I‘m slowly making my way through this one in 20-minute bites each night, while my kids do their evening reading time for school. Wow, Henry Ford was such a crank. And SO SO SO on the autism spectrum. Between him, and Dr. Kellogg up at the Battle Creek Sanatarium…what the heck was going on up there, Michigan? Also, Ford reminds me of H. Ross Perot, but with antisemitism and paranoid xenophobia. #readingtheamericas #brazil
pick
People will think I am obsessed w/ cribs. I swear I'm not! I didn't know when I started this book that it was a kind of riff on nativity plays. It tells the story of Severino, a poor dispossessed peasant who follows the river to try his luck in Recife. All he finds along the way is death and poverty. And a carpenter called José who's just had a child. It is a Brazilian classic & deservedly so. A play in verse that's deep, moving, powerful.
#Brazil
pick15 stories and essays comes from young adults whose backgrounds are rooted in diverse Latinx countries. A range of issues are addressed, including multiracialism, racism, LGBT issues, immigration and refugee struggles, & more.
Favourites include #Julian4spiderman by Julian Randall and Half In, Half Out by Saraciea Fennell.
#Nonfiction2023 #BlackSheep
#ReadingtheAmericas2023
#Mexico
#Haiti
#Cuba
#Honduras
#Panama
#DominicanRep
#PuertoRico
#Brazil
A chance find at the library: the selected poems of Brazilian poet João Cabral de Melo Neto, newly translated into French. I don't know if it's me, the work or the translation, but it didn't click, & I was so sure it would.
Statue of Cabral in his home town, Recife, #Brazil, photographed by Marcus Guimarães via Wikimedia Commons
pickCoffee or black tea? I‘m the latter and I enjoyed very much the history of caffeine and all about its good and bad effects on mankind. The author and I don‘t share the same political points of view, but how fascinating that caffeine had a massive role to play in the advancements in math and science as caffeine was introduced right before the subjects flourished. The point: caffeine gave humans the ability to focus like never before. ⬇️
pickRevisit to one I studied in teachers‘ college (my choice!) years ago. Still relevant: students aren‘t empty vessels, there shouldn‘t be a split between “leaders” and “followers” when organizing for social justice, the political left can be just as guilty as the right for self-righteously neglecting to include everyone in work for change, space for love and creativity is needed.
#ReadingTheAmericas2023 #Brazil
#Nonfiction2023 #MasterofPuppets
pickInitially I had mixed feelings about Roosevelt, as he was unable to accept he lost the election & he ran again with an oversized ego, and pouted when he lost again. But it turns out, he was brave and selfless, in endless quantities. He and native Brazilian Rondon set out to map a lengthy deadly uncharted Amazon river, one that promised danger and treachery. This book reads like a thriller of the highest order. #Brazil #readingtheamericas
