I’ve just finished Los besos en el pan, a moving ensemble novel that follows a year in the lives of families, neighbours, parents, children, the young and the elderly, ordinary people who have the courage to keep going in spite of the crisis and of the hard times.
The stories are all settled in a Madrid neighbourhood but they become a realistic and social portrait of the recent past, not only in Spain.
The title of the book derives from a tradition of kissing the bread as a sign of gratitude. Young people have lost that habit and they find it more difficult to face the crisis that has threatened to turn their lives upside down.
All these neighbours of the novel, Los besos en el pan will experience bittersweet moments of unexpected solidarity, of indignation and rage, of tenderness and tenacity. Therefore, Almudena Grandes’ novel is not only a portrait of a period of crisis, but also a story of how people can try to resist thanks to friendship and solidarity.
For a more detailed review of the book, please read my post in my Italian blog: www.creativepalabras.altervista.org
This summer I’ve discovered a surprising collection of short stories: The spring of Affection by Maeve Brennan. Since I love Irish literature, I couldn’t but be inspired by this writer. As you can see in this post, there is the picture of the Italian edition. Anyway, both the English and Italian edition have a beautiful picture of Maeve Brennan (1917-1993). She was a very beautiful, elegant Irish writer and journalist. Though she spent the most part of her life in United States with a along career as a staff writer at the New Yorker, Ir
Creativepalabras has changed and it has become a more literary blog. I would like to share my book reviews and thoughts about what I’m reading and writing. So creativepalabras is a record of the books I read. I also have a literary blog in Italian: www. 
I’d like to talk to you about the international literary festival that will take place in Mantua. Five days full of cultural fun, of meetings with authors, readings, performances, concerts with artists from all over the world in a joyful atmosphere. The most interesting voices of the emerging literature and of the younger generation will be present. And Mantua is also a very beautiful, artistic city.
FESTIVALETTERATURA will take place in Mantua next week from 3rd to 7th of September. It has become one of the greatest Italian literary festival. Its first edition took place in 1997.
Vicenza is situated in the Veneto region of northern Italy o, adn is worldwide famous for its Andrea Palladio (1508–80)’s works which give the city its unique appearance. Palladio’s urban buildings, as well as his villas, scattered throughout the Veneto region, had a decisive influence on the development of architecture. His work inspired a distinct architectural style known as Palladian, which spread to England and other European countries, and also to North America.
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