Read Around South America Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in South America.
Best books from South America (778)
593.
594.
El trueno entre las hojas by Augusto Roa Bastos ES
Country: South America / 
Paraguay
Paraguay
Description:
Todos los cuentos de El trueno entre las hojas reflejan una misma y gran tragedia: la de una comunidad natural, obviamente paraguaya, en la que el primitivo orden mágico de las cosas y de la vida es quebrado por la llegada de la civilización. Y sus frutos: violencia, degradación, esclavitud. La lucha contra estos factores, pese a la miseria y el envilecimiento de quien la emprende, no excluirá nunca la esperanza: «eso era lo que nadie, ni siquiera la muerte, iba a poder destruir. Porque lo mejor de cada uno tiene que reunirse y sobrevivir de alguna manera en lo mejor de los demás a través del ... continue
596.
Contravida by Augusto Roa Bastos ES
Country: South America / Paraguay
Paraguay
Description:
Tras una tentativa de fuga, un preso sobrevive al asesinato de sus compañeros de cárcel. Mientras huye, escucha las descargas que van acabando con los demás. Pero también a él lo dan por muerto y enterrado. Su vida, a partir de esta huida, va a convertirse en una odisea, en las etapas de un proceso iniciático, no exentas a veces de tensiones suicidas. Todo transcurre entre el sueño y la pesadilla. Augusto Roa Bastos nos transmite en Contravida todo el carácter de su Paraguay: una tierra de pasión y penitencia, con una historia ater... continue
597.
An Archipelago in a Landlocked Country by Elisa Taber EN
Country: South America / Paraguay
Paraguay
Description:
An Archipelago in a Landlocked Country is the lyrical storytelling of fieldwork conducted in Neuland, a Mennonite colony in Paraguay's Boquerón department, and Cayim ô Clim, the neighboring Nivaklé settlement. The author was conceived in Neuland in 1990 and returned in 2013 and in 2016. This multi-sequentially read book shifts in genre from ekphrastic descriptions of 30-second films shot in Asunción, Filadelfia, and Neuland; to a short story collection inspired by metonymically translated Nivaklé myths; and finally, a novella that mythologizes the life of a third generation Mennonite woman. Th... continue
598.
An Enduring Faith - Mennonite Stories Their History Their Persecution by Emma Salmon-Plett EN
Country: South America / Paraguay
Paraguay
Description:
Vernice Shostal writes about An Enduring Faith: Born and raised in Paraguay, Emma Salmon-Plett is the author of An Enduring Faith, a chronicle of the trials of the Mennonites while they moved from country to country seeking a place where they could practise their faith in freedom. She has personally endured and persevered to overcome language, health and financial difficulties. Emma likes to spend time with her two children and one grand-daughter, as well as gardening. "I have a miniature 'Butchart Garden, ' she says. "I keep my memory sharp by being involved in church, planting, and teaching ... continue
599.
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa EN
Country: South America / 
Peru
Peru
Description:
Haunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic - and finds herself reliving the events of l961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million. Rafael Trujillo, the depraved ailing dictator whom Dominicans call the Goat, controls his inner circle with a combination of violence and blackmail. In Trujillo's gaudy palace, treachery and cowardice have become a way of life. But Trujillo's grasp is slipping. There is a conspiracy against him, and a Machiavellian... continue
600.
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende EN
Country: South America / Peru
Peru
Description:
Spanning four generations, Isabel Allende's magnificent family saga is populated by a memorable, often eccentric cast of characters. Together, men and women, spirits, the forces of nature, and of history, converge in an unforgettable, wholly absorbing and brilliantly realised novel that is as richly entertaining as it is a masterpiece of modern literature.