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Saramago, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, explores the concept of historical revisionism in The History of the Siege of Lisbon, an engaging story about a proofreader who rewrites Portuguese history with a stroke of a pen.
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis tells the tale of a character named Ricardo Reis who has a chance encounter with his creator, deceased Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. This whimsical tale makes for great in-flight entertainment.
This historical thriller is set in both pre and post-World War II Lisbon, a city that Wilson has called, "one of the most remarkable cities of the last sixty years." The narrative is teeming with cultural and geographic references and won the British Crime Writers' Association's distinguished (and dark) Golden Dagger award for best crime novel of 1999.
Also worth checking out is the book's sequel, Company of Strangers.
This English phrasebook, first published in 1885, was written by two non-English-speaking men armed only with a Portuguese-to-French dictionary, a French-to-English dictionary and the delusion that their end result would actually be coherent. Lucky for you, it's not.
English as She is Spoke will probably be the funniest book you read on your trip. Keep it on hand for situations that require emergency comic relief, such as a missed train or lost luggage.
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by Fernando Pessoa