Bruno Blog

As I grow older, my perception of things changes; my way to look at life. I guess it’s normal but I’m worried about becoming more and more critical, more demanding and even more pessimistic. I don’t understand many things: injustices, abuses, violence. I’m sure it has always been this way but we just didn’t notice; the news didn’t bring up certain subjects. Moreover, the youth makes you believe that things can change and that it’s not too late to make a difference. Today, I must confess, that I didn’t lose hope but sometimes I look around and it upsets me. I think that evil is ethereal and lives among us.

As it happens with Genís Marfà’s book, settled in the Germany of 1932, when Hitler is on the verge of seizing power, the Republic of Weimar agonizes. Berlín is a boiler of emotions and intrigues. In the Barcelona of 1962, under the Franco’s regime, the murder of the young Amelia takes place. A brilliant detective would have to catch the murderer and discover the mystery that links the terrible crime to the German city. Meanwhile, the presence of an enigmatic Baron projects the shadows in every corner of the story. Who is he, this shadow? I would call him “the evil”.

Hijos de Berlín, the first novel by Genís Marfà, published by Adaliz, is a historical thriller with all the necessary ingredients to build a great crime novel, with a social background that seeks to stir consciences and awaken our historical memory. More than a crime novel, a surprising debut set in two convulsive periods of Europe: the Nazi Germany and the last period of the Spanish Dictatorship. Everything starts with a murder will get blood over many characters of the book.

A fast-paced plot, with plot twists, with brilliant dialogues and very detailed descriptions. Autobiographical notes where we will recognize spots of the Germany and the Barcelona of that period, that take protagonism in the story. With great characters, social conflicts, armed conflicts, intrigues, depression and despair. Year after year, the same story is repeated; age after age, human beings struggle to make it up for their mistakes but we seem to be condemned to repeat them. Darkness seems to be everywhere, although, perhaps, the shadow is the only place from which hope can germinate.  A book that will not leave the readers of the genre indifferent.

The job of the teachers is often questioned, and I do believe is one of the most difficult jobs, because not everybody is able to instill something and explain to a group of children, teenagers and adults, that are not always willing to listen. You need to know how to motivate them, delight them, with the aim of teaching them. A complicated task, and I think, very vocational. For this reason, the last book by Ángeles Doñate, author of “The winter when we put everything in black and white”, translated into 10 languages, returns with a story that touches our heart: El último vagón (the last wagon). It begins with the real story about the wagon-schools that existed in Mexico while the railway tracks were being constructed, Ángeles tells the story of Ikal, a boy of eleven years old, son of a railway worker and that dreams with being a teacher. He looks up to Chico, counts trains with Tuerto, fancies Valeria and lives with Quetzal, his dog.

They are all Ernesto’s pupils in the Malinalli Teneolat wagon-school, during the year that will change their lives. Between fields and old wagons, the students will discover what life is about thanks to the passion of their teacher, but a photo in black and white of all of them, that lays in an abandoned file in the Secretary of Education, will become the worst nightmare of Hugo Valenzuela, a brilliant inspector. The teacher needs to retire, and some politicians believe that the time has come to put an end to an old-fashioned and useless educational model. Hugo is not convinced and decides to pull the strings on a journey that will take him back to his past, and where his future is at stake, with marks that cannot be erased like those by the first love or by a teacher who opened the windows to the world.

A fantastic book that touches you, and where you discover a reality. People who fight for what they love, to help others who, due to their circumstances, live like nomads following a railway line, without a place of their own. People who finally find someone who values education and believes that it is a right for everybody: his desire is that those children had the same opportunities as others. I wish there were many “Ernestos” everywhere who knew how to instill love and the desire to fight for others.I hope that this ode to education will be a best-selling book this spring, not only because of what it means, but also because Ángeles has proved once again that her narrative is unique and that goes straight to the reader’s heart.

Because of my profession, I read a lot, and I can assure you that many novels are published but there are readings that leave a mark, that I will always remember when and where I read them, and when I think about them I can still feel the taste in my mouth left by those words.

It happened to me with A SON by Alejandro Palomas. I fell in love with Guille, his father, the psychologist, and Nazia. I revalued Mary Poppins and I cried, because this story that both kids and adults can read, touched me a lot. We have translated A SON into 18 languages and we keep receiving letters from children from different schools thanking Alejandro for writing this book. Every time I get one, I get these goosebumps, because then they say that young people don’t read, and there are some who not only read but also send letters, like the one you would send to your favorite football player, expressing what this novel have made them feel. This is magic, better than the one Mary Poppins could do. For this reason, I’m proud to announce that on March 19 A SECRET will be published, the second part, although I do not like to put it that way. This time it is the story of NAZIA, Guille’s friend, an immigrant, and due to unclear “problems” her parents  go to jail, and as a consequence, Nazia will have to live with Guille and his father, without understanding what her family did wrong.

Maria, the psychologist, will have to take care of her and will be again an important piece in this relationship of Guille-Father and the host sister, because Nazia has a secret she only wants to share with her friend/brother. She will discover her feelings, her heart, and her true passion for another character who is not Mary Poppins, even though Guille does not understand it, but THE CINDERELLA. Does it take more magic to find such a special reference, again, in the classic books to talk about what it is like to be an immigrant, what it feels like being alone? We will talk again about family relationships, parents and children in such a tender way that sometimes you have to stop reading, pause and breathe in order to go on. This can only be written by Alejandro Palomas, I do not think that any other author has the ability to write for such a wide audience, with that intensity that hurts, and moreover, that each reader feels differently.

An addictive and enjoyable reading, but only a wizard of letters can write so well. Thank you Alejandro for this new novel that maintains such a high level, that I cannot say that it is better than ONE SON because it is one of my favorite novels, but it does equal it and that it has many things that surpass it, because you have outperformed yourself as a writer. Two books that I will never forget again and that live inside me like a little treasure.

Today the blog is for children, a funny story that we can read with parents and thus, encourage reading time in family. A child who sees books at home will always be more curious to read than the one that does not see any, and if the reading time is a family moment, where parents lead their children to magical and different worlds, I’m sure that many will know how to find the beauty of a book.

Revolta dels mitjons (the socks’ riot) by Sebastià Bennassar is a funny story for them, and for the fathers and mothers who are always running late because of the washing machines:

Martina is eight years old and she is very clever: her parents are dedicated to the world of literature, he as a writer and she as a translator, so Martina has empowered her imagination all her life.

When she hears her mother complaining once again that the socks are gone, she shares her theory with her good friends, Oleg and Isa: the washing machine is a door that leads to a parallel world where all the lost socks can be found.

Accompanied by her friends, she decides to embark on this adventure: Oleg and Isa distract the person in charge of the laundry while Martina goes inside a giant washing machine. Suddenly, once inside and already on the move, a hand pulls her and takes her to Gelàndia, a different world where she meets Gregor, a curious being with only one leg and three eyes.  

There, Gregor tells her how his world works: they have magical drawers that when they put their hand, they take out a random sock. Fascinated by her discovery, Martina decides to accompany her new friend to school, where she meets more children like him and learns new things about his world. For example, that humans like her are considered a threat, since an ancient prophecy assures that a human girl would be the end of Gelandia.

Scared, many of the children denounce Martina who, in spite of having the support and protection of her new friend, condemn her to a duel of stories. At this moment, Oleg shows up to find her friend, and Martina asks him to leave and find her parents to be her representatives in this battle.

Without hesitation, Martina’s parents run to save her, but they don’t get the chance to participate in the duel, as the storyteller from Gelàndia denounces the tyranny of his governors and assures that the true prophecy speaks of a human girl who will give them freedom. Finally, Martina and her parents can return home, with their new friends and the satisfaction of having discovered the great mystery of the missing socks.

A week ago, the new book was published by the great Spanish tandem Francesc Miralles and Héctor Garcia, who after selling more than 1,500,000 copies worldwide with their book IKIGAI, translated into 44 languages, have created ICHIGO-ICHIE. It was hard for me to learn this Japanese name, but after reading the book, I can assure you that I repeat it mentally many times a day. IGHIGO-ICHIE is an expression that can be found in most Japanese tea shops, and it means something like: MAKE EVERY INSTANT SOMETHING UNIQUE. The time to drink tea should be a moment of relaxation, of calm, of being able to taste it without haste, without our mobile phones nearby. Maybe in the East they can easily do it, but here in the West I think we hardly try to create a moment like this. More and more people are becoming aware of this, but there are still few who get to have that moment every  day, which can be with or without tea. I suppose you have to build a certain personality to be able to sit down and to think that we can free ourselves from the past and the future, to enjoy every moment, in the present, because if we let it go, we will have lost the chance to live that instant again.

However, I put myself in the shoes of those who are not going through a good time, and I am sure that your mind frequently travels to the past to remember the good old days, and to the future to wish this streak to be over soon. According to the authors, we translate emotions into time, and this does not allow us to live in the NOW, where serenity and joy reside, despite the bad moments. There are always bad times, moments that we would prefer not to live, but we must go through them, accept them and learn from them, because the here and now is what makes us alive. The present is a gift that must be opened, and although sometimes the day can be hard, is where the key to happiness lays. By incorporating the ICHIGO ICHIE to our routine we will learn to create unforgettable encounters in professional and personal life, improve our personal relationships and live every moment as if it were the last.

At the end of the book, the authors indicate the principles of ICHIGO-ICHIE and I must confess that it is not easy to apply them all, but I am trying. I must thank Francesc and Héctor again because it is a book whose purpose is the same as IKIGAI: to help us to live better, because there is only one life. We know it but we are not aware of it.  For this reason, it is worth living every second as something unique, and squeezing it like a lemon. It’s another wonderful book from which we can learn a lot. Happiness depends only on us and we can make this a pleasant path for ourselves and for those around us.