Bruno Blog

This last weekend has been very sad. A friend, an author from the agency, died suddenly from a heart attack. He was cheerful, nice and was always doing a thousand things: organizing literary events, helping other people, writing, and working to make a living that could allow him to write (because, in this country, almost no one can live by being only a writer —the truth is that only a few make it). That’s where he put all his energy: into his literature. He told us that he knew he had to slow down, but he didn’t, and life has done it for him. Being stressed out, wanting to do everything, not putting any limits, all of this comes with a cost, and I feel such sadness that I couldn’t say goodbye to him. My schedule is always tight and I can barely take a break. I couldn’t even call him after summer and wish him a great start to the academic year. We’ll miss you, José Manuel, and I truly thank you for giving us that smile and that positive spirit that was such a characteristic part of you. I won’t forget you and I know that, wherever you are, you’ll be fine and you’ll be a good guide, my friend from the stars.

The truth is that news like this make you reflect, though they also shock you and make you wonder what life are you leading. However, we don’t listen to ourselves and we’re always moving forward, thinking that things like this won’t happen to us, but José Manuel also thought like this, and he’s not here anymore. So, let’s try to live life intensely but calmly, although that might seem like a contradiction –which it isn’t. Let’s find time for ourselves, to enjoy what we really like, and let’s make room for those things that let us disconnect. Many of us like doing sports, and personally it’s changed my life to practice it. Nonetheless, there are also lots of mistakes that are made while practicing them, because even though we all know it’s really good for us, sometimes we don’t know what is our limit. For this reason, the book EL LÍMITE ES TU SALUD (Your Health is the Limit), by Emma Roca, published by Zenith in Spanish and Ara Llibres in Catalan, is a basic tool for all of those who practice sport, from beginners to professionals. Emma has competed for more than 20 years at an international level, in total she’s run 170,000km, which is like doing eight laps around the world by bike or 4,000 marathons, and in each one of these kilometers she’s managed to test her physical and mental limits to conquer every single challenge.

This book has all her knowledge and experience so you can reach your goals, whichever ones you have, small as they might seem. Health plays a key role to reach your desired goal, and it’s completely indispensable to prepare the body on the inside and the outside, so it doesn’t fail you when you need it the most. If you like doing sports and you want to get better at it or you want to start moving your body, here you’ll find the best training tips, along with advice about when to rest and what to eat, the three fundamental parts to make everything work –we can’t forget effort, perseverance and motivation. Attitude is always important, and without it we wouldn’t get up from our chair, but let’s not forget our health. Only if we have the whole pack we’ll be able to enjoy at its fullest, but within our limits, the sport we like the most.

I don’t even think about a life without doing sports, but after reading Emma’s book, I also don’t think about one without taking care of myself, because elite athletes aren’t the only ones that should do it –we all must do it. And we should do it not only because we like to work out, but in order to live peacefully and without letting stress freeze our thought.

We’re going on holidays: it’s time to rest, to be with our friends and family, and have time to do what we love the most. I hope most of you, among the many things that you want to do, choose reading as one of them. Don’t forget that reading a book is having a great travel companion, either for a sunny day on the beach or a picnic in the mountain –or any resting place. Dedicating time to read is a magical moment for us readers that like to explore other people’s worlds. I know you know what I mean.

I leave you with great quotes from literary personalities, with whom I wholeheartedly agree. You all know, for those of you who follow this blog that my go-to sentence is: Reading is life because life without books would be meaningless.

I wish you all a great summer holiday with good company, and I’ll see you back in September with many novelties to face the beginning of the course with books that will help us move forward.

HAPPY SUMMER!

“I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book.” – Groucho Marx.

 “Let others pride themselves about how many pages they have written; I’d rather boast about the ones I’ve read.” ―Jorge Luis Borges.

 “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” ― Walt Disney.

 “Reading is living much longer and much better! Reading doesn’t kill my time, reading fills me and adds value to my life” ―Emili Teixidor.

This week we celebrate San Juan. On June the 23rd, it’s the eve party night and we welcome the summer with firecrackers and rockets. This is the shortest night of the year but also one of the most intense, which many describe as magical. For me, it’s a party I especially like because it is celebrated among friends and family but also because it announces the beginning of the summer season, with more light, livelier people, eager to enjoy the well-deserved vacations and to try to put aside the harshness of the rest of the year in order to enjoy a little bit more of everything. We loosen up and let more fluidity get in our lives, with less strict schedules and more improvised lunches and dinners, terraces and moments spent with friends, even on weekdays. So, San Juan eve has for everyone its meaning but it is a celebration day for everyone, and joy is the main course in every home. That’s why Care Santos has dedicated a book to that special party, published by editorial Base. I highly recommend the reading of that book for young ones, and especially during these dates where books take a second place, I am aware of that, but luckily it is not the case for stories. Stories should always be part of our lives and part of the daily lives of the children, so that the habit of reading becomes a pleasure instead of an obligation.

Care Santos also just got a novel published, for older kids between 8 and 10 years-old, and for those who like the culinary subject, which is very fashionable these days with television programs that are audience leaders, such as MasterChef. Care has created the character LAURA CHEF, a girl who has signed up for a cooking course during the summer and this book will be her notebook of master classes with professor Lechuga (Lettuce, in English), a worldwide known chef. This is the perfect book to make our kids’ holidays start with a smile, to make them feel like reading and perhaps like cooking too, a perfect activity that can be shared with the family, without getting burned. There will be more books about Laura, because I’m sure that the little readers will devour the first one in no time at all. This is not a reading only for girls, because we have noticed that the cooking theme is appreciated by all genders, although girls will more likely feel identified with the character that Care has embroidered.

As for now there is only one in the market, but you can mix LAURA CHEF’s reading with the four previously published books from the YES WE DANCE series. It is the story of a group of girls whose passion is dancing and that will also get to travel to New York and some more countries too, on tour with their idols and fulfilling their dream. Nevertheless, they will soon realize that the lives of celebrities are not as great as it seems and that fame has a price. KITCHEN AND DANCE, here are two of the currently fashionable things, so that the kids can have ensured a good reading, and also the children that don’t discard to have a look to these little girls’ adventures, because you always learn.

Finally, we have the ideal books for the teens: EBLUS trilogy, by Care Santos, which I already mentioned previously on this blog, and also Santi Baró’s book entitled L’EFECTE CALDERS, winner of the 2016 Joaquim Ruyra prize. The novel does not pretend to be a tiresome book about the Catalan writer Pere Calders, because it makes a portrait of him and his literature which is really great. Xavier, the main character, has some problems making friends, he is a great comics reader and the only thing he wants is to avoid his parents, so that they let him spend a quiet august month in Llançà, one of the most beautiful fishing villages on the Catalan coast, where the unexpected friendship with the eccentric writer Pere Calders, who also spend his summers there, will change the path of his life.

These are the five readings we recommend for these holidays, for different age groups. The parents who are disoriented, like us, but still believe that reading is a pleasure and a habit that the young ones have to see at home, won’t let down their children if we recommend them some of these mentioned adventures. A good book is a great traveling partner; you already know that, don’t forget it and let’s enjoy it.