Joining in my first Top Ten Tuesday, created by the awesome folks over at Broke and Bookish .  With the Olympics on everyone’s mind, I decided to do a “Top Ten Books in Rio”.  I hope you find a few new titles to add to your TBR pile!

(1) Brazil by John Updike (1994)

Magical realism is the catchphrase used to describe this book about two lovers from different sides of the track that fall in love on a beach in Rio.  A retelling of the ancient tale of Tristan and Isolde.

(2) City of God by Paulo Lins (1997)

Slums, disco, cocaine, graphic violence, and gang wars all come together for this captivating novel which was later made into a movie of the same name.

(3) Adultery by Paulo Coelho (2014)

Middle age woman decides her life is too boring and enters an affair with brutal S/M sex.  Yeah, not much more explanation is needed for this one 😛

(4) The Seamstress by Frances De Pontes Peebles (2009)

Touching saga of sisters who long for a better life in the city.  A bit coming of age with family drama, this is a little known title.  Everyone who reads it, though, has glowing reports.  It would make an excellent book club read.

(5) Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage (2008)

This is a crime thriller set in Brazil and is the first in a series (The Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigations).  It’s similar to all other mass market fiction of this genre with the central mystery here being an assassination of a local Bishop.

(6) The Violent Land by Jorge Amado (1943)

Epic tale of the 1920 cacao wars.  Organized crime in Brazil?? You know I’m in!  This is considered the best novel of all-time in Brazil and is considered a classic feat of literature in my own country.

(7) Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey (2016)

This falls in the cozy mystery genre so there’s not a whole lot to say about it.  It stands out from some others in the genre simply because NPR and the NYT decided it deserved notice.  The author is a well-known poet and translator. Not my genre so I haven’t read this title (nor did I add it to my TBR).

(8) Crimes of August by Ruben Fonseca (2014)

This is a suspenseful thriller based on the turbulent events in Brazil in 1954.  With the tagline “a bullet that brought a nation to its knees,” it has a lot to live up to and, for the most part, it succeeds.  

(9) Invisibles by Ed Siegle (2011)

A personal quest novel where a man goes to Rio to uncover the tragic death of his father that occurred when he was younger.  This one is a little hard to get your hands on and the reviews are hit or miss so maybe leave it as one of the later choices TBR off this list 😉

(10) Heliopolis by James Scudamore (2009)

Technically, a little bit of cheating here.  This novel actually takes place in Sao Paulo but I figured as a Man Booker nominee, it deserved mention.  It sheds light and comparisons on the differing worlds in urban Brazil…the poverty stricken shanty towns and the gated, super rich communities.