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fiddlers_Gr33n t1_iyzxr0h wrote

Are you reading in English, French and Portuguese? Where in the world are you and how do you get books?

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MrMelodica OP t1_iz0dqdz wrote

I'm from Portugal, so Portuguese is my mother tongue. I've been learning English since I can remember so it's very natural for me. I started learning French seriously a couple of years ago, so nowadays I can also read it comfortably. Actually, I had the original objective of reading 12 books in French this year, and I'm quite proud to say I managed to go beyond that.

I get my books mainly from Amazon (English and French) and BookDepository (English), since they basically have everything in stock at all times. For Portuguese, I'll just go to a bookstore in the city where I live.

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fiddlers_Gr33n t1_iz2mgw3 wrote

My Portuguese has been steadily getting rustier and rustier during the last 10 years because my exposure dropped to 0, but I used to be fluent. I live in Latin America, and though Brazil is pretty close, if I want books I have to have them shipped to the US and back down to me. Books in English and Spanish are pretty easy to get, although some good Spanish speaking authors from the other side of the continent (like Argentina, for example) are easier to find in the US than here (in the Andes).

PS. I really like your reading choices! Solid mix of sci fi and lit fic, which is pretty much my taste as well!

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MrMelodica OP t1_iz4cj58 wrote

That's a big bummer... I'm lucky that the Amazon from Spain carries a lot of French books, otherwise, I'd be in a similar situation. I'd love to learn Spanish at a certain point, but for now, I want to keep improving my French!

I usually stick to more "literary" works, but I read a lot of sci fi this year. I wanted to get a good overview of the genre by reading a lot of the classics. The fact there's a collection like the "S.F. Masterworks" really helped in the process, a lot of the filtering was already done. I really recommend you check their books, if you're interested in the genre.

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fiddlers_Gr33n t1_iz4hzd6 wrote

I'm planning to move to Europe in a few years, so that problem will be solved!

I'll definitely checkout the S.F Masterworks!

Ps. congrats on reading twice as many books in French as you set out to read. I know what an accomplishment that is in a language you're still working to nail down!

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