pickI was thrilled when I discovered this book through @Dilara because I have an affection for poetic literature and a personal connection to Cataluña. What a timeless gem; all the words are so carefully chosen! A story about life in the Pyrenees told from different perspectives (from dog to human and ghosts); each of them full of soul. Somehow the book reminded me of Japanese literature (spirits, ghosts) and films, like Totoro.
A wonderful magical realist novel set in the #Catalan Pyrenees, near the French border. Poetry, multiple voices, ghosts, nature, history 😍
I was exploring the area described in the book in Google Maps, and found a place called Can Solà (House Solà - Solà being the writer's surname). The picture is a screenshot of GM's streetview.
pickWhat happens is important to the story, but in some ways less so than what the story feels like. What it feels like is close, claustrophobic and dark, not dark as in horrific, but dark as in deep forests or the underground spaces in which things hibernate. It's rooted in Catalonian folklore, and the paintings of Goya from neighbouring Aragon have something of the same flavour. Powys's A Glastonbury Romance or Alan Garner's works also come to mind.
“Infinity isn't on Earth and it isn't in heaven. The infinite dwells in each of us. Like a window on the top of our heads that we didn't even know was there, and the poet's voice opens up little by little, and up there, through that crack, is the infinite.”
A beautiful cover illustration, an engaging title, and an intriguing blurb: "Near a village high in the Pyrenees, Domènec - father, poet, dreamer - is struck by lightning as he picks black chanterelles. The ghosts of 17th-century witches gather around him..."
By (happy?) coincidence, this is the second book I've picked up this month written by a Catalonian woman, with Franco's oppression as a backdrop, though this one sounds more fantastical.
When I Sing, Mountains Dance: A Novel | 
