A series of reportages from Spain, curiously and tenderly observing the country from an outsider’s perspective. Through the lens of the stories of several people Lipczak charts the incredible change, Spain went through in the 20th and 21st centuries. From a self-made millionaire obsessed with the idea of building his own city, through activists fighting …
Al-Andalus is the forgotten heritage of the Muslim presence on the Iberian Peninsula. A thriving educational center where the Muslims, Jews and Christians were able to coexist in relative peace for almost 800 years. It is a period of European history that is rarely mentioned and if it is then only briefly. Yet it left …
This is my first book by Anne Applebaum. She is a journalist and historian, but this one is certainly written more from a journalistic perspective. What drew me to this book is the fact that Applebaum is closely associated with Poland (her husband was at some point a Minister for Foreign Affairs in Poland). So …
Week five is here! How are you all doing? I really hope you and all your loved ones are safe and sound! Last week we had quite a sad themed list, so this week we’ll change tack a bit. Let’s look at the books that will keep you in their world, and away from the …
Quite a lot of quotes this time, especially for such a short book, but they show how vivid and multi-faceted picture of Spain Morris paints. The only properly modern big cities in Spain - cities, that is to say, comparable to the metropoles of industrial West - are Barcelona and Bilbao: the one a rip-roaring, …
I am still very diligently preparing for my vacation in Spain in September, you will notice that over the last few weeks books based in Spain or about Spain seem to be a bit of a theme. This book is yet another step on my journey to understand the complex country that Spain is. Jan …
As I mentioned in my previous post, I did go a little bit over the top with buying books during my trip to Stanfords. I usually buy up to three books on my bookshop adventures, but this time I got carried away and bought eight, which probably is also a testament to how well the …
Continue reading Stanfords – 12 bookshops for 12 months – Book Haul
This was another of my pre-vacation buys before going to Spain for the first time. Maybe not an entirely planned one as I got it at the airport, so I knew I'd read it in Spain, which happened to be a very good decision, because I could observe some of the things described first hand. …
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