Rio de Janeiro (Writer and the City) (edit title)

Shelfari edited the description of Rio de Janeiro (Writer and the City) Sunday, August 9 2009.

• Ruy Castro delves into the past and present of Rio, where even in periods of comparative calm there has always been a palpable excitement in the air - the feeling of a city on fire. In this spellbinding fifth entry in Bloomsbury's The Writer and the City series, Rio de Janeiro's vibrant history unfolds. While stiff-collared poets flirted with prim young ladies in coffeehouses during the belle époque, revolts were being plotted that almost destroyed the city. We learn how the iconic wave-patterned mosaics of Copacabana pavements were baptized with blood, and how more than a hundred years before the girl from Ipanema passed by, the girls from Ouvidor Street adopted French chic - and never really gave it up. From what is arguably the most breathtakingly beautiful city in the world, the people of Rio - the Cariocas - tell their stories: of cannibals charming European intellectuals; of elegant slaves and their shabby masters; of how a casual chat between two people drinking coffee on Avenida Rio Branco could affect world coffee markets; of an awe-inspiring beach life; of favelas, drugs, police, carnival, football, and music. With his own Carioca good humor and great storytelling gifts, Ruy Castro brings the reader thrillingly close to the flames.

Shelfari edited the contributors of Rio de Janeiro (Writer and the City) Wednesday, July 29 2009.

• Added a contributor: Ruy Castro: (Primary Author)

Shelfari edited the first sentence of Rio de Janeiro (Writer and the City) Friday, July 17 2009.

• Two or three Decembers ago, Marize Araujo, a Brazilian advertising executive living in Lisbon, came to spend the Christmas and new year holidays in Rio.