Books: Axel’s Castle by Edmund Wilson, literary crit—the author wrote a book I’m quite a deep admirer of, called To the Finland Station, which I think absolutely everyone with the slightest liking for History should read. Also reading Italo Calvino’s Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore (If on a winter’s night a traveler). Calvino is perhaps my favourite writer of all times—and even if he’s not, he’s definitely among the best, in my opinion, together with Borges, Kafka, Joyce, Machado, Woolf, Dostoevsky etc. The book is a must read. For absolutely everyone. Go borrow a copy of it somewhere and read it. Now. Oἰδίπoυς τύραννoς (Oedipus the King, bilingual edition), by Sophocles. Considered by many the masterpiece of Athenian tragedy, the play tells the story of Oἰδίπoυς (Oedipus), and a mystery curse that seems to have been cast upon the town he lives in. Breathtaking, in spite of how long ago it was written, and the fact that everyone knows its story nowadays.
Papers: Heavy Metal Music in Postdictatorial Brazil (subtitle: Sepultura and the Coding of Nationality in Sound), by Idelber Avelar, a very enjoyable read from a fellow Brazilian blogger. The paper is written in English, as Avelar teaches what they call “Latin–American Literature,” in the University of Tulane. A very interesting piece, recommended for all heavy metal fans, and especially for the people who love Sepultura. And a couple of others on Greek Tragedy (most of them by Pierre Vernant), and economics of war, prisons, asylums and that kind of environment.
I just finished the graphic novel ‘Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth’ by Chris Ware and the Norwegian children’s novel ‘Pitbull-Terje går amok’ by Endre Lund Eriksen.
Now I’m reading ‘Pitbull-Terje og kampen mot barnevernet’ (Pit-Bull Terje and the Battle against the Child Welfare) by Endre Lund Eriksen, ‘Powers’ by Ursula K. Le Guin and ‘Tehanu’ by Ursula K. Le Guin.
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
i would dare say that she is becoming my favorite author, although the only book of hers i havn’t read is The Vine of Desire, which my English teacher claims is rubbish, and admittedly the plot totally goes against Sudha’s character (from the prequel, Sister of my Heart)
Non literary: Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (literary criticism); Erving Goffman, Asylums (sociology); Lúcia Santaella, Teoria Geral dos Signos (“A General Theory of Signs,” semiotics); Andeu Mas–Colell, Microeconomic Theory (science fiction ).
Literary: Italo Calvino, Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore (“If on a winter night a traveler,” fantastic realism, metaliterature); Edgar Alan Poe, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (portuguese translation, romanticism, symbolism, modern short–story). Also skimming through the Pantchatantra (portuguese translation, the original is in Sanscrit); as far as I know, the oldest remaining book of “short stories” or “tales” or whatever—somewhat similar in structure and whatnot to the good old Arabian Nights.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip Dick, the plot even contains a drug that is able to create a solipsistic world exactly like the LD world.
I started The Big Bang by Simon Sing(sp?) on sunday.
I’m still reading The Brothers Karamazov, but only barely… school doesn’t leave much time to really concentrate on it. Speaking of school - we’re reading Macbeth (we will finish it tomorrow) and, for a separate project, I am reading Michaelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, by Ross King.
I was reading Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (and it was really boring) when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published in french. Now I just finished Harry Potter (it was great ) and I’ll continue to read the last pages of this Gogol’s most uninteresting book.
Same thoughts about Coelho here. The story of the Alchemist is taken from another book (it was just a short tale and Coelho developped it) but I don’t remember where I read it first.