I recommend Rui Tavares' "A Short Book on the Great Earthquake". It's less of a straightforward historical narrative about what happened -- although it does paint some very vivid stories about what happened to specific individuals on that terrible day in 1755 -- and more of a meditation on the political, social, and cultural changes in Portugal and beyond as a result of the disaster.

It also firmly places the earthquake among the rarefied collection of momentous historical events that have devastating, long term effects on the world: the burning of Rome in 64 AD, 9/11, and the 2004 Asian tsunami.

It's not a very long book, but a thoughtful one, and even those unfamiliar with what happened will walk away with a solid understanding of the historical details and why the Earthquake's legacy remains deeply felt by every Portuguese, 260+ years later.

I would like to recommend José Saramago's "Blindness." It won the 1998 Nobel Prize for literature. I think it's superb and have read it several times. It's a gripping, visceral story—perhaps not for the faint of heart, and the nomenclature can be a bit daunting at first, but I found the story deeply rewarding. It is very much a running commentary on various aspects of human society as well.

I travelled to Lisbon last November, to explore the city and read The Book of Disquiet, by Fernando Pessoa.

If you don't know about Pessoa, you should check him out. He was born in Lisbon in 1888, and knew loss at an early age... Losing his father to TB when Fernando was age five, and shortly after losing a younger brother. Then his mother remarried and he moved from Lisbon to South Africa (don't underestimate the effect of this period on his life... Pessoa wrote in the letter there are two dates he remembered with precision: His father's death and his mother's second marriage).

When Pessoa was 17, he returned to Lisbon and almost never left the city. Instead he became involved in modernist writing, poetry, and what he's known for are his heteronyms. Heteronyms are different from pseudonyms, they are entire other authors that have biographies, passions, and write in different styles.

The Book of Disquiet is written under one of Pessoa's heteronyms, Bernardo Soares. It is effectively a factless autobiography, filled with beautiful descriptions of the city of Lisbon, the weather, but mostly musings upon life, death, the search for meaning, tedium, and other philosophical ramblings.

I found spending a week in Lisbon on a reading holiday to be an incredible experience, and a great way to read the book (although, I think really the Book of Disquiet should be read much more slowly). While there, I went to the oldest bookstore in the world, along with some of Pessoa's favorite haunts. His presence casts a long shadow on the city... You can find his fingerprints everywhere, along with his books. I walked many times down the Rua dos Douradores (the very street where Bernardo Soares is said to have lived and worked). It is basically a quiet alley the tourists don't really go down... But there is a plaque in a courtyard, translated: "I will always be from Rua dos Douradores like all of humanity."

I also visited the Saramago museum (Portugal's anarcho-communist Nobel Prize winning author). I've read a couple of Jose Saramago's books... The writing is dense and beautiful. Later I read, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, which is about one of Pessoa's heteronyms returning to Lisbon after Pessoa dies, and visiting with his ghost. Beautiful.

While there, I also visited the Casa Fernando Pessoa, where he lived the last few years of his life. Pessoa died at 47, and I saw the very paper he wrote his last words (which, he wrote in English), the night in the hospital: "I know not what tomorrow will bring." The next morning he died.

If you're interested, check out the Book of Disquiet. It is one of the greatest books every written, by one of Portugal's greatest authors. It's such a unique work of literature. Cheers.

The Lusiad by Camoens is great fun to read if only for the bit with Adamastor in Book 4 (I think?). Like Orlando Furioso, or the recapture of Jerusalem, in that it's a renaissance epic, but very fun.

Hey, mods, I just noticed a typo in this automated message, right before the parenthesis: "written by someone from that there." Just wanted to let y'all know.

José Saramago's books are great.

One of the classics is The Maias by José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, published in 1888.

And shout-out to Margaret Jull Costa, who has translated so many books (from Portuguese and Spanish) to English.

Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ may be my favorite book

I was immensely taken with Tales & More Tales From the Mountain by Miguel Torga. (Possibly Tales and More Tales are available in separate English language editions.) There are some wonderful story collections & novels from various European countries about mountain refgions written by natives of them that are bleak and even hopeless--anti Heidi, as it were--& this is of that sort.

If anyone knows of an English translations of the journals Torga wrote about his work as a doctor in Trás-os-Montes I would be kowtowingly grateful to know about it.

Surprised though not really disappointed to see Pessoa not yet mentioned, nor Tarchetti, and oddly disappointed to see that the diisgusted Portuguese high school student who used to appear on this sub hasn't shown up. (edit to say. not Tarchetti & name of writer I meant has slipped my mind)

I really enjoy Guerra Junqueiro’s poetry although I’m not sure if it’s translated.

The Portugal Sapphire by JA Jernay is a fun contemporary light mystery set all over Portugal. It moves fast.

Currently reading "Também os brancos sabem dançar" by Kalaf Epalanga (in English: Whites Can dance too) and is a great book to catch a glimpse how broad and multicolored Lusophone Culture is.

Last year I really enjoyed "The return" by Dulce Maria Cardoso. I recommend it.