Naked in death (in death #1) (nudez mortal [Portuguese])

By Nora Roberts:

Images.gr-assets.com. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462140609l/30070295.jpg [Accessed 30 Dec. 2016].

Novel first published in July 1995. It was my first meeting with a crime novel by Nora Roberts. It's a very nice novel, because it mixes the typical police literature with a love story. But do not underestimate the author as police writer! Nora Roberts is very good at imagining crime scenes and suspense. The novel is written in a future age, but without eccentricities.
Some quotes from this first book of the «In death» series, preceding «Glory in death», by the pseudonym J. D. Robb:

• «"(...) She told me once she'd never planned on making a career out of professional sex. She'd only gotten into it to make her family crazy. But then, after she got into it, she decided she liked it." (...) "So she stayed in the life, and killed two birds with one fuck. (...)"»
• «Eve hated funerals. She detested the rite human beings insisted on giving death. (...). There might be a God. She hadn't completely ruled such things out. And if there were, she thought, It must have enjoyed a good laugh over Its creations' useless rituals and passages.»
• «I hate to wast time», Roarke said.
• «"(...) Some men find the cool, disinterested, and understated attractive. Makes them think you're deep. (...)"», Mavis said, Eve's friend.
• «"So how did you get rich?" She asked him./"Various ways." (...).», Roarke replied./«"Name one."», Eve requested./«"Desire" (...).», Roarcke said./«"Not good enough." (...) "Most people want to be rich."», Eve said.»/«"They do not want  it enough. To fight for it. To take risks for it."», he aswered.
• «(...) She didn't have your thoroughness, Eve, your control, nor your enviable concentration.», Roarke said.
• «And it was terrifying to realize she believed him, and not be sure, not be absolutely certain if she believed because she needed to.»
• «"(...) The most obvious would be the subject could find her self-worth only in sexual skill. She either enjoyed or detested the act."/(...). "If she detested it, why would she become a pro?"/"To punish."/"Herself?"/"Certainly, and those close to her."»
• «"Whatever we've done in genetic engineering, in vitro, with social programs, we still can't control basic human failings: violence, lust, envy."/"The seven deadly sins."»
• «That was the biggest problem with getting used to someone, she thought. You were lonely when they weren't there.»

As pequenas memórias (Portuguese) (small memories)

By José Saramago:

Bibliblogue.files.wordpress.com. (2016). [online] Available at: https://bibliblogue.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/500_9789722118316_as_pequenas_memorias.jpg [Accessed 11 Dec. 2016].

It is an interesting memoir of a sad man, who bitterly mourns his youth of poverty. No man should be saddened by his past. All that Saramago lived was beautiful, unique, and he should feel proud.

Some passages from the book:

• «Let yourself be carried by the child you were.», by The Portuguese King Dom Duarte, in «O leal conselheiro [Portuguese] (The loyal counselor)».
• The parents of Saramago:

Propor.esccb.pt. (2016). .:: ProPor .::. José Saramago ::.. [online] Available at: http://propor.esccb.pt/saramago/saramago_biobiblio.htm [Accessed 11 Dec. 2016].

• Village of Azinhaga and the river Almonda, Golegã, Santarém:

6.fotos.web.sapo.io. (2016). [online] Available at: http://6.fotos.web.sapo.io/i/B4e0876c0/19812430_GfzW7.jpeg [Accessed 11 Dec. 2016].

Grandeturismo.com. (2016). [online] Available at: http://www.grandeturismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/IMG_9480.jpg [Accessed 11 Dec. 2016].

• Saramago with his mother, at the door of the ground-floor house where he was born, in Azinhaga:

Propor.esccb.pt. (2016). .:: ProPor .::. José Saramago ::.. [online] Available at: http://propor.esccb.pt/saramago/saramago_biobiblio.htm [Accessed 11 Dec. 2016].

• «Only I knew, unaware that I knew it, that (...) it had been written that I would still have to return to Azinhaga to finish being born.»
• «For each olive tree plucked, the European Community paid a premium to landowners, mostly large landlords, (...).»
• «It is now said that it is returning to plant olive trees, but of those that, for many years that live, will always be small. They grow faster and the olives are easily picked.»
• «This loss, however, has long ceased to cause me suffering because, by the reconstructive power of memory, I can raise its white walls at every instant, (...).»
• Olive grove:

Pakandl, P. (2016). [online] Emforma.net. Available at: http://www.emforma.net/imagens/olival.jpg [Accessed 15 Dec. 2016].

• «(...) the dense forest of tamarins, (...)»:

Lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au. (2013). Australian Tamaricaceae. [online] Available at: http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/plants/tama/tamaricaceae.html [Accessed 16 Dec. 2016].

• Fagus:

Depositphotos, I. (2016). Feuilles de hêtre à grandes feuilles d'automne. [online] Depositphotos. Available at: http://fr.depositphotos.com/4203704/stock-photo-fall-leaves-of-american-beech.html [Accessed 17 Dec. 2016].

• Ash trees:

ArbreMons, (2011). Panoramio - Photo of Fraxinus angustifolia. [online] Panoramio.com. Available at: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/55469768 [Accessed 17 Dec. 2016].

• Populus alba L.:

Bico, M. (2014). Panoramio - Photo of Choupo ou Álamo (Populus alba L.), Jardim Botânico de Almada/ Casa da Cerca, Almada, Portugal. [online] Panoramio.com. Available at: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/108318215 [Accessed 17 Dec. 2016].

• «(...) the Paul de Boquilobo, a lake, a swamp, a marsh that the landscape maker had forgotten to take to paradise.»:

Visitportugal.com. (2013). Reserva Natural do Paul do Boquilobo. [online] Available at: https://www.visitportugal.com/pt-pt/NR/exeres/939FE05F-5E3C-47BC-8E2C-9E0E7B63F2E0 [Accessed 17 Dec. 2016].

• Blackberry bush:

Xavier, J. (2010). As amoras silvestres. [online] As plantas. Available at: https://asplantas.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/as-amoras-silvestres/ [Accessed 17 Dec. 2016].

• «(...) to listen to (...) the silence of the forest broken only by the tweet of the birds and the ranger of the branches under the impulse of the wind, (...)»
• The morass:

Cm-santarem.pt. (2016). Caracterização Ambiental. [online] Available at: http://www.cm-santarem.pt/concelho/caracterizacaodoconcelho/Paginas/ambiental.aspx [Accessed 17 Dec. 2016].

• «(...) weeping willow which grow in water, they aren't, one might say, a special justification in an age such as ours, in which, at five or six years of age, any child of the civilized world, even sedentary and indolent, (...) has already decimated the terrifying exercise of mechanical dragons awaiting the gold of Fort Knox, has already blown the king of tyrannosaurs to pieces.»:

park, S. (2016). Willow tree in park. [online] Dreamstime.com. Available at: https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-willow-tree-park-image15383980 [Accessed 17 Dec. 2016].

• Fig tree (Ficus):

INTERIORES, R. (2016). ÁRVORE: FIGUEIRA. [online] Rwpaisagismo.blogspot.pt. Available at: http://rwpaisagismo.blogspot.pt/2012/12/arvore-figueira.html [Accessed 20 Dec. 2016].

• «Very little, in fact, but it is very likely that the heroic winner of tyrannosaurus would not even be able to catch a gecko at hand.»
• «Uncle António Barata did not spend saliva in circumlocutions, metaphors and periphrases, he called him silly directly, with all the letters. (...) Leandro (...) was dyslexic.»
• «(...) the most primitive of the refreshments that have already passed through my throat: a mixture of water, vinegar and sugar, (...).»
• «(...) many hours spent in vain (in vain, to tell the truth, none, because, without my realizing it, I was "fishing" things that would not be less important to me in the future, images, smells, sounds, breezes, sensations).»
• «In fact, child cruelty has no limits (this is the underlying reason not to have them also that of adults).»
• «(...) and two little drawers on the sides, full of odds and ends that were of no use and were going from one year to the other without visible changes of content.»
• «((...) in those days, "returning to penates" meant simply "returning home").»
• «I was 10 years old, but I read plainly, and I understood perfectly what I read, besides I do not make, at such a young age, too many spelling mistakes, which, by the way, is no merit worthy of a medal in that time.»

Ghosts, appearances of the dead and cultural transformation (fantasmas, aparições dos mortos e transformação cultural [Portuguese])

By Ronald C. Finucane:

LX Portugal. (2016). Colecção Enigmas de Todos os Tempos (Bertrand Editora). [online] Available at: https://www.olx.pt/anuncio/coleco-enigmas-de-todos-os-tempos-bertrand-editora-IDzcYdx.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2016].

It is a book of world history. It tells us many stories told in various parts of the world. The author seems impartial, but he tends not to believe in them. Hovewer, there are many inexplicable and terrifying facts. Nevertheless, the book is important for the historical wealth.

Some interesting passages:

• «(...) a moment of earthly life represents a very, very long time in purgatorio.» (in F.C. Tubach, Speculum Laicorum, Folklore fellow communications, 1969).
• «(...) Glanvill hoped that these apparitions of ghosts would confuse the materialistic atheists and the heretical sectarians of his time./Nonconformists were also interested in collecting and publishing examples of evidence of immortality.» (in Chapter 5 - Baroque hauntings of the seventeenth century).
• «(...) about half of the narratives deal with precautions about heirs, warnings to the living, and murders.» (in Chapter 5 - Baroque hauntings of the seventeenth century).
• «(...) poltergeists. (...) the name of two German words, which mean "creating a disturbance" (or, more specifically, producing deaf noises, rolling or blowing furiously), and "spirits." Although examples can be found in the early centuries, this form of spiritual persecution only becomes vulgar in the post-Reformation era.» (in Chapter 5 - Baroque hauntings of the seventeenth century).
• «(...) Flowers on the graves - originally a pagan custom (...).»
• «Nothing is more common, in rural areas, than an entire family on a winter night, sitting around the fire and telling stories of apparitions and ghosts. (...) this helps the fears of men and makes them often imagine that they see things, which in reality are no more than their imagination [said by Henry Bourne].» (in Chapter 6 - The Enlightenment and "Atheism").
• «As for the nature of legitimate appearances, Defoe believes that they are demonic agents or benevolent celestial beings, like the ethereal and astral spirits of previous generations, that occasionally provide men with warnings and advice [in Moreton/Defoe, Secrets, pp. 78 ff.].» (in Chapter 6 - The Enlightenment and "Atheism").
• «It is wonderful how it has been five thousand years since the creation of the world and it has not yet been decided whether or not the spirit of some person has ever appeared after death. All arguments are against; but faith is in favor.», said Dr. Johnson.
• «(...) funeral in life (...). (...) tafophobia (...). (...) premature funeral (...). (...) Edgar Allan Poe reproduced accurately the contemporary apprehensions in his "premature funeral" of the 40s.»
• «(...) Victorian interest in funerary things was also reflected in the way it was depicted and encouraged in the "Gothic" horror or ghost stories, that attracted the best authors in the second half of the nineteenth century. (...) products of the Romantic movement. (...), this movement was in itself a reaction to the scientific and agnostic tendencies of the time, (...).»
• «(...) mesmerism (...). The work of Anton Mesmer (...). Supposedly, the spirits of the dead used "animal magnetism" over certain living beings - "sensitives", or mediums - to carry out these interviews, (...). (...), the original idea of Mesmer, of channeling the animal magnetism for the accomplishment of cures, (...).»
• «(...) the famous case of the "Rochester Beats" of 1848. (...) it is said that the modern spiritualist movement dates from 1848, (...). (...) Rochester has captivated the imaginations of those seeking evidence of what they wanted to believe.»
• «(...) dead spoke (...) assuring that there is no pain on the Other Side and that the spirits ascended to various levels - current gnosticism - until all were finally saved (...).»
• «(...) these people wanted in such a way to communicate with spirits, that any approach to their expectations was accepted as reality. (...) the best results were achieved only with "believing" participants [nineteenth century].»

The trial (o processo [Portuguese])

By Franz Kafka:

Fnac.com. (2016). O Processo - Franz Kafka em Fnac.pt. [online] Available at: http://www.fnac.pt/O-Processo-Franz-Kafka/a84874 [Accessed 5 Nov. 2016].

A novel of anxiety, persecution, paranoia, where death is the freedom. Some quotes:

• «(...) it was in everyone's interest to bring proceedings quickly to their conclusion, but on the other hand every aspect of the examinations had to be carried out thoroughly without lasting too long because of the associated stress. For these reasons, it had been decided to hold a series of brief examinations following on one after another. Sunday had been chosen as the day for the hearings so that K. would not be disturbed in his professional work. (...) if he wished for another date then, as far as possible, he would be accommodated. (...) could even be held in the night, for instance, but K. would probably not be fresh enough at that time.»
• «(...) this invitation from the deputy director, with whom he had never got on very well, meant that he was trying to improve his relations with him. It showed how important K. had become (...) and how its second most important official seemed to value his friendship, or at least his impartiality.»
• «(...) advisable to prepare a written defense (...). In it he would offer a brief overview of his life, and for each event of any particular importance, explain why he had acted as he did, whether in his present judgment this course of action deserved approval or censure, and what reasons he could advance for the one or the other.»
• «Now and then he [Leni] gave K. a few empty admonitions, as if talking to a child. Speeches as useless as they were boring, (...).»
• «(...) the first impression made by the defense often influenced the whole course of the proceedings.»
• «For the lawyers — and even the least important of them has at least a partial overview of the circumstances — are far from wishing to introduce or carry out any sort of improvement in the court system; (...). Just don't attract attention! Keep calm, no matter how much it seems counter to good sense. (...) this vast judicial organism remains (...) in a state of eternal equilibrium, (...) if you change something on your own where you are, you can cut the ground out from under your own feet and fall, while the vast organism easily compensates for the minor disturbance at some other spot — after all, everything is interconnected — and remains unchanged; (...).»
• «Reproaches are of little value, particularly when it seems the full import of what has caused them cannot be conveyed, (...).»
• «“Is that an officially recognized position?” “No,” said the painter (...): “Well, such unofficial positions often carry more influence than ones that are recognized.”»
• «(...) sitting in front of him and taken by surprise by his dismissal, K. would be able easily to infer everything he wanted from the lawyer's face and behaviour, (...).»
• «Merely by being in possession of a thick overcoat he felt his advantage over this thin little man.»
• «"(...) I dislike your anxiety and fear and see that you don't have the trust in me you should have. (...)."»
• «It would not have been difficult for him to turn down most of these jobs, but he did not dare to do so because, if his fears had the slightest foundation, turning the jobs down would have been an acknowledgement of them.»
• «"(...) Above all, the free man is superior to the man who has to serve another. (...)."»
• «(...) "the only thing I can do now is keep my common sense and do what's needed right till the end. (...) Should I go out like someone stupid? (...)."»
• «"(...) the slightest uncertainty in the least significant of matters will always remain a cause of suffering and if, as in this case, it can be removed without substantial effort, then it is better if that is done without delay."»
• "Gradually (...) they met so often together that all differences of culture, profession and age have become blurred.»
• «(...), he was very courteous and very modest before everyone and, most important thing even than the courtesy and modesty, he could distinguish between the different hierarchical levels of gentlemen and deal with each man according to his condition.»
• «He should not make believe to the interim director he was over (...); he should disturb his calm, he should realize as often as possible that K. was alive and, like everything that lives, he was capable of surprise him one day with new features, even if now he seemed very harmless.»
• «(...) he avoided neglect or jump over the minimum difficulty; (...).»
• «They are lower-level employees, and the last of the nulls; (...) So it is virtually impossible to raise them obstacles; no strange hand knew to raise on their way an obstacle equal to their stupidity (...).»

Winter rose (rosa de inverno [Portuguese])

By Nora Roberts:

D.gr-assets.com. (2016). Rosa de Inverno - Nora Roberts. [online] Available at: https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400882085l/22306135.jpg [Accessed 18 Oct. 2016].

Short story first published in October 2001. We travel by a delightful story. There is a lot of magic, witchcraft, princes and much love and passion. It is a fantasy tale. Some quotes:

• «I can see the world through books, and lives through the stories.»
• «If you have only a window on the world, you must look out of it.»
• «We're born what we're born, (...). Neither you nor I could live well or happy if we cast off our duty.»
• «How can this be? How can you bring me so much? I turned you away, without love.», said Deirdre. «No, you let me go, with love. It took me time to understand that – and you. To understand what it cost you. (...).», answered Kylar.

A world apart (uma terra distante [Portuguese])

By Nora Roberts:

Troca-se.pt. (2016). [online] Available at: http://troca-se.pt/uploads/items/2015/06/20/21/1305776/115585c9140b19c.jpg [Accessed 17 Oct. 2016].

I bought these six books "Once upon a time", by Nora Roberts, in a shop selling second-hand products. The six books have cost 2 euros. I won because this author delighted my afternoons with wonderful and beautiful stories, that melt the hearts of those who know what love is. This short story was first published in December 2002. Some quotes:

• «[Kadra] (...) You would be weak and foolish if you didn't question, and the weak and foolish would be of no use to me.»
• «[Kadra] Is your world so perfect, so important, that you believe it stands alone in the vastness of time and space? Harper Doyle, can you have lived and still believe you are alone? (...).»
• «[Harper] I recognized you, (...). I pushed that aside, clicked back into what made sense so I could deny it. But I recognized you, somehow, the minute I saw you.»
• «[Kadra] It was the same for me. This is not something I understand, but only feel. I do not know the meaning.»
• «[Kadra, at the zoo] It is not right to look them up. They are not born for this. (...) This is a cruel thing you do here. This is a sorry place, this zoo. Is this what you teach your young? (...) That one species can be locked away for the amusement of another?»
• «[Harper] (...) Civilization has encroached. There isn't as much room as there once was. In captivity,  they're safe, I guess, and tended. They can't be hunted or taken as trophies.»
• «[Kadra] They are not free, (...).»
• «[Kadra] No joining had ever been so intense or (...). Nor to find herself both conquered and victorious. (...) the intimacy of the kiss that had been like... feeding each other. (...).»
• «[Harper] Kissing isn't just for joining. (...) after making love... (...). Sometimes, after, while a couple is still tuned to each other, they kiss to show how much pleasure they were giving. (...).»
• «[Kadra] You make me want (...) in ways I have never wanted.»
• «[Harper] You make me need. (...). In ways I've never needed.»
• «(...) With him, a joy she hadn't known was locked inside her could be free.»
• «You're magnificent, Kadra. "Beautiful" is too ordinary, too simple a word (...).»
• «[Kadra] Don't speak of death, even as an expression. Not before battle. (...). It is bad luck. (...).»
• «The thing about New York, Harper thought, (...), was there was always someone dressed weirder than you were.»
• «[Kadra] We are born for a purpose. How we live, how we treat others who live with us forms our spirit and determines if we will fulfill that purpose or fail. (...).»
• «[Kadra] Your people have so many colors of skin. It's beautiful. You are blessed to have such richness of person, such variety. (...)».
• «(...) When this is over, Kadra, we'll find a way. That's what people do when they love each other. They find a way.»
• «[Kadra] (...) when they feed on us, they hope to consume what it is that makes us human. Our heart, our soul. But they cannot. All they can take and transform is the body. The heart and soul live on in another place. And that place is locked to them.»

Because you are mine (porque és minha [Portuguese])

By Beth Kery:

It is erotic and pornographic literature. Despite containing coarser terms, this book is better than «Fifty shades», by E. L. James. It is better than last one due to greater action and imagination, and best expression of feelings. However, this kind of literature serves more to erotic entertainment. And anyone looking for a lot of passion and action may find the book boring, because the author is lost in pornographic descriptions. Next book of this collection is «when I'm with you».
Some brands, places and quotes in the book:

• «Baby-doll vintage» dress example:

• «(...), I’m glad about your architecture background. Your skill and knowledge in that field is undoubtedly what gives your artwork so much precision, depth, and style. (...).»
• Musee d'Archeologie Nationale et Domaine, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France:

• «The St. Germain’s interior (...). Walking through the rooms gave the impression of going back in time to a posh, elegant, lived-in seventeenth-century palace showcasing priceless furnishings and incredible pieces of Grecian and Roman art.»
• Aphrodite of Argos:

• Herman Surenburg painting example («Spirit of the forest»). «It's about making meaning from chaos.», Ian Noble said:

• «She was an incredible beauty, after all. The fact that she seemed completely oblivious to her sexuality fascinated him.»
• «She became somber and formidable as a judge when she worked, all of her self-consciousness burned to mist by her brilliant talent and an uncommon grace that she didn't appear to know she possessed. She also was ignorant of her potent sexual appeal. He, on the other hand, was acutely aware of its promise and power. Unfortunately, he was equally conscious of her naïveté. He could practically smell it surrounding her; her innocence intermingled with an untested sexuality, creating a heady perfume that had set him off balance.»
• The Run Around, «Blues traveler», playing at McGill's.
• «Oh, an older soul I've never seen in such a wee one's eyes. (...) Serious. Eerily smart.», Mrs. Hanson said about Ian Noble.
• «Where’s the fun in planning for a tattoo? You’re supposed to wake up with a truly atrocious, supersleazy one in the morning and not have a clue how you got it the night before.», Justin joked.
• «You should always control the strengths you have available to you; never let them languish or, worse, allow others to be the ones to control them for you.», Ian said to Francesca.
• «It caused no greater shame than to express need, to make oneself vulnerable, and then to have that pure, honest emotion thrown back at you as if it were garbage.»
• «Was she so desperate, following a majority of life spent overweight, to have a man like Ian show desire for her that she was willing to sacrifice her dignity?»
• «Bach - Brandenburg concertos, (...). It seemed a perfect choice for Ian — the man and the music were both mathematically precise and intensely soulful.»
• Le Grand Véfour restaurant, Palais-Royal, in Paris:

• George V hotel, in Paris:

• «(...) a candlelit private terrace with a stunning view of the glowing lacework steel Eiffel Tower.», in George V hotel, Paris:

• Le Cinq, luxury restaurant located in the George V hotel, in Paris:

Papadimitriou, N. (2014). Meet some of the best restaurants in the world | Four Seasons | Trip and Travel Blog. [online] Tripandtravelblog.com. Available at: http://tripandtravelblog.com/meet-some-of-the-best-restaurants-in-the-world-four-seasons/ [Accessed 9 Oct. 2016].

• Art déco fountain of the Three Graces, in Paris:

• National Museum of Modern Art, in Paris:

• «I want you to know that I am far from being critical of your appearance. Whether you’re in pearls or your Cubs T-shirt, I find you to be extremely attractive. Perhaps you haven’t noticed?», Ian said to Francesca.
• «It’s a developmental milestone, getting your driver’s license, no different than taking your first step... (...)», Ian said.
• «If a woman recognizes her power, she can present herself in rags and people will recognize her as a queen.», Ian said to Franscesca.
• Lake Michigan, in Chicago:

Next Trip Tourism. (2013). Lake Michigan Tourist. [online] Available at: http://nexttriptourism.com/lake-michigan-tourism-chicago/lake-michigan-tourist/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2016].

• Sixteen, «that's one of the nicest restaurants in the city [Chicago]! (...). Sixteen was housed in the Trump International Hotel & Tower, the dining room dominated by the modern, clean lines of cherrywood-paneled walls and an enormous, stunning Swarovski-crystal chandelier.»:

Trumpchicago.com. (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.trumpchicago.com/images/foreground/lifestyle-sixteen.jpg [Accessed 13 Oct. 2016].

Lorentz, W. (2016). [online] Chicagoarchitecture.info. Available at: http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/CAI/Images/201108/TrumpInternationalHotelandTower-Chicago-00907-006a.jpg [Accessed 13 Oct. 2016].

• «Had she [Francesca] really believed she could expunge him from her mind and soul so easily because of anger? What was fury to the swelling, inexplicable feelings she had for him?»
• «(...) a cityscape painting she’d [Francesca] done of the Wrigley Building, the Union and Carbide Building (...).»:

Lund, K. (2013). [online] C2.staticflickr.com. Available at: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3810/9179471547_84d7829790_b.jpg [Accessed 14 Oct. 2016].

• Lake Shore Drive, Chicago:

Next Trip Tourism. (2013). Lake Michigan Tourist. [online] Available at: http://nexttriptourism.com/lake-michigan-tourism-chicago/lake-michigan-tourist/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2016].

• «Oh, Naked Thieves are playing in Millennium Park tonight.», in Chicago:

I25.servimg.com. (n.d.). [online] Available at: http://i25.servimg.com/u/f25/16/35/72/11/_dsc6110.jpg [Accessed 14 Oct. 2016].

• «— I really do spoil you. (...) I wouldn't do this for anyone else.I want you to know that [Ian]. (...) — That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me [Francesca]»
• «The only thing she knew is that whatever Ian was doing in London, it caused him anguish, and that he’d chosen to protect others in his life from that pain./He would be furious at her, if, by some miracle, she ever actually located him. Yet she couldn’t stand the idea of him suffering alone in any way, and she had become utterly convinced that these “emergency” visits to London related to the spiritual demons that plagued him./Besides, if what was in London was destined to destroy whatever they might have together in the future, wasn’t it best just to find out now instead of delaying the inevitable?»
• «(...), she recalled that expression he wore once in a while that tore at her so deeply and bewildered her so much, the look of someone who not only had been abandoned and lost but who knew with certainty he would eventually be rejected again.»
• 330 North Wabash (formerly IBM Plaza also known as IBM Building and now renamed AMA Plaza) is a skyscraper in downtown Chicago:

Upload.wikimedia.org. (2016). 330 North Wabash. [online] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/2004-09-02_1580x2800_chicago_IBM_building.jpg [Accessed 16 Oct. 2016].

• «She shivered at the memory of Ian’s rough, quiet voice. How she missed him. It was like an open wound deep inside her, a place she couldn't reach in order to soothe.»
• «(...) He had seen her so well, even then, seen things in her she hadn’t. He’d cherished those things, cultivated her strengths (...)...»
• «A small string quartet played Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2.»

The witching hour (hora do feitiço [Portuguese])

By Nora Roberts:

Source: 4bpblogspotcom. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZH9EjEX-mln03cHmbzNgUcU_Waw3IQinP4M86c4k7FPPn2d9BPa04JzkBLbSJ1DKgpk4-BjEa0NNDCgLmMyRzqZ5wFfi5WsE_2GqEYMy0GUTbz0ZzjZmvDl0FufgLie51x0sGwjVwKQA/s1600/22306114.jpg. Accessed September 2, 2017.

A beautiful, fantastic and sweeping story of love, power, and justice. In this short story, first published in October 2003, the author was able to create a great story, which may be the basis for the creation of a Disney cartoon or a fantasy movie full of passion. «Magic dimmed in all but the secret places, and some grew to fear as much as covet it.»

200 anos de Poe (Portuguese) (200 years of Poe)

By Edgar Allan Poe:

Source: Fnac.com. (2017). 200 Anos de Poe - Edgar Allan Poe em Fnac.pt. [online] Available at http://www.fnac.pt/200-Anos-de-Poe-Edgar-Allan-Poe/a201295 [Accessed 18 Jun. 2017].

A set of 7 short stories:

• «The purloined letter», 1845, «(...) in Paris (...), "au troisième, n.º 33, rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. Germain."» It is a detective story.

• «The fall of the house of Usher», September 1839, a macabre horror story: «(...) with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium — the bitter lapse into everyday life — the hideous dropping off of the veil. (...) Among other things, I hold painfully in mind a certain singular perversion and amplification of the wild air of the last waltz of Von Weber.»

• «The gold-bug», June 1843, a suspense story: «(...) subject to perverse moods of alternate enthusiasm and melancholy [Sr. William Legrand]. (...) You will observe that the stories told are all about money-seekers, not about money-finders.»

• «The tell - tale heart», January 1843. It is is a short story about crime and paranoia.

• «Berenice», March 1835, a horror and macabre story about obsession and mental illness: «The undue, earnest, and morbid attention thus excited by objects in their own nature frivolous, (...). (...) the dreamer, or enthusiast, being interested by an object usually not frivolous, imperceptibly loses sight of this object in a wilderness of deductions and suggestions issuing therefrom, until, at the conclusion of a day dream often replete with luxury, he finds the incitamentum or first cause of his musings entirely vanished and forgotten. (...) the primary object was invariably frivolous, although assuming, through the medium of my distempered vision, a refracted and unreal importance. (...) The meditations were never pleasurable; and, at the termination of the reverie, the first cause, so far from being out of sight, had attained that supernaturally exaggerated interest which was the prevailing feature of the disease.»

• «The masque of the red death», May 1842. It is a horror short story, a Gothic fiction.

• «The man of the crowd», December 1840. It is a short story about obsession.

The author has an excellent ability to describe the mind and mental states, especially the disturbed minds, with too much detail.

Ever after (para sempre [Portuguese])

By Nora Roberts:

It's always delightful reading a book by Nora Roberts. Short story first published in December 1999. I've read this book in a few hours. The author creates love stories, full of magic, here, in this collection, based on Celtic legends. I loved to break my stressed mood with this story, in an Irish island. Nora Roberts has the power to give color and fragrance to what she writes.
An excerpt: «Before dawn she rose, afraid that if she stayed beside him any longer in the dark she would ask - more afraid that if he offered some pale substitute for love and lifetimes, she would snatched it, pitifully.»

Fifty shades freed (fifty shades, #3) (as cinquenta sombras livre [Portuguese])

By E. L. James:

The novels have improved from the first to this last book of the trilogy. This trilogy focuses on the very detailed description of erotic-sexual scenes and is poor in action. However, the book entertains romantic women and who like happy endings. The best of this story is the description of a personality disorder resulting from a trauma in a child, although this needs a better interpretation by a good psychologist.

Some quotes to ponder:

• «[Christian] (...) managing a successful business is a matter of harnessing the talent of the individuals you have at your disposal. (...) I think you would do anything you wanted since you believed.»
• «[Anastasia] I don't want to cause him more pain causing him to relive the details.»
• «[Anastasia] – You don't like makeup?/[Christian] – I really like, but I prefer what is underneath.»
• «Variety is the spice of life», by William Cowper.
• «[Christian] When you grow up with an absolutely negative self-image, judging that you are some kind of rejected person, a savage that no one can love, you think that you deserve to be beaten.»
• «[Christian as a child] I had already seen pictures of Santa Claus. But Santa Claus never brought me gifts. I was bad. Santa Claus does not give gifts to bad boys. (...) My new mom says I'm good (...). The new mom does not know. I can not tell her... but I'm bad.»
• «[Christian] Hard work, surround myself with right people, keep an eye on them closely, doubt them, if necessary. (...) It has nothing to do with luck!»
• «[Christian] (...) we get immense power when, in our secret ramblings, we convinced us that we were born to control the things.»
• «The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he justly entitled.», by Andrew Carnegie.

Some musics that Christian Grey plays:

• "Requiem" by Gabriel Fauré.
• "Suffocation", prelude by Chopin.

Some songs that the characters listen to:

• "Say a little prayer", by Aretha Franklin.
• "Walk on by", by Dionne Warwick.
• “Sexy Bitch”, by David Guetta, featuring Akon.

The Christian Louboutin style shoes, that Christian Grey likes: