Books

When I first arrived in São Paulo, I walked around the area I live and on the Avenida Paulista. It is a really pretty area and I liked living there. In doing all of this, I found a few bookstores. These were the best bookstores I had seen since being down here in South America. I found three that were really nice, tons of books, lots of books in English, and lots of places to sit down and read. I thought I was in heaven.

One work day was a holiday, and after walking around for a while on Paulista, I went to one of these bookstores. It is the biggest bookstore in Brazil, supposedly. Not only does it have great books, but it also has music that you can sample, which meant that I could listen to Capital Inicial (Brazilian band), U2's latest album, and Coldplay's latest stuff. Well, at least 30 or 40 seconds worth of each song. :) I have the U2 and Coldplay stuff, but did not bring my iPod.

So that day, I sat down and started reading a book. I figured that this was ok and even encouraged because they have a million places to sit. I started reading The Phantom of the Opera, which I have wanted to read for a few years now. I went home for lunch, and then came back in the evening. I can't remember if I read Phantom that night too, but I read Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that night. It was short, and it was a great book! I really liked it.

The next night I came back to read more of Phantom. It is pretty silly, but I went to the bookstore four days in a row. I would come after work and hang out for an hour or two. One day I got pretty close to finishing Phantom. That night I was sitting down and then I saw a guy come sit down next to me. He had a few books and my first thought was, no joke: this guy probably just comes to the bookstore and reads books for free. And then I realized how humorous and hypocritical that was; I was doing exactly that! I came to read books for free.

That night, I left Phantom on the table next to the chair where I was sitting. I returned the next night to finish it. I went to where the book usually was. There are a ton of little hard cover books in English at this one display area. I couldn't find the book. I searched all over and did not see it. I went to see if it was in another section and it was not there. So I got a few other books. I sat near where I was the night before, and noticed that there was a stack of books near one of the registers. The employee was standing there, and I saw the book near the bottom of the pile! I was so happy. When he turned around, I went over, acted as if I were looking at books in the shelf next to the stack, and then slowly slid out the book. Ridiculous. I finished it that night, and really enjoyed it.

In another bookstore, I saw a book that I had seen in the states and wanted to buy, but hadn't. It is called The Lost City of Z, about a British explorer searching in the Amazon for a lost civilization. I had seen the book in this bookstore before, but couldn't find it. I looked all over. I picked up The Thirty Nine Steps, and started reading it. I looked up after a while and saw this girl, who had the book! I wanted to grab it out of her hands. I didn't know where she found it, but I found it at another bookstore and read it there. All of the books I read in these stores were great. The Thirty Nine Steps was great, as was The Valley of Fear. And The Lost City of Z, definitely worth reading. I eventually bought some things from these stores, so it wasn't complete free riding.

Here in Rio I have seen a few, but not like those in São Paulo. Oh, by the way, I am in Rio now. My blog is like a month behind, but with internet access here every day at school, I am catching up.

Just the other day I was checking out some stores downtown. This guy had a camera and came up to me to see if I would be interested in having my picture taken in the bookstore. I said sure, and did my best to look really studious and serious. I was pulling random books off the shelf, slightly squinting my eyes, trying to tighten my jaw. It was pretty fun. But I should have asked him to tell me what they were for or at least to send me the pictures. Oh well, maybe I will see them on some illiteracy billboard or something.

Anyway, it has been a great summer for many reason, and one of them is that I have been able to read a lot. I finished Les Miserables last night and I think I cried one tear at the end. It was that good, and the ending was so bitter sweet. It was a great book. Next post I will get back to some of the other things I was up to in São Paulo.