General Info

[QUOTE=Christopherd]A couple of books in English that are quite good:-

A Death in Brazil, by Peter Robb.

Samba by Alma Guillermoprieto.

Both quite easy to obtain. The first includes a wealth of detail about handling situations (the title possibly relates to getting out of being shot after the author discovers a thief in his apartment). It is also a manual of laidbackness for survival and communication that most of us foreigners can only aspire to. Goes from Copa to cities and locales less travelled - at which point it might flag a bit for you if you are only a Copa man.

The second is the story of a foreigner (a Latina though) who moves into a favela for an extended period of time to get to know (Rio) Carnaval from the inside, to be accepted by the ordinary faveladas as 'one of them.' Her journey is quite touching. (Details are slightly dated but human interaction and background on Carnaval is good.)

Both these books are non-fiction. They don't really touch on mongering. They do give you a deep inside feel for Brasil you won't get from tour guides. For the perceptive, they will definitely help you shed those gringo airs and graces and maybe find something a bit more 'authentic' in your approach. Which some people on here at least do seem to value.[/QUOTE]Much appriciated, they sound great..
Just for information purposes i just purchaced second hand copys of these books from Amazon classed as used\good condition, the fisrt book Death in Brazil cost me 67p and the second book cost me 1 pence! As i also got free postage from Amazon, I love a bargain!

Take a look at featured video at
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/[/url]
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[QUOTE=Christopherd]A couple of books in English that are quite good:-

A Death in Brazil, by Peter Robb.

[/QUOTE]

An excellent book, very informative about the history of Brasil and good for pretending you give a shit when entertaining young ladies that aren't on the game.

Where do garotas get those dramatic hissy fits from?

A lot of us, I suspect, have always believed the telenovas supplied the role models, the templates, the body language and histrionics, and even some of the scripts.

Statistics? I just came across this article that (amusingly) supports the idea that yes, telenovas still influence social behaviour.

[url="http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13278424"]soap, sex and sociology[/url].

Hi Christopherd,

Don't you think that telenovas is a mirror of the sosiety itself, and by that the influence goes 2 ways. And not only one way.

Just a tought.

Greetings

Chico

[QUOTE=Christopherd]Where do garotas get those dramatic hissy fits from?

A lot of us, I suspect, have always believed the telenovas supplied the role models, the templates, the body language and histrionics, and even some of the scripts.

Statistics? I just came across this article that (amusingly) supports the idea that yes, telenovas still influence social behaviour.

[url="http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13278424"]soap, sex and sociology[/url].[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Chicobarca]Hi Christopherd,
Don't you think that telenovas is a mirror of the sosiety itself, and by that the influence goes 2 ways. And not only one way.
Just a tought.
Greetings
Chico[/QUOTE]
Personally? Not really. They're very simplistic. The audiences even [i]prefer[/i] bad actors (as long as they look nice). The influence from society is more along the lines of which way the telenova plot should develop, and probably less so nowadays than in the past.

Marco,
Another great book I would suggest you is "Rio de Janeiro" by Ruy Castro, a Carioca. It's beautifully written, very entertaining about the story of the Marvelous City from its earliest days. It goes deeply into the making of the city and has a very extensive section Carnaval and its origins, which is quite interesting. It's a small little book, the type that you can't put down until you're done with it and you easily finish it in a couple of days. Highly recommended.

Another classic, but a bit dated is The Brazilians, it's quite a big book, goes a good indepth analysis of Brasil, the society, the history and the politics. A must read to anyone truly interested into understanding Brasil. Again, the book is dated from 1994 but it's a very enlightening, informatve and entertaining read and puts into perspective some of the behaviours one encounters in Brasil on a daily basis. (I don't have the book handy at this moment so can't tell you the name of the author, but it's a big book, around 550 pages and with a colorful cover showing Guanabara Bay with the Corcovado and Pao de Acucar).

[QUOTE=Marcop 12]If anyone has any good books to recommend that would be great. I guess i prefer real life books, reality.

I[/QUOTE]

* One of my favourite brazilian authors is Jorge Amado. You should read "Gabriela, Cravo e Canela", "Tocaia Grande" and "Terras do Sem Fim". If you know Bahia you will enjoy his books very much.

* Euclides da Cunha's book "Os sertões" is excellent.

* Not one of my favourite authors, but still readable, is Machado de Assis.

* We must not forget Paulo Coelho. He has written a lot of good books. Maybe a monger would enjoy "Onze Minutos".

* João Ubaldo Ribeiro, "Viva o Povo Brasileiro". Interesting book.

Os Sertoes is truly a classic, haven't read it yet, but is on my to read list.
As well as another mega Brasilian classic (Casa Grande e Senzala) a masterful study of the Brasilian society in the 1930's by Gilberto Freyre.

A guerra no fim do mundo is another classic.

Those 2 should keep you busy a good little while but they are very interesting.

[QUOTE=Sperto]* One of my favourite brazilian authors is Jorge Amado. You should read "Gabriela, Cravo e Canela", "Tocaia Grande" and "Terras do Sem Fim". If you know Bahia you will enjoy his books very much.

* Euclides da Cunha's book "Os sertões" is excellent.

* Not one of my favourite authors, but still readable, is Machado de Assis.

* We must not forget Paulo Coelho. He has written a lot of good books. Maybe a monger would enjoy "Onze Minutos".

* João Ubaldo Ribeiro, "Viva o Povo Brasileiro". Interesting book.[/QUOTE]If you can could send me the list of books to my mail box, I am interested in reading some literature from Brasil.

Thanks buddy

[QUOTE=Hughdad]But Skype now has a mobile application. I would assume I would still need to unlock my iphone to use Skype in Brazil correct? Even if I had no intention of using the AT&T iphone services abroad? ...[/QUOTE]
Yes, you can download Skype and Truphone mobile versions both for the Iphone and for Symbian (Nokia) phones. They work great!
I now do long international calls, talking on my Iphone, walking in my hotel room, over the Wifi. No need to unlock your phone, as no telecoms carrier is being used: only the Wifi.
Skype is free. Calls outside of the Skype network to landline or mobile phones are being charged, but the rate is 3 to 4 times cheaper than your phone operator.
Regards. B.B.

[QUOTE=Sprite13]Os Sertoes is truly a classic, haven't read it yet, but is on my to read list.
As well as another mega Brasilian classic (Casa Grande e Senzala) a masterful study of the Brasilian society in the 1930's by Gilberto Freyre.

A guerra no fim do mundo is another classic.

Those 2 should keep you busy a good little while but they are very interesting.[/QUOTE]


Os sertoes is a difficult book to read. Not only you need an extensive knowledge of Brazil's history (the Canudos war for instance) but the style belongs to another era. Take for instance the opening chapter: it,s a long geographic description of the site where evolves the story. Well written but kind of tedious.

I prefer author of the modernist period, such as Oswaldo de Andrade (like his Memorias sentimentais de João Miramar) or books of Antônio Machado de Alcântara. My favorite one is Brás, Bexiga e Barra Funda which relates short stories of poor italians immigrants in these district of São Paulo.

For me the real masterpiece of Brazil literature is João Guimarães Rosa's Grande Sertão.

When it comes to contemporary authors, I like Rubem Fonseca, Patricia Melo, Tony Bellotto, or Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Rosa (these are detectives stories).

Last month, I've read Fonseca's Secreções, excreções e desatinos (contos, 2001). The title tells eveything...

When it comes to poetry Manuel Bandeira, João Cabral Melo Neto, Haroldo de Campos and Ivan Junqueira are my favorite one.

[QUOTE=Bimbo Boy]Yes, you can download Skype and Truphone mobile versions both for the Iphone and for Symbian (Nokia) phones. They work great!

I now do long international calls, talking on my Iphone, walking in my hotel room, over the Wifi. No need to unlock your phone, as no telecoms carrier is being used: only the Wifi.

Skype is free. Calls outside of the Skype network to landline or mobile phones are being charged, but the rate is 3 to 4 times cheaper than your phone operator.
Regards. B.B.[/QUOTE]Thanks B. B., much appreciated. I have been using the Skype webcam video calling feature as I launch my new international business. What a great free service as I can connect with my colleagues in various offices around the world and do unlimited FREE video conferencing. Also great for personal use. Watching your friend's kids grow up in other countries, or watching a lady friend in another country do a little show for you! Some unique businesses are emerging around Skype (video dating, video language tutoring.)

I assume I still should shut off the data updating in the iphone when in Brazil. As it will not be needed for Skype usage. And this will eliminate those high fees.

Thanks again.

Sui Generis,
You're right about Os Sertoes, I heard that too that it's not an easy read, but nonetheless a very good read.
Since you also mention short stories, a few years ago, I don't remember whether it was in Brasilia or Curitiba, but I picked up a wonderful book called
"Os cem melhores contos brasileiros do seculo" (The 100 best brasilian short stories of the century). It's a big book, about 600 pages, a collection of the best short stories from Brasil. A good read for anyone interested in learning more about the country and getting exposed to the different Brasilian writters's style of the past 100 years. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. All the classic authors have contributed to this collection (Rubem Fonseca, Clarice Lispector, Rubem Braga, Machado de Assis, Lima Barreto, Mario de Andrade etc...).
Thanks for your books suggestion, I will look for them.

After watchng the UFC last night, it occured to me that there must be thousands of fighters in the Rio area. Does anyone know where I can go to see some UFC style fighting in Rio?