Popular South American Memoir Books
Find memoir books written by authors from South America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (46)
31.
The Diary of “Helena Morley” by Helena Morley EN
Country: South America / 
Brazil
Brazil
Description:
Originally published in 1942 under the title Minha Vida de Menina—Portuguese meaning “My Life as a Little Girl or “Young Girl”—this book is a diary that was kept by the author, Helena Morley (pseudonym of Alice Dayrell Caldeira Brant), when she was between the ages of twelve and fifteen (1893-1895), and living in Diamantina, a small diamond mining town in southeastern Brazil. The little girl describes her homework, her love of parades and dresses, her father who could scarcely make a living in the mines, and her most beloved grandmother. The diary was admired by French Novelist Georges Bernano... continue
32.
The ghetto within by Santiago H. Amigorena EN
Country: South America / 
Argentina
Argentina
Description:
In his English language debut, Santiago H. Amigorena writes to fight the silence that “has stifled [him] since [he] was born”, weaving together fiction, biography, and memoir to distill a stirring novel of loss and unshakeable love. A critical sensation in France, The Ghetto Within is its author’s personal attempt to confront his grandfather’s silence. Passed down, from generation to generation, the silence of Amigorena’s grandfather became his own. A gripping study of inheritance,The Ghetto Within re-imagines the life of this Jewish grandfather, a Polish exile in Argentina, whose guilt provok... continue
33.
The Girl from Lamaha Street : A Guyanese Girl at a 1950s English Boarding School and Her Search for Belonging by Sharon Maas EN
Country: South America / 
Guyana
Guyana
Description:
‘I was utterly mesmerized… powerful, moving, and heartwarming… I devoured this book, and it is no doubt a five-star read.’ Goodreads reviewer Perhaps it’s true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Perhaps it’s true that you only know what you truly love when you no longer have it. But I wouldn’t have known any of this if I hadn’t left it all behind to discover where my home truly was… Growing up in British Guiana in the 1950s, Sharon Maas has everything a shy child with a vivid imagination could wish for. She spends her days studying bugs in the backyard, eating fresh mangos straight from... continue
34.
The Little School : Tales of Disappearance & Survival in Argentina by Alicia Partnoy EN
Country: South America / Argentina
Argentina
Description:
One of Argentina's 30,000 "disappeared," Alicia Partnoy was abducted from her home by secret police and taken to a concentration camp where she was tortured, and where most of the other prisoners were killed. Her writings were smuggled out of prison and published anonymously in human rights journals. The Little School is Alicia Partnoy's memoir of her disappearance and imprisonment in Argentina in the 1970s. Told in a series of tales that resound in memory like parables, The Little School is proof of the resilience of the human spirit and the healing powers of art. This second edition features... continue
35.
The Man Who Could Move Clouds : A Memoir by Ingrid Rojas Contreras EN
Country: South America / 
Colombia
Colombia
Description:
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE SUMMER • From the bestselling author of Fruit of the Drunken Tree, comes a dazzling, kaleidoscopic memoir reclaiming her family's otherworldly legacy. “Rojas Contreras reacquaints herself with her family’s past, weaving their stories with personal narrative, unraveling legacies of violence, machismo and colonialism… In the process, she has written a spellbinding and genre-defying ancestral history.”—New York Times Book Review For Ingrid Rojas Contreras, magic runs in the family. Raised amid the political violence of 1980s and '90s Colombia... continue
36.
The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara EN
Country: South America / Argentina
Argentina
Description:
Publisher Description
37.
The Roots of the Guava Tree : Growing Up Jewish and Arab in Colombia by Sonia Daccarett EN
Country: South America / Colombia
Colombia
Description:
A debut contemporary memoir about a young woman struggling to understand her identity as the daughter of a Jewish mother and Christian Palestinian father, coming of age in Colombia as increasing violence and the instability of the 1980s engulf her country. Sonia Daccarett grew up with a Jewish mother and a Christian Palestinian father in Colombia during the drug-war 1980s. When she asks her parents questions about their family’s ethnicity and religion they answer evasively, defining their family religion and ethnicity as “nothing.” Grandparents and family members who speak Yiddish, Hebrew, and... continue
38.
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio EN
Country: South America / 
Ecuador
Ecuador
Description:
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation. “Karla’s book sheds light on people’s personal experiences and allows their stories to be told and their voices to be heard.”—Selena Gomez FINALIST FOR THE NBCC JOHN LEONARD AWARD • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOOK RIOT, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND TIME Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio ... continue
39.
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio EN
Country: South America / Ecuador
Ecuador
Description:
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation. “Karla’s book sheds light on people’s personal experiences and allows their stories to be told and their voices to be heard.”—Selena Gomez FINALIST FOR THE NBCC JOHN LEONARD AWARD • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOOK RIOT, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND TIME Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio ... continue
40.
Todas as Sextas by Paola Carosella PT
Country: South America / Argentina
Argentina
Description:
"Todas as sextas, o livro de estreia da chef Paola Carosella, combina um relato autobiográfico arrebatador e uma seleção de mais de 90 receitas que fizeram o sucesso dos menus especiais da chef às sextas-feiras em seu restaurante Arturito, em São Paulo. A prosa poética de Paola revela uma mulher batalhadora, determinada e vitoriosa, que transcendeu os percalços da vida com a ajuda da cozinha. Suas receitas, com histórias e comentários instigantes, transbordam excelência técnica, generosidade, gratidão e amor. As belíssimas imagens do premiado fotógrafo britânico Jason Lowe completam o livro de... continue