Bibliodiversidade - Reading Diversely

Today, less than a week after receiving a campaigning journalism award in London, begins the trial of Rafael Marques de Morais in Angola on charges of criminal defamation. The trial follows claims made in his book Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola (Portuguese version downloadable for free here ), which detailed hundreds of killings and torture cases carried out by security guards and members of the Angolan army against local people and small-scale miners in the diamond fields of the Angolan Cuango region. Shortly after publishing the book, Marques filed a lawsuit in Angola against nine Angolan army generals, accusing them of crimes against humanity. He alleged that the generals and company directors were complicit because they were reaping great profits from blood diamonds but doing nothing to stop the violence. In response, the corporations filed their own lawsuit against Marques in Portugal, Angola’s former colonial ruler and the place where the book was publ...

Just take a look at this wonderful bookshop I've been to this week. I found it on the web, when looking for bookshops in Brussels, in the vicinity of the area where I was travelling to for work. You can imagine how happy I was when I found this Librairie Ptyx was located just around the corner of the street where I was going to stay! I thought its name, "ptyx", was a pun with the French word "petit" ( small ) but the nice guy working there told me it was instead a word with no actual meaning, taken from a famous and mysterious sonnet from XIXth century French poet Stéphane Mallarmé , the "sonnet in x". My TBR pile now has two more books: La Place de l'étoile | Patrick Modiano , which I am currently reading Le Petit Nicolas et ses Copains | Sempé and Gosciny * * * Vejam só a livraria tão bonita onde estive esta semana. Encontrei-a na internet, quando andava, precisamente, à procura de livrarias nas imediações do bairro de Bruxelas par...

Just like last month, I read three books in Febr uary: TheWonderful Adventures of Nils by Swedish Selma Lagerlöf (I read the Portuguese version called A Viagem Maravilhosa de Nils Holgersson): this is a classic children's book that I've been wanting to read for a long time. It was fun to use Googlemaps to follow the wild geese and Nils travel across Sweden, as all the sites described in the book are real. In fact, Selma Lagerlöf wrote this book with an educational purpose, but instead of being tedious or preaching, it is a joy to read. And more than a trip in the literal sense, the story is also an inner journey: the growth of a spoiled and lazy boy who learn s with his wild companions the value of work and loyalty and how vital they are for the survival of the group – and his own .   Tempo de Mudança by Portuguese António Barreto (there is no translation of this book that I know of): this is a non- fiction book ...

I read three books in January, one children's book by British David Walliams (Gangsta Granny – I read the Portuguese version called Avozinha Gangster) and two literary fiction books, one by Japanese Kenzaburo Oe (An Echo of Heaven, I read the Portuguese version) and another one by North-American John Williams ( Stoner - again, I read the Portuguese version). My favourite was by far Stoner , if you want you can read my review here . Este mês de Janeiro li três livros, um infantil/juvenil do inglês David Walliams (li a tradução portuguesa, Avozinha Gangster) e dois livros de ficção, um do japonês Kenzaburo Oe (Um Eco do Céu) e outro do Norte-Americano John Williams ( Stoner - li também a versão portuguesa). Stoner foi, de longe, o meu favorito. Se quiserem ler o meu comentário, basta clicar aqui .

2014 was a good reading year. I read a total of 27 books, which is pretty good for me, taking into account that I am a mother of two and I work full-time for half of the year and part-time the other half, when I also dedicate myself to a small vegetable garden and, on a more occasional basis, to helping my husband with his small business. 2014 foi um bom ano  em termos de leituras. Li 27 livros, e apesar de a quantidade não ser o mais importante, considero este número bastante bom, tendo em conta que sou mãe de duas crianças pequenas e trabalho a tempo inteiro durante metade do ano, sendo a outra metade ocupada com trabalho em regime parcial, dedicação à minha horta e, mais ocasionalmente, a ajudar o meu marido no seu trabalho. If you would like to take a look at the list of books I read in 2014 you can look at my Goodreads stats here . In this post I'd like to show you the pie charts (I love charts...) I have built to have a better idea how my reading went regarding...