Cain - Jose Saramago

Great book, planning to read O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo

Like a Virgin - Aarathi Prasad

You are not so smart - David McRaney

The Strange Library - Haruki Murakami

Meu veio birthday today \o/

Under a Cruel Star A Life in Prague 1941-1968 - Heda Margolius Kovaly

We had the weekend off few weeks ago so we decided to go somewhere, as we had not have much in mind I suggested we go to Guildford, just for a walk to the library. They have 4 floors full of book of all sorts of subject. There we went and got 12 books altogether.

I started with this one as it was the slimmest from my pile.

Heda's story starts as the book title suggests in 1941, a daughter of prosperous Jew Czech, after the German annexation of Czechoslovakia her family and her are deported to Lodz ghetto, and then  to Auschwitz, where her parents were murdered in 1944. In early 1945 she miraculously escapes the concentration camp during the march from Poland to Bergen-Belsen in Germany, in her words:

“People often ask me: How did you manage? To survive the camps! To escape! Everyone assumes it is easy to die but that the struggle to live requires a superhuman effort. Mostly it is the other way around. There is, perhaps, nothing harder than waiting passively for death. Staying alive is simple and natural and does not require any particular resolve.”

We've all heard many stories about Auschwitz and its horrible's account, but Heda's story basically starts with the end of all that. She thought the hardest was to arrive in Prague alive, but as hard as that was to keep herself alive afterwards. All those people she called friends before the war, no longer wanted to see her face at their door when she came begging for shelter. They could not risk their life and the life of their own family for her. Many rejected her with shame, others with not much sympathy, but somehow she managed to be alive until the end of the war. She says before they were all Czechs, now they were Czechs and she was a Czech Jew, what before never made any difference, now was the difference between being alive or dead.

The end of the war came and she discovered her sweet heart Rudolf Margolius seemed to be still alive, they reunited, got married and had a child called Ivan. Rudolf was very convicted of his political views and could not be away from politics, he joyed the Communist Party and became a deputy minister of foreign trade. Things were good at some point, until problem aroused again. In 1951 Rudolf was arrested as many other members of the Party were arrested alleging they were conspirator against the Party. The couple exchanged letters during this time, the government confiscated all Heda's valuable belonging and money. People crossed the street when they saw her coming, the wife of a traitor! A year later it was announced Rudolf and another 10 government officials were trialed, confessed and so were all sentenced to death and hanged. She felt seriously sick but the hospital doctors discharged her after learning who she was. For a miracle she survived once again. Her child was always being looked after family friends, only after he turned 15 years old she sat down and explained who his father was and the reason for his death.

After Stalin’s death in 1953, the grip of the totalitarian Communist state faltered. The figurehead of totalitarianism had fallen and with it the totality of its control. Throughout the Soviet Bloc political prisoners were suddenly, and quietly, being released. The three men tried with Rudolf who had been given life sentences instead of death were among those released and rehabilitated.

Heda now remarried with Pavel Kovaly was allowed to read the statement: 

"The innocence of Rudolf Margolius has been established beyond a shadow of a doubt. He did not in any way harm the interests of the State. On the contrary, a thorough review of his case has concluded that he fulfilled his duties in an exemplary manner. Had his proposals and plans been implemented, our national economy would have reaped considerable benefits"

The Prague Spring began in 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and only ended on the 21 August when the Soviet Union and other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded the country to halt the reforms. By that time Heda's son Ivan was in London, far from the country which killed his father, Heda's new husband Pavel was in the USA, she rushed to the border to fled the country, she managed to do so by train a few weeks later. 

(from Guildford library)

Fanáticos e Cangaceiros - Abelardo Fernando Montenegro

Não foi um livro fácil de engolir. Acho que o estilo do escritor e muito academico, e a leitura simplesmente nao fluiu at all!

Eu provavelmente terei que copiar e colar muitas coisas porque nem sei o que escrever. Foi um daqueles livros que eu só terminei por uma 'graça divina', por mim teria desistido há muito tempo. Confesso que tive que pular uma ou duas páginas por não aguentar!

Mas vamos lá...

O livro e dividido em três partes, a prmeira conta a história da vida, do sofrimento e peregrinação do beato Antônio Conselheiro; do fanatismo religioso, das santas missões, das festas religiosas, do misticismo cearense, desde o padre Ibiapina até o padre Cícero. A segunda parte trata sobre o fanatismo no Ceará, e a terceira e última trata sobre o cangaceirismo no Ceará.

E isso foi tudo que pude dizer sobre esse livro...

Realmente nao foi pra mim.

(comprei online)

A Divina Comedia - Dante Alighieri

Precisava de um livro pequeno para me destrair durante minha viagem de trem ate Londres, a viagem dura so 1 hora, mas achei que um livrinho seira o melhor passatempo (meu livro atual seria muito pesado pra carregar). E uma hora pra ir e um pra voltar ja sao 2 horas de leitura.

Entao peguei esse pequeno livro (pequeno por ser de uma colecao para estudantes), com apenas 54 paginas (o original tem 527) e assim deu pra ter uma nocao do que a obra de Dante Alighieri tanto se trata.

O fato e que so um livro sendo escrito entre 1308 e 1321 poderia dizer o que o diz. Sem esse contexto historico ele nao faz o menor sentido.
Seria ridiculo eu escrever sobre o tao famoso livro, mas como eu nao sabia do que se tratava ate ler o livreto, vou deixar aqui minha descricao e humilde comentario.

Basicamente durante uma semana o poeta Dante tem a oportunidade de conhecer o mundo dos mortos, ele sendo o inferno, o purgatorio, e o paraiso, dento deles tendo varias camadas (9) ate chegar em casa um dos estremos. La ele encontra ilustres personalidades que passaram pela historia/ biblia ate a atual epoca. O detalhe e que essas pessoas estao em tais camadas do mundo dos mortos de acordo com o ponto de vista da igreja catolica. Por exemplo, aquele que se suicidou esta no inferno, pois a igreja puni severamente quem tira a propria vida. Apesar da obra nao ter nada de comedia, chega ate a ser bem engracado o fato de condenarem as personalidades por esse ou aquele motivo. Como se quem cometesse o suicidio seja digno da punicao de arder no fogo do inferno para toda eternidade.
Essa edicao e bem esplicadinha com notas de rodape por ele todo explicando direitinho quem foram cada um daqueles personagens na historia/ biblia.
Eu so fiquei sabendo que se tratava de uma obra poetica quando eu sentei aqui para escrever. Ate entao eu nao tinha a nocao que um livro desse podesse ser escrito em forma de 'poema epico'!
Consegui terminar em casa depois que cheguei de Londres, e valeu a pena, agora sei do que se trata a divina comedia

(outro dos livros que trouxe da "biblioteca" de casa- Brasil)

Aleph - Paulo Coelho

Once again, I have finished YET another one of Paulo's book.

This one goes to the Paulo's book black list. Another book that I didn't quite enjoyed.

So, let go straight to the plot line:

In 2006 Paulo was unsure about his magical skills and how he could make use of it, he was starting to loose his faith on what he believed for so many years. He then decides to go on a trip to the Tran-Siberian train. Before that, he meets a 21 years old Turkish girl, called Hilal, whom due to her persistence ended up also travelling through the Tran-Siberia with Paulo and his team.

The author published the book in Brazil in 2010, which according to his own blog,  he has taken so long to write about this pilgrimage because it took him three full years to actually understand it.

The book is basically about how the two of them, Paulo and Hilal see the Aleph ("a point where everything, the whole universe is contained"). That meant they both experienced what was once their past life. Standing in the Aleph was the right place containing the right energy for them to get 'there' together.
Paulo has been 'there' before with another 4 women, so this was nothing new for him, although he was apprehensive because none of the other 4 women wanted to see him again after finding out what happened in that 'past life', so shocked they were. The fact being, in his past life - some 500 years ago - he was one of the judge condemning 8 woman to burn in the stake, and Hilal was one of them.

So that was basically the book's story.

I wouldn't say he regained the faith he once lost, but he was at least reconnected with what he was losing touch.
I think I have to take a break reading Paulo's book for a while.
And no quotes this time...

(From Farnham library)

The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho

So I finished my 6th book by Paulo Coelho, and so far my least favorite :(
Least favorite because it was way too magical for me.

It is hard to believe that the story is based on Paulo's prilgrimage to Santiago of Compostela in Spain.
To summarise, Paulo vowed to undertake the pilgrimage after meeting a man whom he refers to in his writing as 'my Master', who inducts him into something called the Order of Ram (Regnus Agnus Mundi, or Rigour, Adoration, Mercy), a Catholic sect for the study of symbols (though efforts to verify its existence outside of Coelho's oeuvre have proved frustratingly futile). The thing is, Paulo is a member of the "Tradition" which is like an initiation to be a wizard, but he fails to accomplish his initiation by not receiving his sword, so in order for him to understand the reason why he hasn't accomplished that, he is requested to cross the 700 km Road to Compostela, starting in Roncesvalles, France. The Pilgrimage is concerned mainly with Coelho's efforts to locate a sword left by his Master somewhere on the road to Santiago a quest underlined by the appearance of a guide called Petrus who teaches Coelho various yogic-style Ram exercises. Along the way Coelho wrestles with his personal devil, who turns out to be a black dog named Legion, achieves a state of agape – or 'the love that consumes' – and foresees his own death. Quite how literally we're supposed to take all this is a moot point.

I thought the book was about his finding as he goes but as a normal person, instead, his finding is of a very mystical person. I thought the mystical appearance in his books were part of his style, but turns out this is something he actually follows, like a religion. The reading itself is good as always, but I just don't believe what he was describing as his real life experience. So if you take the book as a fiction it's ok.

Paulo's books are always full of good quotes. So here are a few that I liked it

"The boat is safer anchored at the port; but that's not the aim of boats"

“A disciple...can never imitate his guide's steps. You have your own way of living your life, of dealing with problems, and of winning. Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself”

“The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the good fight”

“We always know which is the best road to follow, but we follow only the road that we have become accustomed to”

“I wept because I was re-experiencing the enthusiasm of my childhood; I was once again a child, and nothing in the world could cause me harm”

“When I asked you if you wanted to, I was not testing your courage. I was testing your wisdom”

“We are always trying to convert people to a belief in our own explanation of the universe. We think that the more people there are who believe as we do, the more certain it will be that what we believe is the truth. But it doesn't work that way at all”

These are the order of the RAM exercise taught by Petrus:
The Seed Exercise
The Speed Exercise
The Cruelty Exercise
The Messenger Ritual
The Arousal of Intuition (The Water Exercise)
The Blue Sphere Exercise
The Buried Alive Exercise
The RAM Breathing Exercise
The Shadows Exercise
The Listening Exercise
The Dance Exercise

(From Farnham library)

Manuscript found in Accra - Paulo Coelho

So I found another three books by Paulo Coelho at the local library, I got all of them and not satified by reading a Brazilian author in English I now have ALL his e-books in Portuguese, so bear with me because the name Paulo Coelho will repeat many times still to come.

This book was written in 2012 and I could not write about the plot line better than wikipedia, so here it comes:

The action is placed in 1099 in Jerusalem while the city awaits the invasion of the crusaders. Inside the city’s walls, men and women gathered to hear the wise words of a mysterious Greek man– known as the Copt. The people begin with questions about their fears, true enemies, defeat and struggle; they contemplate the will to change, and the virtues of loyalty and solitude; and ultimately turn to questions of beauty, sex and elegance, love, wisdom and what the future holds.

It's a beautiful book that probably should be read every now and again, probably a good gift to give someone. It makes one reflect about its own life.

A few quotes I liked:

“For those who are not frightened by the solitude, everything will have a different taste. In solitude, they will discover the love that might otherwise arrive unnoticed. In solitude, they will understand and respect the love that left them. In solitude, they will be able to decide whether it is worth asking that lost love to come back or if they should simply let it go and set off along a new path. In solitude, they will learn that saying ‘No’ does not always show a lack of generosity and that saying ‘Yes’ is not always a virtue. And those who are alone at this moment, need never be frightened by the words of the devil: ‘You’re wasting your time.’ Or by the chief demon’s even more potent words: ‘No one cares about you.’ The Divine Energy is listening to us when we speak to other people, but also when we are still and silent and able to accept solitude as a blessing. And when we achieve that harmony, we receive more than we asked for”

“If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself”

“And if I'm alone in bed, I will go to the window, look up at the sky, and feel certain that loneliness is a lie, because the Universe is there to keep me company"

“Solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life”

“A rose dreams of enjoying the company of bees, but none appears. The sun asks: “Aren’t you tired of waiting?” “Yes,” answers the rose, “but if I close my petals, I will wither and die"

“Because we managed to keep our heart open, despite the pain. Because we realized that the person who left us did not take the sun with them or leave darkness in their place”

“The great wisdom of life is to realize that we can be the master of the things that try to enslave us”

And my favorite:

“When everything seems to be going well and your dream is almost within your gasp, that is when you must be more alert than ever. Because when your dream is almost within your grasp, you will be assailed by terrible guilt. You will see that you are about to arrive at a place where very few have ever set foot and you will think that you don’t deserve what life is giving you. You will forget all the obstacles you overcame, all that you suffered and sacrificed. And because of that feeling of guilt, you could unconsciously destroy everything that took you so long to build"

(From Farnham library)