Coffee and books, is there anything more appetizing? A little bit of reading for you in the midst of so much noise, in the midst of so much to do. Stop to enter eagerly into a novel. Greta Books with Garbo is precisely all we need, a new women's book club that have just been launched by two journalists who love literature, Isabel and Patricia.
Both met working in the travel section of The world and they decided, in 2021, to launch a project aimed at women readers. “I wanted to turn my career around and start working with books. I knew other literary subscriptions and I thought that in Spain there was a niche to cover, the literary subscriptions for women . And in particular, a subscription emphasizing romantic literature . I am an all-terrain reader and I wanted to develop a project with books, for women and that would value a genre as reviled as that of pink novel ”, explains Patricia Osuna to Traveler.es.
His goal was to break the complex of many readers (and even some authors) who enjoy reading romance novels and romantic literature. “Books are escape, enjoyment, enrichment. And we can have these sensations reading Nobel Prize winners like Vargas Llosa either Le Clezio as much as Diana Gabaldon either Elizabeth Benavent , best-selling authors of romantic literature. I don't think there are first-rate or second-rate genres, but rather good, bad, and regular books."
The name of the club is also another curious story that arose on a chocolate Sunday with churros. “ Greta Garbo seems to us the height of sophistication , woman against the current who left Hollywood at the height of her career because she did not fit with her personal values. And our books are going to have a lot of panache, you won't be able to put them down and you're going to read them in one sitting”, adds Patricia.
And Isabel completes: “The actress, moreover, was a sophisticated, elegant, feminine, tenacious, passionate, mysterious interpreter, of whom not much was known... and we believe that these adjectives also define well the concept of company that we have created : we play with the mystery, with the surprise, because you never know which novel will arrive at your house that month”.
HOW DOES IT WORK
Greta Libros con Garbo works online and by subscription . On their website they currently offer three collections (Narrative, Erotic and Romantic) and different plans: monthly subscription (ideal for gifts or for those who want to try how the club works), quarterly, semi-annual and annual.
“We are aware that we all lead a frenetic pace of life, so our added value is, on the one hand, to prescribe and, on the other, to surprise. We read all the editorial news that is being published to keep the best ones and send them to our subscribers , that until they receive the book at home they do not know what title it is”.
Plus, they offer a comprehensive reading experience because the books are shipped with a reading guide; one or two whims (samples of cosmetics, small products from entrepreneurial brands, stationery items...); access to exclusive content on your blog (interviews with authors, travel reports related to the plot of the novel, articles on psychology and sexuality...); Y the invitation to a literary café to discuss the novel with other subscribers , this yes offline.
Once a month the book will come to your house, but this club wants to recover the face-to-face meetings, which we have lost so much in the last two years. It will be meetings to comment on the story of the month in different spaces , from hotels to restaurants, in which there will be psychologists, sexologists, etc. “The appointment will be in a coquettish place, in principle in Madrid , although we are looking forward to growing and traveling to hold more meetings with readers and, whenever possible, with authors. We promise a pleasant afternoon to talk about literature with a coffee or cocktail in hand . We invite the drinks (and the plan). It is part of the added value of our book club”, explains Isabel to Traveler.es.
The novel of the month will be discussed at a coffee meeting with books.
LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO READ A BAD BOOK
As Isabel and Patricia say, life is too short to read a bad book. The truth is that the romance novel genre is certainly undervalued, that's why they want to give it a twist and show that no, there are great novels in the genre.
“Of our genres (Romantic, Narrative and Erotic) infinite titles are published every month and, to be honest, not all of them are of great quality. With the frenetic rhythm that we all carry, reading has to be one of the pleasures of the day and we don't want any of our readers to waste time with empty pages . The books that we send each month have been selected with care and we guarantee that they are great love stories, with interesting characters, that entertain, and make you have a good time”.
Patricia and Isabel, the founders of Greta Libros con Garbo.
Best-selling novels, but also hard-to-find gems, and above all, those that claim love stories, great narrative and erotic novels. "The latter is designed for women who seek pleasure between the pages of a book and, why not, for curious men who want to share a spicy read with their partner."
If you are thinking of subscribing, you can start with their recommendations: “Any novel of Nicole Krauss , forever. Little gems like Giuseppe Berto's 'Anonymous Venetian' that Altamarea has just edited or The Shipwrecks of the Heart by Benoît Groult (have a good arsenal of handkerchiefs next to you). To get started in romantic literature, any title from the publisher silk books , which treats this genre with great elegance and affection. Now that they have just awarded him the Cervantes Prize, the book of erotic stories ' Intimate Disasters' by Cristina Peri Rossi . And for a trip by train or plane, our best-selling Spanish novels like Elizabeth Benavent either Alice Kellen”.