I, CARMELA by Clara Villanueva.

What if you spend the summer in a New Age centre next to a Cathar castle in the French countryside? This is what Carmela does. She takes a job as a cleaner in exchange for the opportunity to practice French in order to enter the University. This is her output to a life of disappointment in love in which men have been the cause of all evils and rice dishes cooked by her mother the remedy for them. From the very beginning she will encounter problems due to the clash of cultures: “Thinking about my mother’s sandwiches the realisation came over me that I really was in a foreign land. France was only on the other side of the Pyrenees but it always felt like another planet. All those centuries of liberty and equality and they were incapable of feeding a hungry person. So much for their fraternity”. But she would solve them in a witty way. It's 1985, Carmela is 25 and is fed up with men. In this adventure she is surrounded by unique characters like a French aristocrat, her lesbian stepdaughter, a nymphomaniac room mate, a pseudo Celtic princess, an aspiring Buddhist monk or even a medieval ghost. But because of his rejection of men she feels particularly uncomfortable with Jack, the vegetarian English cook, or a nerd with a lovely bum, as he is called. They get involved in hilarious situations due to the original courses and workshops clients attend to in this New Age Centre dealing from Nice Astrology, to Instinctotherapy, passing through Scred Dances or The Feminine Miracle on Earth. Many other characters appears on the novel, and as they show off they bring with them memories of past love affairs with Ernesto the hippie, Aziz the Moroccan, Fabio the Italian, Arnaud the French and El Curro the flamenco musician, that seem to haunt her. Nonetheless, it will not be the same with Jack. To Carmela living as a couple is a form of self destruction. You stop looking at yourself through your own eyes and start to see yourself as the other sees you. Sometimes it’s flattering. Other times is very destructive. I don’t want it to happen me again. I refuse to have another relationship with a man. But, can you control your feelings and emotions to that point of certitude? Carmela will have to face an argument between her convictions and her feelings, what she things she wants against what she wishes. Will she make the right choice?

                                                       Title:            I, Carmela

                                                       Author:        Clara Villanueva

                                                       Publisher:     Mimbelle Books

                                                       Edition:        Paperback

                                                       Price:          11.99€

Read the first chapter/Lee el primer capítulo: http://www.mimbellebooks.com/

Whatever you do... Don't Miss the Fiesta.

Costa Tropical News July Issue Book Review

DON´T MISS THE FIESTA!

"As soon as he saw the village, Scully knew he would stay. Security and cosiness, an air of permanence, emanated from the flock of tiny dwellings nuzzling about the old church, warm in their togetherness amid the bleakness of the sierras. It was a womb. And far enough from the rest of the world. He knew he would stay.” And he stays and decides to settle in Benamargo to leave behind a dark past as a successful businessman and unhappy husband. And in this Spanish village he finds refuge and unexpectedly falls in love with innocent Marisa, a ray of light and hope in a new life. But under the quiet appearance of Benamargo it hides a society anchored in time under the dominion of an old school Catholic priest , father Saturnino, who has become the only and unquestionable authority of the village , displacing even the democratically elected mayor, together with the Cofradía de las Ánimas (Brotherhood of Spirits). A bunch of men in charge of maintaining the traditional catholic-faith-based way of life where there is no place for sin or misbehaviour.

Our man is forced to fight against these entrenched habits in order to success in his pursuit of loving Marisa and escape from his past; "the witches nudged one another and whispered," Shameless, shameless”, they muttered among themselves. Their target was less Scully than Marisa. Men after all, were expected to sow their wild oats. Women should conserve themselves intact until they walked up the aisle, and those who did not, well... ". But the ghosts from the past also come into play when he receives an unexpected visit from England. Tragedy and blackmail is what these ghosts bring with them In this situation, Should they, beloved couple, stay or should they go...?

As Easter approaches the community seeks someone to expiate their sins, but who is without sin cast the first stone, and remember, whatever you do...

Don’t Miss the Fiesta!

 

 Beautiful descriptions of Andalusian wonderful landscape as well as witty portraits of Benamargo inhabitans are to be found in this amusing novel by David Baird, great connoisseur of every little aspect of Southern Spain life

SEMANA DEL LIBRO ABRIL 2012

Antes que nada quisiera agradecer a todos los que de una forma u otra habéis participado en las actividades que 1616 Books ha organizado este año con motivo del día del libro, en especial a aquellos que han dedicado su tiempo a esta librería. Gracias Juan Madrid, gracias Ana de Hita, gracias Trini Laraño y gracias a los jóvenes creadores, Julia, Lucía, María, Rubén, etc, por compartir con nosotros vuestro tiempo, talento y conocimiento.

Empezamos la semana el lunes 23 apoyando la Presentación organizada por el Ayuntamiento del libro de nuestra vecina Milena Casanova Dragones en Conserva, una obra imprescindible en cualquier hogar especialmente si es frecuentado por niños. El evento tuvo lugar en la Biblioteca municipal y fue todo un éxito.

El martes visitó la librería Ana de Hita que nos impregno con las mejores esencias de África a través de sus cuentos. Tarde de cuentacuentos que pudieron disfrutar más de veinte niños que se lo pasaron en grande interactuando con Ana y sus cachibaches.

El miércoles nos visitó el genial escritor malagueño, y también vecino, Juan Madrid. Juan M. pasó con nosotros la tarde departiendo con aquellos amigos que nos visitaron y firmando ejemplares de sus obras a todos aquellos que lo desearon. Es todo un placer contar con este autor, uno de los máximos exponentes de la Novela Negra en español y gran difusor de este género literario.

Pero quizá el jueves fue para mi el día más especial, ese día desde la librería conseguimos reunir a una "camada" de jóvenes creadores de Salobreña. Personas con una gran inquietud cultural y creativa que vuelcan sus vivencias y experiencias sobre el papel en forma de relatos que sorprenden por su calidad dada la juventud de éstos autores. Durante la tarde del jueves pudimos disfrutar de historias de amor y muerte, de aventura y misterio y, como no, también tuvo su espacio la poesía. Aquí hay talento señores y hay que hacer todo lo posible porque esto no quede así.

Lucia

Julia y Cia.

María

Y para terminar esta serie de actividades el sábado nos visito Mari Trini Laraño, psicóloga dedicada a trabajar con niños y adolescentes, que nos dió algunas directivas sobre como infundir en los más pequeños un buen hábito de lectura vinculando directamente la adquisición de este hábito con una mejora sustancial en el rendimiento académico de los más jóvenes.

Y esto fue todo por este año, pero el próximo año amenazamos con volver.

1616 Books

HEADS I WIN TAILS YOU LOSE

HEADS I WIN TAILS YOU LOSE by Sulim h Villa.

Varigo, a small village in the mountains of southern Spain, seems to be a quiet place until a horrible crime arouses the suspicions of those who knew Juan the Unbaptist which in turn become suspects of his murder.

Juan, being a healer and an activist against the Church, is murdered and his severed head is placed in a tray on the desk of the Mayor .Jesús, his cousin and also healer begins to follow clues that lead him to think of a member of the Church such as Padre Tomás as the culprit. The Guardia Civil is investigating la Alcaldesa, el Sargento Ronaldo is delighted by the crime since in Varigo “the Guardia Civil were left with minor problems of quarrels over water, drug dealing, bar fights, quarrels over water, fraud, quarrels over water and decapitation” however, some hints point to the agents in green themselves; and the intense relationship of Juan with women raises suspicion of a jealous husband or a woman scorned. Who killed Juan the Unbaptist?

Parallel to the investigation of the crime we will find the love story of Jesús and Ana, the beautiful relationship of our players with the nature and the emergence of a mysterious Voice that will guide the fate of John and Jesus.

All this takes place in Varigo, a village that becomes protagonist itself as this novel portrays the daily existence of people, institutions, places and landscapes. All the sceneries might be real: “At the Ayuntamiento there were the usual queues of people shouting about unfair parking fines, begging for information about their year-old planning applications which had got lost in the mountains of paper, hoping to see La Alcaldesa about a local bus service for a cut-off village, or proposals for a Hispano/Romanian friendship fiesta and the like”.

But believe it or not this crime story is about Love and the healing power of Love both for the body and the soul. In which way? You’ll have to find out reading Heads I win Tails you lose, a humorous and atmospheric tale taking place in Varigo a town very close to you.

This book is the first of a new crime series so still a lot more of fun to come.

                                             

                                         Title: Heads I win Tails you lose

                             

                                         Author: Sulim H Villa

                                         Edition: Paperback

                                         Price 9,99€

SUNNY SIDE UP

We start a series of book reviews to be published in Costa Tropical News magazine. This is the review for May issue.

http://www.costatropicalnews.com/

SUNNY SIDE UP by David Baird

More than thirty years ago David Baird, after working around the world as a journalist, and his wife Thea travelled through southern Spain looking for living a back-to-nature existence in the sunshine. So they settled in El Pueblo. And during the last thirty years they have seen time going by and have observed, not without nostalgia, how the 21^st century has beaten this village in southern Spain. And that's what this book is about. About humans interacting with humans, neighbours and visitors, with landscape, urban and natural, and about looking for the essence of every little aspect of life and enjoy it.

Here the reader will find hilarious situations arising from the relationship with neighbours, the presence of the authorities or the clash of cultures. In one of them, our man decides to produce his own wine on the pueblo style since "they had, after all, been at it for generations, using methods handed down from father to son since the time of Romans " but coming from a world where waiting for something to happen was a waste of time "In desperation, I tossed the comatose yeast into the angry must and sat back to await results...My book said it was most essential to use this device to avoid infection by fruit flies and other noxious influences. It was comforting to know that all this technology was on my side. The locals, poor souls, had no such advantages...They just put a slate over the hole in the barrel". but after his failure… "I picked up my wine bible to seek an explanation. Then I had second thoughts and went in search of Jaime". Again and again the force of tradition and custom takes him to rethink his world, and little by little he becomes involved in el pueblo as a neighbour and not a foreigner. The book is full of episodes dealing with dark customs, miracles, funny traditions such as the cencerrazo, local politics and politicians, and progress and “new” technologies such as tv, refrigerators or washing machines touching el pueblo for the first time.

But we can also find delightful descriptions of stunning views, sensations and nature: “But the rains never lasted long and the sunny days that followed made up for them. There was a brilliance to the atmosphere in winter which I have seen nowhere else. The air possessed an astonishing clarity; every time I gazed out at the morning stillness from our terrace, I was surprised again by the intensity of the play of light and shadow. Each tree, each house, each ridge, each leaf seemed freshly minted and each image so burnished that it etched itself diamond-sharp on the retina”. This is el pueblo, that it could be your pueblo, any pueblo. What a beautiful place to settle and fell at home.

                                                       Title: Sunny Side Up

                                                       Author: David Baird

                                                       ISBN: 9788489954366

                                                       Publisher: Santana Books

                                                       Distribution: Maroma Press

                                                       Price: 8,90€ (at 1616 Books)

Selected as recommended reading for EOI (Official Language School)  Motril 5th grade!