World Cup Fever? Fiction and Nonfiction set in Brazil

Fiction

The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa
Six former SS men, dispatched from Brazil by the notorious former commandant of Auschwitz to kill ninety-four men, become the targets of aging, increasingly shortsighted Nazi-hunter Yakov Liebermann.

Brazil by John Updike
Tristao, an African-Brazilian street kid, and Isabel, an upper-class teen fresh from convent school, fall in love and flee from her rich father and the toughs he has sent in pursuit of them.

The Silence of the Rain by L.A. Garcia-Roza
Inspector Espinosa investigates the murder of a corporate executive found dead in his car, piecing together clues surrounding the victim's missing secretary, a life insurance policy, the victim's widow, and two additional murder victims.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
A researcher at a pharmaceutical company, Marina Singh journeys into the heart of the Amazonian delta to check on a field team that has been silent for two years--a dangerous assignment that forces Marina to confront the ghosts of her past.

Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin
An elderly American living in Brazil reminisces about his various lives as World War II ace, multimillionaire investment banker, insane asylum inmate, thief, murderer, lover, and protector of the innocent.

City of God by Paulo Lins
A powerful saga of the rise of the drug trade in the notorious slums of Rio de Janeiro spans three decades, recreating the turbulent times of the sixties that led to all-out street warfare, murder, and rampant drug trafficking by ruthless and brutal gangs, as seen through the eyes of two teenage boys.

The Seamstress by Frances de Pontes Peebles
In 1930's Brazil, a vigilante gang invades the home of two seamstresses, kidnapping one of them.

Nonfiction

The Lost City of Z: a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
Interweaves the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett, who vanished during a 1925 expedition into the Amazon, with the author's own quest to uncover the mysteries surrounding Fawcett's final journey and the secrets of what lies deep in the Amazon jungle.

Brazil: the once and future country by Marshall C. Eakin
Examines the history, religion, society, culture, politics, and economy of South America's largest country from colonial times to the present day