The most recommended books about Barcelona

Who picked these books? Meet our 37 experts.

37 authors created a book list connected to Barcelona, and here are their favorite Barcelona books.
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Book cover of I'm Not Scared

Peter Jones Author Of Nightfly: The Life of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen

From Peter's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Biographer Journalist Musician

Peter's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Peter Jones Why did Peter love this book?

My wife introduced me to this gripping crime thriller. Set during a roasting summer within a rural southern Italian community, the tale is told through the eyes of a child.

Part of a little gang of faithless so-called friends, and surrounded by untrustworthy adults, the young hero is the only sympathetic character in the story. But what a story! Ammaniti brilliantly evokes a sense of place and time, and the sheer desperation of the poor.

By Niccolo Ammaniti, Jonathan Hunt (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I'm Not Scared as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The hottest summer of the twentieth century. A tiny community of five houses in the middle of wheat fields. While the adults shelter indoors, six children venture out on their bikes across the scorched, deserted countryside. In the midst of that sea of golden wheat, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, that he dare not tell anyone about it. To come to terms with what he finds, he will have to draw strength from his own imagination and sense of humanity. The reader witnesses a dual story: the one that is seen through Michele's eyes, and…


Book cover of Lola Lago, Detective: Lejos de Casa

Patricia Lorente Author Of 100 Entertaining Short Stories to Practice Your Spanish in Present Tense

From my list on improving your Spanish.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a writer and a Spanish teacher. Creative and a little crazy. I love teaching people who arrive in my city (Madrid) to live for a while. I love writing fiction, specially novels, but also poetry and little stories. Sometimes I mix both skills and create texts as the one below. I dream about winning the lottery but I never buy tickets, and I also love to sing with my guitar when I’m alone. Pleased to meet you.

Patricia's book list on improving your Spanish

Patricia Lorente Why did Patricia love this book?

I guess I’s not a coincidence that this series of fiction books are written by the same writers as the previous one, since both of them have the same high quality in their content and are grammatically so well focused. 

The protagonist is Lola Lago, a detective who will solve a case per book.

The books range from level A1 to level B1 and come with an audiobook. The length of the stores is perfect (45-60 pages) and the format light enough to feel that you can do it. Every one of them is well focused on its level, and you can find, at the end, lovely explanation notes and light and fun comprehension exercises.

By Lourdes Miquel López, Neus Sans,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lola Lago, Detective as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Humberto, un joven colombiano, es acusado de herir gravemente al “Tigre”, un skinhead con el que había discutido. Humberto desaparece y la asociación de vecinos contrata a Lola para que lo encuentre y demuestre su inocencia.


Book cover of The Birthday Party

Les Wood Author Of Dark Side of the Moon

From Les' 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Scientist Educator Musician Dog-rescuer Hill-walker

Les' 3 favorite reads in 2023

Les Wood Why did Les love this book?

I loved the slow, almost glacial pace of this hostage thriller set in an isolated farmhouse in rural France. Over the course of the single day of a surprise birthday party, it gradually generates an almost unbearable, edge-of-your-seat intensity as it builds towards a final, nightmarish climax.

I really enjoyed the literary narrative style, which cleverly guides the reader through the inner thoughts of each protagonist, seamlessly shifting points of view within single paragraphs without us even noticing. We are never too sure why the events in the book are taking place (who are these intruders, why have they singled out this small family?) until the eventual revelations of past lives and secrets bring everything into focus.

A big shout-out to the translator of this book–a masterful job!

By Laurent Mauvignier, Daniel Levin Becker (translator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Birthday Party as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Buried deep in rural France, little remains of the isolated hamlet of the Three Lone Girls, save a few houses and a curiously assembled quartet: Patrice Bergogne, inheritor of his family's farm; his wife, Marion; their daughter, Ida; and their neighbour, Christine, an artist. While Patrice plans a surprise for his wife's fortieth birthday, inexplicable events start to disrupt the hamlet's quiet existence: anonymous, menacing letters, an unfamiliar car rolling up the driveway. And as night falls, strangers stalk the houses, unleashing a nightmarish chain of events.

Told in rhythmic, propulsive prose that weaves seamlessly from one consciousness to the…


Book cover of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed

Tabish Khair Author Of Namaste Trump And Other Stories

From Tabish's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Father Writer Journalist Academic Gourmet, with a preference for good red wines.

Tabish's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Tabish Khair Why did Tabish love this book?

I came to the book almost a year late, which is astonishing, as I am a great fan of Enriquez’s short fiction. The short stories in this collection met my expectations, combining gothic (or, shall we say, neo-gothic) elements with a vivid ramble through Buenos Aires, where the stories are based.

Enriquez is a master of the arts of the short story, and the hearts of human beings. These unsettling narratives of witchcraft, revenge, disappearances, and madness seem to be so far from our ordinary middle-class existence, and yet, they tell you more about our lives than the usual fiction of jam on bread. 

By Mariana Enríquez, Megan McDowell (translator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Dangers of Smoking in Bed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE

'Beautiful, horrible... the most exciting discovery I've made in fiction for some time' Kazuo Ishiguro
'Smoky, carnal, dazzling' Lauren Groff

Welcome to Buenos Aires, a place of nightmares and twisted imaginings, where missing children come back from the dead and unearthed bones carry terrible curses.

Thrumming with murderous intentions, family betrayals and morbid desires, these stories shine a light on a violent city gripped by urban madness; giving voice to the lost, the oppressed and the forgotten. Lucid and darkly poetic, unsettling and otherworldly, these tales of revenge, witchcraft and fetishes are a masterpiece…


Book cover of Love Virtually

Keefe R.D. Author Of Royal Arcanum

From my list on veracious fantasy and strange reality.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Indonesian writer who loves the idea of supernatural fantasy. I’ve always liked daydreaming. It started when a story suddenly kept playing inside my head like a movie. And that story now became my first fantasy book, Royal Arcanum. Never I imagined I’ll be a full-time writer now. I feel blessed that my family supported my writing career.

Keefe's book list on veracious fantasy and strange reality

Keefe R.D. Why did Keefe love this book?

The book title Love Virtually instantly reminds me of the rom-com book that I wrote. The vibe of the book and when I read the synopsis are kinda similar to the world that happened in my book. It’s all about writing to a stranger and falling in love. I like it. Love Virtually is an example of a simple love story. This kinda fresh and unique story idea is still rare out there. 😊

By Daniel Glattauer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Love Virtually as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Have you ever just clicked with someone?

Is there a safer space for secret desires than virtual reality?

"Just what you need" WENDY HOLDEN

It begins by chance: Leo receives emails in error from an unknown woman called Emmi. Being polite he replies, and Emmi writes back. A few brief exchanges are all it takes to spark a mutual interest in each other, and soon Emmi and Leo are sharing their innermost secrets and longings. The erotic tension simmers, and it seems only a matter of time before they will meet in person. But they keep putting off the moment…


Book cover of Tormented Voices: Power, Crisis, and Humanity in Rural Catalonia, 1140-1200

Justine Firnhaber-Baker Author Of The Jacquerie of 1358: A French Peasants' Revolt

From my list on medieval peasants.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am professor of medieval history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. As a PhD student, I was electrified by the historian E. P. Thompson’s call to rescue the masses ‘from the enormous condescension of posterity’, but it’s often only when peasants revolt, as they did outside Paris in 1358, that we get much evidence about the masses in the Middle Ages. I loved writing The Jacquerie of 1358 because it allowed me to get very close to the men (and a few women) who risked everything to make their society a more just and equal one. It was a privilege, and a pleasure, to tell their story.

Justine's book list on medieval peasants

Justine Firnhaber-Baker Why did Justine love this book?

Tormented Voices often brings me close to tears. Although based on records from 800 years ago, it feels very immediate in its account of the lordly oppression that often blighted peasants’ lives.

The records detail villagers’ complaints against knights who had violently forced them to hand over grain, money, or animals. The villagers say that heads were broken, a woman’s nose cut off, houses made uninhabitable, and so on. The villagers employed scribes to write out these complaints to send to their Count-King in Barcelona, but we don’t know if he even replied, let alone if anything was ever done.

By restoring the peasants’ voices, the book does what it can to right the wrongs done to them so long ago. 

By Thomas N. Bisson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tormented Voices as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Mute in life as in death, peasants of remote history rarely speak to us in their own voices. But Thomas Bisson's engagement with the records of several hundred twelfth-century people of rural Catalonia enables us to hear these voices. The peasants' allegations of abuse while in the service of their common lord the Count of Barcelona and his son the King reveal a unique perspective on the meaning of power both by those who felt and feared it, and by those who wielded it. These records-original parchments, dating much earlier than other comparable records of European peasant life-name peasants in…


Book cover of In the Dark

Brandon McNulty Author Of Bad Parts

From my list on small town horror.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up as a kid, I was obsessed with R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books, most of which took place in small-town settings. Horror could hide anywhere in those towns, whether out in the woods or on the shelf at the local general store. I loved those books to death because they taught me (or perhaps reminded me) that darkness existed within daily life. As I grew older, my passion for the subgenre led me to consume more stories and eventually write my own.

Brandon's book list on small town horror

Brandon McNulty Why did Brandon love this book?

Long before Squid Game popularized the “Game” subgenre, Richard Laymon wrote a wildly fun tale of a young woman running around town completing bizarre requests for money. As the payouts increase, so too does the ridiculousness of each request. Laymon is a guilty pleasure and one of my favorite authors, and In the Dark is one of his best.

By Richard Laymon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In the Dark as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'If you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat' Stephen King

Nothing much happens in Donnerville. Then librarian Jane Kerry receives an envelope containing a fifty-dollar bill and a note from 'MOG' (Master of Games) instructing her to 'Look homeward, angel'. Jane pulls Thomas Wolfe's novel of that title off the shelf and finds a second envelope with more money and another clue...

This 'game' soon pushes Jane into crazy and immoral actions, but when she ties to quit, 'MOG' has other ideas.


Book cover of Death In Spring

Vajra Chandrasekera Author Of The Saint of Bright Doors

From my list on feeling lost and obsessed by a haunted world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m Vajra Chandrasekera, from Colombo, Sri Lanka. I’m a writer, and more importantly, a reader. My favourite kind of book is bigger on the inside, the kind that drops you into a world too big and too weird to really get a handle on, a world that’s strange in ways you feel you recognize, like how sometimes you wake up from a dream and think, I’ve dreamed about that place and those people before, but you can’t tell if you have, or whether you dreamed the memory, too. You read the book and look at the world and you ask yourself: Did I dream those people, that place? Or is this the dream?

Vajra's book list on feeling lost and obsessed by a haunted world

Vajra Chandrasekera Why did Vajra love this book?

Death in Spring is a tiny book containing a bigger, more intricate world than many a doorstopper, for all that the whole story set in a small, nameless hamlet.

Life there too is made of strange, violent rituals, only not the ones we know. We follow a boy growing up and learning them, and being scarred by these mysteries—what do they fill the mouths of the dead with, before they are killed and put into a tree forever? (It’s cement.)

Rodoreda wrote in Catalan, and Tennent’s translation is fluid and beautiful.

Perfection is a rare thing; if you want to see what that looks like, here you go.   

By Merce Rodoreda, Martha Tennent (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Death In Spring as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Considered by many to be the grand achievement of her later period, Death in Spring is one of Mercè Rodoreda's most complex and beautifully constructed works. The novel tells the story of the bizarre and destructive customs of a nameless town—burying the dead in trees after filling their mouths with cement to prevent their soul from escaping, or sending a man to swim in the river that courses underneath the town to discover if they will be washed away by a flood—through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy who must come to terms with the rhyme and reason of this…


Book cover of The Shadow of the Wind

Mark Stibbe Author Of A Book in Time

From my list on the magic of books, bookshops, and libraries.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I was a boy, my adoptive father – a star pupil and friend of C.S. Lewis – heard I’d started reading the Sherlock Holmes stories. He bought every Sherlock Holmes book he could find. I remember lifting one to my nose and smelling the pages. I fell in love with books that day. I went on to earn a senior scholarship in English Literature at Cambridge University, and a PhD in storytelling. Since then, I have written over 50 books of my own and ghostwritten over 30 titles. I now host The Christian Storyteller Channel on YouTube, and I run BookLab, dedicated to helping emerging authors. My whole life is books.

Mark's book list on the magic of books, bookshops, and libraries

Mark Stibbe Why did Mark love this book?

I love the idea that books have souls, and I adore this quotation from Zafon’s classic novel: “Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it.”

I was thrilled to find this novel after I’d written my book because it shows that there are others who sense the soulful quality of old books. I also love it because it is written by a Spanish novelist, and it is in the Spanish-speaking world that we find the true literary origins of my most-loved genre of writing – magical realism.

By Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Lucia Graves (translator),

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Shadow of the Wind as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The New York Times bestseller

"The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero." -Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice)

"One gorgeous read." -Stephen King

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been…


Book cover of The Angel's Game

Margaret Duarte Author Of Between Will and Surrender

From my list on metaphysical themes that plunge you into the surreal.

Why am I passionate about this?

Books have the power to do so much more than to simply entertain. I believe it’s my job as a fiction writer to condense research of complex subjects into understandable language and then play it out in story. My Enter the Between fiction series introduces readers to the world of metaphysics—the bridge between the seen and the unseen, science, and spirituality—which serves as a key to understanding consciousness, death, and the meaning of life. I’ve spent twenty years researching contemporary paganism, holistic theory, quantum mechanics, and transpersonal psychology to come up with stories that bridge science and spirituality with paranormal, supernatural underpinnings, and contemplative messaging that aims toward a kinder, wiser, more peaceful world.

Margaret's book list on metaphysical themes that plunge you into the surreal

Margaret Duarte Why did Margaret love this book?

I’ve read the first sentence of The Angel’s Game over and over, never tiring of the simple wisdom—and truth—of protagonist David Martin’s words: “A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story…” And for the rest of the novel, I’m caught in the web of an author whose prose is as pleasurable to read as the story itself. The Angel’s Game is an example of visionary/metaphysical fiction, a little-known genre under the umbrella of speculative fiction containing paranormal and/or supernatural elements that don’t exist in the real world. Carlos Ruiz Zafon, however, makes the unreal seem real and the impossible seem possible, a sign of a truly gifted writer.

By Carlos Ruiz Zafón,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Angel's Game as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The stunning new novel from the internationally bestselling author of THE SHADOW OF THE WIND.

In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man - David Martin - makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books, and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city's underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner. Like a…