15 books that tell real stories for those who want to learn

How about taking advantage of the idleness of January to learn from reports and narratives about true events? CLAUDIA selected 15 books that introduce us to varied real universes while entertaining us. They are delicious companies that enrich, teach and make us go further. Good trip!

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1. Chain: reports about women (Debora Diniz)

Chain: reports about women it is the result of the 6 months in which the anthropologist and professor Debora Diniz visited the Female Penitentiary of the Federal District, in Brasília. It is not a book of investigation or denunciation, but of narratives about the trivial: medicines, longing, intrigues, loves, disputes – life, in short – but between bars and a zinc roof.

Chain: reports about women, by Debora Diniz
BRL 34.90 – Editora Civilização Brasileira

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2. Eviction room: diary of a slum dweller (Carolina Maria de Jesus)

Carolina Maria de Jesus worked as a collector and lived in the favela of Canindé, in the north of São Paulo, when her first book was published, in 1960. She used notebooks, magazines and other papers she found in the trash to write about daily life in the favela, her neighbours, famines and worldviews. eviction room sold more than Jorge Amado and Jean-Paul Sartre at the time of its release, was translated into more than 13 languages ​​and won its 10th Brazilian edition in 2015.

Eviction Room: Diary of a Favela, by Carolina Maria de Jesus
BRL 44.50 – Editora Ática

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3. War does not have a woman’s face (Svetlana Alexijevich)

One of the best selling books in Brazil in 2016, War doesn’t have a woman’s face brings memories and testimonies of Soviet women who fought in World War II. 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Svetlana Aleksiévitch presents us with a rare and powerful women’s perspective on the subject of war.

War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face by Svetlana Alexijevich
BRL 49.90 – Companhia das Letras

4. Voices from Chernobyl – the oral history of the nuclear disaster (Svetlana Aleksiévitch)

The author’s first book published in Brazil, Voices from Chernobyl hit our bookstores in 2016 and has electrified readers. The work took 10 years to write, a period in which Aleksiévitch collected testimonies from soldiers, scientists and survivors of the worst nuclear attack in history, which took place in Ukraine in 1986. The book gives voice to the experiences of these people – yet another “history of souls” than just the facts, according to the author.

Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexijevich
BRL 49.90 – Companhia das Letras

5. Rita Lee – An Autobiography (Rita Lee)

Remembering, thinking and (re)writing one’s own story – laughing a lot with oneself, for sure. That’s how we got the autobiography of Rita Lee, pop and rock diva, our hot pink star. The book brings memories of childhood and adolescence, the stories behind the lyrics, the cloths and the venetas – with honesty, delivery and irreverence. The publication was written and organized by the artist herself, including photos, captions, cover and back cover.

Rita Lee, an autobiography, by Rita Lee
BRL 44.90 – Globo Livros

6. Elis Regina – Nothing will be like before (Julio Maria)

This biography of Elis Regina was written by journalist Julio Maria, who was 9 years old when the singer died, aged 36. With the distance of time dividing them, Julio Maria meticulously carried out the work of a good reporter, keeping passions aside – his, never hers – to tell the interpreter’s life. The book is a great follow-up to the movie. Elisalso biographical, released in Brazilian theaters in November 2016.

Elis Regina – Nothing will be like before, by Julio Maria
BRL 49.90 – Editora Master Books

7. Olympe de Gouges (Jean-Louis Bocquet and Catel Muller)

The story of the French revolutionary Olympe de Gouges is told in this beautiful graphic novel (illustrated and presented in comics) in first person, between social struggles, sexual adventures and life mishaps. Olympe de Gouges wrote to Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens in the 18th century, before the French Revolution, when civil rights were still in their infancy. He fought for the rights of women and illegitimate children and died on the guillotine for the body of work, in 1793 – not before leaving a legacy of battle for freedoms.

Olympe de Gouges, by Jean-Louis Bocquet and Catel Muller
BRL 104.90 – Editora Record

8. Daughter, mother, grandmother and whore (Gabriela Leite)

Gabriela Leite chose to become a prostitute at the age of 22, when she was studying Philosophy at USP and lived with the intellectual elite of the time. Since then, she has been fighting for the rights of prostitutes, having organized the first march of prostitutes in Brazil, in Praça da Sé, and fighting against the repression of the military dictatorship. In the book, she unravels the profession’s taboos: sexual fantasies, relationships with clients and pimps, orgasms, loneliness, drugs, motherhood, violence, affections and enticements.

Daughter, mother, grandmother and whore, by Gabriela Leite
BRL 42.90 – Editora Objetiva

9. Just Boys (Patti Smith)

It is not just an autobiography of the American poet, singer and musician Patti Smith – although that could be enough. As he recounts his misadventures surviving in Manhattan as a 20-something with no money in his pocket, Smith portrays the backdrop of the 1970s American counterculture, full of passion, youth and the arts.

Just Boys by Patti Smith
BRL 44.90 – Companhia das Letras

10. The eye of the street (Eliane Brum)

the eye of the street brings together ten epic reports by Eliane Brum published in Época Magazine, always accompanied by a new text, in which the journalist talks about the surroundings of each universe covered and transformed into language. Brum takes us by the hand – with all the senses and well-honed arteries – through many corners of Brazil: the midwives of the heart of the Amazon, the native peoples and their struggles, river baths, gold mining, asylums, hospitals, slums, the city and forest, deaths and lives.

The eye of the street – Eliane Brum
BRL 48.00 – Globo Livros

11. The Terminal Yellow Book – (Vanessa Barbara)

The debut book by journalist and writer Vanessa Barbara is a human, captivating and kaleidoscopic map of the Tietê Bus Terminal, in São Paulo. Written during 2003, the pages (in a beautiful graphic design) take us on walks and prose through the corridors, garages, bathrooms, rooms and platforms of the largest bus station in Latin America.

The Terminal Yellow Book, Vanessa Barbara
BRL 33.90 – Cosac Naify

12. Practical philosophy – Ethical life, everyday life, virtual life (Márcia Tiburi)

Márcia Tiburi is a concerned philosopher dedicated to her time. Her literature, therefore, brings philosophy into contemporary Western everyday life, making it practical and accessible. In this book, Tiburi discusses social networks, advertising examples, events, books and films, creating possible dialogues with ethics and a demystified philosophy.

Practical philosophy – Ethical life, everyday life, virtual life, by Márcia Tiburi
BRL 42.90 – Editora Record

13. Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)

Transformed into French animation in 2007, Persepolis tells the story of writer Marjane Satrapi, as a young Iranian woman deprived of a series of rights by the fundamentalist takeover. Coming from a modern and politicized family, Satrapi’s writing touches both East and West, dealing with complex geopolitics in a fluid and humane way, involving, moving, making people laugh and cry. The book is a comic book, written by an adult Marjane Satrapi, 25 years after experiencing the beginning of the Shiite regime in Iran.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
BRL 29.90 – Companhia das Letras

14. I am Malala (Malala Yousafzai)

Malala lived a happy childhood in the beautiful landscapes of the Swat Valley, Pakistan, when the region was progressively invaded and taken over by the Taliban. Daughter of a brave teacher, she defends the right to female education, even in such an oppressive and dangerous environment. Her daring almost cost her her life when she was hit by a bullet on her way back from school. At 16, however, she survives, and takes her inspiring fight for education around the world.

I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
BRL 32.90 – Companhia das Letras

15. The Diary of Anne Frank (Anne Frank, Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler)

Anne Frank’s diary is a timeless work, a constant invitation to revisit the days spent by the young Jewish woman during the Second World War. The diary also begins with the common life of a free Dutch student, between school and leisure. With the advance of Nazism, the Jewish community began to be cornered, culminating in the Secret Annex, where Anne Frank’s family began to live in hiding. The book reveals the chaos of war through the words of a girl, dedicated to surviving when she had no real right to life.

The Diary of Anne Frank, by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler
BRL 64.90 – Editora Record