Carmen Mola “La red purpura”
The second instalment of the Carmen Mola series sees Inspector Elena Blanco hunt down a clandestine network that organizes gruesome fights. Another page-turner.
Verdict: worth reading
Carmen Mola “La novia gitana”
Excellent crime novel about a gruesome double murder case that are seven years apart. No wonder that the authors (it’s a trio) have been so successful, a page-turner.
Verdict: worth reading
Fernando García De Cortázar & José Manuel González Vesga “Breve historia de España”
Little surprise that this is the best-selling book on Spanish history. The book is anything but brief, I was looking at a tome of 700 densely-printed pages, but well-written, well-researched, and well-structured. It’s not only linear history, it’s not only chaps and maps, it tries to explain the trajectory of Spanish history. This is why I find the later chapters more interesting, so it’s a bit of a let-down that this book ends in 2017 (as stated on the cover) with the Catalan independence movement on the rise and having eclipsed the Basque independence movement. I will get the next edition to understand the last couple of years.
Verdict: must read.
Leonardo Padura “Personas decentes”
A Mario Conde crime novel set in 2016 that intertwines a murder of a government official, Obama and the Rolling Stones in Cuba, and a historic murder case. The elderly Conde, an ex police-man, has gotten wise and reflexive and helps the police that is apparently stretched thin. The Cuban society as a backdrop for this story with its limitations and deprivations comes to life and I wish I knew a bit more about Cuban history. A good, albeit long book.
Verdict: worth reading
Arturo Pérez-Reverte “Sidi”
A “rewrite” of sorts of the Spanish national epic, brought much closer to reality and a new life by Pérez-Reverte’s skillful writing. I enjoyed reading the booking even though I am neither a fan of historical novels nor of medieval novels.
Verdict: worth reading
Aroa Moreno Duran “La hija del comunista”
A girl grows up in the sixties in East Berlin, she’s the daughter of Spanish communists who ended up exiled in the GDR - something which actually really happened to a couple of hundred people. She’s torn between communism, her Spanish heritage, and puberty and flees to West Germany at some point. I like the setup of the story a lot and I found the first two thirds of the book very convincing, the last third in West Germany and the inevitable fall of the Wall felt a bit underwhelming.
Verdict: worth reading
Luis Landero “Lluvia fina”
An excellent novel that recounts the horrors of a broken family from the point of view of the brother’s married woman. With every chapter you learn more ugly details about the characters involved - until the unhappy end.
Verdict: must read