Guide to Spanish Life & Culture

Posted by Mari Nicholson May 31, 2008

Most people know that my favourite European country is Spain. It is a country that is changing rapidly, tourism having brought prosperity to places once thought too remote to be affected by the phenomenon.

I can never read enough about this country and its changes. I automatically gravitate towards the travel section in a bookshop, always hoping to find new and exciting guides to places yet to be explored as well as more familiar places. I tend to look for the small publishers and self-published books, as these are less formulaic than the Guide Books produced by main guidebook publishers.

This week I've been lucky. I found Speak The Culture - Spain, (Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture), a look at my favourite European country through its architecture, literature, philosophy, art, cinema, theatre food and drink, and politics. The book is published by Thorogood Books at a reasonable £12. 99 and I am currently engrossed in it's anaylyis of the Spanish soul.

The book is split up into easy to read sections into which one can dip at random. I've already sampled sections dealing with flamenco, Spanish cinema of the Civil War and Spanish football, and now I'm going back to the beginning to read it from the start.

This is the best guide to Spain I've ever read because it is more than a guide. It is a book that captures the spirit of Spain from the Moorish flavours of the Middle Ages to the rich art of Picasso and exposes the heart of that passionate nation.