Tag: books

Posted in English

Through the Looking Glass

Posted on by Colin Lusk

This morning I stumbled on a series of videos by someone calling herself Marianareads on Youtube, about reading books in English. On closer inspection, it seems she is Brazilian rather than Portuguese, which put me off slightly, and also she seems to have a thing for vampires. She seems very enthusiastic and her massive subscriber list means she must be doing something right, but she’s not for me, so I moved along. Youtube then spent some time trying to interest me in a whole string of brasileiras novas, before I finally hit paydirt in the form of an actual, 100% authentic Portuguese vlogger, discussing easy books for Portuguese readers to improve their English vocabulary. This seemed interesting to me because of course it’s the inverse of what I’ve been doing in some of my posts on here.

Intrigued?

Little House of Books on “Wonder” (which I’ve read) and “A Monster Calls” (which I haven’t read yet and… what’s Portuguese for “Spoiler Alert”? *googles* “alerta de spoiler”, apparently) and some others

Diário da Chris on “A Christmas Carol” (Alerta de Spoiler: he gets a bit nicer at the end) “Wonder” again and “The Fault in our Stars”, to name but three

ACromaDosLivros – I’m not sure but from previous linguistic detective work, I think “Croma” or “Cromo” means nerd, so this must be “the book nerd”. I think. The first video of hers I watched was about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night Time though, so she’s got good taste.

 

Posted in Portuguese

Comentário

Posted on by Colin Lusk

21937266Escrevi um comentário sobre “Do Primeiro Quilómetro à Maratona” de Jéssica Augusto (*=”Revista” ou “comentário”? Qual é melhor neste contexto*?)

Gosto muito este livro. Já sou corredor e estou a aprender português. Então, pensei que um livro sobre o meu desporto seria uma boa selecção.
A Jéssica descreve o progresso duma atleta, desde o sofá, passando pelos primeiros quilómetros até as provas mais longas – incluindo a famosa Maratona (26.2 Milhas). Há muitos conselhos sobre o aquecimento, o treino, a nutrição e a motivação.
Eu recomendo este livro a todos aqueles que querem começar a correr

 

Thanks very much to Paulo and Fernanda for their help in correcting this text when it first appeared on iTalki.

*= Fernanda offered the opinion that in this context “Commentário” or “apreciação” would be the best word for a book review online. A literary criticism would be a different matter. Revista is a false friend. I listen to a podcast called “revista de Semana” which I thought meant “Review of the Week” which is sort-of-correct but not a review in the sense of a book review. It’s a little more formal and bureaucratic than that, and it’s used as the title of some magazines. For a fuller description, look here.

The review is also now listed on Goodreads

Posted in English, Portuguese

Amor de Perdição – Free Download!

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Fiquei feliz de encontrar o livro audível de Amor de Perdição de Camilo Castelo Branco, disponível de fazer o download gratuitamente em Librivox ontem. Librivox é um projecto voluntário para narrar vários livros de domínio público e distribui-los na internet. Há também outras obras Portuguesas, incluindo Os Lusiadas mas parecem narradas por Brasileiros, assim evito os seus sotaques pelas razões habituais. Espero ouvir isto cedo!

O Comentário em Librivox diz:

Amor de Perdição é uma das obras mais marcantes de Camilo, um dos mais importantes e proliferos romancistas portugueses. Inspirado nos amores de Romeu e Julieta, Camilo conta-nos a história do amor proibido de seu tio Simão, de intrigas, crimes e desespero. Mas a história relata-nos também o seu próprio sofrimento, já que Camilo a escreve na Cadeia da Relação do Porto, onde está preso por um amor proibido

…or in English…

I was really pleased to come across a free download of the audiobook of Love of Perdition* by  Camilo Castelo Branco on Librivox the other day. Librivox is a voluntary project to record audio versions of public-domain works for distribution via the internet. They have a few other Portuguese works too, including The Lusiads but they seem to be recorded by someone in Brazil so I’m avoiding the accent for the usual reasons. I’m looking forward to this though!

The Librivox blurb says:

Love of Perdition* is one of the most remarkable works of Camilo, one of the most important and prolific Portuguese novelists. Inspired by the loves of Romeo and Juliet, Camilo recounts the history of the forbidden love of his uncle Simão, of the intrigues, crimes and despair. But the story tells us also of his own suffering, because Camilo wrote it in the Cadeia da Relação in Porto, in which he is imprisoned for a forbidden love.

*=I believe it’s known as “Doomed Love” in the standard translation, actually.

Thanks again for Sophia for help correcting the original version of this.