Barcelona 2008

I have taken so many trips to Barcelona so this week I am focusing on just one.  This was when I went with my friend Charlotte in 2008.  We had a great week exploring the city and even though I had lived there before this, we still found new things for me too.

Dali Museum

The Port

Sagrada Familia

Parc Guell

Camp Nou

Mount Tibidabo

Spanish Village

The Aquarium

The Magic Fountains

Recicle Barcelona

We just happened across this band while heading to the beach - amazing music

Montjuic

Winter in Madrid

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My fifty fourth and final book of 2012 was another reread - Winter in Madrid.  As with Guernica, I first read this while at uni and completely into Spanish history.  This was another, very different take on the civil war in Spain and its aftermath.  However, rather than being a family saga, this novel keeps you on your toes a little more with some unexpected twists that I had even forgotten since the first reading.  

The characters are interesting and varied and it's really easy to identify with them.  It was also nice in the way that most of the protagonists were English and therefore, the book stayed away from some of the Spanish stereotypes.  It also didn't take sides in the story - both sides were represented equally and it made it easier for the reader to see how things got so bad in Spain and how difficult it was for the families and friends torn apart by the events of the twentieth century in Europe.

This is a great novel for anyone interested in the civil war but also for those who just like a good adventure story.

Guernica

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I particularly enjoy reading novels that relate to the history I studied at uni (European), and this one comes particularly close to the top of the list.  The Spanish Civil War is one aspect of history I only really studied at uni but it is obviously important and it comes up in so many areas of life.  For example, when I lived in Barcelona it was a hot topic as it explained the repression they were under and their love for the Catalan culture and language as it was made illegal for so many years.

Anyway, Guernica the novel, takes on a similar viewpoint in that it is set in the heart of the Basque country and sees the way in which one family's fate is so horribly affected by this war.  I like that the focus is on the family and their story rather than on the war itself.  It brings a personal side to the story and makes it easier to link with my own every day life and easier to understand a little more than when I just read it from a textbook.  I also enjoyed the references to Picasso and his famous work of the same name.

It's definitely worth a read whether you are a fan of history or not.  If you like family stories, you will enjoy this too.

The Alchemist

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This is a book that has been vaguely hanging around on my must-get-round-to reading list for quite a while now and when it happened to come up in conversation with my English group, my Russian student offered to lend me it.  I'm always very wary when I borrow things and don't like to take too long about it but I needn't have worried, I polished this little gem off in one day!

The book tells the story of a Spanish shepherd boy from Andalusia who sets out on a long journey to discover his destiny.  At first I was a little worried about the amount of religion involved.  I've mentioned before that I like to try to follow Buddhist principles.  I have the utmost respect for all religions but I don't like being told what to believe and I don't like to much of a religious focus in books unless it is essential to the story.  However, the more I read, the more I realised it wasn't really about religion but life itself and most religions are encompassed in there in some form.

The story really made me reflect on many things and I may even buy my own copy to flick through again later.  I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet, and I'd even recommend a re-read for those who have as it seems to be the kind of book that you can take a lot away from and that could develop over time.