Bruno Blog

It is difficult at a certain age to build a personality, to not follow the group like sheep, and stand out for an opinion even when you are the only person who thinks that way. And then, there is the physical appearance: if you are tall or short, fat or skinny, ugly or beautiful. I used to tell my son a tale about how we should be able not to judge anyone before getting to know him. It was a made-up story about different children, with their virtues and flaws, that he loved, and when we finished we always said together: physical appearance doesn’t matter, what matters is what’s inside. Petrus Gonsalvus, a Guanche[1] King, is the protagonist of PONTE EN MI PIEL (put yourself in my shoes) by Emma Lira that Espasa Calpe has published this week.

It’s 1537 when a group of women from the Tenerife Island discover that the newborn has the little hand covered with hair. The King Petrus Gonsalvus has born and this is his story. Rejected by his people who consider him a devil, Petrus ends up in the Henry II Court, where they will use him as a clown for fun. However, the monarch sees in Petrus something special and decides to take him in under his protection. Petrus will meet Diana, the bastard daughter of the King, who will become his best friend. Together, they will try to find a place in this world that turns them down, until the companion of the Queen, Catherine, will be chosen to be Petrus’ wife. He will have to make up his mind.

We have in front of us the real story of The Beauty and The Beast, settled in the 16^th century. A novel that will move you and above all, it will make it impossible to put the book down for those who enjoy love and inspirational stories, and also for those who feel that being different doesn’t make you special. After reading these pages, perhaps their vision of the world will change and they will point out the value of being unique.

[1] A King from the Canary Islands.

I talked so many times about the value of friendship in this blog, and after reading the new book by Maria Barbal, TO MY SCOTTISH FRIEND, I cannot help but write again about what it means to me to have a friend. A friendship that is built in a very delicate and difficult moment but we will discover one of these relationships that last forever. Now, as I grow older, I find it more difficult to find new people and consider them as my friends, because a friend is always there, in the good times but above all, in the hard times. There are not many people like these in our surroundings, and if you have a true friend, make sure to keep him close. And remember: friendship should also be a two-way relationship, as Benet and George’s. This book about friendship travels back to Pallars, and at the same time, we will live through a love story.

Barbal is an icon of the Catalan Literature, and it makes me very happy to write this blog about the writer of ‘STONE IN LANDSLIDE’, a truly long-seller, that I read both in school and college, and that now, I have the honour to represent. Coincidences like this one are hard to explain because they are like a dream made true.

TO MY SCOTTISH FRIEND is a story of love and friendship. At the hospital where two injured soldiers are being healed, we find an inscription in the garden that says <<To my scottish friend>>. A boy who was born in a small town of the Pyrenees – Benet Enrich – wrote that to his friend George, the Scottish boy who joined the international brigade to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The two young men become friends during the war and will meet again 30 years later with great joy. George, a journalist for the Daily Telegraph, is our narrator at the beginning and at the end of the book. At first sight, George’s life looks more exciting, but it is Benet’s, an ordinary man, who will put light to the story. The plot narrates Benet’s life starting the day of his birth in a small town, son of a parents who will not understand him, and with two brothers. They will move to a bigger town but it won’t be until his stay in Barcelona where Benet will finally widen his horizons. The plot tackles the young dreams, the job concerns, the war wounds, the refusal of an artistic career and specially, the refusal of his love story with Elvira, a very special girl. The reader will get to know all the details of this love story by the letters that Benet writes her in first person.

An extraordinary novel that sends a clear message: there are no winners in the war whereas everybody always loses something. We should take this into consideration so fights won’t become wars, but dialogues and words to live peacefully in this world.

Last Sunday I went to prison to visit Raül Romeva, our Ex Minister of Institutional Relations and Foreign Affairs, and my friend and author of the agency. I can’t explain in words what I felt. It was my first time in a prison, and the coldness and the noise of the steel doors when they opened for me was really frightening. Seeing someone like Raul, deprived of liberty, but so calm at the same time, made me think of too many things that I’m not capable to summarize in this blog. It made me very sad, I cried back home, alone, because it is not fair that people like Raül and the other political prisoners are shut up in prison without having been tried. They are also being treated differently from other people that, in my opinion, should be in prison because they are the dangerous ones: murderers, rapists, people who harmed others. I don’t wish to make any political judgement but I would like to see my son living in a fair society, where people could express themselves freely, without violence and without being punished for that. We are in the 21th century but some people still live in the Middle Ages.

Raul has written ESPERANÇA I LLIBERTAT (Hope and freedom) to put into words his thoughts from the prison, without magical tricks or regrets. It is a book about the political prisoners’ incarceration, with thoughts and proposals, a lot of questions but also certainties. With reasons and arguments about our democracy, sovereignty and independence; with memories from the 1st of October and above all, with the certainty that, unfortunately, prison lasts for a long time but dignity and pride last forever.

I am proud to represent this book and I wish that international publishers help us to give voice to the truth. Raül agrees that everybody can think whatever they want to think, can wish whatever they believe, he even wants to listen to these people, but there needs to be room for all of us. It is a book that emits humanity, warmth and above all, empathy for everybody, even for those who believe that Raül deserves to be in prison. A book full of reasons written from the heart by a very close author that I would describe as a honest and good, exactly what our society needs to grow healthy.

We are going through the popular January slump, and for many, unfortunately, this slump lasts the whole year, but after reading the book by Cristina Benito, MONEY MINDFULNESS, I believe this won’t be a problem anymore: we will know our relationship with money and we will become aware of it.

In the last years, there’s been a lot of talking about the importance of Mindfulness for our body and our mind, and Marie Kondo has helped us to put order in our lives. So far, so good, but what about money? Cristina Benito, economist and graduated in Business Management from the IE Business School, explains how to become aware of our personal finances. Money does not bring happiness as we have always heard, but it may help. However, the author says: money does not bring happiness but a bad relationship with it brings unhappiness. I believe here lays the difference of this book, suitable for everyone who is at the age to manage money, and to me, it has been one of the most revolutionary methods I have recently read.

The author unites Mindfulness and secrets of the most successful business men and women in the world so we will learn to generate, conserve and multiply our money, no matter what our income is, money will not be a problem anymore. Don’t you think that investing in this book makes all the sense in the world? We can assure that anyone who applies a small part of what the book says, the price he would have paid will be the best investment of his life.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair,  four international publishers (France, Italy, Greece and Brazil) already put their faith on Money Mindfulness, even before its publication in Spain, but they quickly saw the potential of the book for the readers. Today is finally the release of the book, published by Grijalbo of Penguin Random House. Although comparisons are odious, Cristina Benito is our Marie Kondo for the domestic finances, and this book a very useful tool that may change the lives of many forever. I encourage you to read only the prologue, but you won’t be able to put the book down and you will need more.

The girl of the cello by Jordi Campoy

We start the year recommending a book that we are all in love with. Our job is difficult because although we read everyday, we cannot represent everything, so we have always a lot of questions. There are many well written novels, but this is not enough for the publishing market and many other things need to be taken into consideration. This is why everyday is more difficult to put our faith in new authors but THE GIRL ON THE CELLO is a wonderful story.

Jordi Campoy has written a magical novel that talks about the luck, the mysteries that brings the soundtrack of our life and the certainty that coincidences do not exist. With the music as the common thread, we will meet the young cellist Anna from the London Symphony Orchestra. She is imperfect and chaotic, nervous and dramatic, impulsive and promiscuous. But there’s something that stands out: her lack of punctuality.

When her cello case disappears during a rehearsal, Anne will have to use an old one she has at home, but nobody knows where it came from or whom it belonged to: it has always been there. When she hears a strange noise inside the case, Anne will find an unknown object that makes her uneasy. This encounter will take her to discover her origins, linked to the Barcelona of the seventies and a boy who wants to play the cello.

I firmly believe that things happen for a reason, even though we don’t always now the answer, and this book proves it in an elegant and powerful way. You will go in depth into the story unknowingly, and you will be trapped in  its melody. Jordi is a natural and undoubtedly, he has to be one of the voices that stands out in the next term and in Sant Jordi 2019.