How is the Read Harder challenge going for you? I was flying along until I hit some of the tasks that are truly reading HARDER for me. Now I feel like I have slowed down a little. On some of the challenges I may even be a little stuck.
If you are still trying to find a book to fulfill the Read Harder task #5 for a book set in one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China or South Africa) here are a few more suggestions for you — one nonfiction and one fiction for each country.
BRAZIL
In “Brazillionaires,” the young journalist Alex Cuadros reports on the rise of a new class of billionaires in Brazil. It’s actually a two-part story on rising inequality and the emergence of the developing world into global capitalism. The book specifically focuses on Eike Batista, a flamboyant and charismatic evangelist for the country’s new “gospel of wealth,” and a small subset of the world’s richest .001 percent.
“The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao” by Martha Batalha, is set in 1940s Rio de Janeiro, and Euridice is the obedient sister that marries the man her parents want after her sister has broken their hearts by eloping with her boyfriend. As a young wife, Euridice tries to use her talents to fill her days, but her traditional husband just wants her to be a wife. But when her sister and nephew show up on her doorstep, she decides to assert her independence. While this book is fiction, according to the author many of these hilarious stories really happened.
RUSSIA
“The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past” by Shaun Walker is an in-depth look at the resurgence of Russia under Putin’s control. Walker covers Putin’s goals and the government’s manipulations of history. He also delves into the psyche of the ordinary Russian.
“Aetherial Worlds” by the modern Russian writer Tatyana Tolstaya is a collection of eighteen short stories. These stories explore the Russian psyche through the use of satire, humor and poetry to gain emotional insight. They include stories on art, love and loss, politics and war, and childhood.
INDIA
“The Heart Is a Shifting Sea: Love and Marriage in Mumbai” by Elizabeth Flock tells of her experiences staying with three different couples over the course of a decade. In telling the stories of these three marriages, she also tells the shifting story of tradition, pop culture, ethnicity, religion, class and the continuing development of India.
In “The Widows of Malabar Hill” by Sujata Massey, a young female lawyer (one of the first in 1920s Bombay) takes on cases championing and protecting women’s rights. This case is about three widows of a wealthy Muslim merchant who have all signed their entire inheritance over to charity. Suspicion leads to a murder. This book could also satisfy task #19, a book of genre fiction in translation, or task #21, a mystery written by a person of color. And if you like it, it is the first in a series.
CHINA
“Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China” by Rao Pingru is a graphic novel depicting the story of a marriage in China that spanned the twentieth century. After his wife’s death, Pingru wanted to capture all the small moments and memories of their life together, and so he started painting at the age of 88.
Lisa See tells the story of a family of tea farmers in “The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.” Li-yan and her family belong to a Chinese ethnic minority — the Akha people. This is another story of the clash of cultures. It’s a history heavy story with characters to love.
SOUTH AFRICA
The title, “Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen” by James Suzman, is fairly self-explanatory, but the questions that this book tries to answer are large. For most of human existence (around 90%) we were hunters and gatherers. Why did we stop, and are we better or worse off for having stopped?
“Hum If You Don’t Know the Words” by Bianca Marais has been compared to “The Secret Life of Bees” and “The Help.” The story is set in 1970s Apartheid Johannesburg and told through the alternating perspectives of a 9-year-old white girl and a Xhosa woman who are brought together through tragedy.
.jpg)
