The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

"A book for someone who likes ...": 33 book recommendations that readers asked from 'Babelia'

2021-12-16T03:05:52.314Z


Following the publication of the list of the best books of the year, we respond to readers who asked what to give for Christmas to someone looking for an amazing ending or who loves to write or read to someone with Alzheimer's


What book to give to someone who does not usually read books?

And someone to think about the sea?

One for those looking for dazzling finishes?

And to read to someone with Alzheimer's?

Of feminism but not an essay?

A biography?

Questions like the ones we ask when we visit bookstores - few things as enriching for a voracious reader as having a trusted bookseller or librarian - and to which this case is answered by the journalist and critic of

Babelia

Javier Rodríguez Marcos.

On the occasion of the publication of the traditional lists of the best of the year of

Babelia

(the 50 best books ―with a special section for comics―, films, records, series, theater, architecture, video games and exhibitions) , EL PAÍS readers on Instagram sent nearly a thousand requests for book recommendations to give away this Christmas.

These are some of the responses based on the tastes of those people who, hopefully, will develop a book that they like and surprise in the coming weeks:

  • "He loves to write

    . "

    The art of fiction

    , by David Lodge.

    A pocket writing workshop by a master of humor.

  • "His favorite is

    Patria

    and he loves history

    .

    "

    Sacra Nemesis

    , by Jon Juaristi.

    Real (and family) stories of Basque nationalism written in a state of grace.

  • "Of current modern philosophy

    ."

    I am the monster that speaks to you

    .

    The (short) essay that should be given to a Martian to understand what is being discussed these days on Earth: gender self-determination.

  • "Some book that I can read to my dad with Alzheimer's

    .

    "

    What can I tell you?

    Any that you already liked?

    Anyone about something you would like?

    I highly recommend

    Las gratitudes

    , by Delphine de Vigan.

    Cheer up.

  • "The stories with a dazzling ending."

    Pandora in the Congo

    , by Albert Sánchez Piñol.

    A colonial expedition told wonderfully and with a breathtaking ending.

    All

    best sellers

    should be, at the very least, like this.

  • "It is for someone who does not read any book, what do I give him?"

    .

    Option A:

    Here

    , from Richard McGuire.

    A great graphic novel without text.

    Option B: Write your biography yourself.

    He sure reads it.

  • "On the history of the Jews in Europe"

    .

    Eichmann in Jerusalem

    , by Hannah Arendt.

    History, journalism and controversy in an absolute classic on the subject.

    Also:

    Without destination

    , the fictionalized memoirs of the Nobel Prize Imre Kértész.

  • "His favorite books are all those of María Dueñas

    .

    "

    Ines and joy

    ,

    by Almudena Grandes.

    The first of his 'national episodes'.

    History, intrahistory and love in a single volume.

  • "He is 8 years old, he loves paddle tennis, football, nature and the book

    Agus and the monsters

    .

    "

    El balonazo

    , by Belén Gopegui.

    A neighborhood soccer story that treats kids as intelligent beings.

  • "Journalistic books, his favorite book is

    Diario de un skin

    .

    "

    The Empire of Pain

    , by Patrick Radden Keefe.

    In the sewers of the pharmaceutical industry.

    Maybe it's the newspaper book of the year.

    A safe value is

    Hitch-22

    , by Christopher Hitchens.

  • "His favorite is The bodies and the red room and he likes the LGTB novel

    .

    "

    Madrid will be the tomb

    , of Elizabeth Duval.

    An "LGTB novel" in which the personal and the political, skin and ideas intersect.

  • "She wants to learn more about feminism and she likes humor

    .

    "

    Change your mind

    , by Aixa de la Cruz.

    One of the great books written in Spanish so far this century.

    How it sounds.

    Sometimes it gives you the silly laugh, like the protagonist.

    Sometimes the opposite.

  • "Something similar to Borges' stories

    .

    "

    The optic nerve

    , by María Gainza.

    If Borges had written a novel it would be something like this (which is sometimes better than Borges).

    Life, culture, wit, wit ...

  • "He loved the graphic novel.

    What I like the most are monsters

    .

    "

    Fun Home

    by Alison Bechdel.

    A graphic novel in the first person drawn and starring a girl smarter than hunger.

    They even made a musical comedic with the story it tells.

  • "

    The Capital

    .

    He loves rehearsals

    .

    "

    In the rough

    , by César Rendueles.

    A brief vindication of historical materialism by the author of the essential

    Sociofobia

    , the most brilliant young Spanish Marxist of today.

    Also,

    The Porter

    , the memoirs of Terry Eagleton, which shows that humor and rigor are not incompatible.

  • "Magic realism"

    .

    Our part at night

    , by Mariana Enriquez.

    Long but addictive.

    The wonderful real of the 21st century with a gothic touch.

    Or vice versa.

  • "He likes social poetry and I want him to be a Spanish author

    .

    "

    Love letters from a communist

    , by Isabel Pérez Montalbán.

    Or his anthology

    The Proletarian Cold

    .

    With those titles you don't have to explain much, right?

  • "Tokio blues

    + loves books that make him change the way he sees the world

    .

    "

    If one winter night a traveler

    , by Italo Calvino.

    Throughout the book he will change his way of seeing the world many times.

  • “Her favorite is

    Deadly and Pink.

    He likes drama ”

    .

    The violet hour

    , by Sergio del Molino.

    It is the

    Mortal and pink

    of these years.

    Or

    What has no name

    , by Piedad Bonnett.

    Also,

    Of other people's lives

    , by Emmanuel Carrère.

    Pure royal drama.

  • "His favorite is

    Rayuel

    a and he loves novels with a certain humor."

    The suitcase

    , by Sergei Dovlátov.

    Irreverent and incorrect narrative to tell the departure from the USSR of a dissident who speaks without filters.

  • "The youth novel.

    His favorite is

    Biography of a body

    .

    Poisoned words

    , by Maite Carranza.

    I know readers of that book of all ages and they all liked it very much.

    Me too.

  • "He loves

    Singing me and the mountain dances

    and

    The beat of the earth

    .

    "

    Once in Europe

    , by John Berger.

    A round storybook.

    The rural world told with masterful prose.

    And, between fantasy and reality,

    In Wild Company,

    by Manuel Rivas.

  • "For my mother, to remind her of the city where she grew up, the Bilbao of the 80s

    ."

    Bilbao

    , by Patxo Unzueta.

    A wonder about the capital of the world.

    They will tell you that it is out of print and it is true, but in AbeBooks it is worth 6 euros.

    If your mother doesn't like it - I allow myself the tuteto - I'll buy you the copy.

  • "Biographies"

    .

    Hannah Arendt

    by Elizabeth Young-Bruehl.

    Masterfully tells the twentieth century through the fast-paced life of a Jewish thinker who fled from the Nazis to the United States.

  • "The books that talk about books

    .

    "

    84 Charing Cross Road

    by Helene Hanff.

    Books, world war, two continents.

    A whole world and two complete lives through a bookstore.

    And it is barely 100 pages long.

  • "He loves science fiction and his favorite book is

    Dune

    .

    "

    The Left Hand of Darkness

    , by Ursula K. Le Guin.

    A planet inhabited by hermaphrodites seen by a foreigner who ends up understanding the power of a society without sexual difference.

  • "For someone interested in feminism but not an essay, novel please."

    The wonders

    , by Elena Medel.

    Two generations of working women in a suburban Madrid.

    Also,

    No Mama No

    , from Verity Bargate, a modern English classic that deserves all the attention.

    Read the first line and we talk.

  • "For a 25-year-old, he likes electronic music, finances and current affairs but he has trouble reading

    .

    "

    Vernon Subutex

    , from Virginie Despentes.

    Music and current affairs in prose at 100 kilometers per hour.

    A comic version has just come out.

  • "Historical novel about the Spanish Civil War and reading to Hispanic American women

    .

    "

    The Spanish Civil Grandmother

    , by Andrea Stefanoni.

    She is an Argentine narrator (and now a bookseller in Madrid, in La Mistral).

    The title says it all, right?

  • "He likes stories that catch but are not just fiction but a mixture of fiction and reality

    .

    "

    The File

    , by Timothy Garton Ash.

    What would you do if you found out that the police had been secretly following you for years and one day you could read your file?

    That's what the Stasi did with Garton Ash.

    A spy book that is a history of Europe.

  • "History of the Balkans or historical novel of the area

    .

    A bridge over the Drina ”

    .

    Prayer in the Siege

    , by Damir Ovčina.

    About Sarajevo in 1992 seen by a young Bosnian trapped in a Serbian neighborhood.

  • "He loves the sea and history and his favorite book is The Old Man and the Sea, by Hemingway

    .

    "

    The great sea

    , by David Abulafia.

    A cultural history of the Mediterranean that reads like a novel.

    In this case, like a soap opera.

    From Troya to Benidorm, nothing is missing.

    Nor nobody.

  • "My 14-year-old son has been hooked on nothing since the Harry Potter saga

    .

    "

    Ink Heart

    , by Cornelia Funke.

    My son recommended it to me.

    Or

    The Name of the Wind

    , by Patrick Rothfuss.

    It was recommended to me by a friend of my son.

    Let's try.

    Luck.

You can follow BABELIA on

Facebook

and

Twitter

, or sign up here to receive

our weekly newsletter

.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-12-16

You may like

Life/Entertain 2024-02-22T14:32:30.394Z
News/Politics 2024-02-16T18:41:35.758Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.