Bruno Blog

Next week is special because Christmas holidays start. I know that there are people who are not convinced by this festivity, but I have always liked them, because in my family we have always celebrated them, and we continue to do so, with the same enthusiasm. They are days to be with your keen, to enjoy food and a good dessert. But also, it is also a good time to value what you have and think of people who, perhaps, cannot enjoy a family, or a meal, but neither at Christmas nor any day of the week.

For that reason, I am happy to be able to celebrate the fourth edition of LA LITERATURA ALIMENTA on December the 20th, a solidary celebration with the authors and friends of the sector who would like to come to combine literature and solidarity. Thinking about others, making happy the one next to you, offering a smile every morning to those who you love the most, or simply, to whom serves you coffee, does not cost anything, and however, it is still few of us, I believe, those who try to do it like that. And with this small solidary party, which thanks to many of you, it starts to be big, every year, we try to help an entity that needs it. This time we repeat with Educo, to help with lunch scholarships to the children that need it, so that they can have a hot meal per day, since they cannot have it in their homes.

It is an initiative that fills me, despite the extra work it involves, and that I will try to keep growing, because to do something that excites you without intending to receive anything in return, is one of the best ways to feel happy. And knowing that friends and colleagues help me and support me, make this day more special every time and remains forever as a great moment of the year, the icing on the cake. So today, this blog, recommends a better world full of books and good people, so that we can toast together on the 20th with a glass of wine in one hand, and in the other, a solidary mug, black and yellow, which are the colours of our literary flag. Would you like to join?

This long weekend I am visiting a friend in Punta Cana, and what draws my attention is that being in a resort you see many prototypes of people, but almost all foreigners who come to the pool and to dance, read. This makes me immensely happy, because part of their entertainment and enjoyment includes reading. They always find the time to read. Because, as we all know, the excuse of “I like it but I do not have time for it” is not true. Everything is a question of priorities, even in a paradisiac place like this where you can be lying all day and people serving you, or going on a hike and come back to the hotel extremely tired. The reading moment must be looked for, but who wants to have it, can have it. And it’s basic that if you believe that books are important to life, which I firmly believe, to set an example with practice, because it helps to those around you to look at books.

Many parents want their children to read, but they never open a book, so it is clear that it is difficult for them to like reading, unless they are already passionate about them naturally, which can happen, and it happens, but less often than we would like. So let’s try to find the best time to share it with a good book, I’m sure few could regret this modest advice, and, instead, they could start to like something beautiful and useful at the same time.

So today I leave for you all those who have children nearby, a collage of children’s books so that the Three Wise Men or Santa Claus can begin to help promote the habit of reading:

– Los detectives Ho. El desastre Ja (Edebé) by Care Santos, the third delivery of the Olmedo brothers. Between the three of them they try to solve small challenges of daily life. The first two books are El misterio Cro and El caso Hu.

–  El club de los caníbales muerde a Drácula by Gabriel García Oro (Anaya). Previously, the cannibals fled don Quijote.

–  Laura SuperChef. El mejor bocadillo del mundo, by Care Santos. Second adventure of Laura, who will face a great contest. Laura SuperChef. Cocholate was the first title, edited by Ediciones Bruño.

–  Also, you can choose one of the books starring Òscar and Nora (Se vende mamá, Se vende papá, Se vende Garbanzo and Se vende mejor amigo, edited by Ediciones SM). Its success has crossed borders and has reached Portugal, Italy and Korea among other countries.

To give a book is to give life, imagination and the entrance to different worlds where to get lost and find oneself to arrive to the real world with something more, always with something more. Therefore, gifts that offer something are the star gifts. Let us not forget about them.

Philosophy is a subject, say, of those controversial, because when you are a teenager and you have to study it, whether you worship it or you hate it, there is no middle ground. I liked it, I admit it, and I had a great teacher; because it also has a lot to do with who teaches you and how. However, I had several companions who did not understand what it was for and, believed and believe, it is not necessary for anything in life. But when you mature, you realize that everything is useful in life and that nothing is just because. In Catalan television, TV3, they are broadcasting a series that has become a phenomenon, entitled MERLÍ, which has opened the mind to adolescents and many parents and has shown them that philosophy is applied every day in different areas of life. A cheeky but at the same time empathetic professor, who has a different way of teaching, is the new idol of the young audience. But more importantly, in each chapter he talks about a philosopher or group of philosophers and their theories. (Now Netflix has bought the world rights, so the series will fly and be seen in Spanish too, although I think the first season was already issued by La Sexta).

I love that this triumphs and I am proud to say that we have already used this formula in a book, with an author named Allan Percy, who has sold millions of copies in the world. It is true that, here in Spain, it has not been a resounding success, but it has been so in Brazil and in Greece. Maybe it would be time for MERLI’s fans to know that Allan Percy could be his idol in book format because he has published titles like NIETZSCHE PARA ESTRESADOS, KAFKA PARA AGOBIADOS, and PLATÓN PARA SOÑADORES, which will soon see the light. The formula is the same as that of the series, exposing the theories of the most famous philosophers to live our life better. Television has power, but we have to help books to have it and, from here, I recommend that you keep an eye on this author, because with books you also learn to live, to enjoy, and to be happy.

I have also had the same thing with Ramon Gasch’s novel, LLIBRE DE VERITATS I SECRETS, about Ramon Llull, writer, philosopher, theologian, teacher and missionary. An emblematic figure in Catalonia, and this year marks the seventh anniversary of his death. With this novel by Ramon Gasch you can get to know better a character that, although we have all studied him, no one knows much about him. Why did he not leave a record of his childhood and youth? The author, with great mastery, takes us to the period of life of this great character from Mallorca, with a story full of ignored truths and lost secrets. It is not easy to write about a great character and, I think Ramon has managed to make an entertaining and very special novel to give light to someone who is already well-known but of whom we didn’t know enough; a difficult task that the author resolves gracefully. It is highly recommended for all types of audiences interested in knowing more about a great character, and about history.

How many times have you wondered what is waiting after life? It is a subject that no one likes to confront, that one tries to push away from the mind because it distresses us. However, it sometimes happens to me that I stop, even if it is only for five minutes, and I think about the reason of many things. Maybe I should enjoy everything better because I don’t know when it will be the end of this journey; maybe I should prioritize the important things, not the urgent ones, because not everything urgent is important, even if it seems so. But to be able to carry out all of this, you must really believe it, and that is difficult. Knowing how to live life in a relaxed way and always doing what you like is not easy, but it is not impossible either, and one must know how to think about life to arrive where you want to get, no matter what others think, or what we have been told.

Maybe this is the reason why animals have it much easier, or that is what I would like to believe, than us. They accompany us, they know when we are sad, they encourage us, but they live today, without thinking beyond. Alejandro Palomas, following his last novel UN PERRO, which already holds three editions and follows the good path of his two previous novels, UNA MADRE and UN HIJO (recently awarded with the premio Nacional de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil) has given us a small gift by publishing with Ediciones Destino LAS DOS ORILLAS. A book that is a gift, illustrated by Fernando Vicente, where he asks himself where our dogs go when fate separates us from them and how far are they able to get to return us what we lost with their absence. In LAS DOS ORILLAS, past and present come together and, at Amalia’s house, they celebrate Fer’s birthday. Between one dish and another, the family reunion will bring pieces of intimacy, shared stories and nostalgia, but perhaps Fer will have an unexpected gift from Rulfo, his dog and faithful friend, who from his fleeting trip to the world of the two shores, conspires to return the joy to Fer and celebrate the miracle with which life, when we listen to it, may surprise us.

A short but deep book to offer to animal lovers and to all those who want to listen more to our life to surprise us, and be able to enjoy every minute without thinking of anything else and cross to the other shore happy, which is important, and with a smile.

I remember with tenderness the times that my grandmothers used to tell me stories when we stayed to sleep at their houses. They were almost always the same, we wanted them to tell us that story about the ants that had to work lots during the summer in order to collect for the hard winter, and so to have food. My grandmother never got tired of telling that story that, maybe without even her realising, she was actually teaching us something really important, the culture of effort, the culture of working in group to be able to enjoy a calm winter after and with enough stockpile. The value of attitude towards life, which has to be positive, and not consider everything as difficult or complicated, even when something is, because if one wants, difficult situations can be made easier. It is not pleasant to work in summer, it is hot, you do not feel like it, but the ants had to do it in order to not have problems in winter. It is an oral history that has been part of my childhood and I remember it as if it was explained to me yesterday, with that sweet, loving voice. And the good thing about this is that I have practiced it in my day to day life. My work is an ant’s job. And best of all is that I still have my grandmother to thank her every day for having explained to me stories that have turned me into a better person.

I think the novel by Raül Romeva, LES AVENTURES D’EN NAO, EL NEN LLENGUADO published by La Galera, is a fantastic recommendation for today, since it tells the story of Nao, who goes out to stroll with his boat on the island of Menorca with his granddaughter, who curiously is called Bruna, and explains to her that the nights of new moon when in the sky one can see the “tears of San Lorenzo”, are magical nights. When he was thirteen, one of those nights, he experienced an extraordinary story.  He was able to cross the door that separates the human kingdom from the underwater world and became a sole. Not in a dolphin or a fish that we could name of the beautiful and intelligent, but a common sole which, to return to the world of humans, it must undertake a fascinating journey, full of dangers, mysteries and enigmas. And, of course, during that special trip he will meet various unique characters and discover many things that did not know about the bottom of the sea.

In this novel the protagonist is also a grandfather who tells a story to his granddaughter, just as mine used to do, and he explains to her the importance of magical nights, the moon and the sea. In my family grandparents have been a very important axis, not only to explain to us through stories the things as basic as essential of life, but also because they have always been the axis of union between generations. Books, stories, bring more than what we think to our lives, because they do it in silence and without disturbing. So let’s not lose opportunities to read with our children, our grandchildren or our nephews, and enjoy unique and magical moments that, without even realizing, they move to our day to day lives, and we are able to enjoy the simplest things: like a sunset, the sound of the sea, knowing how to listen to the silence in the mountain or, enjoy a coffee with friends without looking at the clock or the phone.

Life is those moments, drops of happiness, and you have to know how to appreciate them and live them intensely, as Nao lives this submarine trip without losing an apex of adventure; with good and bad moments, but from one who keeps one of the best memories of when she was little. How many happy moments have to be saved as little treasures?