Bruno Blog

This week has begun sad, Paris bombings left a black weekend and saddened to most people who are against violence, we cannot tolerate that human rights and freedom are not respected. Upon hearing the news on Friday night, hatred came over me, I could not think clearly after a barbarism like that, and tried to keep a cool head, to convince me that this radical group is not a whole religion and does not reflect its followers, despite they want us believe it. It is a struggle of good against evil, and on each side there are people from all walks of life. It would be unfair to think that all Muslims are the same, we cannot put them all in the same bag. But the radicals, who have lost their heads and only think of hurting and transmitting this ideas to children and young people, without measure, without considering anything, I regret to say, I cannot help but wish them the worst, because they have broken families, have created terror in a city, and throughout the world.
We all know we cannot let that frighten us, but after an event like that on the weekend, it’s natural to feel fear, and solidarity with our French colleagues who have been more than touched, and it is still costing them catch the normal rhythm of their lives, because if it costs us, I cannot imagine how it will be costing them. Also, I deeply regret, too, have known that a young publisher, I did not know her personally but one of her companions, who told us about her at the fair in Frankfurt, has been one of the victims of the attack. A young girl with a bright career ahead, as many of the other victims of this terrible and unscrupulous act. Just thinking about it, I feel sick, because I think how unfair it is for all these people have been in the wrong place.
And it could have been any of us. I must stop thinking of it because feelings like anger and revenge awake in me, and only the question of why there are people who abducted by whatever and in whoever name bring out the worst of themselves. We cannot let ourselves be overcome by fear, because life goes on, and we hope that the world can and should be better, despite how you are passing injustices, we cannot control. Most people are good, want to live happily and peacefully, and it is important that we all know how to cultivate it daily. Everyday life is more important than we think to grow with values such as honesty, solidarity and kindness. We condemn acts such as Paris, and try that new generations learn that fanaticism and radicalism are useless, all extremes are bad, and know how to defend the beliefs with respect and humility is what makes us being human and distinguishes us from the beasts.
Today I recommend a book, published only in ebook, that predicted that this fanaticism of a few can destroy the world. In UN MUNDO REAL (A REAL WORLD) Francesc Juvanteny tells through a fast-paced thriller that unfortunately reality has overtaken fiction. In the novel, the most manipulative people in their specialties, who are able to rule armament industry and its strategic weapons, want to change the course of history. Their influences reach the Vatican City. St Peter’s Basilica, that has always been present, acts at its own convenience. It has its peculiar quid pro quo. The rise of Islamic terrorism doesn’t catch everybody by surprise despite the terror that spreads. Faith can join more judgements that it seems.
Perhaps readings like Francesc’s can help us understand, not to accept, what happens in this real world.
“We must unite not to be together, but to do something together,” Juan Donoso Cortés

Several times I have commented on this blog the importance of grandparents. My grandparents marked me in a positive way, and now I’m glad to see that my parents are grandparents and they are marking my son, and my nephews. Their labour seems to be easy: they are allowed to pamper and indulge their grandsons with caution, but is not so easy, because the line is thin and sometimes parents do not agree on how grandparents educate their kids, but at the same time they rely on grandparents a lot. I think we need to learn to understand and recognize the work of grandparents, which is always in good faith.

In my case, my parents are exceptional grandparents, and the kids in the house never want them to leave. They play with them, explain things to them, and pamper them fairly, so we’ve been very lucky because the grandparents-children relationship is already live. We have managed to pass the legacy, and I wish all the kids would enjoy this special relationship.

As it happens to Eva in the book that Sonia Fernández-Vidal and Pilarín Bayés have recently published, entitled EL UNIVERSO EN TUS MANOS (THE UNIVERSE IN YOUR HANDS), where Eva doesn’t find her grandfather in his inventor study, but she finds some kind of spacecraft. Eva decides to go without knowing that there is going to start the biggest adventure of her life to rescue her grandfather while learning the most amazing things about the world we live in, the universe.

Again, Sonia Fernández-Vidal has put knowledge in the hands of younger children, and also in our hands, because this is a family book where we all learn and enjoy. This is a book of extraordinary quality with the best illustrations of the great Pilarín Bayés. Knowing the planet, the world, the universe makes us great in many ways and smaller in others, but that knowledge does not take place, is the icing on this fascinating book that everyone should have on at home. Thanks Sonia for making the difficult easy, and for being you, one as extraordinary as your books.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake, has never tried anything new”, Albert Einstein.

Foto de Elvira Alvarez Caminos

I have to confess that the pleasure of reading in me was not innate. It took some time arouse my interest in reading, I know that it makes a bad impression because now I am in the editorial business. When I was a girl, I preferred writing than reading, but when I grew up, I realized that those who do not read cannot write well, and quickly I understood that writing was a complicated job, and for a gifted few. I would have liked to write, but you see that the most I can do are these small pieces that I find difficult to write, and every week I admire more and more authors who are able to create a novel and captivate us. It is a profession, yes, but authors also have to have a special magic to create a work that leaves a mark. I think that Teresa Roig is a writer who has skill and the touch of magic required. In LA MERCERIA (The Haberdasher), her last work, she tells a story of friendship, a dream come true. Two families of Barcelona, ​​in the early twentieth century, amid a tough war. Two families from different social classes, but united by a single event, which will provide them a friendship and a link allowing Tonet to realize the dream of his wife: open a store, which three generations will inherit. The business never is booming, but the family can make a living. There is even a season in which they have to close , but they struggle to pull it off. A family business, a story written with a costumbrist tone the us the classic Catalan novel L’AUCA  DEL SENYOR ESTEVE, but for readers of the 21th century.

A story where we see the courage, love and all that goes with a family business as it is haberdasher. The store is also the star of this story which shows that the only thing that we need to get it all is love.

Captivating, exciting and highly recommended for all type of reader who wants to enjoy a good story and the taste of a family business. Here we know a little of this and we know that opening every day is not easy, you need to like what you do and to know what your goal is, if not it takes a lot of effort, but almost always this effort is rewarded.

“It takes bad days to realize that the other are amazing “

Nobody chooses their family. And now that Christmas approaches, many fear the holidays and arguments around the table. It is not my case because I adore my family, and I’m happy when we all gathered and we have time to talk about things that are not job, because in my case, my immediate family also works with me and are my supporters both personally and professionally. I know it sounds strange, but we know very well how to separate needs to be separated. A family business, whether it is, is not easy, but it is encouraging. To me have my family near makes me better and gives me the necessary strength to go on … We are a family of blue eyes like the characters of DIAMANT BLAU (BLUE DIAMOND), where Care Santos once again gives us a lesson in how to make an extraordinary novel, with courageous and charismatic characters who fight for what they want and know how reach what they love. Teresa Pujolà, first daughter of a bourgeois family in Mataró, relinquish her social position to achieve what she really wants. As a woman ahead of her time, she doesn’t want just receiving piano lessons and marrying the one she should, but she looks forward and decides to build a future next to the person she loves. She will challange everything for love and she will be strengthened. A story of a brave woman and, for those who doubt it, a story that tells that we must fight for ours dreams. The story of Teresa is a wonderful example of that. I always try to fight for what I believe and go all the way, although it is not easy. Not all dreams can come true, but they can be fought, and the most important is that we know what we want to be happy.

Care Santos has thrilled us with novels as HABITACIONES CERRADAS (Closed Rooms), that we’ll see in TV next November 3rd with Adriana Ugarte as one of the protagonists, and DESIG DE XOCOLATA (Desire for chocolate), Ramon Llull Prize 2014. Therefore, we don’t need more to say that you cannot miss DIAMANT BLAU (BLUE DIAMOND), a great gift for Christmas.

 “If one day you have to choose between the world and love … remember: If you choose the world run out of love, but if you choose to love him conquer the world” Einstein

Another Frankfurt’s past. My life is marked by fairs, and especially this one, the queen, although it seems that the crown is in danger because it was calmer and some pavilions were closed. This indicates that there were fewer people. However, Frankfurt still is the most important fair and meeting editors from different countries, and many friends, always compensates the fatigue. This year I was physically exhausted. I do not know why, maybe because we’ve tried to check country by country to find new and medium-sized publishers who might fit well with our books, or because it is just because I am getting older. Maybe both.

I confess sometimes I got lazy. But when I’m out there trying my best to transmit the stories we carry in our catalogs, I transform, like the phoenix, and with my best smile I tell each argument of our novels, those that my authors have written with such care, love and enthusiasm and. We want them to travel to as much countries as possible. At night, in the hotel, I think about how nice and complicated my job is: to tell stories to others, stories that can transport you to wonderful worlds, make you meet fascinating characters. That’s the power of reading.

Our magic is to transmit this story and find the right person to publish it; because when all this comes together, it is easier to reach the target, but it doesn’t mean we do. So it is so great to sell something to any country, is an unexplainable adrenaline rush, because somehow that story is part of me and is a shared dream with one of my authors. And illusions actually do something magical, we wish we could do every day many, and only mixing all these ingredients get success. But things are not this way, and external factors should also be in your favor. However, we does not give up, because our motto is that there is a good book for each editor, as there is for every reader. So our mission, long the way, is finding it. We carry pockets full of patience, enthusiasm, a little magic and a little luck, but nothing is impossible in a world where creativity and imagination are two of the strongest weapons that move it. So here is our catalogue. Don’t miss that story that you feel should be yours.

Find yours and notice me, it will be a fun adventure to share. This is the true essence of our work and we cultivate it here every day with a wonderful team of people who believe in what they do and who work very hard to start that “yes” which sometimes cost as much, but that sooner or later arrives. Please click, enter that magical world and choose the book that you sense that should be yours; because “I don’t know why but I bet on it” is often synonymous with success.

“Seeing someone reading a book that you like, is seeing a book recommending a person”