Book Talk
with Smiffs book & card store, Nerja
The lives of great Spanish
artists have inspired novels
by a number of writers in
English over the past two
decades. Old Man Goya, by
Julia Blackburn, was a
standout among these, for
example.
are told in alternating chapters in a novel about renewal -
physical, psychological and spiritual. Simsion is best known to
date for the bestselling comedic novel, The Rosie Project.
The latest, Painter To The
King (l) is Amy Sackville’s
portrait of Diego Rodríguez
de Silva y Velázquez, from
his arrival at the court of
King Philip IV of Spain, to
his death 38 years and scores
of paintings later. It
examines a relationship, not
quite a friendship, between
an artist and his subject. It is a portrait of a ruler, always on
duty, and increasingly burdened by a life of public expectation
and repeated private grief. It is a portrait of a court collapsing
under the weight of its own excess. Unfolding through series of
masterly set-pieces and glancing sketches, this is a novel of
brilliance, imagination and sheer style - about what is shown
and what is seen, about art and life. Speaking of such
things, is it 30 years
since Paulo Coelho’s
international
bestseller The
Alchemist (p) first
struck a chord with
soul-searchers before
going on to sell more
than 60 million copies
worldwide. Publisher
HarperCollins is
releasing a special
anniversary edition,
with a new foreword,
of this beautifully
written parable about
learning to listen to
the heart, to read the
omens strewn along
life’s path and, above
all, to follow dreams.
Painter To The King leads off this month’s Soltalk Hotlist of
titles, some entirely new, others moving into small paperback
format for the first time or being reissued, sometimes after
years out of print. All are due for publication on dates in April,
with availability in print this month or in early May. The
Soltalk Hotlist helps readers to plan and budget for book
ordering. Santiago, a young shepherd living in the hills of Andalucía,
feels there is more to life than his humble home and his flock.
One day he finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant
lands, each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is
following the right path: his own. This new edition is an
opportunity to buy a gift for someone who has loved the book,
or to introduce it to a new reader.
Two Steps Forward (l), by
Graeme Simsion and his wife
Anne Buist, also draws
inspiration from a favourite
Spain-related theme. It is
soon to be a film produced
by Ellen Lee DeGeneres. The recent death of the UK mathematician and theoretical
physicist Stephen Hawking has led to many articles discussing
his various predictions about humankind’s future (not all of
them founded on his own research or field of expertise, to be
fair).
Paulo Coelho
Among these is the theme, a familiar one in recent decades, of
what threats artificial intelligence (AI) could pose, and how to
ensure that these remain in the realm of science fiction or
fantasy.
Zoe, a sometime artist, is
from California, USA.
Martin, an engineer, is from
Yorkshire, England. Both
have ended up in
picturesque Cluny, in central
France and are struggling to
come to terms with their
recent past.
In this regard, the novel I
Still Dream (l), by James
Smythe, is timely in its
publication. In 1997,
teenager Laura Bow invents
a rudimentary AI, and
names it Organon. It is
intended to be a sounding-
board for her teenage
frustrations, a surrogate best
friend; but as she grows
older, it grows with her.
Zoe’s husband died, while
Martin has been through a
messy divorce. Looking to make a new start, each sets out
alone to walk 2,000 kilometres to Santiago de Compostela,
north-western Spain, in the footsteps of pilgrims who have
walked El Camino (‘the way’) for centuries. It is said that
walking it changes people by creating the chance to forge new
versions of themselves, and new beginnings.
As the world changes,
technology also changes the
way we live, love and die;
massive corporations
develop rival intelligences
Can these two very different people find themselves and each
other? In this smart, funny and romantic journey, their stories
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