Saint George is coming! Book and Rose Day is one of the most beautiful celebrations of Catalan culture.
Do you know why we give away roses and books? The date coincides with Valentine's Day and since the 15th century it has been customary to give a red rose "like blood" to the beloved. In the 1930s, giving a book to the boy was added, on the occasion of Book Day.
In commemoration of this festive day, we take a tour of three books that we feel a lot about here, from our Empordà.
The Classic you must know... L'Empordà, by Josep Pla
A book to immerse yourself in the beautiful contrasts and different landscapes that the Empordà gives us, through the eyes of a referent of Catalan literature and born in Palafrugell. A selection of particularly well-known places, with careful attention to landscape units that the writer is used to. If you love the Empordà you must read this and all of Josep Pla's work on the magnificent territory.
Inspiration found on the Costa Brava... In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
April 2021 marks 61 years since the American writer and journalist first set foot in Palamós, where he spent three consecutive springs and summers. In this small fishing village he found the calm and tranquility to write much of the reference work "A sang freda". Immersed in a blue sea environment, he wrote the non-fiction novel that narrates the murder of the Clutter family in a Kansas town in 1959. A story where a crime is reconstructed, brings us closer to the victims and until and all to the murderers. For sure the Costa Brava has something to do with the final result.
For those who love the Empordà... Sentimental guide to the Empodanet, by Adrià Pujol Cruell
With the hand of Adrià, a wise and different young man, he travels through the territory both visited and mythologized as well as its customs and traditions. While knowing corners, neighborhoods and towns, Adrià has created his own guide full of surprises with a touch of his particular humor. In the first statement of the book. "L'empordanet does not exist" already gives us to understand that it will not be a story that will leave you indifferent. Beyond what you know and have read so far about the Empordà, it brings you closer to the history, the temperament, the landscape, the customs, the fads, the nyaps, the grandeurs, the miseries, the havaneras and the sardanas.
Recommended whether you visit or live in the Empordà😉