The Spectacled Bear

I am delighted to announce that The Spectacled Bear’s very own bricks and mortar bookshop is now open.

Actually, the shop opened a few months ago, but the website has only just moved beyond its previous bear-cub status.

It is currently the only bookstore in Itacaré, and, to the best of my knowledge, the only bookshop in Southern Bahia with major sections in English, French and German.

The guardian angel of independent booksellers has looked after me well so far.

Word does seem to be spreading, and we have had visitors from all over Brazil and beyond, including from Malaysia, Poland and Finland (we now have two 2nd hand books in Finnish. Takers, anyone?). Surprisingly few Brits, though, so we still have plenty of Earl Grey.

As well as books, coffee, tea, brownies, great decor, a super friendly team and a breathtaking view, since the official opening we’ve also done a couple of community events, teachers’ discounts evenings, and launched a story writing contest. So now you know why I don’t always have time to write regular posts for this blog.

 Read all about it . And come and visit us!

Jorge Amado has been re-branded.

São Paulo publisher Companhia das Letras has released the first part of their series of new editions of all Jorge Amado’s books, with beautiful new book designs and afterwords by Milton Hatoum, Mia Couto and Ana Maria Machado, among others.

The book designs are gorgeous and the marketing campaign is impressive. The publisher’s aims are so far working wonders on me, and the project really has inspired me to re-read  Jorge Amado, having been put off by the style when I first read Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon in English.

With the nationwide hype surrounding this new publishing initiative, I have got back into Amado in the past few weeks, in both English and Portuguese, and hereby proclaim that his stories are funny, rhythmic, sexy, raw and addictive ….a little like Bahia.

In English, I have recently read The War of the Saints. This book contains a “bedroom scene” very similar in substance, if not in style, to a vital scene of Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach. I can’t give spoilers, so if you want to know what I am rattling on about, read both books.

And in Portuguese, I am now in the middle of the new edition of Mar Morto (the one with the red cover in the images above - the beautiful image on the cover depicts the traditional “saveiro” boats in Salvador), commissioned in 1936 by José Olympio to help Amado’s financial situation after his release from prison in Rio de Janeiro that year. So far the soundbite in my head  would be something along the lines of Amado’s art of storytelling being comparable to that of Herman Melville, but way more brash and much funnier.

Well there goes carnival for another year. 

I have just arrived in the city of Salvador de Bahia, and as I write this post I can see from my window a group of workmen slowly, steadily dismantling a vast scaffolding structure, which just 72 hours ago was a camarote on the orla of  the Barra district, housing a tiny part of the biggest street party on earth.

I wasn´t here for the party - I just arrived for the clearing up. (I was somewhere else entirely during carnival, absorbed in a good book and working on a tan).

In case you too missed the action, you can get ready for next year with the Almanaque do Carnaval, a new book by André Diniz published by Zahar.

It´s a meticulously detailed tome, an All You Wanted to Know about Carnival in Brazil But Were Afraid to Ask number. The book includes over 120 images of the enormous variation in carnivals all over Brazil, tips on where to go, what to do and how to do it, and - best of all - where to read more about carnival. Diniz is also the first guest writer on a new feature of the publisher´s website - an author´s blog. Read his blog and check out his pics of this year´s carnival on the blog do autor. More about the book and an interview with André Diniz on Zahar´s site. 

Almanaque do Carnaval - A história do carnaval, o que ouvir, o que ler, onde curtir
by André Diniz
Editora Zahar
ISBN: 978-85-378-0047-8

The instructions of the meme are:

1) Pick up a nearby book (NEARBY, don’t search);

2) Open it on page 161;

3) Find the 5th complete sentence;

4) Post this sentence on your blog;

5) Don’t choose the best phrase or the best book;

I have a number of books near at hand (I am typing this from behind the desk of one of the millions of bookshops in the world - more on this soon).

Some of the books nearby are good, some of them are trite. I decided to choose one of the good ones for the purpose of this meme, and one fitting the general theme of this site.

Also, by coincidence last night, on one of the very rare occasions I have turned on the television set in recent times, I watched the writer of this very book moving his hips and singing his sweet words on Globo.

And the book is:

TROPICAL TRUTH - A STORY OF MUSIC AND REVOLUTION IN BRAZIL

By Caetano Veloso

Translated by Isabel de Sena and edited by Barbara Einzig

Published by Da Capo Press 2003

It’s a water damaged copy (a memory of The Big Rain that came to town in February 2007) but ‘new’ in that it was unread until about a week ago, when I picked it up and was drawn into by these words on the acknowledgements page:

Towards the end of the fifties, Rodrigo Veloso gave me a subscription to the magazine Senhor, which led me to the discovery of Clarice Lispector, whose books Rodrigo started buying for me assiduosly, as he did those of Jõao Guimarães Rosa and Jõao Cabral de Melo Neto. This endowed me with a depth of love for books that surpasses my superficial aquantaince with them to this day. Thank you.

I discovered Clarice Lispector at the end of the nineties, and am also grateful to the person responsible… But back to The Nearby Book:

Scanning 1960’s history, music, culture and politics in Brazil, Tropical Truth tells the story of Tropicalismo. As well asbeing an insight into the Tropicalismo movement itself, it’s also a background to the art and ideas shaping Caetano Veloso himself - one of the most important songwriters in Brazil.

I haven’t read the original in Portuguese, so I don’t know how the translation compares to the original, but the English is fluid and easy to read - I don’t agree with the reader critics on Amazon who think otherwise. It’s an interesting read about an important time in the story of modern culture in Brazil, and it’s one of those books that makes you go - ‘uh-huh’ and ‘oh right….’ out loud as the stories of the main players of the time are unfolded in the text.

So onto the rules of the meme. Here is the 5th sentence on page 161:

Everything that came to be called tropicalismo was nourished by acts of violence against a taste that had matured steadily and was everywhere lucidly defended.

This sentence does, in fact, sum up what the reader will glean from the whole book - that tropicalismo was a reaction to everything presented as entertainment. Get it?

That, I say, is the meaning of culture.

The sixth rule of the meme is to tag 5 other blogs. I dislike the idea of tagging people, so if you want to participate, then please consider yourself tagged. All I ask is that you link back to me so I can muse on your Nearby Book.

Between 1944 and 1959, Clarice Lispector accompanied her diplomat husband on his trips abroad, and during this time she corresponded by letter with her sisters in Brazil. The letters she wrote have been collected in a new book compiled by Teresa Monter and published by Rocco.

The book, Minhas Queridas, consists of 120 previously unpublished letters from Clarice to her sisters.

To mark the publication, Rocco launched the “Cultural Contest” Uma Carta para Clarice (A letter for Clarice).

To enter, and be in with a chance of winning copies of Minhas Queridas and other Clarice Lispector titles, participants must write an imaginary letter to Clarice Lispector, of 1000 characters or less. Be quick, because all entries must be emailed to Rocco by the 14th of December. Check out the rules and all the details on the publisher’s Clarice Lispector minisite.

Minhas Queridas
Clarice Lispector
Rocco, 2007
ISBN: 9788532522740

Last night I took part in a strutting street parade to mark the anniversary of the death of Zumbi dos Palmares.

Today, 20th November, is Black Consciousness Day in Brazil (Dia de Consciência Negra). This year a record 225 Brazilian cities declared the date a municipal bank holiday. It’s a small number but significant as in 2007 local authorities are slowly, very slowly, beginning to implement a law passed in 2003, making it obligatory for all schools in Brazil to include Afro-Brazilian history on the curriculum (law no. 10.639 - 9/01/2003 - read more about this law in English here).

As this blog is principally about books and is principally aimed at English speakers in Brazil, I want to recommend some great books available on Afro-Brazilian themes for kids, i.e. in very simple Portuguese - ideal for English speakers learning Portuguese:

Zumbi, O Último Herói dos Palmares by Carla Caruso (Callis) is an introduction to the warrier Zumbi, who led Quilombo Palmares in the battle for freedom.

For children’s short stories, check out Historias da Preta by Heloisa Pires Lima (Companhia das Letrinhas).

What colour is the black girl?
She is brown. She’s the colour of the eyes of her parents.
Where is she from?
She’s from here, from Brazil. But, in a way, she’s from the other side of the ocean - from Africa, the first house of the black people.

The image for this post is the cover of Sikulume e Outros Contos Africanos by Júlio Emílio Braz (Pallas) - A beautiful book, with more stories stories stories for you to learn Portuguese by…

And for the story of capoeira, one of the best children’s books of 2007:
José Moçambique e a Capoeira by Joaquim de Almeida, Laura Beatriz and Theza Almeida (Companhia das Letrinhas)

Play with the others, not against them. This is the basis of capoeira, a mixture of dance and fight developed in Brazil by African slaves as a form of resistance against opression. An art, considered a crime in the time of slavery…

This book is worth it just for the illustrations, and for the part in the story where the little boy runs towards the port, listening to a sound which grows louder the nearer he gets:

Tchim tchim tim

Dom dom

Tchim tchim tim

Dom dom

Tchim tchim tim

Dom dom.

And if you live in Brazil and don’t know what the sound is, you need to read this book!

People in London sometimes ask if I ever think about returning to The Smoke.

Even though I have not lived in London since 2002, my friends stick to the adage that however much I insist in placing myself in remote windy seaside settings, the city refuses to be taken out of this girl.

The truth is that although I will always have a special place in my heart for the big cities in my life, right now I cannot imagine anything at all that would attract me to living in a huge, crowded, violent smogodrome.

Except, perhaps, for the fact that you big city bastards get to go to free events like this one.

You know that feeling when you’re waiting at a bus stop and you just wish you had something to read? Well, for bus passengers on route W3 Norte in Brasília, this problem is well and truly over, thanks to the splendid new initiative Parada Cultural developed by Luiz Amorim, the brains behind NGO T-Bone - Açouge Cultural.

The idea is simple: a stall at the bus stop where anyone, whether waiting for a bus or not, can borrow books for free. The idea came from the fact that many Brazilians do not have easy access to books. Municipal libraries in Brazil are rare, and when they do exist, book enthusiasts must battle through bureaucracy in order to use them.

The new bus stop libraries involve almost no paperwork. During the day a member of staff notes down the details of borrowed books and after 6pm the borrower can simply take a book and leave a note with contact details. Books are available 24 hours a day, there are no due dates, no charges for borrowing and no fines.

The projects started at the bus stop 712/712 W3 Norte, and four other mini-libraries have since been set up at other bus stops in Brasília.

Originally from Bahia, 42 year old Luiz Amorim arrived in Brasília aged 12 in 1973. He was a shoeshine boy before he moved into the back room of a small butcher’s shop and began work as an assistant. He taught himself to read and fell in love with books. In 1994 the owners sold up, Luiz bought the business, and set up the world’s first library in a butcher’s shop. In his first year as owner, he put a shelf of books next to the meat counter and allowed customers to borrow the books for free, with no bureaucracy involved. The library grew and grew with donations, and after a few years there were over a thousand books next to the meat counter. The library was then closed down for breaking health and safety regulations. Amorim pursued sponsors and in 2002 opened his library in another building. The space became a cultural centre, which now hosts Saraus, readings and other literary events.

For the bus stop project, Açouge Cultural has so far raised 40 Thousand Reais from sponsors Caesb, (The Federal Government Water and Sewage Company) and the Spanish Embassy in Brazil. The organisation is now seeking further sponsors to adopt more bus stops.

Read more about T-Bone - Açouge Cultural and the inspiring rags to riches tale of its founder, here. (in Portuguese). And all about the project Parada Cultural, here.

Writing this post, it occurred to me that those budding Brazilians amongst my readers might be tempted to anglicize Açouge Cultural as Cultural Butchers. Non-native English readers of this blog please take note: This is a terrible translation for Açouge Cultural. The verb to butcher in English means to destroy, to decimate, and likewise its derivative noun. Hence Cultural Butcher does not exactly do this excellent project the justice it deserves. This highlights an example of an interesting challenge to the translator to not make the name sound at worst contradictory and at best, plain silly. Parada Cultural is also not as simple as it seems to translate to English. Ideas, anyone?

Yearning for a bookish event? Here’s a round-up of book fairs around Brazil this month:

7th National Riberão Preto Book Fair
(Until 7th of October - that’s tomorrow!)
more info and a really cute logo here.

Baixada Santista Book Fair
(Also until 7th of October!)
more info and funky ship/book graphic here.

São Luis Book Fair
19th to 28th of October
info here.

Pernambuco Book Bienale
5th to 14th of October
Tel for info: (81) 3231 5196

III Alagoas Book Bienale
19th to 28th of October
info here.

II Sergipe Book Fair
24th to 30th of October
more info here.

53rd Porto Alegre Book Fair
26th of October to 11th of November
Tel: (51) 3225 5096