The Inquisitors Handbook is a book by Antonio Lobo Antunes that addresses the life of a Portuguese family in its most dramatic and loutish.

It is an inquiry into the past of a family by the voice of several characters. This novel is a reflection of a way of writing that best identify the author, the famous flashbacks, we appreciate in his peculiar literature. It is a rather novel, that is, it all starts at the present time, evoking a gone time, a very specific one of our contemporary history, the main character is a minister of Salazar. We stepped back in time as well, through narrative in multiple voices, trying to explain some of the anxieties and experiences of the characters, under a period that led to the revolution of the carnations. Not a happy book, in what it is the portrait of a generation disillusioned and a failed marriage. Interestingly, almost never are. The stories of Lobo Antunes, always has something of a tragic and hyperrealism experts termed for his type of literature. If you really want my opinion and even if you did not want it I 'll give it any way, I believe that it is an intellectual term to disguise the fact that his novels are always fatal. Not to defend the happy ending that contained the happily ever after, but could have a less negative charge, perhaps a little more optimistic. This does not invalidate the genius of the author, who has also been the target of several candidacies for Nobel Prize for literature. Like it or not, the fact is that the writer does not leave us indifferent, so our relationship with Antonio Lobo Antunes only has two options, either you love or hate, there is no middle ground. This publication is what is called a grotesque romance. The saga of a family through several generations, with a predominant figure, the father and an absent, almost ghostly mother is the picture of a broken home. As for the inquisitors, who are they? That, my friends have to discover for themselves! Read and reflect. Good reading.

It is one of the works of José Saramago's most acclaimed by the Portuguese public. It is the story of a love that grows at the pace of construction of a convent.

The first book I read of Jose Saramago was precisely the Memorial of the Convent and remains one of my favorites. It is a difficult book to read by the lack of punctuation, but at the same time, it is a stroke of genius of the author, why? Because we are required to read the sentence constructions more closely and to witness the aesthetic beauty of the writing, not to lose ourselves or a pinch of one of the most beautiful love stories of Portuguese literature. We have to read the chapters on a breath only to realize the framework for action and scrutinize the little details that make this pictorial book required reading. The beautiful dialogues between the characters must be read from beginning to end, because stopping halfway through is to lose the thread skein.
The character Blimunda, our anonymous heroine, is a character that holds itself special powers, she sees people inside. Baltazar Seven Suns, his beloved, is an adventurer, will help build the flying machine of Father Lawrence, the famous passarola. The background is the construction of the Mafra Convent a promise from the King of Portugal, John V, who by the grace of God was granted with an heir.
Perhaps the building of the memorial church is not secondary to the extent that we follow along the marital life of the kings of Portugal which is a complex process very elaborate and well described in the first chapter and the simple love story and at the same time strange of Blimunda and Baltazar . Even the choice of the names of main characters is so unusual, so no Portuguese. No matter, they will endure for eternity. Good reading.

It is an overview of the scholar Rui Nepomuceno on the social and political events that shook the island over time.

This is an author who despite not being a historian is a scholar interested in the historical course of Madeira, Rui Nepomuceno study several key periods of economic, social and political settlement to the archipelago since the revolution of April 25 1974. According to Urbano Tavares Rodrigues, author of the preface, the author's work "unites, indeed, the scruples of rigorous research and comprehensive, clarity and elegance of writing."
As you read this publication there's something you have to keep in mind, it is a view somewhat Marxist, since the author argues that Madeira "after a few decades after the beginning of settlement and for an extended period, the ruling class allied to the central power promoted the economic exploitation, especially in the south of the island .... " The statement would fit in many moments in the history of countries other than Portugal, but is here expressed in this book in a thorough and clear language, citing literature and authors of recognized merit for that purpose, the route of an archipelago over five centuries. This is a book that is not to be read from cover to cover, like a novel, although it can be done, what I want to address about this publication is to serve as an example of a book of high quality which we can use for consult of the moments and the players that have indelibly marked the island. Its narrative structure is interesting and everything is based scholar asserts through the selected bibliography. Good reading.

This is the latest book by José Jorge Letria. It is the journey of a Portuguese in the court of King John VI installed in Rio de Janeiro.

It is a fictionalized portrait of exile history of the kings of Portugal in Brazil, during the French invasion. It is an exercise in literary quality, because it is not limited to the fictionalized portrait of an era, seeks to highlight the ambiguity of two completely disparate worlds. With a narrative without major frills, we foresee human nature, through its character-narrator, Antonio Vicente Pereira, a young soldier who is deployed for escort one of the most hated queen of Portugal, Carlota Joaquina. It is through his experience that we learn about this new world full of cultural influences that are unknown to him, but at the same time thrilling to discovered.
The book touches on how the Portuguese exiles, particularly the monarchy, establish ties with this new colony and how they are viewed by the new subjects. The role of slavery in the growth and development of the city, the "capital" of the Kingdom, and at the same time the influence of African culture, through the character of the witch Jandira.
It is also the narrator's reunion with his country and his descendants, after decades in Brazil, serving a boy he watched grow up, Dom Pedro, the future King of Portugal and Emperor of Brazil, during the liberal fights in Portugal, with his absolutist brother Dom Miguel.
It is the birth of a new country, thanks to the liberating King and his famous cry of Ipiranga. A historical celebration, a gender that I appreciate, about two people, two world linked by a common language and a certain chance that allowed the creation of one of the largest countries in South America Happy reading!

This book tells the story of an ordinary family, before the imminence of Armageddon. A portrait of marital life, their disillusionment with a certain cruelty and irony to the mix. It is the experience of the not so holy family described by the author.

Was the book based in the end of the eminent end of the world caused by the computer virus of 2000?
Rui Zink: Yes, if there was a gender would be the book of the millennium. He was there at least five hundred years ago. And suddenly we're at the end of the millennium, which has a large imaginary force, the book falls to the level of the shell in a subgenre of books about the threat of the millennium, appealing to the back of this phenomenon and I am sure there were about three thousand products worldwide, including records, films and books. This is another one. The difference is there in terms of the way, how to take advantage of this trick, this little gadget.

Death worries you? You talk a lot about this on the book.
I do not know if death haunts me, it's the end of the story that will happen and we all know that. Throughout our lives we have different perceptions of death. In our chilhood we imagine death is a bogeyman that is there. When you're a teenager or you're invincible, or write a lot about death. The young writers use death a lot in their books. When we do not know what to do we kill the character. And I think that is what God does with people, when he doesn't now what do, he kills them. But death for a writer is the easiest solution when you do not know what to do. I like seeing my characters live. My relationship with death is healthy, I'm afraid for others. I am more afraid that happen to others than me. It is a strange thing, we know it exists, we know the rules of the game, but when our turn comes we want to change the items of the contract. This I find interesting. I am now entering the age where I start to get closer to death than birth.

And you face it calmly?
I've liked to be younger (laughs). It is very unpleasant for me to know that in 10 years I have sixty years. And five more, sixty-five. People often tell you do not look your age, you look younger. But the truth is that we have more this notion that a person can stretch up a few more years with health, but from that point on we are to others in the category of old. Even if we are old and feel young. The risks of mental illness are already large. And even at my age, that is, this year I'll be fifty, I began to realizae that I'm going more to funerals than weddings and starts to be trivial to be informed that friends or relatives are sick or with cancer, or with this or that. It is trivial to have friends who die. And it's very strange to realize that the teenager with leukemia is a tragedy, but a man of 50 years to discover it is a bummer. There is a change.

This publication by Jose Luis Peixoto takes us back to a period of great exodus of our country, a generation disenchanted with no way out but to leave their home, a curret theme by the day.

The story of the book is a fictional tracing of all the Portuguese who in the late 50's and 60's were forced to emigrate. Yes, required, since nobody at that time did so willingly. It is also the brilliant description of one of the most important chapters of our contemporary history and is approached by this author with a certain rawness and without any deference by a past that was not easy at all for that generation.
It is the country-prison they escape as the writer calls it, that tells the story of a Portuguese family without a surname, who flees to France in search of a better life. It is a fragmented narrative because it sets at in different times. The first, more sad that describes an impoverished country, where the only option that remained was to young to emigrate to escape the hunger, misery and the compulsery military life, towards the colonial war. In this part of the narrative, the writer describes the hash struggle for everyday survival in a small village in the countryside. The second part is lighter, even hopeful because it describes the period after April 25th. It is time the dream country, the return of emigrants, the social and cultural evolution of a nation that has not closed to the world, quite the contrary. As for the title, I leave this matter in the air, for good reason, find out by reading this beautiful literature tribute to thousands of Portuguese who had to leave their country in search of a dream. Happy reading!

Mario Zambujal needs no introduction. Not only for his career turned in journalism, but especially for his writing. In this book the author, after a long absence in literary circles, decided to write a monologue whose protagonist is also a rascal who tries to deceive police during an interrogation. This is a book in which innovation arises for the total absence of the other characters. It is the narrator who tells us several stories over several chapters.

Why wait so long to write this book?
Mario Zambujal: Look, I was always writing, but for years I've been written a lot comedies, stuff for television, audio visual, series and had no time or mental readiness to be writing more books. And is there a gap of many years that although I had not stopped writing and did it thoroughly for various media, especially television.

And why the sudden willingness to sit down and write?
After conversations with friends: hey, when you decide to write something else? I decided to write for fun all do the book had some originality and I’ve worry greatly with this book, what I said and wrote. And then I decided, my desire, my assumption, was writing a huge monologue wich doesn’t seems. Because it is always the protagonist to tell his story to a police inspector who never opens his mouth. And so it is always he who is the accused of having forged a kidnapping, he is always testifying. And tells, tells and tells stories. And the presumption is that this results in a book that does not seem a huge monologue, because it has lots of stories that he will tell them.

Is he an anti-hero?
He is an anti-hero in the sense that he’s playing with his own weaknesses, is a dauber and a bit crook, because it is already suspected of kidnapping and forged it. This always trying to trick the police inspector who never speaks. And each chapter is one of his statements, with many stories in the midle.

And the title "ladies first"?
First, it is a greating fot the ladies. Ladies first. It is a standard courtesy that this scoundrel had as a rule of life, because he was a philanderer, was a guy who had this feature, attracting women and in the end causing trouble of course as always.

This book has a stigma because of the "Chronicles of the good scroundrels”?
I got the impression that whatever I write, I am very marked by the chronicles. It was the first book I wrote, only for fun, when people refer to me, they call my good scroundrel, I have no way to escape from that book, however much of what I write and I think some books are more perfect technically and literarily than the "chronicle of the good scroundrels" ...

And this one?
This one has more care, much more care. It was done with a mindset different from when I wrote the good scoundrels back then was the absolute lack of concern, was one thing I did for laughts with my friends, had nothing to worry about. With this book was not the same, it had greater care. And, If I wanted to be honest, I do not want this book to had nothing to say about in negative terms. Although the presumption is especially fun, is a publication for this purpose with a much purer style than the other.

It is a book that covers three generations of women from the same family, the Teixeiras. It is a literary novel that speaks of a life and death struggle. It is one of the greatest classics of Portuguese literature, written by Agustina Bessa Luís

Speaking of the Sibyl is talking about Quinas, the owner and mistress of the house of Vessadas. It is one of the female characters more remarkable in Portuguese literature. Agustina Bessa Luis likes to write about women, about their internal universe, the mystical forces that nurture them and the doubts that haunt them. The Sibyl is intensely feminine if we can say that. There are various characters who populate this publication, but the most remarkable are women. That's why I liked it so much this book.
Mary of the Incarnation is the beginning of this journey to a world where women are filleted to the closed world of their own home, but will eventually leave her mark. We followed her route that show us the love she feels for the roots and her unfaithful husband, a compulsive spender. Then we have Joaquina Augusta, the Sibyl, who manages the family legacy with an iron fist, and in particular one place, the House of Vessadas which she consideres herself as the guardian. It is a fascinating personality because despite her physical weakness is she that controls the fate of this family with the help of her supernatural powers. Finally Germana, who is single intellectual who is the designated heir of the feudal territory and our narrator. All of them assume their responsibility to the adversity in a motherly way, protect their own and those who depend on them. Even the ones that do not produce offspring. Everything is channeled towards the house they love and the earth that they defend. It's also the story of a certain lifestyle linked to rurality and a profoundly nationalist past.
I once read and I can not remember who wrote it, but a believe that it was a literary critic who said that in the great classics of literature confirmed that the best female characters were written by men, giving as examples, Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina and Lady Macbeth . The female side, he justifies his thesis with Wuthering Heights, with Heathcliff , Pride and Prejudice with Mr. Darcy and Poirot of Agatha Christie. And all this to say what? That unlike the critic, and I think he's British by the literature choise, it seems reductive to speak of a kind of exquisite description based on the sex of the writer. And despite the fact that the argument makes sense, I believe he never read Agustina Bessa Luís, and he should start with this book. She writes about strong women, with weaknesses as any human being, sensitive to many things, but talks about them so unforgettable and in an extraordinary manner. And if we continue to read other works, we'll check it yourself, the writing of Agustina displays female characters simply unparalleled. Good reading.

The chronicles written by Filipe Morato Gomes during his trip around the world. Texts that were published in the Publico and which were compiled into a book.

Filipe Morato Gomes decided one day make a trip around the world. Unlike Willy Fogg in Jules Verne's book, it did not took 80 days and much less was the result of a bet, but rather was a need of departure. Bruce Chatwin, perhaps one of the world's best known wanderings, attributed this yearning for travel, the horror of the home, an almost irrational conduct, which resulted from our ancestral nomadic behavior, which still lingers in some of us.

The adventure that took some time, I will not say how much, you have to figure out over the thousands of miles that he traverses, the many places he visits and the people he meets along the way. Is a personal view of the various continents and experiences he lived in the most inner spots of the world.

Our traveler is transported through various countries and their cultures, through various means of transport available to the customer and we can assure you that unlike Verne's hero, things do not always go smoothly. I can say that he does not save a damsel in distress, but he meets some interesting women on the road. If you have not read the adventures of the Portuguese citizen on the newspaper Público, at least read the book. Bon voyage!

Not an easy book to read at first. It is a tough and requires much persistence. Is a literary work on aging, Valter Hugo Mãe describes a reality that left him dismayed. And to better understand the work, I interviewed the author and this is the result of our conversation.

There is a character in this book that will live for a retirement home. Is it not a bit arrogant of you to describe a situation which you never experience?
Valter Hugo Mãe: I see things like that, the writing of fiction, literature, has more to do with the intensification of feelings and perceptions, than with the experience. Agatha Christie did not know have to kill people to be the in the head of a murderer. We do not have to go through the experience of all the characters I invented to write about them. This is what they are, invented. One of the things that fascinates me in the writing exercisem is this exactly, the power of imagination that leads without ceasing to be ourselves, without exiting out of our home, I usually work in my house, understand and what will be portraying fictionalized the lives of others. Peering into what will be a lifetime. Writing a book of fiction is always an attempt, a risk. To me interest me much more to write a book about a man of eighty-four years that I am absolutely not, because I could not compare me with someone so much older. But I was interested because it is a big challenge, to try to understand what the concerns, the plausible worries of a man at that age.
Does been older worries you? Fear of ending up like the character in a nursing home?
It worries me a little to lose capacity, the weakening. This thing as I say in my book, this thing of living a bit against the body. The body at a certain point it becomes our enemy. And that causes us tremendous frustration and eventually kill us. And I must have a certain expectation that does not stop me from been happy, to live and want to live, but I need to create a look to the future, pass it well. I better do this or not to do that that will aggravate my back problem. Or bone problems. And there is a forsight that interests me, because I liked to believe, more than that, I would like to have an old age with quality of life.

Language is another important issue in this book. It's hard to get under the skin of the character. It was deliberate to have the notion of the suffering of Mr. Silva?
What happens to this character is so violent that I thought it wasn't interesting to turn it right at the beginning of the book, in something different from that violence. I wanted to portray that would do justice to that kind of feeling, that total dysphonia that has to do with having lost his wife, having spent a life that suddenly finds itself running out an act so tragic. And so it has to do with the rhythm of things, then I think the novel ends by raising and ultimately winds up in some way. But the entry of the book needed that blackness because that was what that I was talking about.

Mr. Silva is a metaphor for our country?
Mr. Silva is a representative of our people. A nation grieved, disbanded, discredited, and then lives with many paradoxes, yells sovereignty but envys the Spanish. Finds out eventually that he's anywhere well. Mr. Antonio Silva has such a mixture and between believing and been something else. It is a character here and there, will turn from left to right. The average citizen is ever less structured than we could for the catalogs. Categorize people is a common definition and the citizen is always undefined, the subject is always a little more so and a little more than we roasted for the practice of the catalogs would have liked. And socategorized people is not easy. It is not easy to portray them in one fell swoop. The picture is only complete with these paradoxes and idiosyncrasies.

Which of the characters has more of yourself in the book?
Perhaps our beloved man from the National Museum of Ancient Art, Mr. Franco, because I love that illusion, the ability to love. The importance he attaches to books. Facing a book as a generous act, something that leaves generously to others.

Would you liked to be Spanish?
No! (Laughs)