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Chris Stewart really does live the broken-down-farmhouse dream. Lost in a river valley in rural Andalusia, he renovates his home with basic local materials, sheers sheep, and bemuses the bemusing locals. This book rightly deserved the huge success it enjoyed when first published in the UK, and marked something of a resurgence in ex-pats tales from Spain. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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Category: Spain Books
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For whom the bell tolls
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More classic Hemingway. Set in the pine-covered hills beyond Madrid during the civil war, the American Robert Jordan joins a group of rebels hiding out from fascist forces, and sets out to blow up a bridge in time for a big Republican attack. All the typical Hemingway elements are here, bravado, earth-moving romance, glory, death and tragedy. An incredibly evocative slice of historical fiction which is almost impossible to put down once started. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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Jamon Jamon
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Everyone trashes Jamon Jamon, but it’s one of Ben’s all time favourite Spanish films. Plenty of ham, naked bullfighting, deserted Castillian landscapes, adultery, a brothel, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. What more could you ask for? So Spanish, so funny, this is a classic piece of cinema. As the cover says, “A film where women eat men and men eat ham.” Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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David Hampshire is onto a winning formula here, running us through the essentials of where to live in Spain, what work we can expect to pick up, how to buy a house… Even the ins and outs of starting a business in Spain are thoroughly explained. After 7 years in Madrid, I still found this book to be packed with surprisingly useful information. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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No travel writer loved walking as much as Laurie Lee. With no Spanish and nothing to support him but his violin, Lee manages to cross Spain on foot, narrowly avoiding death from dehydration on the way. With Spain on the brink of war, he finds a country desperately clinging on to the last vestiges of stability. He finally ends up in a fishing village in Andalusia, where he too gets involved in the unfolding events. Beautiful descriptions of landscapes and lives told in Lee’s famous lyrical tones, and a journey we would all love to make. If you enjoy this, then don’t forget the sequel, A Moment of War. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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Monsignor Quixote, Grahame Greene
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A wonderful journey through Spain in the company of Monsignor Quixote, an aging priest, and his friend Sancho Panza, the communist mayor. Together they set out in Rocinante, an old Seat 600, to encounter prostitutes in Madrid, a hospitable vineyard owner, and the dreaded Guardia Civil. Vintage Graham Greene and a classic take on Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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The best book ever written about Spain, and that’s that. The greatest 20th Century British writer comes to Spain to help fight against Franco. An exceptional portrait of Spain and the farce of war, this book is at once funny, shocking, tragic and tremendous. Read it. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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A classic work of anthropology by a classic travel writer. In the 1950’s the village of Farol in Catalonia is inhabited by leather-fearing fisherman and stray cats. Life centres around a feud with the dog village, and worries about the non-arrival of the tuna shoals. Then a black-marketeer arrives with designs on bringing tourism to the doomed beaches of Farol, and a thousand years of subsistence fishing are wiped out in a flash. It’s just lucky that Lewis produced this vivid documentary before it was too late. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises
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Pamplona has a lot to thank Hemingway for, or not, depending on your point of view. The wild fiestas he depicts in this book have become known all over the world as San Fermines, and every year thousands of foreigners join the locals to be trampled under-foot in the dawn running of the bulls. Essential reading for the Spain fan, the Hemingway fan, or anyone heading to Pamplona for the fiestas this July. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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Having settled in Valencia with his Flamenco dancer wife, Jason Webster sets out on a treasure hunt – to discover the legacy of the Moors in Spain. With his Moroccan friend Zine (who he apparently finds working as a modern day slave in Almeria), Webster criss-crosses Spain picking up fascinating evidence of what survives of a magnificent civilisation that was kicked out of Spain around six centuries ago. Meanwhile, his companion, Zine, picks up other things of interest, that land both of them in an STD clinic in Seville… An entertaining and informative take on all things Moorish. Don’t miss out on his other book, Duende, as well. Pick up a copy at: Amazon.co.uk (Europe)  Amazon.com (USA)  |
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Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 