Prospero makes a fool of himself

(Photo: Kiko Segovia)

... but I enjoyed it! It was last Friday, Día del Libro, and I was asked to do something about books for the kids - but they couldn't tell me what time, so I had to wait until the end, when most of the children had gone home. Probably a good thing. My theme was an old Spanish saying: Las palabras se las lleva el viento, or 'words fly away with the wind'. Which is why books exist, so we can capture the words and read them again as many times as we like. Amazing things happen when we do that, don't you agree?

Book Day programme

click to enlarge

If you read our piece on CampoPulse titled What do Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega have in Common?, you will have an idea what this is item is about. The primary school children are having a series of events tomorrow, Friday 20th, all related to books and reading. There will be activity on the main square (Plaza de la Constitución, El Paseo) as from about 11 am (Starting at about 4pm, Yours Truly has been asked to read something - so you might want to miss that part...) It is usually a lot of fun for the kids, so let's hope the rain keeps off long enough ... See you there!

Book presentation by Jimena's own self-help guru

JIMENA Prospero has known Frank González, better known in Jimena as Fran Rejano, since he was a small lad who'd come round to the house to help his father with some building work. That's years ago. Fran went away and turned up in Galicia, we think. But he was back last week to present his self-help book that was published recently. (Yes, it's in Spanish, but TranslationHelp has offered to translate it, so we'll see.) The presentation, which Prospero was sadly unable to attend, went swimmingly. The book is even better. As you'd expect from one titled FIND YOUR OWN LUCK, and subtitled 'Your inner being holds the key to your good luck'. Having not seen Fran for a good couple of years, we were delighted to have a coffee with him the other day. Very rarely indeed has Prospero met someone with such a positive outlook on life. It was a pleasure and a revelation. We wish Fran every bit of luck in his endeavours and hope that he can give up his day job soon. (We will find out where copies of the book are available and tell you, but not before we buy one for us. JUST HEARD: it's available on Amazon.es, and you can get to the book's website here.)

Magnificent walkers' guide to Jimena countryside

JIMENA The local walkers' society in Jimena, called Caminete de Luna ('Pathway of the Moon', approx., beautifully named after a street in the village) held a book presentation on Friday evening (photos and text of the event in another item). But it's not just any old book. This is a magnificent, practical work of art that contains 35 routes through the Los Alcornocales Nature Park (not 'Natural' Park, please!). The routes are of varying degrees of difficulty, and can take anywhere between less than one hour to nine and a half. The ringbinder makes it easy to remove each route and the waterproof paper it is printed on, very practical. But that's not all. The photography, mainly by José Manuel Contreras and Raúl Cárdenas but with contributions from others, is absolutely stunning - and serves to remind those of us who live just outside Los Alcornocales that we live as close to Paradise as we humans can. (More great big photos and descriptions below - but we promise not to go OTT again...)

Juan Rondón presents his new book

Juan Rondón Rodríguez, head teacher at CEIP N.S. Los Ángeles, is also a writer and researcher specialising in Flamenco. As such and as we write, he is at a press conference prior to presenting his third book, Corruco de Algeciras (Editorial La Hidra de Lerna, 2010), about Algeciras cantaor (singer) José Ruiz Arroyo, known as Corruco, who was born in La Línea in 1910 and died in Teruel in 1938 where he was shot  fighting as a soldier in the Nationalist Army of Spain's Civil War. The book presentation is scheduled for 8pm at the Fundación Municipal de Cultura José Luis Cano in Algeciras. (Note: In personal conversations with Rondón, he eschews the description of himself as a 'flamencologist', defined as a person 'studious of the musical art of Flamenco', which of course he is.)

Amazon sells twice as many e-book best-sellers as paper editions

(Agencies) Sales of electronic books at Amazon have tripled in a year and they sell more 'e-best-sellers' than their paper editions, according to the online book shop. In a statement issued recently, Amazon, which markets its own version of an e-book reader, Kindle (see sidebar), says that electronic books have overtaken paper ones 'over the last thirty days'. The figures apply not only to the Top Ten but also to the top 25, 50 and 1000. (You can order your Kindle and e-books, or any paper edition right from our sidebar. It won't cost any more but would help this site survive - and you get FREE delivery to Spain and Gibraltar!)

Amazon now offers free delivery to Spain and Gibraltar, SO ORDER THROUGH THIS SITE!

Readers in Spain and other European locations, including Gibraltar, will be delighted to hear that Amazon UK recently announced free delivery for orders over £25. It's quite simple: orders over that amount get free delivery to Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Andorra, Finland, Gibraltar, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Vatican City and Poland. Under that, you pay delivery as usual. Find out more. AND NOW TAKE ADVANTAGE BY ORDERING ALL YOUR AMAZON PURCHASES THROUGH JIMENAPULSE! (Check the sidebar!)

Word games as a road to reading

The kids at the Jimena primary school, CEIP N.S. de los Ángeles, had a fine time yesterday when two actors turned up to choose words from well-known stories, leading to their use in rhyme, sounds, syllables, etc. The idea, organized by the Council's Department of Culture headed by Juan José Rondón (who is also a teacher at the school), was to promote reading among the young. Rondón also reminded everyone that the municipal libraryies are open to anyone throughout the summer.

William Beatty's latest book review is just in

This month, Beatty reviews one of Swedish sensation Stieg Larsson's books, 'The Girl Who Played with Fire', part of his Millenium trilogy. To add a little to his review, the series is also a wild sensation in Spain. For over a good six months, anyone seen carrying a book under their arm was likely to be reading one of Larsson's novels. On a more local note, the girl at the tobacconist in Jimena can be seen reading the latest in the series in her downtime. So, we recommend reading the review and then the book.

William Beatty's latest book review is just in

Our monthly feature on Beatty on Books has just come in. It starts like this: You make a living out of what you get, but you make a life out of what you give!  Arguably one of the best of this season’s crop of celebrity biographies, this book’s 6th place in the Sunday Times Business Books Chart sets it apart from the more superficial TV tie-ins:  the Dragons’ Den chapters occupy only thirty pages at the back of the book. Its title gives a clue to its popularity: this rags-to-riches autobiography delivers exactly what it promises on the cover – the “real deal”. Last year's reviews: Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom (August); Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (September); The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale (October); The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (November); The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte (December).

Do you like to read? Join the Jimena Book Club

The Miguel de Cervantes Municipal Library at Plaza Olof Palme in the heart of Jimena has announced that it is starting a Book Club aimed at becoming a centre for lovers of literature. The idea is to create reading and discussion groups commenting on what they've read, to promote reading especially, but not exclusively among the young. To take part, contact the library during opening hours (see schedule here), or e-mail biblioteca.jimenadelafrontera@gmail.com.

€9000 for books for Jimena libraries

(Press release) The municipal libraries of Jimena are to receive a total of €8661.08 for books. The money is coming from two sources, according to Councillor for Culture, Juan José Rondón: a grant of €6161.08 from the Junta de Andalucía, and another €2500 from the Council and the Empresa Pública de Gestión de Programas Culturales. The latteramount is for purchasing books on Flamenco, generic literature, publications of local interest and material adapted to the handicapped. Rondón announced that the purchases will be made at bookshops within the municipality. The municipal library netwrok is composed of three reading rooms: one in Jimena village (named 'Miguel de Cervantes'), another in Los Ángeles and a third in San Pablo, which is operated by 'Los Naranjos' Parents Association. Click on the image for location and opening hours.

Favourite features return home

Two of the most popular features on JimenaPulse are now accessible from our Menu on the sidebar (click on 'Sports' and/or 'Books'). Woolfie's Sports Roundup and Beatty on Books, our monthly review, now have their own sites. Woolfie updates regularly twice a week with the latest on all kinds of sports, from football and cricket to gymnastics and boxing, picking out the important goings on in that fast furious world. William Beatty writes a considered opinion once a month on a particular book of his choice - this month's is one called 'The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher' that we apparently can't put down. Enjoy!