jimmy burns, barça: the passion of a people, 2000
the story of barça, the city’s legendary football club founded in 1898, is also the epic story of barcelona and catalan nationalism.
“the british… look at the agitated and swirling mass of foreign humanity around them, a vortex that does not allow dissidence, that relegates the one hundred and odd symbolic fans of real madrid to the most isolated heights of the Camp Nou… the murmur of the crowd is overwhelming, their fanaticism disturbing”. camp nou
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carlos ruiz zafón, the shadow of the wind, 2001
The wonderful gothic literary thriller, set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, that leaves no Barcelona street or square unvisited!
“the quatre gats was just a five minute walk from our house and was one of my favorite places… inside, the voices seemed to echo with shadows from another time. accountants, dreamers and would-be geniuses shared tables with the ghosts of pablo picasso, isaac albéniz, federico garcía lorca and salvador dalí.” carrer montsió
robert hughes, barcelona, 1992
robert hughes’s magisterial anthem to barcelona: history, travel guide and labor of love of the well-known art critic.
“no Romanesque architect ever devised anything like Gaudí’s famous arcade in Park Guell… if sometimes in the rock gardens one feels stranded in a surreal landscape, it is because the place had a such a powerful effect on salvador dalí: its upper paths, lined with strange rock ‘trees’… joan miro… adored on the winding, ceramic-clad benches.” parc güell
george orwell, tribute to catalonia, 1938
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the classic tale of barcelona and catalonia during the spanish civil war, as orwell describes the hopes and betrayals of the spanish revolution.
“virtually every building of any size had been taken over by the workers and was covered with red flags or the red and black flag of the anarchists: every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle… to the ramblas… the loudspeakers roared revolutionary songs.” las ramblas
juan goytisolo, signs of identity, 1966
a searing masterpiece from the greatest living spanish novelist depicts an exile’s return to barcelona. It was prohibited in Spain until after Franco’s death.
“Foreigners and natives alike walked slowly along the paths. They stopped to admire the pots of begonias, to take pictures of the walls that had been the scene of vengeful executions… brigades of workers had carefully erased the marks of bullet .” montjuïc
colm tóibín, tribute to barcelona, 2002
The Booker Prize finalist novelist has lived in the city on and off since the 1970s, and here he offers his own highly engaging account of its culture and history.
“in 1983 barcelona built its monument to picasso on paseo de picasso… it was designed by antoni tàpies as a glass box in a puddle of water containing some old chairs and an old hall, ropes and old sheets with indecipherable messages written on them. Paseo de Picasso, next to Ciutadella Park
manuel vázquez montalbán, the anguished executive, 1977
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José “pepe” carvalho de montalbán, the irrepressible left-wing detective, appears in 22 novels that capture the reality of Barcelona life and society.
“had a beer in the royal square, and sighed after the long-lost tapas that used to be the specialty of the busiest bar in the neighborhood: squid in a spicy sauce of black pepper and nutmeg.. Carvalho knew this people and their manners made him feel alive.” plaça reial
mercè rodoreda, the time of the pigeons, 1962
Considered by many to be the best novel written about the Spanish Civil War: the beautifully told story of Natalia, la Colometa, whose personal story mirrors that of many Barcelonans.
“and my father remarried and I, a young woman alone in the plaça del diamant waiting for the draw for the coffee machine… and before my eyes the lights covered with flowers and hanging chains and everyone happy .” diamond square
eduardo mendoza, the city of wonders, 1986
the extraordinary novel by eduardo mendoza fictionalizes the bustling life of the city between the universal expositions of 1888 and 1929.
“the traveler who arrives for the first time in barcelona soon realizes where the old city ends and the new begins. the streets become straight and wide instead of winding: the sidewalks, less crowded; tall plane trees give them pleasant shade; the buildings are more distinguished… another city.” eixample
colm tóibín, the south, 1990
colm tóibín’s first novel vividly evokes the barcelona of exile, when a young irish woman begins a new life in the city.
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