Tanizaki
name: Maira
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1928
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:

]]> As Aventuras de Robin Hood 22890497
Essa edição reúne pela primeira vez os dois volumes de Alexandre Dumas sobre Robin Hood: O príncipe dos ladrões e O proscrito. Além do texto integral em cuidadosa tradução, traz ainda dezenas de notas, cronologia e uma esclarecedora apresentação.

Ambientado na Inglaterra nos séculos XII e XIII, em especial sob o tumultuado reinado de Ricardo Coração de Leão, o livro traz as peripécias do fora da lei e seu bando dos alegres homens da floresta em busca de justiça e igualdade, e também de diversão. Nas matas de Sherwood e Barnsdale, acompanhamos os embates de Robin com o xerife de Nottingham, sua história de amor com Lady Marian e sua parceria com o leal João Pequeno e frei Tuck - tudo isso, e muito mais, na narrativa ágil e mordaz que é marca registrada do autor.]]> 472 Alexandre Dumas 8537812609 Maira 4 3.63 1873 As Aventuras de Robin Hood
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Maira
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1873
rating: 4
read at: 2016/06/12
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves:
review:
Remember Disney's Robin Hood? Yeah, this has nothing to do with it. I bring the animation up since it was my first source on this character when I was a child, but boy was I glad to revisit the English legend! These outlaws suffer terrible disadventures, and Robin's life is permeated with skirmishes against the Sheriff of Nottingham. Both books talk about Robin's early life that made him from proscript to hero. His fights - and epic escapes - are still a part of the collective imaginary of Britain, and the beautiful story of the merry men of Sherwood Forest enchants by its simplicity and with just the right amount of history-turned-legend.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lays of Beleriand (The History of Middle-earth, #3)]]> 15784874 Librarian's Note: This is an alternate cover reissue for ISBN 10: 0261102265/ISBN 13: 9780261102262

The third volume of The History of Middle-earth gives us a privileged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien’s world � those of Túrin and Lúthien. The first of the poems is the unpublished Lay of the Children of Húrin, narrating on a grand scale the tragedy of Túrin Turambar. The second is the moving Lay of Leithian, the chief source of the tale of Beren and Lúthien in The Silmarillion, telling of the Quest of the Silmaril and the encounter with Morgoth in the subterranean fortress.

Accompanying the poems are commentaries on the evolution of the history of the Elder Days. Also included is the notable criticism of The Lay of Leithian by C.S. Lewis, who read the poem in 1929.]]> 465 J.R.R. Tolkien Maira 4
All the poems in this book have gone through extensive revision and although all of them are incomplete in their poetic form, they have also given base to the prose version that would later become The Silmarillion. There are very interesting commentaries about the author's process of creation - some of them given by C. S. Lewis, who Tolkien took into great consideration.

This volume might be a little more tiring for those who are not as familiar with the stories and characters - or to those who simply don't like poetry. But Tolkien's work was monumental in re-writing his own stuff, and to me it was fascinating to watch how his mythology (and storytelling) evolved. I found it very instructive, and can't wait to get to volume 4!]]> 4.05 1985 The Lays of Beleriand (The History of Middle-earth, #3)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves:
review:
This volume's manuscripts were written and revised by Tolkien throughout long decades, and compiled here by Christopher in a nothing to less Herculean task, analysing loose pieces of paper that were not dated (when they were not altogether illegible).

All the poems in this book have gone through extensive revision and although all of them are incomplete in their poetic form, they have also given base to the prose version that would later become The Silmarillion. There are very interesting commentaries about the author's process of creation - some of them given by C. S. Lewis, who Tolkien took into great consideration.

This volume might be a little more tiring for those who are not as familiar with the stories and characters - or to those who simply don't like poetry. But Tolkien's work was monumental in re-writing his own stuff, and to me it was fascinating to watch how his mythology (and storytelling) evolved. I found it very instructive, and can't wait to get to volume 4!
]]> O Dia do Curinga 222188 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

"Você já pensou que num baralho existem muitas cartas de copas e de ouros, outras tantas de espadas e de paus, mas que existe apenas um curinga?", pergunta à sua mãe certa vez a jovem protagonista de O mundo de Sofia.
Esse é o ponto de partida deste outro livro de Jostein Gaarder, a história de um garoto chamado Hans-Thomas e seu pai, que cruzam a Europa, da Noruega à Grécia, à procura da mulher que os deixou oito anos antes. No meio da viagem, um livro misterioso desencadeia uma narrativa paralela, em que mitos gregos, maldições de família, náufragos e cartas de baralho que ganham vida transformam a viagem de Hans-Thomas numa autêntica iniciação à busca do conhecimento - ou à filosofia.]]> 384 Jostein Gaarder 857164540X Maira 5 4.36 1990 O Dia do Curinga
author: Jostein Gaarder
name: Maira
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 2014/03/25
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves:
review:

]]> ABC da Literatura 17935359 208 Ezra Pound 8531600014 Maira 4 3.92 1934 ABC da Literatura
author: Ezra Pound
name: Maira
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1934
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wayne de Gotham (Portuguese Edition)]]> 31293683 230 Tracy Hickman 8577344177 Maira 3 3.46 2012 Wayne de Gotham (Portuguese Edition)
author: Tracy Hickman
name: Maira
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/10
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:

]]> O amante de lady Chatterley 1409705 Último romance do autor, O amante de lady Chatterley foi banido em seu lançamento, em 1928, e só ganhou sua primeira edição oficial na Inglaterra em 1960, quando a editora Penguin enfrentou um processo de obscenidade para defender o livro. Àquela altura, já não espantava mais os leitores o uso de "palavras inapropriadas" e as descrições vivas e detalhadas dos encontros sexuais de Constance Chatterley e Oliver Mellors. O que sobressaía era a força literária de Lawrence e a capacidade de capturar uma sociedade em transição.
Esta edição inclui o texto "A propósito de O amante de lady Chatterley", em que Lawrence comenta a controvérsia em torno do livro e justifica suas intenções literárias, e ainda uma introdução de Doris Lessing, vencedora do prêmio Nobel de literatura em 2007. Um apêndice e notas explicativas situam o leitor na geografia das Midlands e no vasto contexto social e político no qual a trama está inserida.]]> 560 D.H. Lawrence 8563560093 Maira 3
The work is an homage to sex with tenderness � although many readers might disagree with how this term is applied in the book vs nowadays � and the story told by Lawrence is just a pretext to relieve himself of the changes that England was going through in the period between WWI and II. I was dead curious to know how the eroticism had broken the barrier of prejudice and reached the so-called “high literature�, but, truth is, despite the initial revolt it provoked (to the point of being banished) in the years after its publication, the novel is explicit with “foul� language, but not to the point of being pornographic.

The most explicit scenes are subtly described so I wasn’t shocked � I’m old for these things� but I believe that the romanticism and the graphic description of the act would have touched a girl of his time, or a teenager today, in a different way. Moreover, I got the impression that the scenes are somehow weakened by the author’s sheer will to make us *believe* in Connie and Mellors� love, even though the characters don’t often do or say accordingly.

I would be simplistic, however, to reduce the story to simply sex. Although the language is easy to follow, the book contains all the author’s angst and existential crisis: he detested the capitalist industry from the beginning of the XXth century. On the opposite side of Austen’s storytelling style, Lawrence doesn’t intersperse his indignation about the society of his time but writes a true manifest, as overt as you can get, about everything he believed was wrong with humanity.

The idiosyncrasies regarding the characters are a little diluted during the third act when Connie decides to go on vacation, and both she and Mellors speak openly about the genuine love they feel for each other � and not for each other’s genitalia. But as in a manifest, this has an open ending. It is up to us, readers, to put together the pieces Lawrence has left us and try to get from the reading as many positive things as we can. In many cases it seems impossible, I know: he speaks of the clitoris with an intensity bordering repugnance, thinks sex is only good and true if the couple reaches climax together, and that the man *has* to do all the work�

It’s very hard to find a romance that is so explicitly manifest in its intentions, which makes me, as a reader and a critic, take a stand regarding the arbitrary and sometimes confusing ideas the author poses.

So in case you’re still wondering if I recommend the reading of this novel, my answer is a sound yes � it’s fundamental to know a work so one can criticize it. We don’t need to agree with the author or like what he writes, but it’s important to understand the context in which he wrote, and what exactly he intended with it. This Penguin edition brings everything we need to get the full picture.

EDIT: The 2022 movie is beautiful, got the best of the novel and made it into the love story we were all waiting for. Worth the watch!]]> 3.46 1928 O amante de lady Chatterley
author: D.H. Lawrence
name: Maira
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1928
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:
Already aware this was an erotic novel, I confess I expected nothing less of a torrid romance, a spicy version of Jane Austen with the English Midlands as their background � and, of course, with the usual happily ever after. So I was very surprised to notice there was a lot less glamour and romantic love, and a lot more sex. But that, according to the introduction written by British Nobel winner Doris Lessing, is exactly what we should expect from Lawrence.

The work is an homage to sex with tenderness � although many readers might disagree with how this term is applied in the book vs nowadays � and the story told by Lawrence is just a pretext to relieve himself of the changes that England was going through in the period between WWI and II. I was dead curious to know how the eroticism had broken the barrier of prejudice and reached the so-called “high literature�, but, truth is, despite the initial revolt it provoked (to the point of being banished) in the years after its publication, the novel is explicit with “foul� language, but not to the point of being pornographic.

The most explicit scenes are subtly described so I wasn’t shocked � I’m old for these things� but I believe that the romanticism and the graphic description of the act would have touched a girl of his time, or a teenager today, in a different way. Moreover, I got the impression that the scenes are somehow weakened by the author’s sheer will to make us *believe* in Connie and Mellors� love, even though the characters don’t often do or say accordingly.

I would be simplistic, however, to reduce the story to simply sex. Although the language is easy to follow, the book contains all the author’s angst and existential crisis: he detested the capitalist industry from the beginning of the XXth century. On the opposite side of Austen’s storytelling style, Lawrence doesn’t intersperse his indignation about the society of his time but writes a true manifest, as overt as you can get, about everything he believed was wrong with humanity.

The idiosyncrasies regarding the characters are a little diluted during the third act when Connie decides to go on vacation, and both she and Mellors speak openly about the genuine love they feel for each other � and not for each other’s genitalia. But as in a manifest, this has an open ending. It is up to us, readers, to put together the pieces Lawrence has left us and try to get from the reading as many positive things as we can. In many cases it seems impossible, I know: he speaks of the clitoris with an intensity bordering repugnance, thinks sex is only good and true if the couple reaches climax together, and that the man *has* to do all the work�

It’s very hard to find a romance that is so explicitly manifest in its intentions, which makes me, as a reader and a critic, take a stand regarding the arbitrary and sometimes confusing ideas the author poses.

So in case you’re still wondering if I recommend the reading of this novel, my answer is a sound yes � it’s fundamental to know a work so one can criticize it. We don’t need to agree with the author or like what he writes, but it’s important to understand the context in which he wrote, and what exactly he intended with it. This Penguin edition brings everything we need to get the full picture.

EDIT: The 2022 movie is beautiful, got the best of the novel and made it into the love story we were all waiting for. Worth the watch!
]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two (The History of Middle-earth, #2)]]> 28854 9780261102149.

This second part of The Book of Lost Tales includes the tale of Beren and Lúthien, Túrin and the Dragon, and the only full narratives of the Necklace of the Dwarves and the Fall of Gondolin. Each tale is followed by a commentary in the form of a short essay, together with the texts of associated poems, and contains extensive information on names and vocabulary in the earliest Elvish languages.]]> 400 J.R.R. Tolkien Maira 4
In the original conception of the Lost Tales, there was a character who worked as the link between the modern world and that of the "fairies" - the mariner Eriol, after renamed Ælfwine (although both had different origin stories). Ælfwine is the guy who best represents what Tolkien had initially wanted for a "Mythology of England", and his story is told during the invasion of the peninsula by Romans, Saxons, and Vikings - and the complete separation between Men and Elves.

Although Ælfwine's story has been the central theme that would lead to the development of The Silmarillion, to me what's most interesting about the BoLT p. 2 is the evolution of the Tale of Tinúviel (later Beren and Lúthien), Turambar and the Foalókë and the Nauglamír (The Children of Húrin and the Fall of Doriath), and The Fall of Gondolin. Each of these pre-tales contains the essence of the tales later reviewed and altered by Tolkien, and there are substantial differences - for instance, Beren was a Noldo Elf, and not a Man!

Anyway, not a book (or a collection, for that matter) for the newbies, but for those who want to dig deeper into Tolkien's writing, it's very educational and entertaining.]]> 3.94 1984 The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two (The History of Middle-earth, #2)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/12
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
This Book of Lost Tales part 2 follows up on the themes of part 1, in which everything is a part of Tolkien's initial mythology that he began to develop between 1916 and 1917 and that, unfortunately, have not been finished. Unfortunately, yes, because there are so many conceptual differences between these stories and the ones told in The Silmarillion that they can be taken as independent mythologies.

In the original conception of the Lost Tales, there was a character who worked as the link between the modern world and that of the "fairies" - the mariner Eriol, after renamed Ælfwine (although both had different origin stories). Ælfwine is the guy who best represents what Tolkien had initially wanted for a "Mythology of England", and his story is told during the invasion of the peninsula by Romans, Saxons, and Vikings - and the complete separation between Men and Elves.

Although Ælfwine's story has been the central theme that would lead to the development of The Silmarillion, to me what's most interesting about the BoLT p. 2 is the evolution of the Tale of Tinúviel (later Beren and Lúthien), Turambar and the Foalókë and the Nauglamír (The Children of Húrin and the Fall of Doriath), and The Fall of Gondolin. Each of these pre-tales contains the essence of the tales later reviewed and altered by Tolkien, and there are substantial differences - for instance, Beren was a Noldo Elf, and not a Man!

Anyway, not a book (or a collection, for that matter) for the newbies, but for those who want to dig deeper into Tolkien's writing, it's very educational and entertaining.
]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Lost Tales, Part One (The History of Middle-earth, #1)]]> 16205963 9780261102224.

The Book of Lost Tales stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor, for the Tales were the first form of the myths and legends that came to be called The Simarillion. Embedded in English legend and English association, they are set in the narritive frame of a great westward voyage over the Ocean by a mariner named Eriol (or Ælfwine) to Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Isle, where Elves dwelt; from them he learned their true history, the Lost Tales of Elfinesse. In the Tales are found the earlies accounts and original ideas of Gods and Elves, Dwarves, Balrogs and Orcs; of the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; of Nargothrond and Gondolin; of the geography and cosmology of the invented world.]]> 345 J.R.R. Tolkien Maira 4 favorites
So it was that, after years re-reading The Silm, I finally felt ready to not only understand but enjoy this as a story on its own - similar but very different in many aspects of its conception to be considered almost a thing in itself. The Ainur here are not the same Ainur from the Silm, Fëanor is definitely not the same Fëanor - and I'm talking characterization wise, not only changes in names.

The first part of the book deals on a much larger scale with the foundational myths Tolkien had divised for England - his long lost dream - while the second part starts digging deep into the stories we already know (Turambar, Tinúviel etc).

It is dense reading if you try to compare each passage to the published works (Silm and I Unfinished Tales) - which I don't recommend, since Christopher Tolkien does that in each section with long commentaries about the differences and similarities (of his own compiling and editing work, which is also good to remember). All in all, if you are a newbie to Tolkien's work, this book definitely isn't for you (at least not yet!)]]> 3.94 1983 The Book of Lost Tales, Part One (The History of Middle-earth, #1)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/28
date added: 2024/07/17
shelves: favorites
review:
I think most people, when tackling this book for the first time, is often overwhelmed by how little related to the contents of Middle-earth it is, and how far from the tales we learned to love. It happened to me as well, and I remember very little of my first attempt at reading BoLT 1. But truth is, despite being a massive undertaking in understanding how Tolkien's mythology came to be, it's impossible to entirely get this first volume without having deep knowledge of The Silmarillion first.

So it was that, after years re-reading The Silm, I finally felt ready to not only understand but enjoy this as a story on its own - similar but very different in many aspects of its conception to be considered almost a thing in itself. The Ainur here are not the same Ainur from the Silm, Fëanor is definitely not the same Fëanor - and I'm talking characterization wise, not only changes in names.

The first part of the book deals on a much larger scale with the foundational myths Tolkien had divised for England - his long lost dream - while the second part starts digging deep into the stories we already know (Turambar, Tinúviel etc).

It is dense reading if you try to compare each passage to the published works (Silm and I Unfinished Tales) - which I don't recommend, since Christopher Tolkien does that in each section with long commentaries about the differences and similarities (of his own compiling and editing work, which is also good to remember). All in all, if you are a newbie to Tolkien's work, this book definitely isn't for you (at least not yet!)
]]> Dom Casmurro 37770431 192 Machado de Assis Maira 4 3.67 1899 Dom Casmurro
author: Machado de Assis
name: Maira
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1899
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tree and Leaf: Including Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son]]> 9477541 On Fairy-Stories, Tolkien discusses the nature of fairy-tales and fantasy and rescues the genre from those who would relegate it to juvenalia. This is aptly and elegantly illustrated in the haunting short story, Leaf by Niggle, which recounts the story of the artist, Niggle, who has a long journey to make and is seen as an allegory of Tolkien's life. Written in the same period when The Lord of the Rings was beginning to take shape, these two works show Tolkien's mastery and understanding of the art of sub-creation, the power to give fantasy the inner consistency of reality.

This edition also contains a Preface by Christopher Tolkien; the poem Mythopoeia, in which the author Philomythus, "Lover of Myth", confounds the opinion of Misomythus, "Hater of Myth"; and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Professor Tolkien's dramatic poem which takes up the story following the disasterous Battle of Maldon in 991, where the English Commander Beorhtnoth was killed. The night after the fight, two servants of the Duke come to the battlefield to retrieve their master's body. Searching amongst the slain they converse in unheroic terms about the battle, their needlessly noble master and the wastefulness of war. In an illuminating essay accompanying the poem Tolkien wrote of the complex motives that inspired Beorhtnoth's conduct at Maldon.

The book must be read... it goes far to explain the nature of his art and justify his success - The Cambridge Review

A haunting and successful demonstration of the quallities of faerie - New York Times

While springing from deep-rooted convictions, his art has imaginative magic of a very rare quality - Birmingham post

Cover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien]]> 150 J.R.R. Tolkien Maira 3 3.91 1964 Tree and Leaf: Including Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1964
rating: 3
read at: 2013/08/26
date added: 2024/05/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A tarefa do tradutor, de Walter Benjamin]]> 42740682 101 Walter Benjamin Maira 5 4.00 1923 A tarefa do tradutor, de Walter Benjamin
author: Walter Benjamin
name: Maira
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1923
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves:
review:

]]> ³¢¾±²õí²õ³Ù°ù²¹³Ù²¹ 34687350 110 Aristophanes 8577151565 Maira 3 4.14 -423 ³¢¾±²õí²õ³Ù°ù²¹³Ù²¹
author: Aristophanes
name: Maira
average rating: 4.14
book published: -423
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/08
date added: 2024/04/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fausto: Uma Tragédia � Segunda Parte]]> 15999388
Esta segunda parte da tragédia, publicada após a morte de Goethe, em 1832, traz o desenlace da aposta com Mefistófeles e o episódio da "Colônia de Fausto" � um enorme empreendimento econômico que antecipa, com rara clarividência, as violentas convulsões do capitalismo atual. O volume inclui o texto integral do poema na elogiada tradução de Jenny Klabin Segall, acompanhado de apresentação, comentários e esclarecedoras notas de Marcus Vinicius Mazzari.]]> 672 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 8573264802 Maira 5
Alchemy, biology, mythology, philosophy... Goethe dibbed his pen in almost every field imaginable and argued with the forefront names of those fields as a peer. And that, I think, is essential to understanding the nature of this second part. He influenced people like Darwin and Marx, and Faust II is still considered the milestone of modern poetry. Some parts are more approachable than others - though if it weren't for the editor's comments, I'd probably have missed half the fun. So is it an easy read? Definitely not. But it doesn't make it less worth reading.]]> 3.85 1832 Fausto: Uma Tragédia – Segunda Parte
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: Maira
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1832
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/04
date added: 2024/02/15
shelves:
review:
This is Goethe's magnum opus, written over 70 years and finished merely months before he died. Faust II is not so much a continuation of the first part - as it doesn't really focus on continuing the story between Faust and Gretchen - but another tour in space-time that takes the reader to Ancient Greece and themes that were dear to the poet. He squeezed into this 12 thousand-verses poem every nugget of knowledge he gathered during his life as a public man of state - and boy did this guy know stuff!

Alchemy, biology, mythology, philosophy... Goethe dibbed his pen in almost every field imaginable and argued with the forefront names of those fields as a peer. And that, I think, is essential to understanding the nature of this second part. He influenced people like Darwin and Marx, and Faust II is still considered the milestone of modern poetry. Some parts are more approachable than others - though if it weren't for the editor's comments, I'd probably have missed half the fun. So is it an easy read? Definitely not. But it doesn't make it less worth reading.
]]> <![CDATA[Fausto: Uma Tragédia � Primeira Parte]]> 15999380
Esta edição do Fausto I traz ao leitor brasileiro o texto integral da tragédia na primorosa tradução de Jenny Klabin Segall � elogiada por nomes como Augusto Meyer, Paulo Rónai e Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, entre outros, por sua extrema fidelidade ao original. O presente volume inclui também apresentação, notas e comentários esclarecedores de Marcus Vinicius Mazzari, professor da Universidade de São Paulo, que auxiliam o leitor a percorrer o riquíssimo universo de referências do maior poeta alemão.]]> 416 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 8573264799 Maira 5 4.26 1808 Fausto: Uma Tragédia – Primeira Parte
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: Maira
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1808
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/15
date added: 2024/02/15
shelves:
review:
This first part of the play, written when Goethe was young, is a magnificent portrayal of a descent into madness and depravity. The demoniacal pact between Faust and Mephistopheles is an allegorical tour around the world to find the pleasures Faust didn't have in life. His encounters with other demoniacal beings and with Gretchen - and her tragic fate - are the obvious highlights. Intense as any youth and yet deeply entrenched in German folklore.
]]> Tempo de Migrar para o Norte 40049409 176 Tayeb Salih 8542212487 Maira 4
The author, himself one of those anglicized colonized, started writing the story about a mysterious man and ended up writing about the imprint that the colonizers left in his country. The way the anonymous narrator finds out about Mustafa Said's reality - who is the true protagonist - is intriguing enough to make us want to keep reading.

It was not a book that stirred my passions, but the first POV narrator and the happenings of the last act are raw and complex. The most interesting is that Salih doesn't answer the question of who Mustafa Said really was - it's up to our interpretation to read the psychological details that are shown during the reading.

Interesting enough to recommend it, but it has not become a "favorite."]]> 3.85 1966 Tempo de Migrar para o Norte
author: Tayeb Salih
name: Maira
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/29
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves:
review:
Considered one of the most important Arabic romances of the 20th century, Season of Migration to the North has the premise to show the dichotomy between the English colonizer and the Sudanese colonized who goes to England to study.

The author, himself one of those anglicized colonized, started writing the story about a mysterious man and ended up writing about the imprint that the colonizers left in his country. The way the anonymous narrator finds out about Mustafa Said's reality - who is the true protagonist - is intriguing enough to make us want to keep reading.

It was not a book that stirred my passions, but the first POV narrator and the happenings of the last act are raw and complex. The most interesting is that Salih doesn't answer the question of who Mustafa Said really was - it's up to our interpretation to read the psychological details that are shown during the reading.

Interesting enough to recommend it, but it has not become a "favorite."
]]> El último anillo 7709729
Kiril Yeskov nos muestra desde el lado de los perdedores el más famoso universo de la fantasía, en una parodia sorprendente, divertida y amena que ya es un éxito internacional.

"Sin perder ni un ápice de nuestro entusiasmo por el universo que nos proporcionó Tolkien, también podemos encontrar cierto malicioso placer en esta visita opuesta a la Tierra Media que nos propone Kiril Yeskov. En ella, los orcos y los trolls son gente honrada, los elfos planean hacerse con malas artes los dueños del cotarro (incluso son capaces de refinadas sesiones de tortura), los brujos consideran nigromancia el desarrollo científico que acabaría con su hegemonía y Saruman es un hechicero bastante más razonable que el intratable Gandalf (...). ¿Blasfemia o desmitificación? En cualquier caso, el inteligente novelista ruso es obviamente contrario a las visiones unilaterales de la historia y desconfía de las imágenes propagandísticas en blanco y negro que acumulan toda la perversidad sociopolítica en uno de los bandos y reservan la beatificación gloriosa para el otro que, casualmente, es el que ha ganado la guerra. Su perspectiva es irónica, pero no burlesca ni denigratoria: con osadía, intenta volver a contar en clave realista e incluso maquiavélica lo que Tolkien acuñó inolvidablemente como canto de gesta mágicamente maniqueo..."]]> 448 Kirill Yeskov Maira 3 3.10 1999 El último anillo
author: Kirill Yeskov
name: Maira
average rating: 3.10
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2014/04/27
date added: 2023/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inteligência Emocional: A Teoria Revolucionária que Redefine o que é Ser Inteligente]]> 10560359 384 Daniel Goleman Maira 4 3.95 1995 Inteligência Emocional: A Teoria Revolucionária que Redefine o que é Ser Inteligente
author: Daniel Goleman
name: Maira
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2014/09/25
date added: 2023/09/08
shelves:
review:

]]> As Aventuras de Tom Bombadil 42838868 208 J.R.R. Tolkien 8533624425 Maira 3 3.65 1962 As Aventuras de Tom Bombadil
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1962
rating: 3
read at: 2003/07/11
date added: 2023/08/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Poesia completa de Ricardo Reis]]> 6445233 -
Este livro dá continuidade ao projeto de publicação das obras completas de Fernando Pessoa pela Companhia das Letras. Ricardo Reis foi o segundo heterônimo criado por Pessoa, depois de Alberto Caeiro e antes de Ãlvaro de Campos - e é o mais clássico de todos eles. Sua odes refletem um espírito duro, rigoroso, que defendia a ausência de desejos e o autodomínio como receita de sabedoria. O rigor de sua postura criou uma poesia precisa, de métrica calculada e enunciação severa. "Poesia é uma música que se faz com idéias", escreveu Reis, "e por isso com palavras". Para ser grande, sê inteiro: nada / Teu exagera ou exclui.Sê todo em cada coisa. Põe quanto és / No mínimo que fazes.Assim em cada lago a lua toda / Brilha, porque alta vive.]]> 192 Fernando Pessoa 8535911030 Maira 3 4.16 1935 Poesia completa de Ricardo Reis
author: Fernando Pessoa
name: Maira
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1935
rating: 3
read at: 2013/10/12
date added: 2023/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Homens Imprudentemente Poéticos]]> 32876082 A inimizade, contudo, é coisa pequena diante da miséria comum e do destino.
Conscientes da exuberância da natureza e da falha da sorte, o homem que faz leques e o homem que faz taças medem a sensatez e, sobretudo, os modos incondicionais de amarem suas distintas mulheres.
Valter Hugo Mãe prossegue a sua poética ímpar. Uma humaníssima visão do mundo.]]> 192 Valter Hugo Mãe 8525063282 Maira 3
A linguagem em si parece que foi cinzelada com cuidado talvez até excessivo, uma vez que cada palavra parece meticulosamente calculada, encaixada como num quebra-cabeça. Nada de errado com isso, é claro, mas a experiência, para mim, ficou mais próxima da admiração da sintaxe do que da emoção da história.]]> 4.04 2016 Homens Imprudentemente Poéticos
author: Valter Hugo Mãe
name: Maira
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/26
date added: 2023/03/15
shelves:
review:
Me senti um alien por ter demorado tantíssimo tempo em terminar de ler um livro de um dos meus atuores contemporâneos favoritos. Mas a realidade é que esta narrativa não me cativou como as anteriores de Hugo Mãe. Concordo com a assersão de que este livro prezou muito mais pela linguagem do que pela narrativa, colocando a metáfora e as frases de efeito acima do desenvolvimento dos personagens. Isso fez com que eu não criasse nenhum vínculo com ninguém. O Japão como cenário não me despertou tanto interesse apesar da premissa magnífica - a aldeia tão próxima à floresta dos suicidas.

A linguagem em si parece que foi cinzelada com cuidado talvez até excessivo, uma vez que cada palavra parece meticulosamente calculada, encaixada como num quebra-cabeça. Nada de errado com isso, é claro, mas a experiência, para mim, ficou mais próxima da admiração da sintaxe do que da emoção da história.
]]> <![CDATA[A Grande Rainha (As Brumas de Avalon, #2)]]> 55808500 Mas maior do que a angústia de uma paixão impossível é o sofrimento em que vive, por não conseguir consumar o seu casamento oferecendo um filho ao rei. Nem os mistérios insondáveis de Deus são conforto suficiente para tanta dor e sofrimento.
E é nesta angústia, ou, quem sabe, na secreta esperança de, sem pecar, poder consumar a sua paixão ardente dando à luz um herdeiro ao reino, que a bela Gwenhwyfar decide entregar-se nas mãos da Deusa. Mas, se são difíceis de compreender os caminhos de Deus, o que poderá acontecer quando se procura modificá-los com encantamentos e magias?
Neste segundo volume da mítica saga As Brumas de Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley continua a maravilhar-nos através de um imaginário ancestral, de uma visão do mágico, do místico, do fantástico, de eras perdidas do mito, só ao alcance dos grandes escritores.]]> 268 Marion Zimmer Bradley Maira 4 favorites
Maybe because I don't have a religion to begin with influences how I see these characters (or not). The impression that I had is that, while Merlin, Viviane, and Morgaine are wise and respectful - even making several mistakes - the Christian faith is portrayed as invasive, gelding, and disrespectful with women's existence. And this facet is represented almost single-handedly by Gwenhyfar.

So even though she is the narrator of a great part of this volume, you just can't sympathize with her and her ridiculous fanaticism. There are interesting moments of fragility in which we understand her reasons (even disagreeing with them). This way, while telling the story from another point of view, Bradley follows the most accepted theoretical idea that makes Queen Gwenhyfar an antipathetic woman who doesn't deserve what she has - Arthur's love and devotion - that puts at risk the success of the military campaign against the Saxons - and, with it, the future of all Britain.

But see... this is the brilliancy of this romance. You hate Gwenhyfar, even understanding her, and it's all on the author's merits. A fantastic job she's done, that will progress with the narrative and other relevant characters.]]> 3.86 1982 A Grande Rainha (As Brumas de Avalon, #2)
author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
name: Maira
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 2017/05/19
date added: 2022/12/29
shelves: favorites
review:
In opposition to the first, this second volume focuses much less on Avalon and much more on Gwenhyfar's court, now she's married to King Arthur - and it's not for nothing that its title is The Great Queen. Fearful Gwenhyfar transforms from a happy, naive girl into a religious fanatic, afraid of every other belief that not her own.

Maybe because I don't have a religion to begin with influences how I see these characters (or not). The impression that I had is that, while Merlin, Viviane, and Morgaine are wise and respectful - even making several mistakes - the Christian faith is portrayed as invasive, gelding, and disrespectful with women's existence. And this facet is represented almost single-handedly by Gwenhyfar.

So even though she is the narrator of a great part of this volume, you just can't sympathize with her and her ridiculous fanaticism. There are interesting moments of fragility in which we understand her reasons (even disagreeing with them). This way, while telling the story from another point of view, Bradley follows the most accepted theoretical idea that makes Queen Gwenhyfar an antipathetic woman who doesn't deserve what she has - Arthur's love and devotion - that puts at risk the success of the military campaign against the Saxons - and, with it, the future of all Britain.

But see... this is the brilliancy of this romance. You hate Gwenhyfar, even understanding her, and it's all on the author's merits. A fantastic job she's done, that will progress with the narrative and other relevant characters.
]]> <![CDATA[A Bíblia da Mitologia (Em Portuguese do Brasil)]]> 42603828 Sarah Bartlett 8531517532 Maira 4 4.33 2009 A Bíblia da Mitologia (Em Portuguese do Brasil)
author: Sarah Bartlett
name: Maira
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2015/01/06
date added: 2022/08/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Book Four: The Twilight of the Gods (The Ring of the Nibelung, #4)]]> 58788911
Wotan, king of the gos, knows that only a mortal hero not bound by the gods' law can wrest the gold from Fafner. Thus Wotan sires twins - Siegmund and Sieglinda - who in turn will become the parents of this fateful hero.

Wotan's jealous forces him to slay Siegmund. For opposing him and seeking to spare Siegmund, Wotan condemns the valkyrie Brunnhilde to sleep upon a fiery mountaintop until a hero awakens her as a mortal woman.

That hero is Siegfried, child of Siegmund and Sieglinda.

Slaying the dragon Fafner, Siegfried obtains both Ring and Rhinegold, and goes to awaken Brunnhilde - the one woman worthy to be his bride. For both of them, it is love at first sight - love destined to decide the fate of the gods...

- Roy Thomas]]> 50 Roy Thomas Maira 5 4.00 1990 Book Four: The Twilight of the Gods (The Ring of the Nibelung, #4)
author: Roy Thomas
name: Maira
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 2018/04/11
date added: 2022/07/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Book Three: Siegfried (The Ring of the Nibelung, #3)]]> 58788899
Wotan, king of the gos, obtains the Ring, but is forced to surrender it to the giant Fafner. Wotan knows that only a mortal hero not bound by the gods' law can wrest the gold from Fafner. To this end he sires twins - Siegmund and Sieglinda - who, when grown, meet and fall in love.

Under pressure from his jealous wife, Wotan must send the valkyrie Brunnhilde to slay Siegmund. When Brunnhilde spares him instead, Wotan himself slays Siegmund - and puts Brunnhilde to sleep atop a mountain ringed in fire.

But Sieglinda escapes, and the child of her and Siegmund's love is destined to be the hero who alone may save the gods...

- Roy Thomas]]> 50 Roy Thomas Maira 4 3.50 1990 Book Three: Siegfried (The Ring of the Nibelung, #3)
author: Roy Thomas
name: Maira
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2018/04/10
date added: 2022/07/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Book One: The Rhinegold (The Ring of the Nibelung, #1)]]> 58788867
Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), which serves as a prologue to the other three parts of The Ring, begins upon a chord of E flat major, which symbolizes a formless, timeless void... the original state of nature.

Then, time intrudes... and the world begins.

The creation of gods and men, left implicit in Wagner, is very much a part of the tale we have to tell...

- Roy Thomas]]> 49 Roy Thomas Maira 4 3.50 1989 Book One: The Rhinegold (The Ring of the Nibelung, #1)
author: Roy Thomas
name: Maira
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2018/04/08
date added: 2022/07/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Os Románov: 1613-1918 33216146 944 Simon Sebag Montefiore 8535928235 Maira 5
It all begins with Michael Románov in 1613 when he takes the throne in a time of political and economical instability, known as the Turbulent Times. From there to 1918 - when the last of the Romanovs were brutally murdered by Lenin's soviet administration - Russia's leadership met the most different set of rulers.

From the imperialists Peter, the Great, and Catherine, The Great - having beside her the brilliant general and lover Potemkin - going through fearful, eccentric, worst or better leaders, as diverse as human nature allows. And Russia also allowed, for an autocrat, like the tsars were, could do whatever they wanted.

Or until they were murdered. Yes, they borrowed from Ancient Rome more than just the Caeser of their titles. They also didn't spare in sumptuosity, promoted wild courts of dwarves and giants dressed as babies, and got drunk. A LOT. Imitating the Romans in this, too, the tsars were killed in bunches, according to what the ministers and courtiers thought was best - all in the name of Mother Russia, of course.

Despite getting lost in the astounding amount of names (it's 300 years of History, after all), the quality of the information the author put together is unquestionable. He brought forth thousands of personal letters, official records, and loads of other documents to narrate the story not only in a coherent way but as if we were there, watching the events as they unfold.

This colossal biography of one of the biggest potencies of the world is obligatory reading to those who are interested in learning more about Russia's past and understanding more about its present - current president Putin is, ultimately, the tsar of his own "democratic autocracy."]]> 4.35 2016 Os Románov: 1613-1918
author: Simon Sebag Montefiore
name: Maira
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2019/07/14
date added: 2022/05/26
shelves:
review:
It took me two whole months to finish this monster of a book - 808 pages, not counting the endnotes and bibliography) about the Romanov dynasty. If you're looking for a Russian equivalent of Game of Thrones, here you have it!

It all begins with Michael Románov in 1613 when he takes the throne in a time of political and economical instability, known as the Turbulent Times. From there to 1918 - when the last of the Romanovs were brutally murdered by Lenin's soviet administration - Russia's leadership met the most different set of rulers.

From the imperialists Peter, the Great, and Catherine, The Great - having beside her the brilliant general and lover Potemkin - going through fearful, eccentric, worst or better leaders, as diverse as human nature allows. And Russia also allowed, for an autocrat, like the tsars were, could do whatever they wanted.

Or until they were murdered. Yes, they borrowed from Ancient Rome more than just the Caeser of their titles. They also didn't spare in sumptuosity, promoted wild courts of dwarves and giants dressed as babies, and got drunk. A LOT. Imitating the Romans in this, too, the tsars were killed in bunches, according to what the ministers and courtiers thought was best - all in the name of Mother Russia, of course.

Despite getting lost in the astounding amount of names (it's 300 years of History, after all), the quality of the information the author put together is unquestionable. He brought forth thousands of personal letters, official records, and loads of other documents to narrate the story not only in a coherent way but as if we were there, watching the events as they unfold.

This colossal biography of one of the biggest potencies of the world is obligatory reading to those who are interested in learning more about Russia's past and understanding more about its present - current president Putin is, ultimately, the tsar of his own "democratic autocracy."
]]> ´¡°ù²µ´Ç²Ôá³Ü³Ù¾±³¦²¹²õ 53353182 Las ´¡°ù²µ´Ç²Ôá³Ü³Ù¾±³¦²¹²õ no supnen la continuación de una épica tradicional y popular como la homérica, sino una poesía culta que usa temas y formas de la épica antigua renovándolos con un nuevo espíritu docto y un ímpetu poético que colorea con matices modernos los mitos de rancio abolengo. Apolonio narra en su poema el ya famoso mito del viaje de los argonautas, quienes, capitaneados por Jasón, fueron hasta la Cólquide en busca del Velloncino de Oro y volvieron triunfantes gracias a la ayuda de la princesa maga Medea.
Este viaje reúne a paladines de muy amplio prestigio heróico, como Heracles y Orfeo, y cuenta algunos fantásticos lances de aventuras. Pero el centro de las hazañas lo constituye un episodio de amor, el protagonizado por Jasón y Medea, en el canto III. Jasón es un héroe de extraordinaria apostura atlética y notorio coraje, mientras que Medea es la creación psicología más interesante del poema. Aquí la maga (famosa por su trágico destino explicado en el drama de Eurípides) no cuenta el triste desenlace de su amor fatídico, sino los comienzos y el apogeo de su pasión, inflamada por las flechas de Eros. El hecho de haber colocado está aventura amorosa en el corazón del relato épico constituye la mejor muestra del talento poético renovador de Apolonio.
El catedrático de filología griega Mariano Valverde ha acompañado su traducción de este poema con precisas notas y con una introducción bien documentada.]]> 376 Apollonius of Rhodes 8447383970 Maira 5 4.67 -250 ´¡°ù²µ´Ç²Ôá³Ü³Ù¾±³¦²¹²õ
author: Apollonius of Rhodes
name: Maira
average rating: 4.67
book published: -250
rating: 5
read at: 2016/07/15
date added: 2022/05/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Capitães da Areia 723456 Capitães da Areia é o livro de Jorge Amado mais vendido no mundo inteiro.
Publicado em 1937, teve a sua primeira edição apreendida e queimada em praça pública pelas autoridades do Estado Novo. Em 1944 conheceu nova edição e desde então sucederam-se as edições nacionais e estrangeiras, e as adaptações para a rádio, televisão e cinema.
Jorge Amado descreve, em páginas carregadas de grande beleza, dramatismo e lirismo poucas vezes igualados na literatura universal, a vida dos meninos abandonados nas ruas de São Salvador da Bahia.

Dividido em três partes, o livro atinge um clímax inesquecível no capítulo .Canção da Bahía, Canção da Liberdade., em que é narrada a emocionante despedida de um dos personagens da história, que se afasta dos seus queridos Capitães da Areia .na noite misteriosa das macumbas, enquanto os atabaques ressoam como clarins de guerra.]]> 256 Jorge Amado 8510053065 Maira 4
Written in 1937 - and censored by Getúlio Varga's government as communism apology - the book is about a group of abandoned boys who call themselves the Captains of the Sand and apply scams around town in order to survive.

Their leader, Pedro Bala, is only 14 y.o., and many of the boys are nothing more than children - but the Captains of the Sand are treated by the society as an evil to be corrected, if not extinct. The children, who live like grown men, are unjustly treated as such, and the author has the delicacy of portraying their insecurities, bitterness, and what the lack of love, care, and stability do in their lives.

With excerpts of press articles, the book tells a period in the boys' lives until they meet Dora, and then it jumps to tell the destiny of the main members of the groups. It's not a story about events and turning points but of psychological exposition. Beautiful and sad.

It would be even more beautiful if it weren't an accurate portrayal of everything that is wrong in Brazilian society. And it's absolutely mortifying to know that in more than almost 100 years, very little has changed.]]> 4.39 1937 Capitães da Areia
author: Jorge Amado
name: Maira
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/25
date added: 2022/05/09
shelves:
review:
It's impossible to read Jorge Amado's classic and not feel that the world is beyond saving - the situation in which the street boys live in an abandoned house under Bahia's moon is sad and so up-to-date.

Written in 1937 - and censored by Getúlio Varga's government as communism apology - the book is about a group of abandoned boys who call themselves the Captains of the Sand and apply scams around town in order to survive.

Their leader, Pedro Bala, is only 14 y.o., and many of the boys are nothing more than children - but the Captains of the Sand are treated by the society as an evil to be corrected, if not extinct. The children, who live like grown men, are unjustly treated as such, and the author has the delicacy of portraying their insecurities, bitterness, and what the lack of love, care, and stability do in their lives.

With excerpts of press articles, the book tells a period in the boys' lives until they meet Dora, and then it jumps to tell the destiny of the main members of the groups. It's not a story about events and turning points but of psychological exposition. Beautiful and sad.

It would be even more beautiful if it weren't an accurate portrayal of everything that is wrong in Brazilian society. And it's absolutely mortifying to know that in more than almost 100 years, very little has changed.
]]> <![CDATA[Book Two: The Valkyrie (The Ring of the Nibelung, #2)]]> 58788889
Later, Wotan, with the help of fire-god Loge, wrests both Ring and Rhinegold from Alberich, to pay the giants Fafner and Fasolt for building the gods' fabled palace, Valhalla. Fafner kills Fasolt and takes the treasure for his own - as the gods, uncaring, enter Valhalla.

But the trio of Rhinemaidens sense, if the gods do not, that unless the gold is restored to the Rhine, Valhalla and the gods are doomed...

- Roy Thomas]]> 50 Roy Thomas Maira 4 3.50 1990 Book Two: The Valkyrie (The Ring of the Nibelung, #2)
author: Roy Thomas
name: Maira
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2018/04/09
date added: 2022/03/07
shelves:
review:

]]> ±Ê±ð°ù²õ³Ü²¹²õã´Ç 31441825 368 Jane Austen 8537815535 Maira 5
Thus we get to know the story of Anne Elliot, daughter of a baronet who let herself be persuaded by a friend of the family (her second mother figure) to break up her engagement with a Navy official - a poor choice for a rich girl at the time. Eight years later, Frederick Wentworth - now a very wealthy captain - returns to Anne's life to cause much ado about basically everything.

Persuasion is considered the apex of Austen's life, her masterpiece, and even though other works became more popular, after reading it it's understandable: everything that made her writing so popular is masterfully done here. Her writing is precise, straight to the point, and very engaging. The characterization of characters and society are true History lessons about costumes, and the resolution for the two lovers is so very much satisfying - that final letter is bound to make many people cry.

This is one of those books to devour and watch all movies and series one can find - and, of course, to love the characters with the same intensity they love each other!]]> 4.19 1817 ±Ê±ð°ù²õ³Ü²¹²õã´Ç
author: Jane Austen
name: Maira
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1817
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/19
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves:
review:
Published posthumously in 1818, Persuasion is, without a doubt, a trial for those who are not fans of the slow burn. I confess it depends a lot on how the story is built, and in this sense, Persuasion doesn't disappoint. We know that, in the end, a happy ending is due to happen to the main characters.

Thus we get to know the story of Anne Elliot, daughter of a baronet who let herself be persuaded by a friend of the family (her second mother figure) to break up her engagement with a Navy official - a poor choice for a rich girl at the time. Eight years later, Frederick Wentworth - now a very wealthy captain - returns to Anne's life to cause much ado about basically everything.

Persuasion is considered the apex of Austen's life, her masterpiece, and even though other works became more popular, after reading it it's understandable: everything that made her writing so popular is masterfully done here. Her writing is precise, straight to the point, and very engaging. The characterization of characters and society are true History lessons about costumes, and the resolution for the two lovers is so very much satisfying - that final letter is bound to make many people cry.

This is one of those books to devour and watch all movies and series one can find - and, of course, to love the characters with the same intensity they love each other!
]]> O Nome da Rosa 16278708
Tamanho sucesso não parecia provável para um romance cuja trama se desenrola em um mosteiro italiano na última semana de novembro de 1327.

Ali, em meio a intensos debates religiosos, o frade franciscano inglês Guilherme de Baskerville e seu jovem auxiliar, Adso, envolvem-se na investigação das insólitas mortes de sete monges, em sete dias e sete noites.

Os crimes se irradiam a partir da biblioteca do mosteiro - a maior biblioteca do mundo cristão, cuja riqueza ajuda a explicar o título do romance: "o nome da rosa" era uma expressão usada na Idade Média para denotar o infinito poder das palavras.

Narrado com a astúcia e graça de quem apreciou (e explicou) como poucos as artes do romance policial, O Nome da Rosa encena discussões de grandes temas da filosofia européia, num contexto que faz desses debates um ingrediente a mais da ficção.

O livro de Eco é ainda uma defesa da comédia - a expressão do homem livre, capaz de resistir com ironia ao peso de homens e livros.]]> 562 Umberto Eco Maira 5
Judging by the title and cover, it isn't easy to guess what the book is about. However, the premise is relatively simple: in 1321, an English monk and his Norse apprentice are summoned to investigate a mysterious murder inside a prestigious abbey in Italy. This monk also speaks on behalf of Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria, then in open dispute with pope John XXII.

Unlike the book, though, I will not analyze or comment on the theological minutia about Franciscans and their persecution when the order first appeared. Because, yes, the book is about those two monks trying to solve a crime, but it's also a treaty about what happened to the Catholic Church at the time.

Umberto Eco was an erudit, more than in just literature, and this is the proof of it. I've seen many people criticize this excess of erudition, and I understand - the author spends many pages digressing about things of little relevance to the actual resolution of the mystery. But those digressions, I think, help understand the characters better, and this "excess" only made me admire the work even more. I thought the discussions were particularly interesting since I have zero knowledge about the History of the Church.

And the end of the book surprised me as well. It was intriguing and done so that all the loose ends are tied. Besides, the author's reconstruction of medieval life on a monastery is realistic and very well done. This reading captivated me, and I highly recommend it!]]> 4.29 1980 O Nome da Rosa
author: Umberto Eco
name: Maira
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1980
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/01
date added: 2021/12/16
shelves:
review:
I had seen the movie for this book before reading it, but thank goodness I have a bad memory and didn't remember almost anything, from the plot to the characters of one of the greatest crime books from occidental literature.

Judging by the title and cover, it isn't easy to guess what the book is about. However, the premise is relatively simple: in 1321, an English monk and his Norse apprentice are summoned to investigate a mysterious murder inside a prestigious abbey in Italy. This monk also speaks on behalf of Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria, then in open dispute with pope John XXII.

Unlike the book, though, I will not analyze or comment on the theological minutia about Franciscans and their persecution when the order first appeared. Because, yes, the book is about those two monks trying to solve a crime, but it's also a treaty about what happened to the Catholic Church at the time.

Umberto Eco was an erudit, more than in just literature, and this is the proof of it. I've seen many people criticize this excess of erudition, and I understand - the author spends many pages digressing about things of little relevance to the actual resolution of the mystery. But those digressions, I think, help understand the characters better, and this "excess" only made me admire the work even more. I thought the discussions were particularly interesting since I have zero knowledge about the History of the Church.

And the end of the book surprised me as well. It was intriguing and done so that all the loose ends are tied. Besides, the author's reconstruction of medieval life on a monastery is realistic and very well done. This reading captivated me, and I highly recommend it!
]]> A canção dos Nibelungos 17159054 358 Unknown 8533613881 Maira 5 3.93 1200 A canção dos Nibelungos
author: Unknown
name: Maira
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1200
rating: 5
read at: 2008/12/09
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[España: Tres milenios de historia]]> 17160383 «Escribo estas páginas —afirma el autor� con cierto aire de testamento literario, para responder a una demanda imperiosa, para colaborar en una tarea de renovada actualidad», la de llenar «el vacío que deja la ausencia de una auténtica enseñanza histórica en los actuales planes de enseñanza obligatoria».]]> 396 Antonio Domínguez Ortiz 849537918X Maira 4 3.92 2000 España: Tres milenios de historia
author: Antonio Domínguez Ortiz
name: Maira
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/13
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves:
review:

]]> The Underground Railroad 39736274 Na concepção fabulosa de Colson Whitehead, a ferrovia subterrânea não é uma metáfora, mas uma rede secreta de trilhos, condutores e túneis intricados, espalhados pelos Estados Unidos.]]> 320 Colson Whitehead 8595082952 Maira 4
A escravidão que assolou o mundo ocidental deixou uma marca brutal nas fazendas de algodão (e tabaco, e milho) do país, e Whitehead relata as agruras dos africanos levados à América "tal qual." Cora é só mais uma, dentre os milhares de negros, que sofreu abusos de todo tipo e tentou a fuga do jugo de seus senhores brancos. E a jornada da personagem, que atravessa o Sul em direção ao Norte abolicionista só é possível graças a uma ferrovia subterrânea e suas estações secretas, conhecidas somente por aqueles envolvidos na causa anti-escravagista.

A tal da ferrovia é, inclusive, algo real. Uma suspeita que os brancos da época tinham que nunca foi comprovada e que, aqui, ganha um significado enorme - já que a ferrovia não funciona somente como meio de transporte, mas é também uma ferrovia metafórica, que silenciosa e sorrateiramente auxiliava e salvava escravos fugidos.

Os personagens são intrigantes, (embora alguns sejam um pouco superficiais e, até, generalistas), e a narrativa me prendeu do começo ao fim. Me senti como se estivesse vendo o híbrido dos filmes Doze Anos de Escravidão e Django Livre: horror, revolta e satisfação.

Esta bela edição, organizada pela Tag, contém alguns errinhos de tipografia e uma tradução um pouco truncada - mas nada que atrapalhe a experiência da leitura.]]> 3.93 2016 The Underground Railroad
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Maira
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/25
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves:
review:
The Underground Railroad conta a história de Cora, uma escrava fugida, mas podia ser a dos Estados Unidos escravagista inteiro. Dono de uma escrita envolvente e tão verdadeira, o autor, Colson Whitehead, figurou nas listas de livros favoritos tanto de Oprah Winfrey como de Barack Obama e foi vencedor do Pulitzer de 2017. Usando fontes históricas reais, é impossível imaginar que a História se desenrolou de outra forma.

A escravidão que assolou o mundo ocidental deixou uma marca brutal nas fazendas de algodão (e tabaco, e milho) do país, e Whitehead relata as agruras dos africanos levados à América "tal qual." Cora é só mais uma, dentre os milhares de negros, que sofreu abusos de todo tipo e tentou a fuga do jugo de seus senhores brancos. E a jornada da personagem, que atravessa o Sul em direção ao Norte abolicionista só é possível graças a uma ferrovia subterrânea e suas estações secretas, conhecidas somente por aqueles envolvidos na causa anti-escravagista.

A tal da ferrovia é, inclusive, algo real. Uma suspeita que os brancos da época tinham que nunca foi comprovada e que, aqui, ganha um significado enorme - já que a ferrovia não funciona somente como meio de transporte, mas é também uma ferrovia metafórica, que silenciosa e sorrateiramente auxiliava e salvava escravos fugidos.

Os personagens são intrigantes, (embora alguns sejam um pouco superficiais e, até, generalistas), e a narrativa me prendeu do começo ao fim. Me senti como se estivesse vendo o híbrido dos filmes Doze Anos de Escravidão e Django Livre: horror, revolta e satisfação.

Esta bela edição, organizada pela Tag, contém alguns errinhos de tipografia e uma tradução um pouco truncada - mas nada que atrapalhe a experiência da leitura.
]]> As Rãs 23976778
A tradução de Trajano Vieira transpõe para o português tanto os jogos verbais do original como o tom apimentado do mais importante comediógrafo que nos chegou da Antiguidade. A notável fluência dos diálogos foi mantida, bem como o labor requintado da linguagem repleta de trocadilhos e vocábulos compostos.]]> 96 Aristophanes 854050698X Maira 5
Cheio de referências e de quebras da quarta parede - os personagens frequentemente se dirigem à plateia e a figuras ilustres que eram presença garantida nas apresentações - essa tradução feita por Trajano Vieira do original em grego antigo é ainda mais ousada e irreverente, e talvez faça jus à própria irreverência do autor. A leitura é curta e leve, uma vez que Aristófanes juntava palavras e criava trocadilhos que, se são divertidos hoje, não posso imaginar como seriam engraçadas à época.]]> 3.62 -405 As Rãs
author: Aristophanes
name: Maira
average rating: 3.62
book published: -405
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/28
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves:
review:
Aristófanes foi o mais famoso comediógrafo ateniense, que viveu no século de ouro da Antiguidade Clássica. Suas sátiras atingiam em cheio a classe política e dominante da cidade, era um crítico ferrenho da corrupção e dos desvios da democracia que já ameaçavam acabar com o Império Ateniense. Neste seu As Rãs, Aristófanes usa o Hades como cenário e Dionísio como porta-voz no embate entre dois dos maiores (falecidos) dramaturgos atenienses, Eurípedes e Ésquilo. A missão de Dionísio é levar de volta à vida o melhor dos dois, para salvar Atenas de seus demagogos e sofistas.

Cheio de referências e de quebras da quarta parede - os personagens frequentemente se dirigem à plateia e a figuras ilustres que eram presença garantida nas apresentações - essa tradução feita por Trajano Vieira do original em grego antigo é ainda mais ousada e irreverente, e talvez faça jus à própria irreverência do autor. A leitura é curta e leve, uma vez que Aristófanes juntava palavras e criava trocadilhos que, se são divertidos hoje, não posso imaginar como seriam engraçadas à época.
]]> <![CDATA[Uma Questão Pessoal (Coleção Letras Italianas)]]> 9740500 A narrativa de Uma questão pessoal, desenvolvida a partir de dentro da Resistência, tem como centro um triângulo amoroso. Torna-se assim universal, uma vez que lida com os mais íntimos conflitos da alma humana: a paixão, o ciúme, a morte, o desencanto.]]> 160 Beppe Fenoglio 8586387304 Maira 3
Fenoglio conta a história de Milton, um partisan (partigiani, no original) da região de Alba que se envolve nas guerras de guerrilha pelo interior italiano enquanto relembra Fulvia, a garota por quem é apaixonado. É já durante a guerra, quando Fulvia está longe de seu alcance, que ele fica sabendo que ela talvez estivesse envolvida com Giorgio, um amigo de infância de Milton e camarada de guerra.

Desesperado ao descobrir que Giorgio foi capturado pelo exército de Mussolini, Milton parte em uma busca frenética pelas redondezas para encontrar a paz de espírito que lhe foi roubada e a resposta para seu coração inquieto. Tudo que ele faz a partir de então é pensando em seu grande amor.

Mas muito além do romance - que recebe algumas pinceladas aqui e ali - a obra retrata de maneira fiel o cotidiano dos partisans, as dificuldades e pequenos alívios, a estreita relação com a população local e, claro, os medos e ansiedades destes "soldados" que combateram tanto o exército do "Duce" quanto o exército alemão que entrou na Itália como apoio do Eixo.

É uma premissa fascinante, que dá pena de se saber incompleta. Jamais saberemos o desfecho para as angústias de Milton dentro ou fora da guerra - mas até isso dá um brilho a mais ao livro. Quer saber se mesmo assim eu o recomendo? Basta ler o prefácio desta edição, no qual Ãtalo Calvino afirma ser esta a obra-prima de seu tempo, aquilo que todos os autores de sua geração aspiraram fazer. A mim, me convence!]]> 3.50 1963 Uma Questão Pessoal (Coleção Letras Italianas)
author: Beppe Fenoglio
name: Maira
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1963
rating: 3
read at: 2021/08/17
date added: 2021/10/09
shelves:
review:
Uma Questão Pessoal é um livro bonito, mas inacabado. O autor, Beppe Fenoglio, faleceu em 1963 antes de conseguir terminá-lo e, assim, a narrativa - que poderia ter sido grandiosa - termina (obviamente) de modo abrupto e rápido demais.

Fenoglio conta a história de Milton, um partisan (partigiani, no original) da região de Alba que se envolve nas guerras de guerrilha pelo interior italiano enquanto relembra Fulvia, a garota por quem é apaixonado. É já durante a guerra, quando Fulvia está longe de seu alcance, que ele fica sabendo que ela talvez estivesse envolvida com Giorgio, um amigo de infância de Milton e camarada de guerra.

Desesperado ao descobrir que Giorgio foi capturado pelo exército de Mussolini, Milton parte em uma busca frenética pelas redondezas para encontrar a paz de espírito que lhe foi roubada e a resposta para seu coração inquieto. Tudo que ele faz a partir de então é pensando em seu grande amor.

Mas muito além do romance - que recebe algumas pinceladas aqui e ali - a obra retrata de maneira fiel o cotidiano dos partisans, as dificuldades e pequenos alívios, a estreita relação com a população local e, claro, os medos e ansiedades destes "soldados" que combateram tanto o exército do "Duce" quanto o exército alemão que entrou na Itália como apoio do Eixo.

É uma premissa fascinante, que dá pena de se saber incompleta. Jamais saberemos o desfecho para as angústias de Milton dentro ou fora da guerra - mas até isso dá um brilho a mais ao livro. Quer saber se mesmo assim eu o recomendo? Basta ler o prefácio desta edição, no qual Ãtalo Calvino afirma ser esta a obra-prima de seu tempo, aquilo que todos os autores de sua geração aspiraram fazer. A mim, me convence!
]]> A História de Kullervo 32203511 164 J.R.R. Tolkien 8546900523 Maira 5
In any case, 'tis so with Kullervo, precursor and main influence of Túrin Turambar, one of Tolkien's most infamous and tragic characters from The Silmarillion (and one of my personal favorites). But more than just highlighting the influences, this book - organized by professor Verlyn Flieger - brings us the manuscript in which there's evidence of how young Tolkien found out and fell in love with the Finnish Kalevala (to the point of almost losing his scholarship at the time).

Tolkien discovered it in the pre-First World War period - even before he himself was sent to the front - and bent himself over to retell the story his own particular way. This retelling was the first layer of sediments that would become Túrin's tale. It also was an opportunity to employ names of his own making that would later become the Qenya language.

Flieger's study is very interesting, and the manuscript equally fascinating. Like she said it herself, without the Kalevala there wouldn't be Tolkien's Kullervo, without whom there also wouldn't be Túrin's story. It's a feast for those, like me, that loves digging into Tolkien's writings beyond the canon stuff.]]> 3.46 2015 A História de Kullervo
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/13
date added: 2021/10/09
shelves:
review:
Tolkien is definitely one of my favorite authors ever, and I always seek to read everything that was posthumously published either by his son or by other scholars - to delve into the works Tolkien created bring me more clarity about who the professor and philologist was, and more about how his mythology evolved. But I understand this is not for everyone's taste.

In any case, 'tis so with Kullervo, precursor and main influence of Túrin Turambar, one of Tolkien's most infamous and tragic characters from The Silmarillion (and one of my personal favorites). But more than just highlighting the influences, this book - organized by professor Verlyn Flieger - brings us the manuscript in which there's evidence of how young Tolkien found out and fell in love with the Finnish Kalevala (to the point of almost losing his scholarship at the time).

Tolkien discovered it in the pre-First World War period - even before he himself was sent to the front - and bent himself over to retell the story his own particular way. This retelling was the first layer of sediments that would become Túrin's tale. It also was an opportunity to employ names of his own making that would later become the Qenya language.

Flieger's study is very interesting, and the manuscript equally fascinating. Like she said it herself, without the Kalevala there wouldn't be Tolkien's Kullervo, without whom there also wouldn't be Túrin's story. It's a feast for those, like me, that loves digging into Tolkien's writings beyond the canon stuff.
]]> O Amor nos Tempos do Cólera 510652 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Ainda muito jovem, o telegrafista, violinista e poeta Gabriel Elígio Garciá se apaixonou por Luiza Márquez, mas o romance enfrentou a oposição do pai da moça, coronel Nicolas, que tentou impedir o casamento enviando a filha ao interior numa viagem de um ano. Para manter seu amor, Gabriel montou, com a ajuda de amigos telegrafistas, uma rede de comunicação que alcançava Luiza onde ela estivesse. Essa é a história real dos pais de Gabriel García Márquez e foi ponto de partida de "O amor nos tempos do cólera", que acompanha a paixão do telegrafista, violinista e poeta Florentino Ariza por Fermina Daza.]]> 432 Gabriel García Márquez 850102872X Maira 4
For this specific love triangle, Gabo took from his parents' lives the source for the disillusionment: Luiza Márquez, in order to forget the love of her youth, Gabriel García - telegraphist and poet - is sent in a one-year trip to the countryside. just like it happens with the protagonists Fermina Daza and Fernando Ariza.

So yes, this is a novel in which we follow the distance and the solitude of unrequited love, unanswered love letters, doubts, and unlooked-for, impulsive reactions. It's a story that takes a lot of time to show us where it wants to go, but when it does... it's as beautiful as only Gabo knows how to do.

Also, if I could get a hand in the original in Spanish, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it a lot more.]]> 4.33 1985 O Amor nos Tempos do Cólera
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Maira
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/10
date added: 2021/10/07
shelves:
review:
This is one of the most famous novels by Gabriel García Márquez. It's a romance that takes its course several decades in one of the author's many fictional "pueblos", but that evokes the essence of early 20th century Colombia: civil war, plagues (here, cholera), landscapes covered in banana trees, the drowsiness provoked by intense heat, and the divergence of relationships.

For this specific love triangle, Gabo took from his parents' lives the source for the disillusionment: Luiza Márquez, in order to forget the love of her youth, Gabriel García - telegraphist and poet - is sent in a one-year trip to the countryside. just like it happens with the protagonists Fermina Daza and Fernando Ariza.

So yes, this is a novel in which we follow the distance and the solitude of unrequited love, unanswered love letters, doubts, and unlooked-for, impulsive reactions. It's a story that takes a lot of time to show us where it wants to go, but when it does... it's as beautiful as only Gabo knows how to do.

Also, if I could get a hand in the original in Spanish, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
]]> <![CDATA[A ciência dos bebês: Da gravidez aos 5 anos - como criar filhos inteligentes e felizes (Vida em família) (Portuguese Edition)]]> 22369526
O biólogo molecular e pesquisador John Medina esclarece, com dados de pesquisas científicas, uma série de questões como essas e explica como se desenvolve o cérebro de uma criança. Com descobertas recentes da ciência nas áreas de neurociência e psicologia, mostra como os pais podem ajudar na educação de filhos mais saudáveis, inteligentes e felizes.]]> 323 John Medina 8537810169 Maira 5 4.29 2010 A ciência dos bebês: Da gravidez aos 5 anos - como criar filhos inteligentes e felizes (Vida em família) (Portuguese Edition)
author: John Medina
name: Maira
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/09
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Uns e Outros: Contos Espelhados]]> 35573782
Na coletânea Uns e Outros: Contos Espelhados, a proposta foi reelaborar dez contos de grandes nomes da literatura mundial. Escritores que mudaram paradigmas técnicos, estilísticos e estéticos da literatura em diferentes épocas e lugares do mundo. Uma tarefa que teria sido ingrata, não fosse o time de escritores contemporâneos refletido do outro lado. Seus dez textos inéditos tomam rumos inesperados, distorcendo a narrativa antiga, alterando pontos de vista, atualizando cenários ou até criticando diretamente a obra original.

Não tenha medo de enfrentar os sentimentos contraditórios aqui suscitados; em Uns e Outros, seremos naturalmente conduzidos à reflexão � à qual o novo e o velho nunca devem estar imunes. Se o momento de "quebra canônica" já foi estabelecido desde a concepção deste projeto, como não ser crítico a tudo que nos atinge, como não continuar o processo analítico?

Vale lembrar da importância de termos acesso às visões da história sob diferentes pontos de vista, sejam eles ficcionalizados ou não � pois a literatura, sabemos, é um relevante canal para a diversidade. A condição de múltiplos contextos, que é a base para os contos, é também o cerne e a motivação para a analogia do espelho; saber do outro é saber-se outro.]]> 272 Helena Terra 858318092X Maira 3
Assim, temos as duplas: Jame Joyce e Beatriz Bracher sobre o dilema de uma filha; Ernest Hemingway e Luiz Antonio de Assis Brasil sobre o fim de um relacionamento; Clarice Lispector e Eliane Brum sobre sedução e pedofilia; Machado de Assis e Milton Hatoum sobre a emancipação de pais com valores burgueses; Monteiro Lobato e Ana Maria Gonçalves sobre racismo; Machado de Assis e Paulo Lins sobre a escravidão; Katherine Mansfield e Ivana Arruda Leite sobre o ideal de matrimônio para a mulher; Machado de Assis e José Luis Peixoto sobre a insatisfação constante dos artistas; Guy de Maupassant e Maria Valéria Rezende sobre a supervalorização das aparências; e, por fim, Liev Tolstói e Cristovão Tezza sobre a decepção nos valores dos sogros.

Como podem ver, os temas são muitos, e a maneira como são tratados, idem. Enquanto os contos clássicos assim o são por uma razão, as releituras são melhores e piores, o que torna a obra um tanto irregular. Mas, no geral, é interessante ver como os autores contemporâneos tratam os originais. Para mim, as melhores duplas foram Lispector & Brum (explosivas!), Machado & Peixoto e Maupassant & Rezende.

Além disso, é claro, alguns contos isolados funcionam maravilhosamente bem - Mansfield e Tolstói, sempre impressionantes de se ler.]]> 3.71 2017 Uns e Outros: Contos Espelhados
author: Helena Terra
name: Maira
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2020/10/11
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:
Nesta coletânea, organizada pela Tag Livros, foram selecionados 20 contos de autores brasileiros e estrangeiros para que fossem reescritos, re-interpretados e espelhados aos originais. Os autores convidados, variados como os clássicos, trazem para os nossos dias os temas tratados - muitas vezes, mais contemporâneos do que poderíamos pensar à primeira vista - ou invertem os pontos de vista dos personagens.

Assim, temos as duplas: Jame Joyce e Beatriz Bracher sobre o dilema de uma filha; Ernest Hemingway e Luiz Antonio de Assis Brasil sobre o fim de um relacionamento; Clarice Lispector e Eliane Brum sobre sedução e pedofilia; Machado de Assis e Milton Hatoum sobre a emancipação de pais com valores burgueses; Monteiro Lobato e Ana Maria Gonçalves sobre racismo; Machado de Assis e Paulo Lins sobre a escravidão; Katherine Mansfield e Ivana Arruda Leite sobre o ideal de matrimônio para a mulher; Machado de Assis e José Luis Peixoto sobre a insatisfação constante dos artistas; Guy de Maupassant e Maria Valéria Rezende sobre a supervalorização das aparências; e, por fim, Liev Tolstói e Cristovão Tezza sobre a decepção nos valores dos sogros.

Como podem ver, os temas são muitos, e a maneira como são tratados, idem. Enquanto os contos clássicos assim o são por uma razão, as releituras são melhores e piores, o que torna a obra um tanto irregular. Mas, no geral, é interessante ver como os autores contemporâneos tratam os originais. Para mim, as melhores duplas foram Lispector & Brum (explosivas!), Machado & Peixoto e Maupassant & Rezende.

Além disso, é claro, alguns contos isolados funcionam maravilhosamente bem - Mansfield e Tolstói, sempre impressionantes de se ler.
]]> <![CDATA[Grande sertão: veredas (graphic novel)]]> 30256774
Artista plástico, diretor de cinema e ilustrador, Guazzelli trabalhou a adaptação transpondo imagens e representações para os quadrinhos, dando à obra um ritmo cinematográfico. Com experiência na adaptação de clássicos da literatura brasileira para os quadrinhos, Rodrigo Rosa não se limita a retratar as paisagens do sertão, mas explora os seus contrastes. Do sol escaldante às noites mal iluminadas, a natureza se torna um elemento narrativo, que compõe o clima do romance gráfico.

Longe de ser uma adaptação que simplifica um clássico, a graphic novel respeita a complexidade de Grande Sertão: Veredas. O objetivo era alcançar um equilíbrio entre texto e imagem que estimulasse a imaginação do leitor, com o objetivo de tornar a HQ fluída como o monólogo de Riobaldo, sem descaracterizar a profundidade da obra.

O processo de transposição do universo de Guimarães Rosa para os quadrinhos levou quase três anos. Foram realizados diversos estudos para definir a aparência dos personagens, a seleção dos trechos e os melhores enquadramentos.]]> 180 Eloar Guazzelli Filho 8525059153 Maira 5 4.47 Grande sertão: veredas (graphic novel)
author: Eloar Guazzelli Filho
name: Maira
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/20
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Moll Flanders 38266 376 Daniel Defoe Maira 3
What makes this book special is the portrait of the society of his time from a woman's pov - and which Defoe deals with deftly. He questions, among many things, taboos and prejudices suffered by women, revealing important details of the social entanglement from that period.

Despite the fact that the feminine world from a male's perspective is not something that calls attention today, the book is fun, filled with turns, and gives us an overview of that society - and that is always intriguing imo. Still, as it's not separated by any type of chapter or division, the book might be a little tiresome and repetitive, even. If you bypass these little things, though, it's a pleasant and revealing read.]]> 3.24 1722 Moll Flanders
author: Daniel Defoe
name: Maira
average rating: 3.24
book published: 1722
rating: 3
read at: 2019/10/14
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:
This is a classic novel, published in 1719 and written in the first person in the form of memoirs. The author puts himself in the skin of one of the most infamous heroines of English literature (or so I heard) to tell her many misadventures in a very unconventional life - if the lives of thieves and prostitutes are polemic today, I can't imagine back then!

What makes this book special is the portrait of the society of his time from a woman's pov - and which Defoe deals with deftly. He questions, among many things, taboos and prejudices suffered by women, revealing important details of the social entanglement from that period.

Despite the fact that the feminine world from a male's perspective is not something that calls attention today, the book is fun, filled with turns, and gives us an overview of that society - and that is always intriguing imo. Still, as it's not separated by any type of chapter or division, the book might be a little tiresome and repetitive, even. If you bypass these little things, though, it's a pleasant and revealing read.
]]> O Alforje 38468220 336 Bahíyyih Nakhjavání 8583181004 Maira 4
The author narrates the story with magical treads that weave one character in the other and makes it so that every new version completes the one that came before in a captivating way. Religion is obviously a big theme, just like the sand and the perpendicular desert's sun (using her own analogies).

Apart from knowing more about a universe that is so different from mine - because Nakhjavani talks about everything concerning the human psyche - I felt like I was reading one of those fabulous stories from Sheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights. Pure magic!]]> 3.92 2000 O Alforje
author: Bahíyyih Nakhjavání
name: Maira
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2019/08/30
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:
This is not your usual story. It's as mystical as the dunes of the Arabian desert in the sacred road between Medina and Meca, ever-shifting with the wind. The story is very simple: one fateful day in the life of nine people traveling together in a caravansery after they find a mysterious saddlebag. The Thief, the Bride, the Leader, the Scalper, the Slave, the Pilgrim, the Priest, the Dervish, and the Corpse tell their versions about the day that changed everyone's lives in very different ways.

The author narrates the story with magical treads that weave one character in the other and makes it so that every new version completes the one that came before in a captivating way. Religion is obviously a big theme, just like the sand and the perpendicular desert's sun (using her own analogies).

Apart from knowing more about a universe that is so different from mine - because Nakhjavani talks about everything concerning the human psyche - I felt like I was reading one of those fabulous stories from Sheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights. Pure magic!
]]> A Insustentável Leveza do Ser 7167814
Quatro personagens protagonizam essa história: Tereza e Tomas,Sabina e Franz. Por força de suas escolhas ou por interferência do acaso, cada um deles experimenta, à sua maneira, o peso insustentável que baliza a vida,esse permanente exercício de reconhecer a opressão e de tentar amenizá-la.]]> 314 Milan Kundera Maira 4
At the time of the novel - 1968, when Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Soviet Union - the politically oppressive communist regimen is put against metaphysical questions, from Parmenides to Nietzsche. The author uses four characters to make his point, using philosophical concepts to explain the quest of finding oneself with their own sexuality and discovering the true meaning of human existence.

Sometimes erotic, sometimes scatologic, the author navigates profound themes like the one of the eternal return, chance and free will, fidelity and infidelity to weave these four characters in a web of love, betrayal, jealousy, and compassion. At times, he seemed to get "lost" inside the narrative - whether to talk about men's lost paradise, very much like his kinfolk Kafka, or the purity of animals and our unconditional love towards them - and at other times, he kept going on and on about the finitude of love and life. Still, his writing is fluid, casual, and, at the same time, immensely beautiful.

It was impossible to finish this reading without feeling a mix of tenderness and bitterness by the existential questions he makes us do. What kind of relationship do we have with one another? Are we heavy or light-weighted? Are we bright or dark? Strong or weak? Do we succumb or do we lead? Every choice we make, even when we don't make any at all, has some reflex in our lives - and Kundera tells us that there is no such thing as destiny: everything is a succession of little fortuitous events. A magnificent read!]]> 4.22 1984 A Insustentável Leveza do Ser
author: Milan Kundera
name: Maira
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2019/08/03
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:
It took me a while to plunge into the reading of this contemporary classic. From the first sentence on, the author brings forth abstract concepts - the levity vs the weight of what we are and what we carry with us - and I knew this would not be an ordinary reading.

At the time of the novel - 1968, when Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Soviet Union - the politically oppressive communist regimen is put against metaphysical questions, from Parmenides to Nietzsche. The author uses four characters to make his point, using philosophical concepts to explain the quest of finding oneself with their own sexuality and discovering the true meaning of human existence.

Sometimes erotic, sometimes scatologic, the author navigates profound themes like the one of the eternal return, chance and free will, fidelity and infidelity to weave these four characters in a web of love, betrayal, jealousy, and compassion. At times, he seemed to get "lost" inside the narrative - whether to talk about men's lost paradise, very much like his kinfolk Kafka, or the purity of animals and our unconditional love towards them - and at other times, he kept going on and on about the finitude of love and life. Still, his writing is fluid, casual, and, at the same time, immensely beautiful.

It was impossible to finish this reading without feeling a mix of tenderness and bitterness by the existential questions he makes us do. What kind of relationship do we have with one another? Are we heavy or light-weighted? Are we bright or dark? Strong or weak? Do we succumb or do we lead? Every choice we make, even when we don't make any at all, has some reflex in our lives - and Kundera tells us that there is no such thing as destiny: everything is a succession of little fortuitous events. A magnificent read!
]]> Retorno a Brideshead 37849098 Escrito sob o impacto da barbárie nazista e da aliança de países cristãos ocidentais com a Rússia comunista - algo diabólico para um conservador como Waugh -, o romance pode ser resumido numa frase: este mundo é feito de mudança e decadência. Com uma galeria de personagens que se deixam levar, na mesma medida, por instintos nobres e pelos sentimentos mais mesquinhos, Retorno a Brideshead tece um painel inigualável da aristocracia inglesa no entreguerras, quando o Império Britânico estava no auge e, ao mesmo tempo, à beira do declínio definitivo.]]> 390 Evelyn Waugh 8535930116 Maira 3
The story goes about the life of this prosperous family - but it can't hide the fact that the aristocratic way of life was in its final moments and the way Waugh tells about the decadence of everything and everyone is quite interesting. So far, his writing is delicate, melancholic, and very fluid.

But from half the book on, young Charles is replaced by an adult with such different ideas and values about life that I wondered if they were talking about the same person. His love life is as fruitless as it was in his youth and the third act is flooded by a religious feeling that comes out of nowhere, messes up with Ryder's happiness, and renders him powerless.

It's understandable when we read about Waugh's own life: he was obsessed with catholicism by the time, and this element couldn't *not* appear in the work - which, in my opinion, is a shame. I'm not a religious person and the idea that religion can mess up relationships is so far away in my reality that I just can't empathize with it. The author doesn't help, either.

The change of tone is too abrupt, which leads many readers to feel the narrative is slow-paced. They aren't wrong. What bothered me the most, though, was the lack of connection with the main character in his adult life - and with every other character - which didn't evoke in me any real emotion.]]> 3.47 1945 Retorno a Brideshead
author: Evelyn Waugh
name: Maira
average rating: 3.47
book published: 1945
rating: 3
read at: 2019/04/09
date added: 2021/10/04
shelves:
review:
Written like a memoirs book, from Charles Ryder youth and his happier days in Oxford, alongside Sebastian Flyte in the period between the two Great Wars. Besides drunk Sebastian, there is a series of intriguing characters like Antonio Blanche and the Flyte family (Julia, Cordelia, and Brideshead), and their parents, lord and lady Marchmain. Also, Brideshead's manner, in the outskirts of London, is a character in itself.

The story goes about the life of this prosperous family - but it can't hide the fact that the aristocratic way of life was in its final moments and the way Waugh tells about the decadence of everything and everyone is quite interesting. So far, his writing is delicate, melancholic, and very fluid.

But from half the book on, young Charles is replaced by an adult with such different ideas and values about life that I wondered if they were talking about the same person. His love life is as fruitless as it was in his youth and the third act is flooded by a religious feeling that comes out of nowhere, messes up with Ryder's happiness, and renders him powerless.

It's understandable when we read about Waugh's own life: he was obsessed with catholicism by the time, and this element couldn't *not* appear in the work - which, in my opinion, is a shame. I'm not a religious person and the idea that religion can mess up relationships is so far away in my reality that I just can't empathize with it. The author doesn't help, either.

The change of tone is too abrupt, which leads many readers to feel the narrative is slow-paced. They aren't wrong. What bothered me the most, though, was the lack of connection with the main character in his adult life - and with every other character - which didn't evoke in me any real emotion.
]]> A Época da Inocência 18304442 Apaixonado por ela e exasperado pelas restrições do mundo a que pertence, Archer vagará em busca da verdadeira felicidade ao mesmo tempo que procura amadurecer, imerso nas tradições que se vê obrigado a seguir.
“Um estudo das complexas e íntimas relações entre coesão social e crescimento individual�, como destaca na introdução Cynthia Griffin Wolff, ensaísta e especialista na obra da autora, A época da inocência é um olhar generoso para o passado; com maturidade, Wharton busca compreender os valores que guiaram a sociedade dos Estados Unidos até a Primeira Guerra Mundial, para então saudar a nova era que estava começando.
Com ecos do herói Christopher Newman, de O americano, de Henry James, e da trama de Anna Kariênina, de Tolstói, A época da inocência foi adaptado para o cinema em 1993 por Martin Scorcese.]]> 416 Edith Wharton 8563560735 Maira 5
Newland Archer is a young aristocrat used to the ways and traditions of the society - the one that dictated social rules and moral conduct. He is engaged to a perfect match, a girl that is everything this same society expects, but his life changes when he meets Ellen Olenska, a recently divorced woman (to the horror of all!) who comes back into their circle. She brings a million questions about the immorality of her actions - leaving her husband - and the lack of liberty of living a chosen life vs the one the society expected of you.

It's the story of an impossible love, so much deeper than simply "unrequited", that never came into being specifically because of the barriers society imposed on them, filled with the most realistic and saddest realization of the social roles they (and we) play, and the complete failure of the familial structure when we can't even argue with the ties that bounds us.

It's such a sad book, but so important and necessary. It made me think long after I finished reading about the hypocrisies of our surroundings - and that we keep reproducing, albeit sometimes unconsciously.]]> 4.09 1920 A Época da Inocência
author: Edith Wharton
name: Maira
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1920
rating: 5
read at: 2019/03/25
date added: 2021/10/04
shelves:
review:
Published in 1910 and winner of a Pulitzer, Wharton describes with propriety about New Yorker high society in the 19th century, amidst fas historical, social, and behavioral changes. And about those, Wharton is fully aware.

Newland Archer is a young aristocrat used to the ways and traditions of the society - the one that dictated social rules and moral conduct. He is engaged to a perfect match, a girl that is everything this same society expects, but his life changes when he meets Ellen Olenska, a recently divorced woman (to the horror of all!) who comes back into their circle. She brings a million questions about the immorality of her actions - leaving her husband - and the lack of liberty of living a chosen life vs the one the society expected of you.

It's the story of an impossible love, so much deeper than simply "unrequited", that never came into being specifically because of the barriers society imposed on them, filled with the most realistic and saddest realization of the social roles they (and we) play, and the complete failure of the familial structure when we can't even argue with the ties that bounds us.

It's such a sad book, but so important and necessary. It made me think long after I finished reading about the hypocrisies of our surroundings - and that we keep reproducing, albeit sometimes unconsciously.
]]> Beren e Lúthien 42646801 Escrito originalmente entre 1916 e 1917, o conto de Beren e Lúthien sofreu diversas mudanças e ajustes ao longo de toda a vida de J.R.R. Tolkien. Neste livro, seu filho, Christopher Tolkien, reuniu pela primeira vez as diferentes versões da lenda, escritas em diferentes épocas e em prosa ou em versos altamente musicais.
Ao lado de A Queda de Gondolin e Os Filhos de Húrin , Beren e Lúthien era considerado por Tolkien um dos Três Grandes Contos da Primeira Era. Cada um deles é apresentado, de forma resumida, em O Silmarillion, mas também foi desenvolvido por Christopher, cada qual, em um livro próprio. Dentre eles, talvez Beren e Lúthien fosse o mais apreciado, a nível pessoal, por seu próprio autor, que relacionava o romance mágico entre os dois protagonistas à sua própria história de amor com a esposa, Edith Bratt.
A grande aventura do casal é retratada através das belíssimas ilustrações do renomado artista Alan Lee, ganhador do Oscar de melhor direção de arte pela trilogia cinematográfica de O Senhor dos Anéis.]]> 368 J.R.R. Tolkien 8595083665 Maira 5 3.87 2017 Beren e Lúthien
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2019/03/14
date added: 2021/09/30
shelves:
review:
In a perhaps metalinguistic exercise, Christopher Tolkien brought to us unknown parts of the Lay of Leithian that were later discarded by his father. These alliterate verses are incredible examples of Tolkien's eximious ability to tell great stories. Well structured and rhythmic, inherently beautiful, the verses show us new facets of old characters - which I devoured, even if this is not my favorite tale of The Silmarillion.
]]> <![CDATA[Anne's House of Dreams [Illustrated edition]]]> 32569761 Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery


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Summary


Anne's own true love, Gilbert Blythe, is finally a doctor, and in the sunshine of the old orchard, among their dearest friends, they are about to speak their vows. Soon the happy couple will be bound for a new life together and their own dream house, on the misty purple shores of Four Winds Harbor.

A new life means fresh problems to solve, fresh surprises. Anne and Gilbert will make new friends and meet their neighbors: Captain Jim, the lighthouse attendant, with his sad stories of the sea; Miss Cornelia Bryant, the lady who speaks from the heart -- and speaks her mind; and the tragically beautiful Leslie Moore, into whose dark life Anne shines a brilliant light.

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]]> 330 L.M. Montgomery Maira 4
It's a savory comeback to the author's famed style that hooked me from book one, with all the details from Anne's life and those who surround her. This Anne talks to me a lot more than the previous ones. There are mysteries to be solved and lots and lots of personal stories to be told, with some of the most fascinating characters of the saga-

It's a shame, however, that the most beloved characters from the previous books appear very little or none at all. We have a few scenes with Marilla and no sort of correspondence between Anne and her old friends - Diana, Phil, Prissy, or Stella. After all this time, the series has become repetitive and episodic.

There are still two books in this collection and four more to complete the whole saga, but I will certainly read other things before returning to Anne. It would be a shame to waste the story just because I got a little tired of it.]]> 4.50 1917 Anne's House of Dreams [Illustrated edition]
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Maira
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1917
rating: 4
read at: 2019/03/07
date added: 2021/09/23
shelves:
review:
This fifth volume of the series is a direct continuation of Anne of the Island. We skip everything that happened in Windy Poplars straight to the much-awaited wedding with Gilbert - the first in Green Gables. A lovely ceremony, homely, and very special to all. Here we also follow her through her newly-wedded life in a little house in Four Winds Point, her new dreams, friends, and disillusionments.

It's a savory comeback to the author's famed style that hooked me from book one, with all the details from Anne's life and those who surround her. This Anne talks to me a lot more than the previous ones. There are mysteries to be solved and lots and lots of personal stories to be told, with some of the most fascinating characters of the saga-

It's a shame, however, that the most beloved characters from the previous books appear very little or none at all. We have a few scenes with Marilla and no sort of correspondence between Anne and her old friends - Diana, Phil, Prissy, or Stella. After all this time, the series has become repetitive and episodic.

There are still two books in this collection and four more to complete the whole saga, but I will certainly read other things before returning to Anne. It would be a shame to waste the story just because I got a little tired of it.
]]> Anne of Windy Poplars 35800972 246 L.M. Montgomery Maira 3
Not that this makes of Anne a less extraordinary person - on the contrary! She is still the girl whose smile melts even the toughest types, and whose altruistic attitudes always aim for the happiness of those who surround her. But the book lacks... soul.

Thus, I was a bit disappointed, especially by the way the last romance was carried through. On the other side, the author puts Anne like the heroine we all wanted to be - and the people she meets throughout the book are many, from sweet Elizabeth to bitter Katherine, fearful Dovie, and crazy Hazel. It's nice to see this other side of Anne: the exemplary friend that acts when no one else would. Still. I missed the "old" Anne.]]> 4.00 1936 Anne of Windy Poplars
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Maira
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1936
rating: 3
read at: 2019/02/27
date added: 2021/09/23
shelves:
review:
The fourth book of the series is not a part of the original collection - it was written in 1937, and one can tell. This visibly is the most distant from Anne's dreams and intimacy, and the one where we less explore her evolution as a person, focusing on the people around her, instead. In epistolary form, we know what happens because Anne tells her betrothed through letters - thus, we don't know some of her deepest troubles or the ones of her fianceé - whose name only appears in the headers of said letters.

Not that this makes of Anne a less extraordinary person - on the contrary! She is still the girl whose smile melts even the toughest types, and whose altruistic attitudes always aim for the happiness of those who surround her. But the book lacks... soul.

Thus, I was a bit disappointed, especially by the way the last romance was carried through. On the other side, the author puts Anne like the heroine we all wanted to be - and the people she meets throughout the book are many, from sweet Elizabeth to bitter Katherine, fearful Dovie, and crazy Hazel. It's nice to see this other side of Anne: the exemplary friend that acts when no one else would. Still. I missed the "old" Anne.
]]> <![CDATA[Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, #3)]]> 27411029 294 L.M. Montgomery Maira 5 favorites
But Anne of the Island is much more than just the continuation of a children's story or a beautiful novel. It's about growing up, re-encountering yourself and your loved ones, the loss of innocence, the beginning and the difficulties of adult life... It's like Montgomery wanted to remake the steps of the life she never had and took us to a world where her heroine can beat obstacles with levity, joy, and unshakable optimism. And that's why this third book is the best one of the series so far.

Anne goes to college, shares a house with friends, begins her literary life (as an author), meets new love interests, and suffers the typical disillusions of her age. Despite the secular lapse that separates the publication of this book and us, Anne is so very contemporary.

More than ever, she took me to look up to the sky more often - and appreciate the view - to search for the little refuges this city of stone provides, and certainly to look upon life with her kind of optimism. I think this is the final lesson we take from the book - one that is never too late to learn.]]> 4.48 1915 Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, #3)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Maira
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1915
rating: 5
read at: 2019/02/20
date added: 2021/09/23
shelves: favorites
review:
In less than a year, I was lucky enough to find yet another rare jewel amidst so many masterpieces that have changed the way I see the world. That it came from a children's book doesn't surprise me less.

But Anne of the Island is much more than just the continuation of a children's story or a beautiful novel. It's about growing up, re-encountering yourself and your loved ones, the loss of innocence, the beginning and the difficulties of adult life... It's like Montgomery wanted to remake the steps of the life she never had and took us to a world where her heroine can beat obstacles with levity, joy, and unshakable optimism. And that's why this third book is the best one of the series so far.

Anne goes to college, shares a house with friends, begins her literary life (as an author), meets new love interests, and suffers the typical disillusions of her age. Despite the secular lapse that separates the publication of this book and us, Anne is so very contemporary.

More than ever, she took me to look up to the sky more often - and appreciate the view - to search for the little refuges this city of stone provides, and certainly to look upon life with her kind of optimism. I think this is the final lesson we take from the book - one that is never too late to learn.
]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Green Gables (Anne Shirley Series #1)]]> 35956894 320 L.M. Montgomery 2377932754 Maira 5
It's not very difficult to imagine a portrait of Anne when she was 11 - when the narrative begins. Redhaired, freckled, talkative, lively, imaginative, and smart. With vital energy and contagious joy, Anne sees beauty in absolutely everything - including the sadness and difficulties her tender age provides.

Like any child - with a rich imagination - she is an agitated girl who loves life, her new friends, and acquaintances. Living by her side is like getting a blow of fresh air. Anne has made me dream with her as we watched the world from the window of her room, has made me laugh from her child's tribulations, and love her like the younger sister I never had.

I was even more surprised to see Anne become a more reasonable young woman - though still lively - with her feet on the ground more than on the clouds. The transition was a bit abrupt, and I felt like Marilla herself: that I could've watched Anne's childhood forever.]]> 4.56 1908 Anne of Green Gables (Anne Shirley Series #1)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Maira
average rating: 4.56
book published: 1908
rating: 5
read at: 2019/02/01
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves:
review:
After watching the Netflix show, I bought the entire collection for very little money. I only valued its worth after I started reading this first book - which had me hooked from page one.

It's not very difficult to imagine a portrait of Anne when she was 11 - when the narrative begins. Redhaired, freckled, talkative, lively, imaginative, and smart. With vital energy and contagious joy, Anne sees beauty in absolutely everything - including the sadness and difficulties her tender age provides.

Like any child - with a rich imagination - she is an agitated girl who loves life, her new friends, and acquaintances. Living by her side is like getting a blow of fresh air. Anne has made me dream with her as we watched the world from the window of her room, has made me laugh from her child's tribulations, and love her like the younger sister I never had.

I was even more surprised to see Anne become a more reasonable young woman - though still lively - with her feet on the ground more than on the clouds. The transition was a bit abrupt, and I felt like Marilla herself: that I could've watched Anne's childhood forever.
]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Avonlea (Anne Shirley Series #2)]]> 27207419 300 L.M. Montgomery Maira 4
Even though Anne has grown to reach her 17th year, she is still that dreamy girl who is filled with wonder about the beauty of the common things and is enraptured by nature's little gifts: a golden day of Autumn, the sunset that taints the mountains purple, the trees baring flowers, the white carpet in the wake of the snow...

We get to know the intimacy of Anne and her loved ones, and if they have tribulated hearts, they still grace her with wisdom, joy, and latent growth. Thus, almost without noticing, Anne of Avonlea ends in the middle of a curve, when Anne's life was still following the placid course of a river.

I was excited about the possibilities ahead of her. The new places and peoples, the new dreams! Like if I could relive my youth with a certain amount of nostalgia - nothing like time to make us forget the bad things - and make me greet that curious young woman that still lives inside of me. So, the reading is fast and delicious, and you will feel the loss when it ends with that note of melancholia. Anne is growing way too fast! But what a wonder it is to travel and live with these characters for a while, see the dreamy landscapes, and relearn how to dream wide awake.]]> 4.50 1909 Anne of Avonlea (Anne Shirley Series #2)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Maira
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1909
rating: 4
read at: 2019/02/13
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves:
review:
Imagine a book that hasn't exactly a beginning, a middle, or an ending, but it's capable of telling a story with all its little minutia, in the smallness of daily events. The adventures of Anne of Avonlea flow at a constant pace, bringing us closer to her everyday distresses or taking us to observe the world through another's.

Even though Anne has grown to reach her 17th year, she is still that dreamy girl who is filled with wonder about the beauty of the common things and is enraptured by nature's little gifts: a golden day of Autumn, the sunset that taints the mountains purple, the trees baring flowers, the white carpet in the wake of the snow...

We get to know the intimacy of Anne and her loved ones, and if they have tribulated hearts, they still grace her with wisdom, joy, and latent growth. Thus, almost without noticing, Anne of Avonlea ends in the middle of a curve, when Anne's life was still following the placid course of a river.

I was excited about the possibilities ahead of her. The new places and peoples, the new dreams! Like if I could relive my youth with a certain amount of nostalgia - nothing like time to make us forget the bad things - and make me greet that curious young woman that still lives inside of me. So, the reading is fast and delicious, and you will feel the loss when it ends with that note of melancholia. Anne is growing way too fast! But what a wonder it is to travel and live with these characters for a while, see the dreamy landscapes, and relearn how to dream wide awake.
]]> <![CDATA[El caballero de las espadas (Corum, #1)]]> 10438482 169 Michael Moorcock 8478130241 Maira 3 3.71 1971 El caballero de las espadas (Corum, #1)
author: Michael Moorcock
name: Maira
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1971
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/22
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves:
review:

]]> La reina de las espadas 10438488 176 Michael Moorcock 847813025X Maira 4 3.57 1971 La reina de las espadas
author: Michael Moorcock
name: Maira
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2019/01/18
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[El rey de las espadas (Tercer libro de Corum; Corum #3)]]> 10438510 172 Michael Moorcock 8478130268 Maira 4 3.74 1971 El rey de las espadas (Tercer libro de Corum; Corum #3)
author: Michael Moorcock
name: Maira
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2019/01/15
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Contos de Fadas 9807477
Cinderela, Chapeuzinho Vermelho, O Gato de Botas, A Bela e a Fera, O Pequeno Polegar, A Bela Adormecida, Branca de Neve, João e Maria, A Pequena Sereia, O Patinho Feio, João e o pé de feijão, A história dos três porquinhos e outros clássicos!

São ao todo 20 contos de fadas, bruxas, princesas, encantamentos e finais felizes! E ais: inclui biografia dos autores e 90 pinturas e desenhos, muitos deles raros, de ilustradores célebres como Arthur Rackham, Gustave Doré e Walter Crane.]]> 290 Charles Perrault 8537802743 Maira 3
Mas há outras estórias surpreendentes, muito diferentes daquelas contadas pela Disney na minha infância, como Cinderela, Branca de Neve e Os Sete Anões, A Pequena Sereia e Rapunzel. Foram essas as que mais me chamaram a atenção, tanto pela profundidade quanto pelo desenvolvimento de cada trama.

Apesar de não serem obras-primas, os contos continuam tendo efeito sobre as crianças e os adultos de hoje, e acho que é um excelente exemplar para se ter em casa.]]> 4.12 1697 Contos de Fadas
author: Charles Perrault
name: Maira
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1697
rating: 3
read at: 2018/12/27
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves:
review:
Coletânea dos contos clássicos que ouvimos desde pequenos, de Charles Perrault a autores anônimos, passando pelos óbvios irmãos Grimm e Hans Christian Andersen. Com ilustrações diversas do período em que foram publicados, os contos apresentam as versões originais de estórias como Os Três Porquinhos, Chapeuzinho Vermelho, Patinho Feio, João & Maria, João e o Pé de Feijão etc. E é engraçado ler uma coisa da qual sempre só ouvimos ser contada. A tal da história oral, passada de geração em geração.

Mas há outras estórias surpreendentes, muito diferentes daquelas contadas pela Disney na minha infância, como Cinderela, Branca de Neve e Os Sete Anões, A Pequena Sereia e Rapunzel. Foram essas as que mais me chamaram a atenção, tanto pela profundidade quanto pelo desenvolvimento de cada trama.

Apesar de não serem obras-primas, os contos continuam tendo efeito sobre as crianças e os adultos de hoje, e acho que é um excelente exemplar para se ter em casa.
]]> A Praça do Diamante 36694203 Num monólogo de profunda densidade psicológica, Rodoreda contrapõe o sofrimento pessoal da protagonista à dor coletiva de uma Espanha exausta e faminta. A suposta ingenuidade de Colometa, sempre à mercê dos acontecimentos e das pessoas ao seu redor, aparece nas entrelinhas através de uma linguagem elíptica, utilizada às vezes em um sentido ambíguo, com uma discreta ironia, com crueldade e agressividade ou com grande lirismo.]]> 253 Mercè Rodoreda 8542211871 Maira 4
A princípio, achei que não fosse gostar do livro. A história de Natàlia, ou Colometa - assim como a de tantas outras mulheres - começa com um homem sedutor, que se mostra apaixonado, mas com quem a relação nunca é plena e satisfatória. Sofrendo com a violência doméstica e psicológica, Colometa se vê envolta em uma vida alheia, algo que nunca havia sonhado para si.

Com o estourar da guerra civil - da qual Colometa não sabe mais do que rumores e miséria - provocados pela fome, ela deve sobreviver para seus filhos, uma vez que o marido se torna um miliciano contra o exército franquista. Mas há esperança. E essa é a grande beleza e o mérito do livro.

Não é só uma história de tristeza e sofrimento, mas também de redescoberta da felicidade, de permitir que outras pessoas venham ao nosso resgate, mesmo sem saber direito do que estamos sendo resgatados. No fim, pode-se ser contente. E é uma coincidência muito grande (e muito maravilhosa) que eu tenha lido A Praça do Diamante na mesma época em que conheci "El Mal Querer", novo disco da cantora espanhola Rosalía baseado num livro do século XIV, e que faz um eco incrível com a obra de Rodoreda (escrito em 1961): mesmo separados por tantos séculos, ambos tratam da violência de gênero e, mais importante, da superação e da redescoberta de uma vida digna. Ambos recomendadíssimos!]]> 4.14 1962 A Praça do Diamante
author: Mercè Rodoreda
name: Maira
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/10
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves:
review:
Tem alguns livros que ficam com a gente muito depois de terminada a leitura. É o caso de Praça do Diamante, premiada obra da catalã Mercè Rodoreda, traduzido diretamente do idioma para o português nesta edição especial.

A princípio, achei que não fosse gostar do livro. A história de Natàlia, ou Colometa - assim como a de tantas outras mulheres - começa com um homem sedutor, que se mostra apaixonado, mas com quem a relação nunca é plena e satisfatória. Sofrendo com a violência doméstica e psicológica, Colometa se vê envolta em uma vida alheia, algo que nunca havia sonhado para si.

Com o estourar da guerra civil - da qual Colometa não sabe mais do que rumores e miséria - provocados pela fome, ela deve sobreviver para seus filhos, uma vez que o marido se torna um miliciano contra o exército franquista. Mas há esperança. E essa é a grande beleza e o mérito do livro.

Não é só uma história de tristeza e sofrimento, mas também de redescoberta da felicidade, de permitir que outras pessoas venham ao nosso resgate, mesmo sem saber direito do que estamos sendo resgatados. No fim, pode-se ser contente. E é uma coincidência muito grande (e muito maravilhosa) que eu tenha lido A Praça do Diamante na mesma época em que conheci "El Mal Querer", novo disco da cantora espanhola Rosalía baseado num livro do século XIV, e que faz um eco incrível com a obra de Rodoreda (escrito em 1961): mesmo separados por tantos séculos, ambos tratam da violência de gênero e, mais importante, da superação e da redescoberta de uma vida digna. Ambos recomendadíssimos!
]]> Rei Édipo 35920016
Ele investiga o assassinato do rei que o precedeu. As provas, contudo, começam a sugerir que é ele mesmo o assassino. Édipo mergulha no horror de medos antigos, de profecias vagas. Essa é não só a mais célebre de todas as tragédias gregas (cuja perfeição formal tem sido notada desde a antiguidade - vejam-se, por exemplo, os comentários de Aristóteles na Poética), mas uma das obras literárias mais influentes - se não a mais influente - da cultura ocidental.]]> 237 Sophocles 8578760387 Maira 5 favorites 4.30 -429 Rei Édipo
author: Sophocles
name: Maira
average rating: 4.30
book published: -429
rating: 5
read at: 2018/11/26
date added: 2021/09/05
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> O Filho de Mil Homens 18685003 208 Valter Hugo Mãe 8540501732 Maira 5 favorites
Nessa bela história sobre aceitação de si e do próximo, o autor nos apresenta uma miríade de personagens que vão e vêm como ondas que se chocam na praia. A tímida e impura Isaura, o solitário Crisóstomo, o órfão Camilo, a dura Matilde, o gay Antonino, a glutona Rosinha etc. Personagens que, embora pareçam determinados por características específicas, são não só um retrato específico de uma sociedade provinciana, mas também representam um universo todo de gente.

Assim como eles devem aceitar-se pelo que são, também nós devemos, acompanhando-os nessa trajetória de autodescobrimento e, de certa forma, modernização. É Camilo quem traz a certeza de convicções, em seu amor seguro. Daqueles livros bonitos e para os quais não se acha muitas palavras. Uma grande obra, talvez não a minha favorita (Baltazar Serapião foi o soco no estômago mais forte), mas grande e bonita. Como sempre.]]> 4.33 2011 O Filho de Mil Homens
author: Valter Hugo Mãe
name: Maira
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2018/09/30
date added: 2021/09/05
shelves: favorites
review:
Me parece sempre muito difícil falar desses livros que transcendem a minha experiência particular de vida, e quase todos os de Valter Hugo Mãe são assim. O Filho de Mil Homens não foge à regra. Usando uma linguagem ao mesmo tempo única e marcadamente regional (portuguesa), ele consegue abordar a universalidade do amor, compaixão e compreensão.

Nessa bela história sobre aceitação de si e do próximo, o autor nos apresenta uma miríade de personagens que vão e vêm como ondas que se chocam na praia. A tímida e impura Isaura, o solitário Crisóstomo, o órfão Camilo, a dura Matilde, o gay Antonino, a glutona Rosinha etc. Personagens que, embora pareçam determinados por características específicas, são não só um retrato específico de uma sociedade provinciana, mas também representam um universo todo de gente.

Assim como eles devem aceitar-se pelo que são, também nós devemos, acompanhando-os nessa trajetória de autodescobrimento e, de certa forma, modernização. É Camilo quem traz a certeza de convicções, em seu amor seguro. Daqueles livros bonitos e para os quais não se acha muitas palavras. Uma grande obra, talvez não a minha favorita (Baltazar Serapião foi o soco no estômago mais forte), mas grande e bonita. Como sempre.
]]> A Queda de Gondolin 41745547
A história da Queda de Gondolin começou a ser escrita em 1916 e agora ganha vida graças ao trabalho editorial de Christopher Tolkien, filho e executor legal das obras de Tolkien. Dessa forma cumprem-se duas sinas: a dos Elfos noldorin na Primeira Era do mundo e a do autor, ao conseguir publicar individualmente os três Grandes Contos dos Dias Antigos

Fechando a mitologia da Terra-média, A Queda de Gondolin, assim como Beren e Lúthien e Os Filhos de Húrin, foi ricamente ilustrada pelo renomado artista britânico Alan Lee, que retrata a fantasia de Tolkien há mais de 30 anos.

OBS: Houve pré-venda dessa edição + pôster sob o ISBN 9780000185488]]> 288 J.R.R. Tolkien 8595083657 Maira 5 favorites 4.18 2018 A Queda de Gondolin
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/09/09
date added: 2021/09/05
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> Os Miseráveis 17795854 1976 Victor Hugo 8540502321 Maira 5 favorites
I identified with the light the Bishop of Digne gave to Jean Valjean, had compassion for Fantine, cried because of Mr. Madaleine's goodness, laughed with Gavroche, was mad at Jondrette and felt sorry for Éponine. I felt in my skin Marius' solitude and lack of friends - and fell in love with him, just like Cosette. I suffered, I cried and felt profoundly each step, each misstep, and uncertainty.

The story is about the sanctification of a man who feels bound by a debt he will never be able to pay. More than that, it's the history of France, each facet of its complexity condensed in a character. Weaving together an enormous dramatic charge with his vision of the period, Victor Hugo creates a highly complex and objective narrative, in which a whole chapter about a certain historical fact will serve to better explain the situation of the characters, creating a contagious wave of empathy. The themes, by the way, are real lessons: the Revolution of 1789, the Bonapartist empire, the battle of Waterloo, the Restoration, the barricades of 1832 and 1848, the kings and nobles who lost their heads...

But, above all, Paris. The city of light is glorified for a thousand reasons, but it's also the epicenter of filth. We get to know its evildoers, its inextricable prison, the boys that run along the streets, and we even get a lesson about the construction, preservation, and ampliation of its sewers in one of the most thrilling chapters of the book.

It's a masterpiece, and it couldn't leave me untouched, indeed. Good it's out there to be read and re-read lots of times!]]> 4.67 1862 Os Miseráveis
author: Victor Hugo
name: Maira
average rating: 4.67
book published: 1862
rating: 5
read at: 2018/08/22
date added: 2021/09/05
shelves: favorites
review:
Some books are capable of changing our lives. I can't put into words how much writers like Tolkien, Dostoevsky and Guimarães Rosa changed my way of seeing the world. Now, Victor Hugo joins the list. Les Miserables was a milestone not only as a reader but also in my personal life. Even before I got to page 100 (of the almost 2 thousand), I knew I would never be the same again. That goes beyond the literary hangover or the mourning for characters I would never more follow, this romance taught me a lot about myself. Isn't that what literature is all about?

I identified with the light the Bishop of Digne gave to Jean Valjean, had compassion for Fantine, cried because of Mr. Madaleine's goodness, laughed with Gavroche, was mad at Jondrette and felt sorry for Éponine. I felt in my skin Marius' solitude and lack of friends - and fell in love with him, just like Cosette. I suffered, I cried and felt profoundly each step, each misstep, and uncertainty.

The story is about the sanctification of a man who feels bound by a debt he will never be able to pay. More than that, it's the history of France, each facet of its complexity condensed in a character. Weaving together an enormous dramatic charge with his vision of the period, Victor Hugo creates a highly complex and objective narrative, in which a whole chapter about a certain historical fact will serve to better explain the situation of the characters, creating a contagious wave of empathy. The themes, by the way, are real lessons: the Revolution of 1789, the Bonapartist empire, the battle of Waterloo, the Restoration, the barricades of 1832 and 1848, the kings and nobles who lost their heads...

But, above all, Paris. The city of light is glorified for a thousand reasons, but it's also the epicenter of filth. We get to know its evildoers, its inextricable prison, the boys that run along the streets, and we even get a lesson about the construction, preservation, and ampliation of its sewers in one of the most thrilling chapters of the book.

It's a masterpiece, and it couldn't leave me untouched, indeed. Good it's out there to be read and re-read lots of times!
]]> A casa das belas adormecidas 18137351 124 Yasunari Kawabata Maira 3
And all of this inside Japan's highly sexist society in a time which women were seeing as prizes to be won. Still, the author was Avant-guard for his time when he embedded a lot of temperament in one of the main character's daughters.

Though the way the author and his character see the world is interesting (from a literary pov), I didn't feel I was a part of it - thus my detachment from the book. Nevertheless, I recognize the things that made him get such a prize as the Nobel: Kawabata mixes, with simplicity and fluidity, typical cultural elements from the perspective of an improbable protagonist, about a controversial theme. Isn't this the recipe for success?]]> 3.59 1961 A casa das belas adormecidas
author: Yasunari Kawabata
name: Maira
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1961
rating: 3
read at: 2018/11/01
date added: 2021/09/05
shelves:
review:
This is the first Nobel-winning book I've ever read. My expectations were very high and I was not disappointed - especially because I didn't know what I was going to find. Certainly, it's not the book of my life. Kawabata caused a frisson when this was published for its erotic content. He describes vividly women's forms, factions, and the things that attract a man.

And all of this inside Japan's highly sexist society in a time which women were seeing as prizes to be won. Still, the author was Avant-guard for his time when he embedded a lot of temperament in one of the main character's daughters.

Though the way the author and his character see the world is interesting (from a literary pov), I didn't feel I was a part of it - thus my detachment from the book. Nevertheless, I recognize the things that made him get such a prize as the Nobel: Kawabata mixes, with simplicity and fluidity, typical cultural elements from the perspective of an improbable protagonist, about a controversial theme. Isn't this the recipe for success?
]]> As Três Marias 36535326 223 Rachel de Queiroz 8503013371 Maira 4
Mas não é por ser simples que deixa de ser extremamente cativante e bonita. É, aliás, justamente por ser tão direta e sem rodeios que o enredo seja tão eficaz. Muito mais difícil do que escrever complicado é escrever de maneira simples e suscinta. Tanto é assim que essa característica foi elogiada por ninguém menos do que Mario de Andrade, que assina uma crítica do livro nesta bela edição da Tag.

Como já dizem os bons escritores, "menos é mais" e aqui é muito mais. Rachel nos transporta ao internato, à vida pacata no interior do Ceará, e à agitação da cidade grande (Rio de Janeiro). E vai além, nos transporta ao corpo e ao coração de uma jovem das décadas de 30 e 40. Pude imaginar minha avó e minha mãe, que moraram em Minas Gerais durante bom tempo.

Simples e bonito, sim. Quem dera eu ser capaz de passar tantos sentimentos e ideias com tão poucas palavras. Um talento, de fato.]]> 3.91 1939 As Três Marias
author: Rachel de Queiroz
name: Maira
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1939
rating: 4
read at: 2018/10/21
date added: 2021/09/05
shelves:
review:
Nunca antes tinha lido um livro de Rachel de Queiróz e fiquei muito feliz de ter começado com este As Três Marias. Embora não seja o livro de maior sucesso da autora, sua escrita é de uma leveza e simplicidade brutais.

Mas não é por ser simples que deixa de ser extremamente cativante e bonita. É, aliás, justamente por ser tão direta e sem rodeios que o enredo seja tão eficaz. Muito mais difícil do que escrever complicado é escrever de maneira simples e suscinta. Tanto é assim que essa característica foi elogiada por ninguém menos do que Mario de Andrade, que assina uma crítica do livro nesta bela edição da Tag.

Como já dizem os bons escritores, "menos é mais" e aqui é muito mais. Rachel nos transporta ao internato, à vida pacata no interior do Ceará, e à agitação da cidade grande (Rio de Janeiro). E vai além, nos transporta ao corpo e ao coração de uma jovem das décadas de 30 e 40. Pude imaginar minha avó e minha mãe, que moraram em Minas Gerais durante bom tempo.

Simples e bonito, sim. Quem dera eu ser capaz de passar tantos sentimentos e ideias com tão poucas palavras. Um talento, de fato.
]]> As Alegrias da Maternidade 36381846 308 Buchi Emecheta 8583180962 Maira 4
In her second marriage with an inferior man, Nnu Ego gives birth nine times - and it takes everything she is: blood, sweat, tears, and happiness to survive the misery of Lagos and raise her children with dignity. This book is a great appeal not only to the lack of male responsibility when raising children and taking care of the house - in a scenery that is slowly, but progressively, changing - but it also puts us in the center of an African tradition, breaking regional tabus and teaching us about the history of the Igbo people and the country.

It reads extremely fast - I devoured it in a few days - and it's captivating. We hope that Nnu Ego is able to overcome her conditions and set her children for a better, more modern future at the same time that we wish that she won't lose her roots and traditions along the way.]]> 4.55 1979 As Alegrias da Maternidade
author: Buchi Emecheta
name: Maira
average rating: 4.55
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at: 2018/08/30
date added: 2021/09/04
shelves:
review:
This book speaks to every woman - mothers, future mothers, or to those who couldn't/won't have children. The Joys of Motherhood is, after all, a very ironic title. Set in colonial Nigeria in the recent (but oh so distant) 1940s, when the British were still the local lords. The main character, Nnu Ego, born out of great love, believed she was cursed by her protector spirit and couldn't bear children in her first marriage.

In her second marriage with an inferior man, Nnu Ego gives birth nine times - and it takes everything she is: blood, sweat, tears, and happiness to survive the misery of Lagos and raise her children with dignity. This book is a great appeal not only to the lack of male responsibility when raising children and taking care of the house - in a scenery that is slowly, but progressively, changing - but it also puts us in the center of an African tradition, breaking regional tabus and teaching us about the history of the Igbo people and the country.

It reads extremely fast - I devoured it in a few days - and it's captivating. We hope that Nnu Ego is able to overcome her conditions and set her children for a better, more modern future at the same time that we wish that she won't lose her roots and traditions along the way.
]]> Capitão Feio: Identidade 36064781 100 Magno Costa 8542607988 Maira 3 3.71 2017 Capitão Feio: Identidade
author: Magno Costa
name: Maira
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2018/07/16
date added: 2021/09/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Memórias de um Sargento de Milícias]]> 6478888 168 Manuel Antônio de Almeida 8508046111 Maira 4
Pertencente ao movimento romântico em voga na época, o autor usa linguagem coloquial para retratar as camadas baixas da população - o que até então era novidade - e abusa da ironia para falar dessa sociedade. Muitos personagens, inclusive, são representações sociais e sequer possuem nome (a parteira, o compadre e a comadre, o tenente-coronel, etc). Manoel Antônio de Almeida se tornou referência por ter sido o primeiro a publicar um livro (de qualidade, diga-se) sobre os costumes do Brasil. Quando eu era mais xófem, este era obrigatório nas listas de leitura para o vestibular, mas lembro que a leitura foi bastante prazerosa.]]> 3.28 1854 Memórias de um Sargento de Milícias
author: Manuel Antônio de Almeida
name: Maira
average rating: 3.28
book published: 1854
rating: 4
read at: 2002/06/04
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
Escrito em formato de folhetins por Manoel Antônio de Almeida e publicado em 1852 no jornal Correio Mercantil, Memórias de Um Sargento de Milícias conta a história do travesso Leonardo. Abandonado pelos pais, ele vai morar com os padrinhos - que tentam, sem sucesso, convencê-lo a ser padre -, se apaixona por Luisinha e faz travessuras da infância à vida adulta.

Pertencente ao movimento romântico em voga na época, o autor usa linguagem coloquial para retratar as camadas baixas da população - o que até então era novidade - e abusa da ironia para falar dessa sociedade. Muitos personagens, inclusive, são representações sociais e sequer possuem nome (a parteira, o compadre e a comadre, o tenente-coronel, etc). Manoel Antônio de Almeida se tornou referência por ter sido o primeiro a publicar um livro (de qualidade, diga-se) sobre os costumes do Brasil. Quando eu era mais xófem, este era obrigatório nas listas de leitura para o vestibular, mas lembro que a leitura foi bastante prazerosa.
]]> As Bruxas 58789334 178 Roald Dahl Maira 4 4.00 1981 As Bruxas
author: Roald Dahl
name: Maira
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1981
rating: 4
read at: 2000/05/15
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Os mitos celtas 58789323
Qual é a sua origem?

O que há por trás dos mitos?

A história. As festas. Os rituais.

Os mitos celtas possuem tamanha força e energia interior que descobriram o caminho para que perpetuassem na lembrança dos europeus até se transformar em uma tradição própria do Ocidente em geral. A maneira como explicam o mundo é vibrante, dinâmica e bela, e está profundamente ligada à natureza, vivendo por si mesma. Foi isso que permitiu a eles atravessarem o tempo, sendo transmitidos de avós para netos por gerações, até se instalarem em nosso inconsciente coletivo e passarem a fazer parte do que chamamos de "o humo da memória". Quando nos aproximamos das lendas celtas, de seus heróis, de seus druidas, de seus deuses e de sua magia, temos a estranha impressão de recuperar uma parte esquecida - remota mas também presente - de nossa humanidade.]]> 125 Pedro Pablo G. Ney Maira 2 2.00 1996 Os mitos celtas
author: Pedro Pablo G. Ney
name: Maira
average rating: 2.00
book published: 1996
rating: 2
read at: 2010/06/07
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Enciclopédia das guerras 58789099
Enciclopédia das Guerras traz um panorama da história remota e recente, revelando o papel trágico mas decisivo dos conflitos bélicos no destino das sociedades humanas. O livro combina, de forma diversificada, análises das principais guerras, de suas batalhas mais significativas e dos comandantes mais destacados da história.

Gilbert afirma, em sua mais recente obra, que a partir de 3000 a.C. foi possível traçarmos a história da guerra com razoável segurança, dispondo de registros documentais e arqueológicos.

Enciclopédia das Guerras revela que o primeiro grande exército foi o dos assírios, cujo conhecimento de estratégias e táticas, definiram os padrões adotados por exércitos clássicos, posteriormente. Após o colapso de Roma no século V d.C., a guerra na Europa degenerou-se, e as legiões altamente treinadas deram lugar a bandos de cavaleiros saqueadores e indisciplinados. No Oriente, contudo, os exércitos do Islã, e posteriormente os dos mongóis, souberam explorar muito bem a força dos cavalos, erigindo impérios imensos no Oriente Médio e na Eurásia graças ao uso de grandes destacamentos de cavalaria.

As armas de guerra haviam mudado pouco desde os tempos antigos, contudo, a tecnologia da pólvora teve sua estréia nos campos de guerra ocidentais, assinalando os primórdios da preponderância militar européia.

Durante o século XX, passadas duas guerras mundiais, o balanço do poder migrou dos Estados europeus para os Estados Unidos e a União Soviética - essa perdendo o poder devido ao colapso do comunismo.

Apesar das muitas mudanças que tiveram lugar na história da guerra, certas constantes permanecem. O sucesso na guerra pertence àqueles que possuem o melhor treinamento, o municiamento, organização do exército, liderança (havendo má liderança o exército terá mau desempenho) e metas afins general e seus líderes. Quando a combinação entre metas e meios é deficiente, mesmo as nações mais poderosas podem fracassar - como foi o caso dos Estados Unidos no Vietnã.]]> 308 Adrian Gilbert Maira 4 4.00 2001 Enciclopédia das guerras
author: Adrian Gilbert
name: Maira
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2008/07/08
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Quase Memória: Quase Romance 36187195
Publicado em 1995, Quase Memória marcou a volta de Carlos Heitor Cony aos romances, após um hiato de mais de vinte anos. O livro recebeu importantes prêmios literários no brasil e, mais do que isso, conquistou o coração de milhares de leitores desde seu lançamento.]]> 272 Carlos Heitor Cony 8520941761 Maira 4
Mas como jornalista da velha guarda, dava para imaginar. Neste livro, Quase Memória, o autor conta uma espécie de autobiografia, uma espécie de romance, uma espécie de conto - daí o "quase" do título. Embora tente se encaixar em um único estilo, Cony flutua entre todos de maneira elegante e deliciosa. Os fatos misturam-se à ficção, e a única coisa da qual temos certeza, no final, é que não importa se os personagens e as situações não foram reais: Cony as fez sê-lo. O pai, protagonista inconteste, pode ter sido inventado ou não, e suas peripécias mais, mas o autor não deixa de transmitir uma infindável sensação de nostalgia e um quê de melancolia, que permanece com o leitor como o misterioso pacote permanece com ele.

É uma visita ao passado daquela família curiosa, de personagens muito reais (como a ditadura) e um retrato dos jornais, jornalistas e do Rio de Janeiro como não se lembra mais, nos idos dos anos 40 e 50. Leitura agradável, fácil e de uma descoberta daquelas que não tem mais volta: preciso ler mais de Cony - e assistir à adaptação pro cinema!]]> 3.92 1995 Quase Memória: Quase Romance
author: Carlos Heitor Cony
name: Maira
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2018/07/04
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
Existem tantos autores brasileiros bons, que às vezes me pergunto "como é que nunca ouvi falar nessa pessoa antes?". No caso de Carlos Heitor Cony - que eu sabia ser jornalista - foi quase o oposto. Eu sequer imaginava que ele havia escrito não um, mas uma dezena de livros de sucesso! Não sabia dos livros, nem que ele foi membro ativo da Academia Brasileira de Letras (até o começo deste ano, quando infelizmente faleceu) e muito menos de sua capacidade narrativa.

Mas como jornalista da velha guarda, dava para imaginar. Neste livro, Quase Memória, o autor conta uma espécie de autobiografia, uma espécie de romance, uma espécie de conto - daí o "quase" do título. Embora tente se encaixar em um único estilo, Cony flutua entre todos de maneira elegante e deliciosa. Os fatos misturam-se à ficção, e a única coisa da qual temos certeza, no final, é que não importa se os personagens e as situações não foram reais: Cony as fez sê-lo. O pai, protagonista inconteste, pode ter sido inventado ou não, e suas peripécias mais, mas o autor não deixa de transmitir uma infindável sensação de nostalgia e um quê de melancolia, que permanece com o leitor como o misterioso pacote permanece com ele.

É uma visita ao passado daquela família curiosa, de personagens muito reais (como a ditadura) e um retrato dos jornais, jornalistas e do Rio de Janeiro como não se lembra mais, nos idos dos anos 40 e 50. Leitura agradável, fácil e de uma descoberta daquelas que não tem mais volta: preciso ler mais de Cony - e assistir à adaptação pro cinema!
]]> The Ghost in the Shell 33290523 352 Masamune Shirow 8545702329 Maira 3
But... it's just a bit childish and disappointing. The jokes and caricatures to represent the character's moods just pulled me out of the plot entirely. Even though the highlighted features of their faces have a purpose and are quite characteristic of the Japanese manga, it removed a bit of the seriousness and depth of the story it wanted to tell.

The Ghost in the Shell is a hell of a espionage, treason, robotic replicas, and AI narrative - all of which was perfectly shown in the 95 movie. But it became quite clear why the director had to read this manga 20 times to catch all the social-political nuances. Somehow, they get lost amidst less important things.]]> 3.91 1989 The Ghost in the Shell
author: Masamune Shirow
name: Maira
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at: 2018/06/20
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
I don't usually read mangas, but I watch anime since I was a child. And among the famous cyberpunk animes, The Ghost in the Shell is certainly one of the most iconic. The 1995 movie was an adaptation of this book in specific, published in 1989. I really liked the anime movie, so my expectations for the manga were quite high.

But... it's just a bit childish and disappointing. The jokes and caricatures to represent the character's moods just pulled me out of the plot entirely. Even though the highlighted features of their faces have a purpose and are quite characteristic of the Japanese manga, it removed a bit of the seriousness and depth of the story it wanted to tell.

The Ghost in the Shell is a hell of a espionage, treason, robotic replicas, and AI narrative - all of which was perfectly shown in the 95 movie. But it became quite clear why the director had to read this manga 20 times to catch all the social-political nuances. Somehow, they get lost amidst less important things.
]]> <![CDATA[Vida y hazañas de Alejandro Magno (Spanish Edition)]]> 58518443 208 °ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ 842491158X Maira 4
Pseudo-°ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ es el pseudónimo de un autor alejandrino que vivió en el siglo III d. C. y decidió recontar la historia del fundador de su ciudad. Nadie sabe quien realmente fue Pseudo-°ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ, pero está claro que tuvo acceso a los manuscritos antiguos sobre el rey macedónio. Además, así quedo conocido porque °ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ fue el historiador oficial que acompañó a Alejandro en sus viajes por el oriente.

Este libro está lleno de absurdos históricos, agujeros e imprecisiones. El autor se inventa un montón de chorradas - empezando por hacer Alejandro el hijo de Nectanebo (sacerdote de Amón) ¡y no de Felipe II, rey de Macedónia! Pero si entendemos que el autor en cuestión era egipcio... bueno, lo dejamos pasar, ya que Amón era el equivalente a Zeus. Lo más curioso es que, aunque no tenga ningún sentido histórico, la historia divierte. Si una cosa Pseudo-°ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ supo hacer fue cautivar al público que le interesaba: el pueblo de Alejandría.]]> 3.00 Vida y hazañas de Alejandro Magno (Spanish Edition)
author: °ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ
name: Maira
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2018/05/30
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
A ver, para los que no conocéis nada de la vida de Alejandro, un consejo: no empezéis por este libro.

Pseudo-°ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ es el pseudónimo de un autor alejandrino que vivió en el siglo III d. C. y decidió recontar la historia del fundador de su ciudad. Nadie sabe quien realmente fue Pseudo-°ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ, pero está claro que tuvo acceso a los manuscritos antiguos sobre el rey macedónio. Además, así quedo conocido porque °ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ fue el historiador oficial que acompañó a Alejandro en sus viajes por el oriente.

Este libro está lleno de absurdos históricos, agujeros e imprecisiones. El autor se inventa un montón de chorradas - empezando por hacer Alejandro el hijo de Nectanebo (sacerdote de Amón) ¡y no de Felipe II, rey de Macedónia! Pero si entendemos que el autor en cuestión era egipcio... bueno, lo dejamos pasar, ya que Amón era el equivalente a Zeus. Lo más curioso es que, aunque no tenga ningún sentido histórico, la historia divierte. Si una cosa Pseudo-°ä²¹±ôí²õ³Ù±ð²Ô±ð²õ supo hacer fue cautivar al público que le interesaba: el pueblo de Alejandría.
]]> Viagem ao reino das sombras 58788985 96 Luiz Galdino Maira 5 4.00 2004 Viagem ao reino das sombras
author: Luiz Galdino
name: Maira
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 1996/05/27
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Astronauta: Assimetria 33947005 100 Danilo Beyruth 8542605357 Maira 4
Único quadrinho a ser transformado em série, as aventuras do Astronauta (nome próprio) são contadas levando em consideração o que há de mais atual em ficção científica e descobertas espaciais. Lidando com questões complexas da física - como magnetismo, espaço-tempo, buracos negros etc - a série, assinada por Danilo Beyruth e colorida por Cris Peter, sempre surpreende na maneira como coloca o argumento e lida com a vida pessoal do personagem que tanto conhecemos.]]> 4.01 2016 Astronauta: Assimetria
author: Danilo Beyruth
name: Maira
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2018/05/09
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
Quem diria que a Maurício de Souza Produções conseguiria fazer com que os leitores se apaixonassem de novo pelos mesmos personagens da nossa infância, né? Depois de ler estórias fantásticas sobre personagens secundários - as fábulas de Papa Capim, Piteco e Louco -, foi o menino Astronauta que, transformado em homem sério, cativou minha atenção.

Único quadrinho a ser transformado em série, as aventuras do Astronauta (nome próprio) são contadas levando em consideração o que há de mais atual em ficção científica e descobertas espaciais. Lidando com questões complexas da física - como magnetismo, espaço-tempo, buracos negros etc - a série, assinada por Danilo Beyruth e colorida por Cris Peter, sempre surpreende na maneira como coloca o argumento e lida com a vida pessoal do personagem que tanto conhecemos.
]]> <![CDATA[Praticamente Inofensiva (O Mochileiro das Galáxias, #5)]]> 10053222 Praticamente Inofensiva é tão polêmico quanto seu criador. Muitos o consideram o último volume da série O Mochileiro das Galáxias e outros afirmam tratar-se de um título independente, que apenas utiliza os mesmos personagens. Parte dessa controvérsia se deve aos 13 anos que separam este livro da primeira aventura de Arthur Dent, já que Adams iniciou a coleção no final dos anos 1970 e somente em 1992 retomou a história.

As inúmeras mudanças políticas, culturais e, principalmente, tecnológicas que aconteceram nesse período influenciaram os rumos da narrativa e tornaram Praticamente Inofensiva uma obra singular. Mas, em vez de perder o tom, Adams parece ainda mais irônico e profundo ao divagar sobre a vida, o Universo e tudo mais. Situações hilárias, personagens imprevisíveis, descrições poéticas e paisagens surrealistas se mesclam com perfeição, resultando numa trama cheia de suspense, comédia e filosofia. Depois de muitos anos, Arthur Dent, Tricia McMillan e Ford Prefect se reencontram. Mas o que deveria ser uma festejada reunião de velhos amigos se transforma numa terrível confusão que põe em risco a vida de todos.

Praticamente Inofensiva é o toque final de Adams nessa divertida história. Não importa se faz parte da "trilogia" ou não: ele é o último presente do autor para os mais de 15 milhões de fãs que adotaram sua obra como ícone de uma geração.

Usando e abusando da mesma imaginação ilimitada que demonstra nos livros anteriores, Adams apresenta em Praticamente Inofensiva uma Mistureba Generalizada de Todas as Coisas que fizeram da coleção um grande sucesso ao redor da Borda Ocidental desta Galáxia.]]> 191 Douglas Adams 8599296981 Maira 4
It is fund and irreverent as usual, with its little hints of sentimentality (only to destroy it a second later). The reading is not as engaging as the others but it flies by just the same. I wish it was one of those endless series in which I never had to stop because the reading is so enjoyable I could do it forever. A pity it was over!]]> 3.82 1992 Praticamente Inofensiva (O Mochileiro das Galáxias, #5)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Maira
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2018/04/20
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
The last volume of this "trilogy" tries to tie up the loose ends of the story - and I say try because it doesn't really succeed. What is more: Adams seemed to know it. Here, Ford is in imminent danger, Trillian lives as a reporter on the Earth that was-but-wasn't destroyed, and Arthur leads a peaceful life on a planet very similar to his own. Even though the three of them are in apparently different temporal spaces, they are also forced into a bizarre rencounter - motivated by a fourth, mysterious, and unpredictable character.

It is fund and irreverent as usual, with its little hints of sentimentality (only to destroy it a second later). The reading is not as engaging as the others but it flies by just the same. I wish it was one of those endless series in which I never had to stop because the reading is so enjoyable I could do it forever. A pity it was over!
]]> <![CDATA[Até Mais, e Obrigado pelos Peixes! (O Mochileiro das Galáxias, #4)]]> 10053178 142 Douglas Adams 8599296973 Maira 5 3.96 1984 Até Mais, e Obrigado pelos Peixes! (O Mochileiro das Galáxias, #4)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Maira
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1984
rating: 5
read at: 2017/11/29
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
This is a very different book from all the rest, but it's still great. Dent is back on his Earth (yep, the one that had been destroyed) and he meets Fenny, a very special girl: the very same that discovered the secret to the Universe, the answer for everything - seconds before Earth exploded lol. With funny comings and goings in the character's stories, Arthur and Fenny start dating - which is romantic and cute - and try to figure out what the hell happened that the Earth is still there. The CIA claims it was all a hallucination, but Arthur and Fenny remember too much! The book is entertaining and I really liked it - even if it has no space travels at all and very little interaction with the other characters.
]]> O morro dos ventos uivantes 48616318 370 Emily Brontë 8594318235 Maira 2
But Catherine and Heathcliff's love is more than ardent and intense - it's suicidal! And it's just... not for me. I couldn't connect with that relationship, couldn't see that as anything but craziness. That, to me, is not love. Of course, I understand their feelings - I just couldn't relate, especially because it's violent and abusive, and all the romantic parts are left unsaid. All that remains is the bad, the bitter, and the visceral. To those who have been in an abusive relationship, this could be especially triggering.

I know and I recognize it's a remarkable book, a classic, but I'm not a fan of hateful characters, be it in books or films.]]> 3.91 1847 O morro dos ventos uivantes
author: Emily Brontë
name: Maira
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1847
rating: 2
read at: 2017/11/30
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
This book was... difficult. Despite its relatively simple story, it has so many chaotic and psychologically disturbed characters that I couldn't really engage with any - at some point, I wished they were all dead or suffering terrible punishments. And I guess that's the spirit of Wuthering Heights? This book has no pity for the reader and, if you're looking for a romance like Jane Austen's... well, it might disappoint. The romance depicted here is sordid and cruel. If you're looking for comfort, you'll only find hard words and even harder people. If you're looking for some fun, it's going to be as fleeting as the English Summer. And, of course, that's Emily Brontë's merit.

But Catherine and Heathcliff's love is more than ardent and intense - it's suicidal! And it's just... not for me. I couldn't connect with that relationship, couldn't see that as anything but craziness. That, to me, is not love. Of course, I understand their feelings - I just couldn't relate, especially because it's violent and abusive, and all the romantic parts are left unsaid. All that remains is the bad, the bitter, and the visceral. To those who have been in an abusive relationship, this could be especially triggering.

I know and I recognize it's a remarkable book, a classic, but I'm not a fan of hateful characters, be it in books or films.
]]> <![CDATA[A Vida, o Universo e Tudo Mais (O Mochileiro das Galáxias, #3)]]> 12419046
Talvez Arthur até preferisse continuar isolado em sua caverna escura, úmida e fedorenta a encarar a próxima aventura para a qual seria forçosamente arrastado: salvar o universo dos temíveis robôs xenófobos do planeta Krikkit.]]> 160 Douglas Adams 8599296965 Maira 5 favorites
After escaping his nemesis, Agrajag - the infinitely reborn and who always dies (without intent) by Dent's hands or feet - Arthur is finally rescued by Slartiblartfast to help save the Universe from the murder xenophobe robots of Krikkit planet. And he goes, of course, alongside Ford and Trillian that improbably (like everything else in this saga) just reappear in the narrative. Adams touches the racial problems in Krikkit as a reflex of our own society and manages to write a narrative that keeps being intriguing, entertaining, intelligent, ridiculously funny, and filled with surprising turnarounds.]]> 3.96 1982 A Vida, o Universo e Tudo Mais (O Mochileiro das Galáxias, #3)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Maira
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at: 2017/11/23
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves: favorites
review:
The third book is, by far, one of the best things I've read. It's titled after the question posed to the computer in the first book, and it has the best jokes and the most intelligent satires. We are again with Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect - abandoned by Trillian and Zaphod in pre-historical Earth. Dent is forced to observe the true ancestors of the human race (highly bureaucratic and idiotic aliens), and spends five years living in a dark cave (hello, Plato) and learning how to fly (yeah, you've got that right lol).

After escaping his nemesis, Agrajag - the infinitely reborn and who always dies (without intent) by Dent's hands or feet - Arthur is finally rescued by Slartiblartfast to help save the Universe from the murder xenophobe robots of Krikkit planet. And he goes, of course, alongside Ford and Trillian that improbably (like everything else in this saga) just reappear in the narrative. Adams touches the racial problems in Krikkit as a reflex of our own society and manages to write a narrative that keeps being intriguing, entertaining, intelligent, ridiculously funny, and filled with surprising turnarounds.
]]> <![CDATA[Antologia da Literatura Fantástica]]> 18457911
Do filósofo Martin Buber ao explorador Richard Burton, passando pela tradição dos contos orientais, além de Cortázar, Kafka, Cocteau, Joyce, Wells e Rabelais, são 75 histórias � não só contos, como fragmentos de romance e peças de teatro -- que nos apresentam uma literatura marcada pelo imaginário e por um modo diferente de representar a realidade.]]> 448 Jorge Luis Borges 8540504545 Maira 5 favorites
A coletânea fantástica (com o perdão do trocadilho), organizada por Adolfo Bioy Casares e Jorge Luís Borges - dois mestres deste quase-gênero - expõe alguns conceitos para definir, afinal, o que é a literatura fantástica e quais suas marcas registradas. Os exemplos que citei acima se encaixam, mas há muitos outros.

Na coleção, os contos foram escolhidos a dedo pelos organizadores, que também traduziram a maioria, e que depois ganhou novos adendos com a colaboração de Ursula Le Guin e Silvina Ocampo. Não tenho um só favorito, senão vários, como "Enoch Soames" (Max Beerbohm), "Sombras Costuma Vestir" (José Bianco), "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" (J. L. Borges), "O Destino é Bronco" (A. Cancela e P. de Lusarreta), "Casa Tomada" (Júlio Cortázar), o maravilhoso, talvez o melhor, "Um Lar Sólido" (Elena Garro), "O Conto Mais Belo do Mundo" (Rudyard Kipling) e "O Caso do Finado Mr. Elvesham" (H. G. Wells). São tantos exemplos que fica difícil, realmente, defini-lo. É ficção, sem dúvida, mas com um quê de assombroso. Fantasmas, monstros e transformações físicas são alguns temas recorrentes, mas não os únicos - como bem explicam os mestres.

Gênero ou não, catalogada ou não, a literatura fantástica beira ao surrealismo - embora muito realista -, e torna esta coletânea absolutamente imperdível aos amantes de boas estórias. E que deleite indescritível é namorar um livro por tanto tempo e, enfim, recomendá-lo. Mil vezes hurra à fantasia!]]> 4.27 1940 Antologia da Literatura Fantástica
author: Jorge Luis Borges
name: Maira
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1940
rating: 5
read at: 2018/03/22
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves: favorites
review:
O que é a literatura fantástica? Como definimos um gênero que não está ainda classificado como tal, e não é assim disposto nas livrarias? Para mim, realismo e literatura fantástica são um só - e, descobri, o meu favorito - gênero ou não. Seja sobre uma família cujos nomes perduram por várias gerações, a história de um escritor fracassado que vende a alma ao diabo, um menino abençoado que cura as mazelas de todo um povoado ou uma epidemia inexplicável que cega toda a população, a literatura fantástica perpassa grande parte da literatura de ficção.

A coletânea fantástica (com o perdão do trocadilho), organizada por Adolfo Bioy Casares e Jorge Luís Borges - dois mestres deste quase-gênero - expõe alguns conceitos para definir, afinal, o que é a literatura fantástica e quais suas marcas registradas. Os exemplos que citei acima se encaixam, mas há muitos outros.

Na coleção, os contos foram escolhidos a dedo pelos organizadores, que também traduziram a maioria, e que depois ganhou novos adendos com a colaboração de Ursula Le Guin e Silvina Ocampo. Não tenho um só favorito, senão vários, como "Enoch Soames" (Max Beerbohm), "Sombras Costuma Vestir" (José Bianco), "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" (J. L. Borges), "O Destino é Bronco" (A. Cancela e P. de Lusarreta), "Casa Tomada" (Júlio Cortázar), o maravilhoso, talvez o melhor, "Um Lar Sólido" (Elena Garro), "O Conto Mais Belo do Mundo" (Rudyard Kipling) e "O Caso do Finado Mr. Elvesham" (H. G. Wells). São tantos exemplos que fica difícil, realmente, defini-lo. É ficção, sem dúvida, mas com um quê de assombroso. Fantasmas, monstros e transformações físicas são alguns temas recorrentes, mas não os únicos - como bem explicam os mestres.

Gênero ou não, catalogada ou não, a literatura fantástica beira ao surrealismo - embora muito realista -, e torna esta coletânea absolutamente imperdível aos amantes de boas estórias. E que deleite indescritível é namorar um livro por tanto tempo e, enfim, recomendá-lo. Mil vezes hurra à fantasia!
]]> <![CDATA[O Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias (O Mochileiro das Galáxias, #1)]]> 10052680 O guia do mochileiro das galáxias vem encantando gerações de leitores ao redor do mundo com seu humor afiado. Este é o primeiro título da famosa série escrita por Douglas Adams, que conta as aventuras espaciais do inglês Arthur Dent e de seu amigo Ford Prefect. A dupla escapa da destruição da Terra pegando carona numa nave alienígena, graças aos conhecimentos de Prefect, um E.T. que vivia disfarçado de ator desempregado enquanto fazia pesquisa de campo para a nova edição do Guia do mochileiro das galáxias, o melhor guia de viagens interplanetário.

Mestre da sátira, Douglas Adams cria personagens inesquecíveis e situações mirabolantes para debochar da burocracia, dos políticos, da "alta cultura" e de diversas instituições atuais. Seu livro, que trata em última instância da busca do sentido da vida, não só diverte como também faz pensar.]]> 160 Douglas Adams 8599296949 Maira 5 favorites
Irreverent, brilliant, and hilarious, this first volume introduces us to absurd (but brilliant) ideas, like the fact that Earth and humans were a project ordered by white rats, and we are just part of a social experiment - or even the fact that dolphins were the only species that knew all about it.

This book never loses its breath and the author gives us complex situations regarding astrophysics (and astronaut stuff) clearly and efficiently, and it never sounds boring or makes us, the readers, feel like we're stupid. ]]> 4.23 1979 O Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias (O Mochileiro das Galáxias, #1)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Maira
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at: 2017/11/18
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves: favorites
review:
When I read this book, I finally understood why it's considered a classic and an icon of North-American pop culture. The "trilogy of five volumes" begins with the earthling Arthur Dent and the alien Ford Prefect, and their magnificent escape from the destruction of Earth. In space, it's where Arthur will learn everything about the universe, life, and everything else.

Irreverent, brilliant, and hilarious, this first volume introduces us to absurd (but brilliant) ideas, like the fact that Earth and humans were a project ordered by white rats, and we are just part of a social experiment - or even the fact that dolphins were the only species that knew all about it.

This book never loses its breath and the author gives us complex situations regarding astrophysics (and astronaut stuff) clearly and efficiently, and it never sounds boring or makes us, the readers, feel like we're stupid.
]]> <![CDATA[O Padeiro Que Fingiu Ser Rei de Portugal]]> 18631816 368 Ruth MacKay 8532528562 Maira 4
A autora Ruth MacKay faz um relato minucioso das histórias da Espanha e Portugal em um episódio que marcou ambos os reinos: Dom Sebastião, último rei de Portugal antes da anexação pela Espanha, faz uma guerra insensata no Marrocos e de lá, diziam, não voltou jamais. “Diziam�, pois boatos também falavam que o jovem rei não havia morrido, e retornaria para reclamar o trono do espanhol Felipe II - que, por pertencer à linha sucessória, herdou e anexou Portugal, criando a Península Ibérica. Nasceu, assim, a lenda do "sebastianismo".

Daí para surgirem impostores que diziam ser Dom Sebastião foi um pulo. E MacKay analisa um dos casos mais famosos e que muito preocupou o monarca espanhol: o do padeiro de Madrigal de las Altas Torres. O tal padeiro, Gabriel Espinosa, foi dissuadido por um frei, Miguel, que se passasse por Sebastião, para assim reclamar o trono português e, se desse sorte, casar-se com uma neta bastarda do imperador Carlos V (pai de Felipe), "doña" Ana de Ãustria.

O relato detalhado conta quem foi quem na conspiração, tudo o que fizeram, as confissões que foram ditas e as que foram inventadas (arrancadas por meio da tortura inquisitorial), as suspeitas, as intrigas e, o mais interessante, o contexto histórico de cada país envolvido e das cidades à época (fim do século XVI) - tudo com bibliografia extensa e referências muito bem documentadas. Um jeito diferente de ler, fazer e estudar história, que se torna prazeroso, divertido e, neste caso, quase voyeurístico.]]> 3.67 2012 O Padeiro Que Fingiu Ser Rei de Portugal
author: Ruth MacKay
name: Maira
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2018/03/16
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
Não se enganem: este livro não é um romance! Mas, para ser um estudo histórico, é muito mais interessante do que imaginei.

A autora Ruth MacKay faz um relato minucioso das histórias da Espanha e Portugal em um episódio que marcou ambos os reinos: Dom Sebastião, último rei de Portugal antes da anexação pela Espanha, faz uma guerra insensata no Marrocos e de lá, diziam, não voltou jamais. “Diziam�, pois boatos também falavam que o jovem rei não havia morrido, e retornaria para reclamar o trono do espanhol Felipe II - que, por pertencer à linha sucessória, herdou e anexou Portugal, criando a Península Ibérica. Nasceu, assim, a lenda do "sebastianismo".

Daí para surgirem impostores que diziam ser Dom Sebastião foi um pulo. E MacKay analisa um dos casos mais famosos e que muito preocupou o monarca espanhol: o do padeiro de Madrigal de las Altas Torres. O tal padeiro, Gabriel Espinosa, foi dissuadido por um frei, Miguel, que se passasse por Sebastião, para assim reclamar o trono português e, se desse sorte, casar-se com uma neta bastarda do imperador Carlos V (pai de Felipe), "doña" Ana de Ãustria.

O relato detalhado conta quem foi quem na conspiração, tudo o que fizeram, as confissões que foram ditas e as que foram inventadas (arrancadas por meio da tortura inquisitorial), as suspeitas, as intrigas e, o mais interessante, o contexto histórico de cada país envolvido e das cidades à época (fim do século XVI) - tudo com bibliografia extensa e referências muito bem documentadas. Um jeito diferente de ler, fazer e estudar história, que se torna prazeroso, divertido e, neste caso, quase voyeurístico.
]]> Macanudo 1 (Macanudo, #1) 788209 96 Liniers 9505157576 Maira 5
Pero también vemos otros personajes curiosos, algunos más interesantes que otros. Unos tristes, otros felizes, algunos enfadados, otros resignados - y de ahí viene la poesia del argentino Liniers. Lidiar con el cotidiano (el suyo y el nuestro) de modo ligero y espectacular. Su humor es simple y sucinto - ¡piensa contar un chiste bueno en sólo tres cuadros!

Para quienes no lo conocen, es un buen punto de partida. Y, para quienes ya lo conocen, es un muy bienvenido regreso.]]> 4.35 2005 Macanudo 1 (Macanudo, #1)
author: Liniers
name: Maira
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2017/12/22
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
Siguiendo los pasos de la pequeña Mafalda, Enriqueta es una niña que cuestiona el mundo alredor suyo de manera profunda. Pero mucho más que sólo una chiquilla politizada, es una ávida lectora con la cual muchos de nosotros vamos a reconocernos. Al lado de Madariaga y Fellini - su oso de peluche y su gato - Enriqueta vive las aventuras de todos los niños: ser uno.

Pero también vemos otros personajes curiosos, algunos más interesantes que otros. Unos tristes, otros felizes, algunos enfadados, otros resignados - y de ahí viene la poesia del argentino Liniers. Lidiar con el cotidiano (el suyo y el nuestro) de modo ligero y espectacular. Su humor es simple y sucinto - ¡piensa contar un chiste bueno en sólo tres cuadros!

Para quienes no lo conocen, es un buen punto de partida. Y, para quienes ya lo conocen, es un muy bienvenido regreso.
]]> A Queda de Artur 18798664 306 J.R.R. Tolkien 8578277406 Maira 4
For those who are familiar with the Arthurian legends, this is yet another great incursion and interpretation of the hero with interesting additions about how the legend itself evolved. For those who aren't familiar, the narrative may seem a bit tiring and confusing. Still, it's a hell of a contribution to try and understand Tolkien's creative process.]]> 3.26 2013 A Queda de Artur
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maira
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2017/04/12
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
Among the many works compiled by Tolkien's son, Christopher, this alliterated poem is one of them. As a great part of the author's bibliography, it's regrettably unfinished. This (very) commented edition shows not only the evolution of Tolkien's writing but his many studies about Arthur's legend. The analysis is practically academic, comparing poems written in Middle English and French during the Middle Ages, apart from other "historical" sources, like De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, written in the 4th century.

For those who are familiar with the Arthurian legends, this is yet another great incursion and interpretation of the hero with interesting additions about how the legend itself evolved. For those who aren't familiar, the narrative may seem a bit tiring and confusing. Still, it's a hell of a contribution to try and understand Tolkien's creative process.
]]> <![CDATA[A Senhora da Magia (The Mists of Avalon #1)]]> 17858552 286 Marion Zimmer Bradley Maira 5 favorites
The first volume focuses more on the ancient powers and the great role of Avalon in the formation of the Breton kingdom. It begins, therefore, with Igraine, Morgaine and Arthur's mom, and her entanglement with Uther Pendragon - and this is the base of the conflict that will permeate the whole saga: Christianity x Celt paganism, symbolized here by the religion of the Goddess, the one who rules Avalon and crowns the Great Kings (like Uther and, later, Arthur).

The second part of this first volume tells about Morgaine's life as a priestess in Avalon, under Viviane's tutelage, and her relationship with the former's youngest son, Lancelot. This relationship will also be one of the foundations of the series, given that Morgaine is the great narrator of her brother's story - and Lancelot, of course, the great traitor. And it is fascinating to notice that here Morgaine is not the terrible witch most representations make of her, but a decided woman, intelligent and owner of her own body.

The narrative is wonderful, clever, thrilling, and it concerns all women, of all ages. It talks about our fears (from rape to marriage), of our first love, deceptions, and abandonment. It's also about respect, compassion, politics, faith - whatever your religion - and many more things that can only be discovered once it's read.]]> 4.12 1982 A Senhora da Magia (The Mists of Avalon #1)
author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
name: Maira
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at: 2017/05/11
date added: 2021/06/12
shelves: favorites
review:
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Here, Bradley chose the unexpected feminine POV to tell the story of the most famous heroes of British literature. The story is told by Morgaine, Viviane (the Lady of the Lake), Arthur's mother, and Guinevere (here, Gwenhyfar), and it makes the story a completely different thing from the usual reading.

The first volume focuses more on the ancient powers and the great role of Avalon in the formation of the Breton kingdom. It begins, therefore, with Igraine, Morgaine and Arthur's mom, and her entanglement with Uther Pendragon - and this is the base of the conflict that will permeate the whole saga: Christianity x Celt paganism, symbolized here by the religion of the Goddess, the one who rules Avalon and crowns the Great Kings (like Uther and, later, Arthur).

The second part of this first volume tells about Morgaine's life as a priestess in Avalon, under Viviane's tutelage, and her relationship with the former's youngest son, Lancelot. This relationship will also be one of the foundations of the series, given that Morgaine is the great narrator of her brother's story - and Lancelot, of course, the great traitor. And it is fascinating to notice that here Morgaine is not the terrible witch most representations make of her, but a decided woman, intelligent and owner of her own body.

The narrative is wonderful, clever, thrilling, and it concerns all women, of all ages. It talks about our fears (from rape to marriage), of our first love, deceptions, and abandonment. It's also about respect, compassion, politics, faith - whatever your religion - and many more things that can only be discovered once it's read.
]]> <![CDATA[Para Educar Crianças Feministas: Um Manifesto]]> 34503807 96 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 8535928510 Maira 5 4.60 2017 Para Educar Crianças Feministas: Um Manifesto
author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
name: Maira
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/25
date added: 2021/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Pride and Prejudice 10515068 368 Jane Austen 1435127447 Maira 5
Even if he's the nastiest person our hero has ever met, Austen shows us that not every love story begins like Romeo & Juliet (and, fortunately, it doesn't end like it either!), not every improbable relationship is impossible, and that apparencies are not exactly what we see at first. More than that, the author's writing is superb. Ironic and funny, Austen takes us back to the period of Georgian society at the end of the 18th century in which a good marriage was the only solution for girls born in less rich families. Thus, it led to money-driven arranged marriages that brought little to no happiness or love to the involved.

And it's funny to say so because this is the ultimate love story, and even knowing Elizabeth is going to fall in love with Mr. Darcy (like we all do!), we can relate to her in a very modern way. We understand her fears and desires, her boldness and irreverence - and we root for her freedom! Who doesn't want to find happiness in a relationship, after all, whichever form it might take?]]> 4.45 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Maira
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1813
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/03
date added: 2021/02/13
shelves:
review:
I already loved Pride and Prejudice even before I read it. When I finally decided to do it, it was in this gorgeous edition, and what a pleasure it was! The classics are called "classics" for a reason, and having 200 years means nothing to this very up-to-date novel by Jane Austen. It has been adapted to every media possible, and I always understood the reason: it's impossible not to fall in love with Mr. Darcy.

Even if he's the nastiest person our hero has ever met, Austen shows us that not every love story begins like Romeo & Juliet (and, fortunately, it doesn't end like it either!), not every improbable relationship is impossible, and that apparencies are not exactly what we see at first. More than that, the author's writing is superb. Ironic and funny, Austen takes us back to the period of Georgian society at the end of the 18th century in which a good marriage was the only solution for girls born in less rich families. Thus, it led to money-driven arranged marriages that brought little to no happiness or love to the involved.

And it's funny to say so because this is the ultimate love story, and even knowing Elizabeth is going to fall in love with Mr. Darcy (like we all do!), we can relate to her in a very modern way. We understand her fears and desires, her boldness and irreverence - and we root for her freedom! Who doesn't want to find happiness in a relationship, after all, whichever form it might take?
]]> <![CDATA[O restaurante no fim do universo (O Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias, #2)]]> 3026046 229 Douglas Adams 857542128X Maira 3
But, in trying to go back to their own time, Ford and Arthur get separated from the rest and they're sent to a time two million years ago. As you can see, it's a crazy back-and-forth of timelines which it's also super fun to follow. I confess that this second part has not caught my eye as the first one - a little less irony and sadism, I think. But the story remains intelligent, challenging our own understanding of the universe.]]> 4.19 1980 O restaurante no fim do universo (O Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias, #2)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Maira
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at: 2017/11/21
date added: 2021/02/12
shelves:
review:
Following the adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and a bunch of characters that appeared in the first book, this second volume begins with all of them being "saved" by traveling millions of years into the future. There, they accidentally end up at the Restaurant at the End of the World, where they have the opportunity to appreciate the greatest spectacle ever: the end of everything, the catastrophic explosion that annihilates the universe only to go back in time a second later as nothing had happened.

But, in trying to go back to their own time, Ford and Arthur get separated from the rest and they're sent to a time two million years ago. As you can see, it's a crazy back-and-forth of timelines which it's also super fun to follow. I confess that this second part has not caught my eye as the first one - a little less irony and sadism, I think. But the story remains intelligent, challenging our own understanding of the universe.
]]> Só Garotos 39077450 312 Patti Smith Maira 4 4.21 2010 Só Garotos
author: Patti Smith
name: Maira
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/31
date added: 2021/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Batman: A Death in the Family 107032 144 Jim Starlin 0930289447 Maira 4
The story, beyond the eternal dispute between Batman and Joker, talks about Lebanon's Civil War, Palestine-Israel conflicts, terrorism, hunger in Ethiopia, corruption, all of which have the Joker's finger. Sad, brutal, and that caused many changes in Bruce Wayne's life, the most significant being the decision not to adopt young orphans or having a Robin by his side. Jason's death was also the origin of several great stories like Hush (one of my favorites), and it was a turning point in the iconic character's trajectory.]]> 4.09 1988 Batman: A Death in the Family
author: Jim Starlin
name: Maira
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/07
date added: 2021/01/21
shelves:
review:
Batman is indisputably the hero of my childhood. I grew up watching anything that came from him, and he was always my favorite. Dark, mysterious, righteous... it took me long enough to read this classic story from 1988 that used reader's votes to decide then Robin Jason Todd's fate. He was not a loved character - since he replaced Dick Grayson - and it's a surprise to no one where the voting led to.

The story, beyond the eternal dispute between Batman and Joker, talks about Lebanon's Civil War, Palestine-Israel conflicts, terrorism, hunger in Ethiopia, corruption, all of which have the Joker's finger. Sad, brutal, and that caused many changes in Bruce Wayne's life, the most significant being the decision not to adopt young orphans or having a Robin by his side. Jason's death was also the origin of several great stories like Hush (one of my favorites), and it was a turning point in the iconic character's trajectory.
]]> Cuentos macabros 12952578 Contiene los relatos Berenice, El gato negro, La isla del hada, El corazón delator, La caída de la casa Usher, El retrato oval, Morella y Ligeia.]]> 224 Edgar Allan Poe 8426381545 Maira 5 4.39 1843 Cuentos macabros
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Maira
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1843
rating: 5
read at: 2016/01/22
date added: 2021/01/19
shelves:
review:
Primer libro entero que me he leído del autor y fue en esta colección increíble, con traducción de nadie menos que Júlio Cortázar. Aquí están algunos de sus cuentos más famosos como el del Gato Negro y el de la casa de Usher - este último, mi favorito. La edición es fantástica, con buena calidad de imágenes e ilsutraciones. Lo único que no me gustó mucho fueron algunos cuentos en páginas negras y con texto en blanco, que son muy cansinos para la vista.
]]> ¶Ù±ð±¹´Ççã´Ç 39077382 126 Patti Smith 8535930604 Maira 4 3.87 2017 ¶Ù±ð±¹´Ççã´Ç
author: Patti Smith
name: Maira
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/09
date added: 2021/01/19
shelves:
review:
This was such a pleasant surprise! My first ever contact with Patti Smith's writing (before I started Just Kids) and it surprised me how much of Hemingway I saw in her. This little book had that magical, poetic, unsettling yet comforting characteristics that made me gape and wonder how on Earth I had never read anything from her before. A true gem!
]]> <![CDATA[Last Argument Of Kings (The First Law #3)]]> 19302986 740 Joe Abercrombie Maira 5 favorites
And the surprises... wow. Not all of them are pleasant, but they have a heavy emotional charge that made me cry, laugh out loud, and truly fear for the characters. And that Abercrombie does very well. The way he conducts the narrative without ever making it predictable or tiring us is brilliant. Not all are happy endings - not like the fantasy epics I was used to, anyway. Yes, there are wizards, kings, and warriors, but the most interesting thing about these books it's that the roles of villain and heroes are shady, and it's up to the reader to decide if such character is a good person or not.

This has easily become a favorite, and I can't wait to read more from this author!]]> 4.27 2008 Last Argument Of Kings (The First Law #3)
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Maira
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/07
date added: 2021/01/19
shelves: favorites
review:
It's hard to find words to describe the last book from The First Law trilogy without giving any spoilers since Last Argument of Kings is the volume that surprises most for its turning points in the narrative. It ties all the loose knots the author has spread throughout the previous books so very well with the same easy, fluid language, alternating POVs - which makes us devour one chapter after the other - giving us that delightful feeling of "I need to know what happens next." Given this is the final book, the feeling is even stronger.

And the surprises... wow. Not all of them are pleasant, but they have a heavy emotional charge that made me cry, laugh out loud, and truly fear for the characters. And that Abercrombie does very well. The way he conducts the narrative without ever making it predictable or tiring us is brilliant. Not all are happy endings - not like the fantasy epics I was used to, anyway. Yes, there are wizards, kings, and warriors, but the most interesting thing about these books it's that the roles of villain and heroes are shady, and it's up to the reader to decide if such character is a good person or not.

This has easily become a favorite, and I can't wait to read more from this author!
]]> <![CDATA[The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)]]> 886955
Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult.

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.]]> 531 Joe Abercrombie 159102594X Maira 5 favorites
For starters, the main character (unquestionably Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta) is the epitome of the antihero: almost tortured to death, he is permanently crippled. Broken leg, missing teeth, and his backbone is a collection of loose bones hanging inside a sack. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he developed the most acid, hilarious humor - and the most cunning mind - of the Union.

Focusing on a varied group of main (faulty, bizarre, and not all very likable) characters - even if only two or three are the real stars of the show - Abercrombie focuses on characterization to tell the story, and he does it so effectively! Economic in his descriptions of the surroundings, the author prefers to tell the story through the eyes of these characters - which, of course, tells more about them than anything else!

The story is superbly constructed, even if the readers find themselves a bit lost at the beginning. But Abercrombie weaves the threads of the narrative very well, bringing it to an end that, in 480 pages, left my mouth watering for more. The violence is quite explicit but so is the fun. Absolutely incredible!]]> 4.12 2006 The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Maira
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/11
date added: 2021/01/14
shelves: favorites
review:
It's really difficult to talk about the first book of a trilogy. So many characters to meet, so many events to see in motion... a first book - especially a fantasy one - can be quite overwhelming. Well, I have to be frank that, within the first chapters, I was already completely hooked. Didn't understand a thing, but I just had to keep reading!

For starters, the main character (unquestionably Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta) is the epitome of the antihero: almost tortured to death, he is permanently crippled. Broken leg, missing teeth, and his backbone is a collection of loose bones hanging inside a sack. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he developed the most acid, hilarious humor - and the most cunning mind - of the Union.

Focusing on a varied group of main (faulty, bizarre, and not all very likable) characters - even if only two or three are the real stars of the show - Abercrombie focuses on characterization to tell the story, and he does it so effectively! Economic in his descriptions of the surroundings, the author prefers to tell the story through the eyes of these characters - which, of course, tells more about them than anything else!

The story is superbly constructed, even if the readers find themselves a bit lost at the beginning. But Abercrombie weaves the threads of the narrative very well, bringing it to an end that, in 480 pages, left my mouth watering for more. The violence is quite explicit but so is the fun. Absolutely incredible!
]]> <![CDATA[Before They Are Hanged (The First Law, #2)]]> 53773365
In the heat-ravaged south the Gurkish are massing to assault the city of Dagoska, defended by Inquisitor Glokta. The city is braced for the inevitable defeat and massacre to come, preparations are made to make the Gurkish pay for every inch of land ... but a plot is festering to hand the city to its beseigers without a fight, and the previous Inquisitor of Dagoska vanished without trace. Threatened from within and without the city, Glokta needs answers, and he needs them soon.

And to the east a small band of malefactors travel to the edge of the world to reclaim a device from history - a Seed, hidden for generations - with tremendous destructive potential. A device which could put a end to war, to the army of Eaters in the South, to the invasion of Shanka from the North - but only if it can be found, and only if its power can be controlled ...]]> 644 Joe Abercrombie Maira 5 favorites
Alternating POVs like the first book, the author jumps from one character to the other with ease, always moving the story forward - which makes the reading light, interesting, and dynamic. Everything that happens, happens for a reason (this might be a silly thing to say, but it's important because the story never drags), and the characters have all their own motivations, different as they may be - and even some which we still have no idea.

Characterized much more as an action and adventure book - with hints of (very) acid humor - Before They Are Hanged is excellent regarding narrative. Funny in the right measure and with action scenes that took my breath away. There is always this uncanny feeling that no one is safe, and each character is put to terrible trials that might be worse than death.

This insane and disruptive group of people has captivated my attention and my heart, and I can't wait to keep reading about them! For those who are interested, Glokta and Logen remain my favorites, but West and Jezal have surprised me a lot!]]> 4.47 2007 Before They Are Hanged (The First Law, #2)
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Maira
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/21
date added: 2021/01/08
shelves: favorites
review:
The second part of the trilogy certainly leaves fewer pieces on the board and starts answering some questions (but not all) while raising others that will only leave the reader with their mouths watering.

Alternating POVs like the first book, the author jumps from one character to the other with ease, always moving the story forward - which makes the reading light, interesting, and dynamic. Everything that happens, happens for a reason (this might be a silly thing to say, but it's important because the story never drags), and the characters have all their own motivations, different as they may be - and even some which we still have no idea.

Characterized much more as an action and adventure book - with hints of (very) acid humor - Before They Are Hanged is excellent regarding narrative. Funny in the right measure and with action scenes that took my breath away. There is always this uncanny feeling that no one is safe, and each character is put to terrible trials that might be worse than death.

This insane and disruptive group of people has captivated my attention and my heart, and I can't wait to keep reading about them! For those who are interested, Glokta and Logen remain my favorites, but West and Jezal have surprised me a lot!
]]> O Caso dos Dez Negrinhos 3029604
"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.]]> 220 Agatha Christie Maira 4 4.47 1939 O Caso dos Dez Negrinhos
author: Agatha Christie
name: Maira
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1939
rating: 4
read at: 2007/04/01
date added: 2021/01/08
shelves:
review:

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