Headlines are going to run out for a day like Sant Jordi that every year adds new records, sets up more stalls, fills more streets to the brim, gives away more books and roses. A day when superblocks do not arouse overwhelming criticism. Since they are literary, they are allowed to replace cars with floods of bibliophiles, regardless of whether they are real or fake. All this, while still preserving itself as an eminently local diada, still little explored, fortunately, by free tours.
When thinking about those April 23rd when the pandemic scared or the rain damaged books sounds almost like prehistory, Barcelona prepares one more year to celebrate its great festival. Passeig de Gràcia will once again be the epicenter, with a superblock that will extend further, both downwards, towards La Rambla, and upwards, towards Gran de Gràcia. Half a thousand book and flower stalls that will be distributed over more than 3.5 kilometers throughout the city. With so much ground to cover, it is necessary to be clear about which books to give or self-gift, if possible, always accompanied by a rose. Here is a selection of new releases and classics, with ten titles for all tastes for this Sant Jordi 2025.
Recommendations for Sant Jordi 2025
- El loco de Dios en el fin del mundo (Random House) by Javier Cercas
Hardly a book can be as current as
God's madman at the end of the worldof Javier Cercas. Here is the spiritual journey of an atheist author with Pope Francis, with the aim of investigating whether his mother will be reunited with his father in heaven. And, if one has to ask the highest authority in the Vatican, it is done, even if one has to go all the way to Mongolia. All this without forgetting that reading Cercas is always a good choice.
- Primera memoria (Destino) by Ana María Matute
The publisher Destino is recovering titles by an excellent storyteller like Ana María Matute on the occasion of the centenary of her birth, also a decade after her death. It began with
First memory, the novel with which he won the Nadal Prize in 1959 and the tribute has continued with
Forgotten King Gudú(1996), a medieval fantasy saga that the Barcelona-born author chose as her favorite book among all those she wrote and put an end to her literary silence of more than 20 years.
- The Intruder (L'Altra Editorial) by Irene Pujades
After managing to have one of her stories published in
The New Yorker, Irene Pujades presents her first novel,
The Intruder (L'Altra Editorial), where she delved, in her own way, into the popular literature of the self through Diana, who undertakes that journey into her interior, with all that this entails. Previously, Pujades had won the Documenta prize with
The damages (2020), a collection of short stories that led her last year to become the first Catalan author to publish in the American magazine.
- Tres novel·les analògiques (Quaderns Crema) by Sergi Pàmies
Another storyteller par excellence who this time comes to show how he writes longer plots. Quaderns Crema recovers three novels published in the early 90s,
The first stone,
The Instinctand
Sentimental. All of them characterized by having been conceived when there were neither cell phones nor internet, but managing to capture such a human essence that, no matter how many years pass, it remains relevant. A good opportunity to return to Pàmies after his last collection of short stories
At two it will be three.
- Canon de cámara oscura (Seix Barral) by Enrique Vila-Matas
Running into Enrique Vila-Matas is a ticket to who knows what adventure, with literary and ironic twists and a lot, a lot of humor. Now he does it with
Camera obscura canon after having done it recently as well
with Montevideo. That if there is a character who wants to build a literary canon when its author disavows academicisms, that if there is a Barcelona android behind all this in the middle of
boom of the omnipresent AI. Another novelty of his to note, although less recent but equally irreverent and with a title that does not deceive:
Eight Interviewsinventadas (H&O Editorial).
- Terrestre (Random House) by Cristina Rivera Garza
This year, Sant Jordi has Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza as its town crier, joining a list with names such as José Saramago, Alessandro Baricco, Albert Sánchez Piñol (a very elusive author on April 23, although he usually leads sales), Donna Leon, Yasmina Reza, Almudena Grandes, Empar Moliner, Irene Vallejo, and Imma Monsó. For those unfamiliar with Rivera Garza, they can delve into her literature with a new release such as
Terrestrial, full of tours through different places in his native country and the world. The title with which he won the Pulitzer Prize,
The Invincible Summer, is another safe bet.
- Impossible to Say Goodbye (Random House) by Han Kang
Giving the Nobel Prize in Literature is a Sant Jordi classic, except when Bob Dylan snuck in. As always happens, now Han Kang's titles abound in bookstores, an elusive and total writer who celebrated the award by having a tea. The most recent
Impossible to say goodbye, to which is added the recovery of
Human Acts. You can also read his poetry with
I kept the twilight in the drawer(Lumen). For those who don't know it, it's better to start with
The Vegetarian, a plot that leaves no corner unflooded and stirs up even what one didn't know existed.
- The 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen's Birth
Choosing a Jane Austen novel, even though there aren't many, is difficult because each one has its own charm. There's the super famous
Pride and Prejudice, with that Elisabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy who have made so many fall in love, but
Emma and
Sense and Sensibility they are not far behind either, with recent irruptions such as the unfinished
Sandinton and
The Watsons, popularized by their television and theatrical adaptations. More unnoticed goes
Persuasion and knows how to dazzle like no other. Any choice will be a success and a tribute to an author who has influenced so many generations and opened the door to reading for them. Even more so when 250 years have passed since her birth and she remains relevant with modern heroines like Bridget Jones. The Club Victoria imprint collects a good part of her titles.
- Sunrise on the Harvest (Editorial Molino) by Suzanne Collins
Yes, there is still ground to cover with the bestselling saga
The Hunger Games. With more than 100 million copies sold, its author, Suzanne Collins, returns with
Dawn in the Harvest, a new novel that allows a return to Panem. This time, with a prequel in which the plot is set decades before the story that made Jennifer Lawrence famous on the big screen with the character of Katniss Everdeen, focusing on who will end up being her mentor, Haymitch. It is clear that there are more addictive pages for young people, with all the ingredients to get hooked on a dystopian universe with many possible readings.
- The Abyss of Oblivion (Astiberri) by Paco Roca
The graphic novel is experiencing a good moment and Paco Roca is one of its best exponents. Winner of the Grand Prize at the last Barcelona Comic Fair, the Valencian cartoonist knows how to approach memory like no one else, both personal and historical, with great tributes to the great forgotten ones of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. His latest title is
The Abyss of Oblivion, but they are also
The Furrows of Chance,
Wrinkles,
Return to Eden,
The Cartoonist's Winterand
The house, with a film adaptation included with David Verdaguer.