Here are the books that the specialists of notebook have recommended during the month of October: from the memoirs of Vicenç Altaió to the prose course of Vicenç Pagès Jordà, passing through novels by Núria Busquet Molist, the stories of Xavier Mas Craviotto, and more.
Fam
Núria Busquet Molist Periscope 246 pages. 21 euros The protagonist of ‘Fam’ is a woman who faces a daughter who suffers from a serious eating disorder; the desire to save her, to dedicate her existence to her care, collides with the desire not to bend, not to disappear behind the role of mother. ‘Fam’ is a novel about eating disorders, but also, and above all, a novel about the internal contradictions between what we are and what we want to be. By Anna Maria Iglesia
A submerged light
Marc Cerdó Club Editor 160 pages. 19 euros The structure of Una llum submergida gives an attractive twist to the well-known literary subgenre of the letter to father (or mother): Cerdó selects unpublished texts by his mother, Xesca Ensenyat, the vast majority of which are strictly personal, and alternates them with other chapters written by him, between replica and counterpoint. The result could well be called a novel. Merry Christmas
the poems
Catul Translation by Jaume Juan Castelló Adesiara 320 pages. 24 euros Some of the poet’s verses have puzzled several generations of translators and must still be a reason for discussion in certain countries with an obsessive focus on Puritanism. By Jordi Llovet
Animals inexpressius
Xavier Mas Craviotto L’Altra Editorial 294 pages. 20 euros Very well kept in mind the disturbance and the sadness of the elaborate invoice of the previous novel, ‘La pell del món’ (2013), here Xavier Mas Craviotto takes a step further and soars a little more with his powerful narrative level. By Ponç Puigdevall
Gliff
Ali Smith Translation of Dolors Udina Raig Verd 208 pages. 21.95 euros In ‘Gliff’, the author who has fascinated with ‘Quartet estacional’ and ‘La torna’ discusses how one can end up in the service of the corporate-repressive gear without pursuing personal interest or becoming morally corrupt. By Gonzalo Torné
Pel mig rail
Albert Pijuan La Segona Perifèria 128 pages Sanity, pactism, Catalan millenarianism, Barça, the language, the castellers, Club Super3, La Caixa—it is impossible to name them all—Pijuan passes the totems we have seen through the punching machine of humor, takes a hilarious fresco out of them and raises a gigantic metaphor, both foundational and vertebral: the majority of Catalans feel condemned to drive in the middle lane. By Adrià Pujol
My karst
Scipio Slataper Translation by Anna Cassassas Editorial Minúscula 128 pages. 16 euros In ‘El meu karst’, Trieste’s most tormented novel, the writer Scipio Slataper constructs a fragmentary Bildungsroman composed of memories, lyrical meditations and almost pantheistic descriptions of nature. By Marc Casals
The dream of subversion. Memoirs of a trafficker of ideas
Vicenç Altaió Galaxia Gutenberg 456 pages. 24 euros At seventy years old and with a certain sense of twilight and a desire to pass on a legacy to new generations, Altaió has written El somni de la subversió (Galàxia Gutenberg), a volume of literary memoirs about the cultural and artistic explosion of Barcelona in the 1970s and 1980s. By Joan Bordeaux
Prose course
Vicenç Pagès Jordà Publications of the Diputació de Girona 179 pages. 13 euros ‘Prose Course’, the posthumous volume of the writer, includes a series of essay capsules that do not offer a closed system, but specific examples to think about and enjoy literature. By Mar Bosch
Flash of light
Rita Bullwinkel Translation by Ferran Ràfols Gesa Second Periphery, 2025 232 pages. 20.50 euros The American author, recommended by Barack Obama and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize with her first novel, ‘Cop de llume’, explores the limits of the body based on eight teenagers who participate in a tournament at Bob’s Boxing Palace in Reno. By Carlota Rubio
Towpath
Jesús Moncada Club Editor 350 pages. 21 euros The reissue of this classic offers new layers of reading of the destruction of Mequinensa related by Jesús Moncada. By Maria Dasca
