Bookstores never die
"As long as there are bookstores, there will be hope" is one of the claims that CEGAL (Spanish Confederation of Guilds and Associations of Booksellers) plant very loudly and clearly as a preamble to the ** Bookstore Day **, which is celebrated on Friday 28 November throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
Let's be clear: the panorama of booksellers (and of Culture, dear Minister) it's bleak. The latest sales data reflects this, during the second quarter of 2014 the fall reaches 7.4% in book sales compared to the same quarter of the previous year. It is assumed that we have never had such direct access to works, authors and literary artifacts, but the reality is indisputable: we have never read less. The sector sinks, and when it seems that it can't sink any further, it falls lower. Of rage —A lot of anger, seeing how in the last two years the drop in sales has reached 14.5%. During the second quarter of 2014, 12,323 million copies were sold.
Coffee + paper = hedonism
At Mantel & Cuchillo we understand gastronomy (good food) as an experience not so far from what a good book gives us: culture, emotion and civility. Anyway; visit markets, talk to cooks, tour vineyards, get closer to other cultures (through its kitchen) smelling, touching and savoring new dishes can become as intimate or more intimate than reading a novel or listening to that Leonard Cohen album once again in the solitude of this gray November.
Eating well is important because it makes us better —Brillat-Savarin affirmed that man differs from the animal in that he can drink when he is not thirsty and eat when he is not hungry. So we have to save the usual restaurants and go back (you have to buy books!) to so many small bookstores, sentinels of the best of ourselves.
Books, books, BOOKS
November 28. Bookstore Day. In this list you can see all the activities distributed throughout Spain; and right here, a small selection of places where books, coffees, magazines, breaks and mornings coexist.
What's your base camp bookstore? ** Tell us at @cntravelerspain **, let's make the list infinite and...
...let's not let bookstores die...
BARCELONA
- + Bernat
- Babelia Books & Coffee
- Santa Eulalia Cafeteria
- The Palau Cafeteria (Palau de la Música 4-6)
- Laie
-LiLiPep
-Cosmo Cafe
- Lletraferit
MADRID
- Infamous Types
- The central
- The good life
- The Fugitive
- The Marabunta
- outburst
- Eight and a half
- J & J Books and Coffee
VALENCIA
- Slaughterhouse (Denia, 22 Low)
- Ubik coffee
-Railowski
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*** You may also be interested in...**
- Travel bibliophile: the most beautiful bookstores in the world
- Libraries not to study
- Bookstores where to dip the cupcake in Barcelona
- Madrid bookstores where to dip the cupcake
- Travel bookstores: imagination to power
- All Tablecloth & Knife
Bookstores never die