Topics of the World

Historic Plaza de Mayo

Due to its strategic location, Plaza de Mayo has been the focal point of Argentinean political life from early on. The plaza is surrounded by the presidential palace (Casa Rosada, or Pink House), the historic Cabildo (town hall), the headquarters of Nación Bank, ministerial buildings, the cathedral, the secret service building, the Internal Revenue offices and the modern town hall.

View of Plaza de Mayo from the Cabildo. At the far end is the presidential palace, or Pink House

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Picture Postcards: A room of books

This photo is by Loozerboy on Flickr and was snapped in Toronto, Canada. I can just imagine a cozy chair inside to sit and read, can’t you?

More:
A reading room at Ana’s house
The oldest public library in Paris
The children’s cultural book section in an Auckland library

Buenos Aires’ Comic Lane

Comic Lane is the latest addition to the urban landscape of the city of Buenos Aires. The local council decided to celebrate iconic characters that have delighted many generations of Argentineans by placing colourful fiberglass sculptures in the neighbourhood of San Telmo, mainly along Defensa, Balcarce and Chile streets. The sculptures are strategically placed so that they lead visitors to the Museo del Humor (Argentinean Comic Strip Museum – Avenida de los Italianos 851) in Puerto Madero.

From left to right: Mafalda, Isidoro Canones, Larguirucho (and me!)

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Picture Postcards: Reading room at Ana’s house

Today’s reading and literacy related photo comes to us from our Contributing Editor, Ana, who is letting us have a peek into her own house. Looks like a great reading spot, Ana!

More:
Children’s Cultural Book Section in an Auckland Library
A Chalkboard in Kazakhstan
The Oldest Library in Paris

A month of books, reading and writing

During May we tried something new, with a theme of books, reading and writing throughout the site. In case you missed anything, here’s a roundup of PocketCultures book month. Thanks to Celia, PocketCultures contributor in Kazakhstan, for suggesting the topic.

Art installation at ArteBA 2012. Photo by Ana O'Reilly

On Picture Postcards we peeked at a free library housed in a container from New Zealand, the oldest public library in Paris, a chalkboard in Kazakhstan and a children’s culture section in a public library, again in New Zealand.

For a special collaborative post on books from around the world our contributors recommended books which represent each of their countries in some way.

On People of the World we interviewed a couple of people who are writing books: Alexey from Russia, who wrote his novella on his frequent train trips between Moscow and St Petersburg whilst working for a telecoms company, and Marcel, who is writing a book about the extraordinary life of his grandmother.

On Topics of the World, our Italian contributors Simona and Caterina both had something to say. In Italy is younger than you think, Simona explains a bit of Italy’s recent history, including origin of the Italian language as we know it, while Caterina shares her love of books, in particular one well known book about Italy, Forster’s A Room with a View.

And finally, some good news for book lovers: Ana wrote about the stunning Libreria El Ateneo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is housed in an old theatre, and full of people buying books.

Read more:
Jorge Luis Borges: Argentina’s most influential author
Games for kids of the world: a free ebook from the PocketCultures team
Hand gestures from around the world

My favourite book: an English book about Italy

It is always difficult to talk about our favourite book: we could be considered too romantic, too naive or even not deep enough if we like something too childish or a cutting-edge best-seller.

View of the Arno River in Florence (Photo: Ana O'Reilly)

As far as my personal experience is concerned, when I say that my favourite book is A Room with a View by the English author Edward Morgan Forster I might in a way be considered a little bit ‘nationalist’, as the story at the very beginning deals with the city of Florence where the main characters meet for the first time. But there is much more than this: the books is at once a mixture of different genres in less than 200 pages: ‘coming-of-age’ novel, romantic story, and even touristic guide in a way, and it can be easily read for the enjoyable way it is written. (more…)