Spain

> Tag: Spain

Amerigo!? Heck no!

The Letters of America Vespucci and other documents illustrative of his career by Amerigo Vespucci

July 3, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

Library Book Bingos exist for two reasons: 1. clearing my shelves of books that would have otherwise sat there and 2. challenging myself to learn new things. I don’t really like the second purpose. I prefer to read what I want to read and that is that. But this summer, all of my local libraries are doing Ocean themed bingos (boring!). One of them required a biography of a seafaring explorer. I knew little about Amerigo Vespucci, the man from which the word “America” likely […]

Total Football

The Barcelona Complex: Lionel Messi and the Making -- and Unmaking -- Of the World's Greatest Soccer Club by Simon Kuper

September 9, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Travel. I’d love to go to Barcelona some day. My first real exposure to FC Barcelona was the 2009 Champions League Final. At the type, I wasn’t seriously following European soccer. The hype of this match reached my ears. Man U was on its last legs as the nonpareil of England, Cristiano Ronaldo was just entering his prime. Meanwhile, Barca was emerging as the sport’s dominant force with stars such as Girard Pique, Andres Iniesta and the rising Lionel Messi. […]

My high hopes for horror were halted

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez

June 9, 2021 by Mobius_Walker 2 Comments

I read another one of Enriquez’s collections of short stories, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, earlier this year. I loved that collection so much. In my review, I called it the ‘most effective collection of short stories I [had] ever read’ and a ‘knockout’. I figured that Things We Lost in the Fire would be similar. Unfortunately that is not the case. In Things We Lost in the Fire, we have the same elements in each short story present in the collection of short stories in The Dangers […]

The most effective collection of short stories I have ever read

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez

February 7, 2021 by Mobius_Walker Leave a Comment

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed is a collection of short stories by Mariana Enriquez. The stories are a mix of magical realism and outright horror. An Argentine writer, many stories take place in Argentina but a fair few also take place in Barcelona, Spain. Enriquez embues each story with a richness of their environment that make each story feel real and possible, despite the more horrific, fantastical elements. Most collections of shorts stories that I have read in my life are mostly fine. They […]

If you don’t understand women, don’t make one your main character.

Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

April 4, 2019 by Mrs Smith Reads Leave a Comment

Labyrinth of the Spirits is the fourth and final novel in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It’s a fitting end to an enjoyable series, and does an admirable job of gathering up all the loose threads of the three previous books. Like The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game and The Prisoner of Heaven, Labyrinth of the Spirits tells a magical mystery story of the dark days of Franco’s Fascist Spain. It does not disappoint in the telling of the story, and I was (mostly) engrossed […]

The whole experience of being hit by a bullet is very interesting.

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

January 13, 2019 by tillie Leave a Comment

Orwell is a man of strong convictions. He believes so passionately in the fight against fascism that in 1936 he travels to Barcelona to fight in the revolution. Homage to Catalonia is a detailed account of the politics surrounding the revolution, a fervent defense of the working class and a witness of war from the trenches. “All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.” I will be honest and say that the politics interested me […]

Emmalita on Full Cannonball, Total BangerHappy Cannonball!!
narfna on Full Cannonball, Total BangerHappy Cannonball! And a good book to end on.
BlackRaven on “Monsters are easier to fight when you’ve got people on your side.”I've been meaning to read this. I'm not a D&D player but find stories with it in it/or about it, unique.
BlackRaven on And you thought your upbringing was oddIt is very interesting. I'm curious to know more.
Emmalita on Fried Chicken and “Wild Geese”I think it’s easy when our brains are jerks to become fractured into pieces - to let the mind separate from the body.

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