Spain Books

This is one more book out of the "economy" (in price only) series from Lorenz books.
The books in this series are characterised by a somewhat small size, hardcover, glossy paper, many pages, hundreds of photographs, a plethora of great recipes and attention to quality and detail.
The book, as the title sais deals with the cuisine of Spain, the Middle East and North Africa. These are somewhat intertwined since the Berbers occupied most of Spain for 700 years (this is especially true for the cuisine of Andalusia in the south of Spain. In its 512 pages the book deals with many Spanish dishes, both cold and hot, salads, dips, sauces, gazpachos etc. A great many fish dishes, especially from the north are depicted. The section on North African and Middle Eastern cooking is smaller but the basics, along with many others are there.
All in all a very satisfactory book at a very good price.

Well, I'm again here recommending a Footprint book. I took two weeks off and travelled from San Sebastian to Vigo, and from there to Portugal (where I used a Michelin for a three day stay). If you have more than a week, Footprint is the way to go (and read the guide BEFORE travel, like always). Is a great thing that they decided to write this sector guides (about only a part of a country) because it allows you to take in some areas without feeling that you paid for something that you will not use. Also, it represents better the way I do tourism. The cheap hotel (pensions) reccommendations where incredibly accurate (and I saved a lot of euros without losing quality). One line even mentioned a dog pertaining to a hostel owner, and since the dog passed away last year the owner wanted to see the guide to remember him and was happy to see that his dog will always be in a printed page! (that was in Oviedo). Continue with the good job people.

Barcelona novelist Lluis-Anton Baulenas' For a Sack of Bones recently won Catalonia's highest literary award, the Ramon Llull prize, for this most satisfying read.

The novel is a gripping and compelling page-turner than not only conveys vividly the tragedy of the Spanish civil war and the subsequent dictatorship, but also the moral quagmires which so many Spaniards and Catalans were forced to endure, often as a matter of simple survival. It is flabbergasting to think that Barcelona, arguably the most cutting edge city in the world today, was until the mid-1970s under the boot of a brutal dictatorship.

As in France during World War II, there were oppressors and there were oppressed, but sometimes the line between the two was precariously thin.

The main protagonist of For a Sack of Bones, Sergeant Genis Aleu, is in a moral grey zone, pursuing a quixotic mission to fulfill his father's dying wish. However, the road to achieving this goal threatens his own moral integrity, and even his life.

In its review of the book, the Toronto Star (July 13, 2008) commented that 'Baulenas is an accomplished storyteller whose narrative never falters, never veers off-course, never relinquishes its hold on the reader'.

Baulenas keeps the pressure mounting throughout the narrative, to a highly-charged conclusion ultimately reminiscent of Greek tragedy.

Worn down by yet another dreary English winter and with an emotional disinclination for hard - or indeed any - work. Shaun Briley decides that life in Spain has to be a better bet. So he and his girlfriend Helen set off with their meager savings (well hers) and buy an isolated farmhouse in the mountains of Almeria. Two innocents abroad, they don;t realise their farmhouse has neither electricity, water nor indeed a lavatory. What follows is an extremely funny tale of how not to settle in a foreign land, involving rat racing, runaway horses and infatuated cross-eyed neighbours.
--- from book's back cover

Fortuny was a modern renaissance man. His lasting legacy was however his fashion. He created the most wonderful silk gowns and this book just makes you wish you could stil buy them.

This is an excellent introduction to the explorer Coronado for young readers. The writing is clear and concise and the pictures are colorful. I recommend it.

lo pude conprar con un buen amigo de Bilbao, tenia años tras esta obra, la vida, hasta el año de 1938 del Caudillo de España, ciudadano universal, azote de los rojos.

This is a good read for those interested in the history of Spain. It gives a fairly thorough look at Franco, the Spanish Civil War, and the dictatorship, but you will want to read other books about the history of the country and about Franco and the other players in order to really begin to get the facts straight and get a good feel for what that nation's history was like. This biography falls into the "favorable" column, but not sycophontic or propagandistic. A good choice to read after this would be books by Stanley Payne.

This book is an excellent introduction to the complex issue of the Spanish Civil War. De Meneses' pithy account explains the principle causes,characters and myriad groups involved in the conflict. As an undergraduate student of De Meneses I am able to note in this publication, his passion for the subject as conveyed in lectures. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain a brief insight into the Spanish Civil War. Doubtless it will awaken in the reader the desire to read more on the subject.

Centinela de occidente, caudillo de España por la gracia de Dios,vencedor de los rojos en el campo de batalla, el unico que lo hizo.