Spain Books

...you will stick to this book. It can be also read like a horror book, much better than those by Stephen King, since this has been REAL. I ASOLUTELY love Antonio Muñoz Molina, and I recommend each book he has written.

Every one who has ever been to a military camp should read this book in order to not forgetting all the suffering and the bad experience there. The books talks about all these things that you think you have already forgotten,but they are still inside you. Unfortunately, thousands of guys in Spain have the terrible duty of serving their country as a soldier, while their life is broken for about one year, when they have to forget what they are, and accept the orders of other men who,too very often, take adventage of their power. I also want to recomend the other books of Antonio Muñoz Molina, who, in my opinion, is one of the most talented writers in spanish language.

Dr.Hames has shown exemplary scholarship in this thought provoking work.It will become required reading for anyboby interested in this field.

This work is outstanding in every way. Hames' schollarship is thorough, thoughtful, inciteful and provoking. I heartily recommend this book to anyone interesting in medieval history.

Third in an indispensable series from an indefatigable culture hound with edgy taste and a gift for succinctly mixing facts and opinions. Here's what to do after you have seen Gaudi in Barcelona, Calatrava in Valencia, and the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

In Spain: Contemporary Art + Architecture Handbook, Sidra Stich provides the visitor with a fascinating guide to what the diverse and rich heritage of the country has to offer. Such art and architectural resources as museums, alternative spaces, galleries, public art exhibitions, urban projects, film centers, sculpture parks, bookstores, and art fairs are identified and surveyed. Readers will note where to find work by internationally acclaimed artists, as well as those newly emerging into prominence. The informative and engaging text is enhanced with 150 illustrations, detailed maps and city tour routes, as well as addresses, phone numbers, websites, access hours, and miscellaneous helpful hints. Spain is a welcome and highly recommended addition to any traveler's reference shelf and an ideal resource for crafting that very special art and architecture oriented itinerary.

Anyone who has not read the mysteries of Roderic Jeffries is in for a real treat. In An Artful Death, the main character, Inspector Alvarez, is presented as a loveable, humane, and underrated detective.He loves his food and his cognac and solving intricate murders. The descriptions of the island of Mallorca are charming, as is the dialogue replete with local idioms. The reader will especially enjoy the phone conversations between Alvarez and his superior, Salas, who treats him as an idiot. Justice comes in and unusual way in this novel.One must read it to see if he or she agrees with it. One thing is sure. Inspector Alvarez comes out smelling like a rose.

Mallorcan Inspector Alvarez is a laid-back policeman, one might even say lazy. He likes a peaceful life, well lubricated with good food and drink. But when arrogant foreigners treat him with undue disrespect, Alvarez becomes tenacious, even stubborn.

In his 23rd Alvarez novel, Jeffries, who lives on the Spanish Island of Mallorca, gives us a couple of English villains. Keith Vickers, a womanizing playboy with a string of shady business deals to his name, one day disappears off his yacht. Alvarez, though assuming an accidental drowning, notes several anomalies in his dicussions with servants, ex-wives and girlfriends and is chagrined but unsurprised when the body turns up murdered. His chief suspect is the obnoxious British politician George Lovell, who refuses to admit to an angry argument with Vickers and complains to Alvarez' snobbish superior in an attempt to have him fired or at least taken off the case.

Intuitive and thorough in his meandering way, Alvarez resists the browbeating as he eats and drinks his way through a list of suspects, unearthing numerous unsavory nuggets from Vickers' life. While the inspector comfortably navigates the gulf between ex-pats and natives on his beautiful island, few others do, preferring to remain mystified (Mallorcans) or ignorant (British). Good-natured irony, a clever mystery, and a gorgeous setting make this another enjoyable and witty outing for the much put-upon Inspector Alvarez.

Recommended: This is good if you have less than a week to spend in Barcelona and need to figure out how to maximize your time. The first few sections group activities and sites by type, so it's easy to pick out what you'll like. Plus they're all labelled on numbered maps to make it easy to chart your route through the day. Small color pictures help give you an idea of what you'll see. The sturdy map at the front is pretty useful and not awkward to use. The book is skinny enough that it's easy to carry it during the day. My main criticisms: (1) Park Guell isn't in the main top 10 list section, but is listed in the top 10 parks. I think this underemphasis is a mistake, since some readers might miss out on it. (2) There's not much info on excursions outside the city if you have the time for that sort of thing. (3) There's limited info on restaurants and hotels, but that may not be an issue for some travellers.

If you have a longer stay in Barcelona you might supplement this with a bigger book like Fodor's See It Barelona.

Having just returned from a trip to Barcelona, and having brought several pocket guides to the city, we found this little book fairly useful.

First of all, the covers and pages are glossy so they don't stain easily, which was unique to this guide. Secondly, there are LOTS of small color photographs, which is nice, though they are necessarily small. The front and back covers fold out to maps of the city and the metro system, and a selected street index. The book is organized into "top ten" lists: attractions, Modernista buildings, squares, churches, museums, cafes, restairants and tapas bars, night-time spots, gay & lesbian hangouts, shopping areas, markets, city views, parks & beaches, walks and bike rides, activities, attractions for children, folk festivals, and performance venues. In the next section, top ten lists are given for each geographic section of the city, and the lists mix resteraunts, attractions, etc. The final section, called "Streetsmart", gives top ten helpful hints for: getting to barcelona, getting around the city, ways to explore, tours, information sources, security, health, banking, eating, shopping, budget travel and hotels. Each list is accompanied by a map or graphic and each item gets a few descriptive sentences and includes hours, prices and metro stop information. The book concludes with an incomplete index and some useful phrases.

We found this guide pretty useful and compact, and would definitely use others in the series when travelling.

Recommended: This is good if you have less than a week to spend in Barcelona and need to figure out how to maximize your time. The first few sections group activities and sites by type, so it's easy to pick out what you'll like. Plus they're all labelled on numbered maps to make it easy to chart your route through the day. Small color pictures help give you an idea of what you'll see. The sturdy map at the front is pretty useful and not awkward to use. The book is skinny enough that it's easy to carry it during the day. My main criticisms: (1) Park Guell isn't in the main top 10 list section, but is listed in the top 10 parks. I think this underemphasis is a mistake, since some readers might miss out on it. (2) There's not much info on excursions outside the city if you have the time for that sort of thing. (3) There's limited info on restaurants and hotels, but that may not be an issue for some travellers.

If you have a longer stay in Barcelona you might supplement this with a bigger book like Fodor's See It Barelona.

Having just returned from a trip to Barcelona, and having brought several pocket guides to the city, we found this little book fairly useful.

First of all, the covers and pages are glossy so they don't stain easily, which was unique to this guide. Secondly, there are LOTS of small color photographs, which is nice, though they are necessarily small. The front and back covers fold out to maps of the city and the metro system, and a selected street index. The book is organized into "top ten" lists: attractions, Modernista buildings, squares, churches, museums, cafes, restairants and tapas bars, night-time spots, gay & lesbian hangouts, shopping areas, markets, city views, parks & beaches, walks and bike rides, activities, attractions for children, folk festivals, and performance venues. In the next section, top ten lists are given for each geographic section of the city, and the lists mix resteraunts, attractions, etc. The final section, called "Streetsmart", gives top ten helpful hints for: getting to barcelona, getting around the city, ways to explore, tours, information sources, security, health, banking, eating, shopping, budget travel and hotels. Each list is accompanied by a map or graphic and each item gets a few descriptive sentences and includes hours, prices and metro stop information. The book concludes with an incomplete index and some useful phrases.

We found this guide pretty useful and compact, and would definitely use others in the series when travelling.

This is the book to get if you are thinking about going to BCN and want more info. Great photos, peppy layout, jumps right into the heart of the city without getting bogged down on history. Good feel for modern culture, couple of pages on hotels, eating, shopping, then into the heart of a walking city with interesting photos, suggestions for walks/tours, suggestions for where to eat & shop in each of the five sections of the city. (Oddly enough, they lump the Old City, the Gothic, in with the Ramblas instead of its own section). It has a sense of not being too heavy, of being usable: 3 pages on the food/drink, followed by 5 pages on architecture, followed by 2 pages on the importance of the holy Barcelona football team and why Madrid is the real enemy (although 1/2 these pages in these sections may be photos). Easy to carry, great book if you are only going to be in the city a couple days. Good for general overview and planning. A feel good guide book.

There's no doubt about it, this is the best travel guide I have ever used. I have visited seven European cities (London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Zurich, Barcelona) over the course of three separate vacations. Through my local library, I've had the opportunity to read dozens of different travel guides. I wish I had found the AAA Spiral Guides sooner. I bought the AAA Spiral Guide to Barcelona before my trip to Barcelona last month.
PRO's:
-- Full color with lots of pictures
-- The articles are well written without being overly long and boring. They give color, flavor, and historical background to Barcelona
-- The guide is "neighborhood-based", breaking down the city into manageable pieces, making it easier to digest the information
-- Includes neighborhood maps for each section of town that is featured
-- Includes a subway map (the subway system is outstanding)
-- Includes excellent articles on the "must-see" locations in the city, and then smaller entries on the secondary "time-permitting" sights to see.
-- the price is unbeatable for what you get
-- Compact, so it's easy to travel with
-- I loved the spiral binding. Though not a "technical breakthrough", it made the book extremely comfortable to work with.
CON's:
-- The only improvement I would ask for is a detachable map of the full city. Although the book is small enough to fit in a travel bag or large pocket, a full-city map might have come in handy.
-- Although this didn't bother me, some people may consider it a negative that the book does not offer pages upon pages of hotel reviews. It only gives information on maybe a dozen hotels in the city.
In summary, I think a good guidebook is going to fit three distinct needs:
1.) pre-trip planning information
2.) maps and sightseeing information to use while at the vacation destination
3.) post-trip souvenir
This book was excellent at all phases.

Note: for anyone looking to supplement this book, my other favorite guidebook was the Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides: Barcelona. This book takes a unique and interesting "top 10" approach. I wouldn't want this as my only guidebook, but it makes a great supplement to AAA Spiral Guide: Barcelona (and is also very inexpensive for what you get).

I read this book to all of my kids, but my daughter liked it better than my boys did. It's a corky, cute little tale, about a butterfly who thinks her beloved mouse friend has been eaten by a fish. Out of this comes a story that follows the same format as "There was an old lady who swallowed a Fly." This happened, then this happened, then this, etc. It's a zany little book, especially at the end. It has a happy ending. There are 26 actual pages, not counting the cover page and dedication page. There are 5 pages of full color illustrations included in the 26 pages. The illustrations are bright and lively. It's probably 1st grade level, maybe second. Young children who hear the book several times will be telling this story, I'm sure. I'm also sure they'll want to hear it again.

WHEN YOU OPEN THIS EXTRAORDINARY CHILDREN'S BOOK THE COLORS IN THE BOOK WILL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY WHAT BEAUTY WHAT LIFE. THE BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY IS A STORY ABOUT LIFE, FRIENDS, AND LOVE, BUT TOLD ON A LEVEL ANY CHILD WOULD UNDERSTAND. I BOUGHT THIS BOOK FOR MY FRIENDS NEW BABY GIRL. BUT FIRST I HAD TO READ AND READ AGAIN THIS WONDERFUL BOOK THAT WISHED ME BACK TO CHILDHOOD WHERE ALL DREAMS DO COME TRUE.

This novel contains: thousands of tears, a great love story, two young lovers, two cities at war, sarcasm in the hopes of a better destiny in the myth of a new born, a miracle, irony and passion. Cuca Canals first novel transports you into a world of fantasy and dreams nobody expects. Everybody should read it.

I've had the chance to read this wolderfull book full of magic and tenderness. I would recomend it to anyone wishing to spend a good time reading something beautiful and inocent. I would also recomend her next two titles: La hescritora and LA chica que lloraba lágrimas de oro. Both of them are also beautifull. I have all of them signed by the author and keep them as a treasure.

The Pyrenees boundary between France and Spain began in 1659 as a pretty arbitrary line, but over the course of the next two centuries it was worked out as a national border locally. Sahlins studied the Cerdanya, a valley in the Pyrenees split between France and Spain, and shows how localism formed national identities that were necessary for delineating the boundary.

According to Sahlins, the changes that took place to form the France/Spain boundary were not only a formation of national identity, but also a change in the governments' views of sovereignty, moving from an idea of jurisdiction and dominion over subjects, to territorial control. He shows how policy in the Cerdanya reflected this change from jurisdiction to territory, the change from frontier land to a true boundary.

Sahlins' book is a fascinating look at what makes a nation, and a microcosmic study of the formation of the modern nation-state. His study of the Cerdanya gives the book insights, not just into governmental state-building, but also the construction of identity, the necessity of boundaries for people to define themselves in opposition to the other.

This book is pure genious, focusing on the important issue of nations, identity and borders, specifically the Franco-Spanish border as it was deliniated from the 17th century onward. This is a fascinating account. Most would say that the pyrennes offer an ideal border and they would be correct, but how the nations were able to imprint national idenitities on the clannish localities of the mountains is fascinating reading on a subject most of us would never deighn to think important. A fun and important account, fascinating, ingenious and one of a kind in its originality.

Seth J. Frantzman