Around the world: Argentina

A contribution to my Around the World posts

In my quest to expand my reading from Swedish and English speaking authors I found The Tango Singer by Tomás Eloy Martinez. It is a novel that takes you to a hot, dancing, loving South America and Argentina. The American college student Bruno, goes to Buenos Aires and becomes captivated by an elusive tango singer who has never been recorded or released a record but still holds the whole City’s tango lovers in his grip. He shows up without notice, without a stage and sings before he disappears again. It is the feeling in his voice that makes everyone stop whatever they are doing and just enjoy his voice.
It is a well-written book that makes me want to pack my bags and go to Argentina and sit in a bar, listen to tango and watch them dance. Martinez has managed to weave together the story about a city with the destiny of a man who has lost his belief in humans a long time ago.
Josefine

My recommendations: the Cellist of Sarajevo by Stephen Galloway

The cellist of Sarajevo

This is a book that takes you to a city under siege during the most recent battle on the Balkan. When the Yugoslav republic was torn apart and neighbors fought neighbors. The book tells us four different stories about four different lives in a city very few can leave and the rest of them has to survive anyway they can.
What capture me the most about the book is the personal relation I have with this war and also Galloway’s writing style that captures my attention from beginning to end.
It is one of those books you can’t put down once you started.
Josefine

My recommendation: Zlata’s diary by Zlata Filipovic