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Book fair part 2 - What should I read? / Feira do livro segundo parte - O que devo ler?

I went back to the book fair a second time. 

We're on a budget. And we've moved house three times in the last two years so we know very well the weight and the volume of all the things we own. Two reasons to not to buy books. But the mass of books gathered at the fair creates a territory that I want to step into it. 

I approached a stall with attractive-looking books; attractive to me that is, which means uncoated paper, strong visual design, the absence of photographs on the cover, stitched and folio-bound pages (not glued and perfect bound). Yes yes yes – judgments, books, covers – I know. 

I let my gaze slide over all the slim volumes of poetry, the hefty art books. Then I stepped closer, took a breath and asked the bookseller What should I read?

It's a daft question, too broad to make any sense. The answer depends entirely on what you’ve read already, on what you want to know, on what you want to avoid knowing. I added that I was learning Portuguese. That I wasn't ready for Saramago or Eça de Queiroz. That I wanted suggestions of books or authors.

The bookseller’s response was generous and sincere. She asked for more context: what genres did I like? Poetry? Biography? I said poetry, then forgot the word for novel, and so instead I said short stories.

She laid out three suggestions. I examined them slowly. Each one seemed rich and suitable. I tried to memorise the titles and the authors. Then I took a photo, hoping that the bookseller wouldn't notice. I feel guilty about taking the advice whilst keeping my commitment not to buy anything. 

Imagine that literature in Portuguese is a forest. I’m skirting the edges. I told the first bookseller next to nothing. Her suggestions were based on her own tastes. Any book will offer a pathway into the forest. But I linger at the edge in a frenzied state of indecision. It’s the same state I enter when the rest of the family is out for the day: the numerous possibilities lift me and hold me.

I made the same request at another stall. This time the bookseller held onto each book that she recommended, cradling it. I couldn't get a photo or jot down the names. She recommended a young poet, only in her thirties. Then she asked me if I knew the writer whose life’s work was being honoured by the book fair. A fellow browser joined in and told me I should read de Mello Breyner Andresen, any thing by her is worth reading! 

Any book will take me into the unknown territory, but before I set off I want someone to tell me I’m on a good path. It doesn’t seem to matter who the advice comes from, whether I know them or not, whether they know me. Somehow advice from a stranger removes part of the unknown. 

Note:
The two publishers whose stalls I visited were Imprensa Nacional e Antígona. 
The authors and books they recommended were:
  Rui Lage, Estrada Nacional (INCM, coleção Plural, 2016)
  Monica Vieira-Auer, Antes ontem que amanha (INCM, 2021)
  Urbano Tavares Rodrigues, A Natureza do acto criador (INCM, 2011)
  Andreia C. Faria – I couldn't remember the title the bookseller told me, it may have been Alegria para o fim do mundo, (Porto Editora, 2022)
  Ana Luisa Amaral – translations of Louise Gluck
  Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen


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