Bruno Blog

We are on a countdown to Christmas day and there are only a couple of days left before the beginning of a very well needed break after this year’s last term. Now it is the time to remember all the good, to be thankful for it and to collect these moments, to keep them in our life album and to never forget them. For me, 2017 has been a year of reuniting with old friends and with friends that I though I’d lost, but we are back together, and we are stronger and better than ever. Life has given me a second chance and I’m not going to waste it, because as time goes by you realize your appreciation for the others keeps increasing and you become more selective with people you choose to be around you. Hence why having back one of my bestest friends and having new ones is great as it is having those who have been here for a long time and those whom we have shared loads of moments, so there are several reasons to define this year 2017 as the Friendship Year. As in Care Santos’ MEDIA VIDA, awarded with the Nadal award at the begging of the year, past memories and old friendships always come back, for the good or for the bad.

2017 has also been a year of self-improvement and personal growth, and because of books as Eva Sandoval’s TU PODER NINJA, I’ve been able to think and understand more easily that there is no need to fight to reach your dream. It’s also been a year full of knowledge, of searching and finding, and with Francesc Miralles’ and Héctor García’s IKIGAI, I’ve discovered what makes me move with more determination in this world. And in these pleasing reading moments I’ve had the company of amazing characters as Guille and Amalia, created by Alejandro Palomas to enter our lives and never leave, or Rebeca, Barbara Alves’ novel main character, whom I’ve laughed my head out with the company of a Nutella bottle on my bedside table. And many other vibrant novels by authors such as Paz Castelló, Susana Rodríguez Lezaun, Núria Pradas, Esther Sanz, Gabriel García Oro, Carmen Conde , Xulio Ricardo Trigo or Sílvia Tarragó who have made of this year a year full of good readings with elements I will for ever keep in my memory box all together with my memories of 2017, with a huge smile, because books are our journey partners in each and every sense, and I feel lucky to be surrounded by these wonderful gifts.

My suggestion is to fill this Christmas with books, they are not only one of the best presents we can give, because reading is living, understanding, educating, enjoying, thinking and having fun. So I add here the best catalogue so that you can pick a book for every loved one, they will be hugely thankful, for sure.

Merry Christmas and a Wonderful 2018 for all of us.

Today the sun’s risen with a very special color in the sky, such an intense pink mixed with the blue of the beginning of the day that I can’t help thinking of you. It’s been five years this month since you’ve been gone, but this sky shows me that you’re in a beautiful place where we’ll meet once again, I’m sure of it. It’s been many years since I lost the religious faith, but I’ve won faith in people, in trusting the people that believe, in enjoying the present and giving affection to those you love and to the world in general; no yelling when there’s traffic, no getting angry in a traffic jam, and smiling even though they’re honking the horn because you’re going too slow. This is what you did: smiling. I haven’t forgotten that every time we saw each other, as you were taller than me, you gave me a kiss on my forehead with such affection that it got to my soul, and you made my day happier, as bad as it was. You made my siblings happy, your best friends, and you were just like one of the family. But the color of this sky tells me that, wherever you are, you are well, and that you paint it yourself to guide us and remind us that everything’s good, that we should enjoy what we have, we should believe in nice things, even when there are many other that don’t work as we want them to ­- although if we believe we can change them, we’ll make it through. We miss you, and for as long as time goes on, you’ll always be there, in the best of my memories, as an excellent person that left when it wasn’t your time.

That’s why Silvia Soler’s novel, LOS VIEJOS AMIGOS, published by Destino and Columna, has reminded me of so many things from my past, of the value that true friendship really has. Its story, as do all of Silvia’s, makes you reflect upon human relationships and how complicated they might be or, sometimes, how we’re the ones that complicate things. Throughout five students of Fine arts, who travel to Paris to visit the big exposition about Paul Gauguin in the Grand Palais at the end of the 80s, we enter a story of a trip that should have been the typical end of the course trip, and that will end up being the greatest trip of their lives. From there it will be born a very strong friendship between the five of them, one that all of them think that will last forever, that it will be an unbreakable bond, one of those that nothing or no one can break. But life happens, time goes on, and the main characters will have to understand that not everything is that easy, that the artistic call that brought them together doesn’t treat everyone the same, and that they must accept it. And as life goes on and it becomes more demanding, new people will come in their lives and change them, and they will make decisions that they wouldn’t have made otherwise. There are moments in life, several, where you must choose, and it’s when you’re standing in front of these decisions when you discover the truth, when life tests you.

A novel that will please a wide public and, surely, Sílvia Soler’s fans, who are many. But I encourage a younger public to read it, because they can relate to it and discover, in my opinion, one of the best Catalan writers of the moment.

The new trimester has started, we’re back for three weeks now and the adaptation is different for every kid. As parents, we hope that if there is a change of school, as it is my case, the child, I mean, the teenager, fits well, make friends and especially surround himself with good companions. Friendships are important at this age, indeed, they are basic, I would say, because becoming a teenager is not easy and there are many ‘inputs’ that may have an effect on our everyday life. I do not want to be an overprotecting mum but neither do I want to be a too cool one, and the right balance is difficult to reach.

Those who have been through this can, perhaps, help us, novices, to face this new stage. For this reason after reading Santi Baró‘s book, MEMORIAS DE UN CADÁVER, I felt the need to recommend it to all the teenagers I know and to their parents as well. Bela, the protagonist, doesn’t achieve to adapt and has no friends. She doesn’t find any meaning in life and has many fears that she cannot get over. She thinks that the only way out is to close her eyes and let go, but is that really the only way out?

Santi Baró knows how to deal with this sensitive issue without hurting sensitivities and how to write down in black and white the problem that more than a teenager may have suffered without anyone of the family or friends aware of the situation. Because we don’t all live or see things the same way but we have to make an effort to put ourselves in the others’ shoes and to lend a hand if necessary. Not only teachers must work on this subject at school but also the parents themselves, for they are the first who must educate their children with values and give them the correct tools to be strong but also to learn to empathize, to help and not hurt the people around you.

With this reading we are taking a first step, and I congratulate the publishing house SM for having the courage to publish a book dealing with a tough subject. The subject is tough but it concerns anyone, and it’s even necessary to talk about it if it is treated with respect, sensitivity and that empathy Santi has with his audience. A brilliant novel that helps you think about life and death, but almost without realizing it…