flowers and serpents

...and here we are. Flowers and Serpents, a collection of stories by 14 English-speaking writers in Barcelona, edited by me and designed by Víctor is in the world. And otherwise it's Sant Jordi, it's sunny, I was brought a long-stemmed rose in bed this morning, and the day as been full of books and deliciousness. I'm off to enjoy the rest of it! Scroll down for a gratuitous picture of my cat...

new niu publishers

Tomorrow in Saint George's Day, birthday of Shakespeare, Cervantes, Nabokov and my father, Day of the Book and the Rose in Catalunya. I generally celebrate it by walking and looking at the books and enjoying any chance to celebrate the written word. Last year I even appeared on a newspaper supplement as one of the poster-children for reading! That was pretty special. But this year is even more special because Víctor and I converted ourselves into a literary editors and publishers for the occasion.

For a few years now, I've been part of an English writing group here in Barcelona. We meet every week to discuss each others writing, suggest improvements, give encouragment and so on. Members are a mixed bag of English teachers, journalists, translators, editors and others (we had a doctor once, and we currently have an ex-priest) and come from pretty much any English-speaking country you can think of, as well as some Scandinavians and exceptionally fluent locals. ANYWAY, in time for Sant Jordi this year, I decided to organize a collection of some of our short stories. I edited it (I work as an editor anyway, but it was great to get to edit fiction for a change) and Víctor did the graphic design (he also has a history designing books).

We snapped these pictures the day before it went to the printers... it's amazing how a DSLR can make anything look glamourous, even head-ache, eye-ache, back-ache, lack of sleep, lack of hair-washing or make-up applying... I think they're just golden because I was so content to be doing what I was doing. (Although seriously, next time writer people, we're going to talk about formatting before you give me your submissions). It looks like I'm fake-working but I really was correcting like a maniac at the time.

The anthologies are back from the printers and I can't wait to share them here tomorrow!

library of babel

I think I'm not the only one in this space who loves a good book, so I thought I'd share these pictures from one of the most impressive bookshops I've been in. Perhaps its location makes it seem even better...it's the type of second-hand bookshop you might imagine in a creative corner of a big city...but not in a suburb of a small town a good forty minutes by train from the metropolis. Victor, Rosa and I dragged ourselves out there on a Sunday afternoon to see an exhibition, and our jaws more or less dropped as we walked into an unassuming warehouse. On the inside, old books were piled on tables and in tight rows up to the ceiling and a wooden bar decked out with chandaliers and wooden ladders served (extortionate, every silver lining has a cloud) drinks. You can get a glimpse of it behind me in the first picture. I snagged a copy of Dubliners for four euros and went to town taking pictures.

P.S. Rosa and I have a history of being photographed in bookstores...sometimes even more glamorously!

canadian lit

I've been holed up in Canada for a couple of weeks, eating home cooking, taking no pictures, writing (yay!), reading (yay!) and working from home (blech). Also, recovering from a nightmarish scenario in which the first leg of my flight home (the flight was from Lisbon, I had to get a flight from Barcelona to Lisbon first) was overbooked, resulting in my losing my flight, having to buy a new one, and involving myself in a long battle with Vueling for the dismally small compensation they finally gave me (which I expect I only got because it's enshrined in EU law). Thanks for nothing again, Vueling Airlines.



But! The Canadian Literature in English is about to be changed for Canadian Literature in French... I'm off to Montreal for the first time ever and I can't wait to explore this city which has been on my must-visit list for a decade. Endless photos to follow!

(top by Family Affairs, skirt by Q's Daydream, shoes by Naguisa)

return to cadaqués

Back in 2008, I took a trip to Cadaqués, an idyllic Mediterranean town on the Costa Brava. I posted about it in retrospect some years later, here. Last week, my sisters were (both!) visiting Barcelona for the first time ever, and we went back, so wander the gravelly beach, feel the sun reflected back upon us from the whitewashed buildings, and visit Dalí's crazy/delightful house in neighboring Portlligat. Having been reading Josep Pla's lyrical history of Cadaqués, I looked upon it with different eyes, knowing about the centuries of struggle behind the idyllic exterior, the winds that drive people mad, the fishing treaties, the origin of the funny accents, the piracy!

reading in bed

I've been going through a phase of voracious reading recently (actually, voracious everything, I seem to be grabbing life by the horns this year) and the fact that it's winter just makes reading seem even more the logical choice. These were taken in a big, bright, warm room in Bristol, with a view over clustered roof tops and a back garden in which I've seen foxes at dusk, wearing a plaid flannel dress (the ultimate reading outfit no)? Erm, that would be me wearing flannel, not the foxes, clearly. :D

I'm multi-tasking bookwise. I always like having 5 or 6 books on the go to suit all moods and handbag sizes. I'm reading Anna Kerenina (yes yes, but movie versions are a great excuse to finally read that classic you've been meaning to for years), Christopher Isherwood's masterpiece Goodbye to Berlin, a Catalan classic Cadaqués, (here's when I went to beautiful Cadaqués a few years back) a book of short tales about interesting women who lived in Barcelona through the ages, which is fascinating as a social history, and rereading the biography of Louise Brooks by Barry Paris that so enthralled me last winter. I'm really enjoying all of them... does anybody have any recommendations for when I'm done?

Incidentally, my Kindle (which I've had for about 2 years) is a life saver. I love the texture and smell of real books as much as the next bookworm, but I don't love the overweight baggage fees or trying to track down English language books in foreign countries... for transient lifestyles it's a must, although it's not that photogenic.





Reading in bed comes with a built-in siesta!


Photos by Albert

P.S.
One of my favourite posts from last year was also in favour of plaid flannel dresses...

a red herring without mustard

So this makes my second post title named after a Flavia de Luce book (the other one was "I am half-sick of shadows," and yes, I know that's also a line from Tennyson). I'm completely in love with these mystery books, featuring an eleven year old girl sleuth in the year 1950. Flavia reminds me a bit of myself as a child, except that I wasn't a precocious amateur poisoner. And I didn't live on a country estate--I just pretended I did. Anyway, this post had to get the title of the third book, which has a plot point turning on a statue of Neptune (and just look who's chilling behind me). And another plot point rests on fish, and just look what I randomly found by the artificial lake in the park at 8 am on Saturday morning when I went to take these pictures... eww and wtf?



In other news, I'm trying to think of other, more interesting ways to wear this blouse, but so far I'm not having much luck. Maybe due to the complete lack of skirts in my wardrobe... any ideas?


shorts: H&M Wateraid Collection, blouse: Desigual (gift from Albert), beret: very old, shoes: ebay, jacket: H&M, bicycle pin: gift from my mom, pile of dead fish: eeewwww.