Sant Jordi 2022: recommendations for reading this April 23

If the rain doesn't prevent it, this Sant Jordi will be a record-breaker. Books and roses will once again flood the streets of Barcelona and the rest of Catalan cities, taking advantage of the fact that this year it will fall on a Saturday. The capital will debut a literary super-block in the Eixample and will gather the largest number of booksellers' and florists' stalls in the history of this celebration, reaching up to 300. Thus, it is expected to leave the pandemic behind, not only by saying goodbye to masks, but also by matching the sales obtained on the last pre-pandemic April 23rd.

For all these reasons, it is important to be clear about which books to give as gifts or to treat oneself to, preferably always accompanied by a rose. Here is a selection of the latest releases and some classics, with 14 titles for all tastes. Fiction, essay, autobiography, graphic novel... A special mention to Almudena Grandes and Miguel Gallardo. And remember that this year marks the centenary of the births of Gabriel Ferrater and José Saramago. A little bit of everything so you have no excuse not to know what to read this April 23rd.

• Mamut by Eva Baltasar (Club Editor)

Eva Baltasar puts in Mamutthe final point to the triptych that began withPermafrostand continued withBoulder. Three stories of three women, similar yet different. Three stories about solitude and motherhood.In the latest novel, the rawest one, Baltasar presents a protagonist who lives alienated from others and, at times, from herself.It is in Barcelona, but also when he decides to go to the countryside, an exile in which he increasingly secludes himself and savagely surrenders to his instincts. A journey that not only happens inMamut, but Baltasar has also done so in the evolution of the three novels.

• Bluebeard's Castle by Javier Cercas (Tusquets)

Javier Cercas also closes a trilogy, in his case, the one starring Melchor Marín, a former mosso d'esquadra now turned librarian in Gandesa. InBluebeard's Castle, the adventures and misfortunes of this modern hero who takes justice into his own hands center on his teenage daughter, Cosette.With an excellent use of narrative techniques, with the past merging with the present and tension turning pages, Cercas brings to light a corruption plot in Mallorca, with abuses of power and violence reminiscent of the Epstein case. Melchor, as always, seeks a solution, his own.

• The Monster of Saint Helena by Albert Sánchez Piñol (Alfaguara/La Campana)

Napoleon becomes the monstrous protagonist of the latest novelof Albert Sánchez Piñol. But he is not the only one. The exiled former president has to deal with Beauty and Culture, which leads him to reveal his true character, beyond the persona idealized by everyone.It is then that another great monster bursts in, reminiscent of the amphibians that inhabitedThe Cold Skin

El presidente de Estados Unidos, Joe Biden, ha asegurado este viernes que el apoyo de Washington a Ucrania se mantendrá "firme e inquebrantable" ante la invasión rusa, que comenzó hace dos años, y ha anunciado más de 2.000 nuevas sanciones contra Rusia.

"Si Putin no paga el precio por su muerte y destrucción, seguirá adelante. Los costes para Estados Unidos y el mundo aumentarán", ha manifestado Biden en un comunicado con motivo del segundo aniversario de la guerra en Ucrania.

En este sentido, ha recordado que el pueblo ucraniano "sigue luchando con tremendo coraje" y que Estados Unidos "sigue apoyándolos". "Hoy, estoy anunciando más de 500 nuevas sanciones contra Rusia por su guerra de conquista, por la brutalidad y la represión, y por su papel en el impulso de una guerra brutal", ha agregado.

Las sanciones se dirigirán a personas relacionadas con el encarcelamiento del líder opositor Alexei Navalni, fallecido hace una semana en una prisión del Ártico, así como al sector financiero ruso, la base industrial de defensa, las redes de adquisición y los evasores de sanciones en "múltiples continentes".

"También estamos imponiendo restricciones a la exportación a casi 100 entidades que brindan apoyo de trastienda a la máquina de guerra de Rusia. Estamos tomando medidas para reducir aún más los ingresos energéticos de Rusia", ha detallado el presidente estadounidense.

Biden ha instado a la Cámara de Representantes a aprobar el paquete de seguridad nacional para Ucrania, que incluye 60.000 millones de dólares (55.400 millones de euros) en ayuda militar, y que ya ha sido aprobado por el Senado. "Este proyecto de ley bipartidista incluye financiación para Ucrania y es vital para los intereses de seguridad nacional de Estados Unidos", ha zanjado.

and it distorts everything, transporting the author to that fantastic environment in which he feels so comfortable.

• Dead Lands by Núria Benedicho (Sajalín editores/Anagrama)

Núria Benedicho debuted in 2021 withDead Lands(Anagrama), a rural drama with gothic and polyphonic overtones, with a dozen characters narrating a murder for which the culprit must be found, without omitting violent and gruesome scenes. With a title that pays homage to Àngel Guimerà and a work that draws from William Faulkner, Mercè Rodoreda, and Víctor Català, Benedicho's opera prima became one of last year's surprises.But he could not sign for Sant Jordi. And his success has allowed him to do so for the first time this Saturday, with the Spanish translation recently released by Sajalín editores.

• Mothers, Fathers, and Others. Essays on My Real and Literary Family by Siri Hustvedt (Seix Barral/Edicions 62)

A compilation of essays written by Siri Hustvedt in recent years in which she reflects on practically everything. Hustvedt begins by talking about those who had no place in her family history, such as her grandmother Tillie, she also introduces her recently deceased mother, and discusses motherhood. The writer questions everything from a complete and complex reasoning, often attacked by those who fear and envy her.It also talks about the future of literature, the meaning of translation, or reading during the pandemic.

• The Detour by Gerbrand Bakker (Raig Verd)

The Raig Verd publishing house celebrates this Sant Jordiits tenth anniversaryand does so with a re-edition ofEverything is quiet upstairs from the Dutch Gerbrand Bakker, one of the first books he published and which helped him to place himself on the literary map by winning the Premi Llibreter. With a very characteristic style, Bakker introduces Helmer, an adult farmer who lives alone, although accompanied by his dying father. Little by little, the life that Helmer has almost lived in the third person, marked from the beginning by his twin brother, Henk, unfolds. A sample of this publishing house's commitment, which publishes in Spanish and Catalan, to promote writers beyond Anglophone authors.

• Inés y la alegría by Almudena Grandes (Tusquets)

Reaching Almudena Grandes is a must, even more so this Sant Jordi, the first without her.It's hard to choose one of her novels, a sensory writer who gave voice to those who lost.For those who have trouble deciding, they can start with the seriesEpisodes of an Endless War, a narrative project about anti-Franco resistance that the author from Chamberí has not been able to finish, lacking one novel to complete it. Independent stories that began withInés and Joy and they had to end withMariano in the Bidasoa. Reading it is the best tribute.

• The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago (Navona)

José Saramago, the Nobel Literature laureate who is celebrating his centenary this year, could not be missing either. The Portuguese writer lived his last years in Lanzarote, in a house where the library kept growing and the clocks are stopped at the exact time he met his travel companion, Pilar del Río.That destiny, exile, he was forced into after the publication of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, which was censored in his country, to which he protested by leaving.The Navona publishing house, which debuts this Sant Jordi, has translated it, as well asThe Double ManSaramago will be present in the Saló de Cent of the City Council at the Sant Jordi proclamation, a tribute that the city pays to the one he starred in in 2004.

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (Club Victòria)

A classic never fails, especially if it's by one of the Brontës. ReadingJane Eyreis to immerse oneself in the mist, the cold, and the ghosts of Thornfield mansion, with the mysterious and distant Mr. Rochester fervently falling in love with the protagonist (and falling in love himself). A journey to 19th-century England, with its turbulences and its grays, from which one does not want to return.The Victòria Club brings this classic British novel in Catalan, as it has done with many others, some translated exclusively.For now, the label shows, as expected, a special predilection for Jane Austen's works. It also features E.M. Forster withA Room with a View.

• 1939. The Fall of Barcelona by Andreu Claret (Columna)

Andreu Claret wanted to fill the gap in exile literature with 1939. The fall of Barcelona.Son of republican exiles, the journalist and writer draws on family memories to weave this story, in which he puts a face to all those who had to flee when the Civil War came to an end, in a chaotic and desperate march that would later collide with the harshness of exile, even worse for those who were confined in concentration camps. Lluís Companys, a friend of his father, appears in Claret's latest novel, as do his escort, Manel Plandiure, and his lover.

• The Great Book of Dogs by Miguel Gallardo and Karin Du Croo (Astiberri)

Posthumous work by the Barcelona illustrator and cartoonist Miguel Gallardo, accompanied by his wife, Karin Du Croo, artist and illustrator. Gallardo and Du Croo narrate in this graphic novel the arrival in their lives of Cala, a dog they found in the Sierra de Cazorla after much searching. Cala also accompanied them during the pandemic and Gallardo's illness, explained in Something Strange Happened to Me on My Way Home (Astiberri). The Great Book of Dogs, published shortly after his death, closes the trajectory of the creator of Makoki and titles such asMaria and IandA Long Silence, both also in Astiberri.

• Vencer el miedo by Jordi Amat (Tusquets/Edicions 62)

Last Sant Jordi, Jordi Amat enjoyed the"unexpected" successofThe Chauffeur's Son(Tusquets/Edicions 62), a meticulous X-ray of the dark figure of journalist Alfons Quintà and, through it, of journalism and politics.This time, the Barcelona writer focuses on the poet Gabriel Ferrater, "the most attractive figure in Catalan culture of the second half of the 20th century"and that this year celebrates the centenary of his birth and the fiftieth anniversary of his suicide. Amat wanted to go beyond the Ferrater myth, delving into the man he was, into his fears and demons, but also into when he managed to be happy.

• El gran salto de Gervasio Deferr (Península)

"Most people only know about me that I won two golds and an Olympic silver in artistic gymnastics and that a world medal was taken from me for a joint, but very few know the price I paid for glory and all that I suffered before and after my retirement."Thus begins The Great Leap, the way Gervasio Deferr has found to explain himself, with the help of journalist Roger Pascual.Deferr recounts his life as a gymnast, but also everything that happened to him afterwards, without lies, and who he is today. After hitting rock bottom many times, and also the Olympus, Deferr has managed to make peace with himself with his own gym in La Mina, "a place as marked as I have always felt."

• The book of Ana María Matute by Jorge de Cascante (Blackie Books)

Complete and extensive anthology of the life and work of Ana María Matute, with texts and editing by Jorge de Cascante. The book by Ana María Matute draws the figure of the Barcelona writer with a detailed biography, mixed with extracts from her work and anecdotes. It includes photographs and unpublished manuscripts, press clippings, snippets from her notebooks, and childhood drawings and stories.The publisher thus continues the series started with Gloria Fuertes and Fernando Fernán Gómez.