Bruno Blog

There are all kinds of relationships these days. From my point of view, it is not easy to maintain a lasting relationship, for that reason, I feel that the book I will talk about today is especially useful. I’m already telling you that there is no magic love potion, but there are tools that will help us enjoy our relationships more.

According to Nika Vazquez, author of TE QUIERO, ¿Y AHORA QUÉ? (“I Love You, Now What?”), everyone wants to fall in love and share the path of life with a partner. However, throughout this adventure, some obstacles may arise that will test our way of loving and our ability to love each other. There are numerous ways to strengthen this love and to continue living love intensely. Who would not want to have these tips at hand? I am sure that many of you would like to be able to feel love with the same passion as on the first day.

I thought everything had already been said about love, but Nika surprised me again with I LOVE YOU, AND NOW WHAT? No wonder, then, that we sold the title so quickly to one of the publishers that publishes the best non-fiction books. I think this book is useful and that it’s important to have Nika’s advice for when things go downhill.

Gràcia is the neighborhood where I live and work. I confess I’ve always loved it. Some people say it’s the “SOHO” of Barcelona, and they’re right (however, I see more of a human face than a fashion one). I love living in the neighbourhood: shopping in the market, walking the streets, talking to the drugstore guy, the woman in the clothing store, the pharmacist… these things only happen in a real neighbourhood like this one.

The group Enciclopèdia Catalana has just recovered Carla Gracia’s work entitled SET DIES DE GRÀCIA, a novel set in 1870 that places us in the Barcelona neighbourhood during the well-known revolt of the Quintas. During the seven days that this revolt lasted, the Gràcia district remained on the warpath by refusing to participate in the draw that would condemn the future soldiers and their impoverished families. The author focuses the action on the historical events that took place during the revolts while presenting us with the life of the main character, Marina Lledó, a strong and brave woman who has fought all her life to find her place.

SET DIES DE GRÀCIA tells a story where the family secrets are the common thread. Through these, the reader enters into the real problems that many families of the time had. These secrets are the key to the suspense we find in the play, which always keeps the reader hooked. In short, it is a well-settled and perfectly constructed story. Carla Gracia has already demonstrated her literary talent in her latest work El ABISMO. Now, with the relaunch of SET DIES DE GRÀCIA, we can see the great potential of this author who is in full literary growth.

I still feel those butterflies fluttering in my stomach every time an author opens. Discovering Laura Mas, one of the latest additions to the agency, has made me feel these emotions again. When she came to the office, I immediately felt that we understood each other perfectly and that there was a certain connection between us. I was unable not to fall in love with the project she presented to me that day. That project was LA MAESTRA DE SÓCRATES (Socrates’ Teacher) and this week it finally arrived in the bookstores. 

Year 440 BC. The politician and orator Pericles asks for the help of priestess Diotima of Mantinea to rid Athens of the plague. During the purification ceremony, a thirty-year-old Socrates is fascinated by the wisdom of this woman. The philosopher soon discovers through his dialogues with Diotima that he knows nothing about love and begins to learn about the mysteries of Eros. LA MAESTRA DE SÓCRATES presents the figure of a brave woman ahead of her time whose ideas are the origin of the concept of Platonic love. In Plato’s Banquet, Socrates reveals to the rest of the guests: “Everything I know about love I learned from her”.

LA MAESTRA DE SÓCRATES is a novel that takes us back to the golden age of Athens, a city that would eventually form the foundations of Western culture. Throughout the pages we will witness several lessons that would end up inspiring the foundations of our philosophy. Laura Mas shows us with this novel the truth behind that famous phrase that says “behind a great man, there is always a woman”. Do you want to know the real story between Diotima and Socrates? Don’t miss this novel about one of the fundamental figures of philosophy.

Next week UNA LUZ DENTRO DE TI (“A Light Inside You”) will be published, a novel by Andrés Martín Asuero that deals with the power of Mindfulness as its central theme. Asuero, a biologist and doctor in psychology, reinvented himself as a Mindfulness instructor. CON RUMBO PROPIO (“In One’s Own Course”) was his first book and it has a total of 25 editions in the market. This title was one of the first to explain the meaning of Mindfulness, a concept that is very present in our vocabulary today. However, it is important to mention that, although nowadays almost everyone knows what Mindfulness is, many still do not consciously apply it.

UNA LUZ DENTRO DE TI raises fundamental questions to transform one’s life and teaches us how to find the answers within, with the help of silence and meditation. Dedicated to caring for others, Olga feels a void in her life and decides to go on a Mindfulness retreat in Silence to find out the reasons for her dissatisfaction. For his part, Manuel receives from his ex-wife for his 50th birthday an inscription for this same experience. Through practice and conversations with his teacher, day by day each one discovers the gifts and obstacles of full attention, which will take their lives to a totally unexpected crossroads.

UNA LUZ DENTRO DE TI is an entertaining and fascinating introduction to the world of Mindfulness through a story that traps the reader from beginning to end. In this title, Andrés presents us with the necessary tools that we will all need to overcome the future emotional and economic crisis that we will experience once this quarantine ends. In short, UNA LUZ DENTRO DE TI is a book that comes at an essential time and opens the doors to Mindfulness for all those who want to enter.

This blog is special for several reasons. The first one is that, despite the pandemic we are living through, bookstores have already opened their doors and publishers are already starting to publish those new books that were stopped because of the virus. One of these new titles that finally reaches the shelves is EL MISTERI D’ARTHUR RIMBAUD (“The Mystery of Arthur Rimbaud”), by Miquel Esteve, the winner of the Mallorca Prize.

The second reason why I am happy to write this blog is to be able to dedicate it to my great friend Miquel Esteve, whom I admire a lot as a writer and as a person. EL MISTERI D’ARTHUR RIMBAUD reaffirms the talent of the author who, with a delicate subject like the forbidden poem by the great poet Rimbaud and his disappearance, manages to get the novel hooked from start to finish. 

It was said that it was an accursed poem, which travelled from France to Reus and from Reus to Móra la Nova, where it remained secretly for many years. However, all the secrets end up being discovered, even the most hidden ones. This is a novel for all audiences that, written in a sublime way, tells us about poetry and the mystery that surrounds the famous poet. Do you want to know what curse the poem hid? What did the French poet predict? Do not miss this work published by Univers, in which Miquel takes a step forward as a writer and brings us closer to the world of poetry in a simple and charming way.