Libros

Here are the books I've got lined up to read.

Books are expensive here, so I bought the fattest Harry Potter I could find - all 638 pages. *gulp*. I'm 120 pages in and really enjoying it. I have to be a bit thoughtful about where I read it though as not everyone thinks it's good Christian reading.

The English title of this book is Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot- and Cold-Climate Cultures. The SIM Director here asked me to read it. Its 'self-congratulatory' North American style got me offside at the start, but it turned out to be a fantastic book for helping me identify some of the subtle but pervasive cultural differences between Chile and Australia.

This is a very popular and very Chilean comic series, first published in 1949. I haven't started reading it yet, but I figure that the day on which I can understand the jokes - and find them funny - will be a turning point for my Spanish.

I went to the Catholic bookshop in town and asked the kindly lady there for the most popular Bible. I'm not so interested in reading the Bible itself, which I assume (correctly?) is a good translation (aside from the inclusion of the Apocrapha of course). What I am keen to read are the interpretative comments at the foot of the text. It's pretty rare for Catholics to read their Bibles, but, if they do, these comments will probably be all they read.

I'm keen to find a book that goes through basic theology in an accessible way. Maybe this will be it??

I suspect that the works of Chilean poet, Nicanor Parra, are a bit beyond me, but Emy told me that I had to read it so I'll give it a go. Poetry is very much wrapped up in the Chilean identity :).

Emy's niece lent me her old history books. I've already read quite a bit about Chilean history but I'm pumped to see what kids get taught at school.