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Bit of a one-off experimental-cast this one… Books about Spain and excerpts from my book ‘Errant in Iberia‘. The other books mentioned in the podcast, Orwell’s ‘Homage to Catalonia’, ‘Voices of the Old Sea’ by Norman Lewis, and ‘South from Granada’ by Brenan, can all be found on this page at Notes from Spain’s sister website Books on Spain.
Details of the sponsored ride across India can be found here. Please consider sponsoring me if you enjoy the podcasts!
Sin
17 Oct 05 at 3:07 pm
Yes, Ben, I read your book and enjoyed it. The Norman Lewis is a gem, isn’t it; the very beginnings of the package holiday resorts. I enjoyed Brenan, too, and envied him. I once started ‘Homage to Catalonia’ and left it – but, after your high praise of it, I think I will start again.
I also very much like Laurie Lee’s ‘As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning’. He went with a blanket, a violin and a phrase of Spanish, just before the beginning of the Civil War. (I just checked your BooksonSpain store, and I see you’ve already praised it likewise.)
Chris
17 Oct 05 at 10:53 pm
Ben, your podcasts have been getting better and better in recent weeks. This episode was especially good. Keep up the good work.
Pol
18 Oct 05 at 10:20 pm
Hi Ben,
Unfortunatey I haven’t read any of the travel books you mention. The most appealing to me are ‘Homage To Catalonia’ and ‘Tales of the Alhambra’, I’ll keep them in mind for my next purchases. Although it is certainly not a travel book, I would also suggest as a must for reading about Spain the famous novel by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote. In spite being now 400 years old, it is a fine way of approaching the cultural personality and psychological idiosincrasy still valid nowadays amog Spaniards.
About your excerp on ‘Errant on Iberia’, I alway knew English-Spanish “intercambios” was in fact a cover for getting to know nice and attractive girls.
Good podcast, i’ll wait for tomorrow’s cast on the Champions League. Good job, Ben.
Lawrence
4 Nov 05 at 12:02 am
Another interesting and enjoyable podcast. Would be great if the book was for sale as an audio download.
Steve W.
11 Jan 06 at 12:58 am
Two more Laurie Lee books in addition to the one mentioned above. “A moment of war” on his experiences during the civil war, and “A rose for winter” covering a return in the 1950s I think. This latter book is highly evocative of the Spain which all foreigners imagine, and each chapter covers a different city on his trip around Andalucia.
Beth Smaligo
3 Mar 06 at 2:42 am
Amazing! Is there a way for you to read your book, and then load it into the Internet as one (well….very big) podcast? –Beth
Neskadebilbao
16 Jul 06 at 7:11 pm
Ben,
Great podcast. I am planning on reading your book in the near future, but also was wondering what the titles were to the music that you played in between the podcast.