About

I’m a Portuguese expat living in Geneva, Switzerland. By day I live in the international development world, but by night I’m looking for the book that’ll keep me awake longer than I should.

There are few things that make me happier than re-organizing my shelves, pub quizzes and desserts.

Also, reading + travelling = perfection

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26 comments

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November 29, 2011 at 5:32 pm

Myriam Mangano-Campinaire

Just to congratulate you on this immensely creative and interesting initiative and project.

Myriam, Brussels Brontë Group

November 30, 2011 at 10:32 pm

Patty Simou

Hi Alex, what a great site – why did you keep it hidden? Love the reviews, love the photos, and you gave me some good ideas for books from your lists!!! Keep up the good work!

January 13, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Marsha Cornelius

I’m pretty sure my novel H10 N1 will keep you up at night, but don’t know how much you are into thrillers.

Here is the summary:

A deadly influenza virus rages out of control. There is no easy-fix vaccine. No eleventh-hour containment. Only death.
With no workforce, power plants are unmanned so there’s no means of communication; police and fire departments have collapsed so no one is safe; looters are scavenging everything from big-screen TVs to canned peas.
When Dr. Taeya Sanchez finds herself unceremoniously dismissed from an emergency medical facility in New York, she decides to steal the hospital’s armored van for a midnight escape.
Unfortunately, Rick DeAngelo, a driver for the hospital, has already stocked the van for his own getaway.
Thrown into an unfriendly alliance, these two must pick their way across the dangerous wasteland of America in search of a safe haven. And as the miles roll by, they discover that the living should be feared much more than the festering corpses out there.

If you saw the movie ‘Contagion’, you know how a pandemic starts. H10 N1 picks up where the movie ended, only there is no miraculous cure.

I’d love to send you either a paperback or e-book. Let me know if you are interested in doing a review.

Thanks for your time,

Marsha Cornelius

February 6, 2012 at 5:01 pm

Gori Suture

I would love for you to read and review my book Sorriso da Verdade. Here is the synopsis:

SÓ PARA ADULTOS! O caso do Estrangulador de Lakeshire permanecia um desafio para o casal de detetives Tristan Rue e Silver Sorrow, até que uma das vítimas é encontrada com vida. Um adolescente chamado Kioshi teve o corpo seriamente ferido e mutilado, e está assustado e arrasado. Na medida em que a investigação prossegue, os detetives chegam a uma terrível conclusão. As provas são irrefutáveis, e Tristan e Silver agora devem fazer uma escolha muito difícil.

If you are interested, I will send you a complimentary copy. You can email me at gori@gorisuture.com.

March 1, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Love it!
RR

March 4, 2012 at 2:52 pm

scotsabroad

You don’t seem to have read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It is worth a shot – it kept me up late and then woke me up early the next morning to finish it. Thanks for the list of music with books in the title. I’m looking for something for book week in my school in Jakarta.

April 4, 2012 at 5:07 pm

Debbie Rodgers @Exurbanis

Alex – please – can I subscribe to your blog by e-mail? Thanks so much!

April 4, 2012 at 5:08 pm

Debbie Rodgers @Exurbanis

Never mind – I think I just did when I submitted that comment 🙂

April 4, 2012 at 10:04 pm

Alex

Great 🙂 Let me know if you see you’re not receiving updates!

April 17, 2012 at 7:31 pm

Paula Cagli

Hi Alex, love your blog and the inspiration that it inspires! At the Bronte Christmas do we got talking about my dislike for Dan Brown and I suggested for you to try Antonio Forcellino instead. Last month I read his latest endeavor, “The Last Passion”. I found almost no redeeming qualities in it, so I must amend what I told you at Christmas. All of his books are not equally as good. I’d be happy to give you some suggestions if you ever decide to invest some time in a great art historical novel. Forcellino was the head restorer of Michelangelo’s Moses and his previous books about Michelangelo were all wonderful.

April 29, 2012 at 11:20 pm

Alex

Hi Paula, thanks for dropping by 🙂 I’ll definitely check-out the Michealngelo books!

June 30, 2012 at 8:54 pm

silvia de vecchi

Hi, I got to your blog via facebook, via Dunnett, via your post on Scales of Gold because of which I developed an interest in the histrory od Portugal and the age of discoveries. Can you recommend a good book about it ? I am Italian but I can read English, French and Spanish. I visited your amazing country twice and I can’t wait to enlarge my knowledge of its history. The great thing about Dunnett, after you have read the two series, is that you miss the characters and the story so much you still want to be part of it and you start reading about the times Dunnett wrote about. After the Spring of the Ram she had me so enchanted with Trebizond that she set me reading a 3 volume history of the Byzantine Empire !!! Enjoy your ride through the House of Nicolò but do not rush it! The first reading of each series can happen only once so do not waste it !

September 10, 2012 at 11:49 pm

James Lyon

Greetings from Sarajevo.

For some reason I think you might like this book.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15776662-kiss-of-the-butterfly

December 8, 2012 at 8:40 pm

Immo

Suggestions to your “Favorite art about women reading”:

http://www.gaetano.fr/gallery2.html
All portraits painted by Gaetano Jouen, a talented French artist. .

January 3, 2013 at 9:54 pm

mymanifesto2012

I believe you may find this book interesting–I know it’s a thoroughly overdone genre lately, but that’s honestly why I wrote it.

April 24, 2013 at 4:56 pm

Karelia Stetz-Waters

I like your blog. Reorganizing shelves and desserts. You are a woman after my own heart.

May 14, 2013 at 7:25 pm

DoingDewey

Hi! You’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award. Follow this link for more information! http://doingdeweydecimal.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/passing-it-on-a-liebster-award-post/

July 21, 2013 at 10:40 pm

Letizia

I love the photos 🙂 You are so right, there’s nothing better than reading and traveling. I’m an expat myself (French, living in the U.S. right now). Just discovered your blog through twitter…

May 12, 2014 at 2:51 am

Melanie Page

I read so, so much, and I have an extensive background in fiction, including an MFA from the University of Notre Dame. One book that kept me up all night in 2013 is called The Tide King by Jen Michalski.

I really like the way you provide weekly content (or have just started and will continue to do so?) like the Tuesday Top 10. I want to try this on my own book blog. I only review fiction or nonfiction by women. I was getting tired of reviewing fiction mostly by men for other publications and journals, so I started grabthelapels.weebly.com

I also started work with publicizing small-press literary authors (on a super small scale) and am looking for blogs that would allow an author and me to collaborate on an interesting post about the book and have that content published on other blogs. Would you be interested in being a stop? It’s free publicity for your blog. I’m at decadent dot page at gmail dot com

November 25, 2014 at 8:36 pm

MarinaSofia

Thank you for visiting my blog and thus giving me the opportunity to meet you – especially as we seem to live quite close to each other. I am in Pays de Gex (where we no longer have a bookshop, boo-hoo!). My reading passion is crime fiction (and also a lot of translated fiction from all over the world – I too like to travel), so we can have a good old chat, let’s stay in touch!

November 29, 2014 at 1:30 am

Colby

Thanks for reviving your blog, which I read with great interest. I found it by googling my favorite authors to find someone who also likes them. I recommend with some hesitation “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson. Hesitation not because of my doubt about the book– it is a wonder. But not everyone may share my views, despite other shared favorites.

April 11, 2015 at 9:28 am

BookerTalk

Alex, i just found you via Ali’s blog site. would you be interested in doing a guest post for me about Portuguese literature. it would be for my View from here series http://bookertalk.com/world-literature/the-view-from-here/.

June 13, 2015 at 10:29 am

roberteggleton