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I’m not a huge football fan, but I found this book to be interesting.

It’s an interesting review of Spanish football by expat Richard Bretnall, as written by him after travelling the country and after he investigated the history behind Spanish football.

Via the medium of football, Richard manages to get closer to Spain and it’s traditions.

Here’s his description, which is better than any I could write:

Fed up by life in a country losing its soul, sorely disenchanted by its football, and uncluttered by any ties other than his beloved club whose season ticket he still retains, Richard Brentnall took a plunge in March 2007, leaving England for southern Spain.

Embracing a new culture within this fresh, expansive lease of life, he held a particular hope: to be enabled to feel something different deep inside that would resuscitate his lifelong love of the game. Once upon a time in England, dreams of glory were realisable by anyone, and the atmosphere on match days had been raw.

The most serious affliction suffered by English football wasn’t so-called hooliganism but that futility brought about by money’s murdering of a once level playing field. It was accompanied by a ‘health and safety’ culture that saw vim in the stands largely suffocated by orange anoraks itching for prey.

Brentnall hoped this different corner would provide match day experiences to warm the cockles of his heart again and provide a scene whereby ambition could still genuinely be chased. His exploration took him the length and breadth of Spain – from Almeria to the Basque Country, to Galicia to find out how Compostela’s fans dealt with their team’s spectacular plummet from the top flight to the regional leagues, from Seville to the Bernabeu, to Huelva to see where it all began.

Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580

In “Empires of the Sea”, Roger Crowley has written an enthralling and masterful overview of the battle for control of the Mediterranean sea between the Spanish Christian Empire and Ottoman Islamist Caliphate.

Written in a flowing, narrative style, he brings the main actors to life as he charts the main battles and technological developments that changed naval warfare, and the west, for ever. The struggles between these two world powers changed our world – pirates, naval warfare, slavery, and religious struggle changed the way the European nations viewed the Mediterranean and caused the ascension or destruction of many nations.

It’s a rollercoaster of a thriller that accurately reflects the harsh reality of 16^th century life, and worth reading more than once!

How to Live Dangerously: Why We Should All Stop Worrying, and Start Living

In a similar vein to the book Freakonomics (A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything), How to Live Dangerously is a wonderful book whose power lies in making you think. It’s a “take a step back” look at modern life, and perhaps it’s most potent theme is that taking risks often makes life safer.

If you’re one of those people who gets annoyed at the “may contain nuts” warning on peanuts, or know somebody who won’t let their children out of the house in case they get kidnapped [apparantly, you'd have to lock them out of the house every day for 186,000 years before they were abducted (and even then you'd get them back within 24 hours)], you’ll want this book.

Paul Preston has created a wonderful profile on Franco, and this book has become the authoritive laymans guide to the only 20c Western European dictator to die peacefully in office.

Despite it’s initial size, this is a book that concisly explains the evolution of Franco from the early, eager military cadet to the cool, absent caudillo he became.

A wonderful book that reads more like a novel than a historical text, and I devoured it.

See Franco: A Biography on amazon.co.uk

I recently came across this little gem of a book. Written by David Gaunt, a fellow who’s been coming to Mojacar for quite some time, it’s an enthusiastic book detailing the construction of the local railways at the turn of the last century, and how they affected the local villages and populations. Lots of photos and interviews.

Well worth a read if you’re interested in the old railways or mines that litter this area. Buy it from amazon.co.uk.