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TUK TUK TOURS JAVEA, COSTA BLANCA, SPAIN The first aim of this site is to give you information about the Northern Costa Blanca, pictures, places to visit, restaurants and history. Secondly a section where we give our recommendations of other places in Spain, including Albarracin, Barcelona, Burgos, Cardona, Cordoba, Figueres, Girona, Granada, Madrid. Salamanca, San Martin de La Solana, Segovia, Segura de la Sierra, Seville, Toledo, Ubeda, Baeza, and Velez Blanca. These are places we've been to, stayed in and eaten at. Of course they may not be to your taste. Thirdly, sections on Spanish History and the Civil War
THIS SITE IS UNDERGOING RENOVATIONS>>>JANUARY 7TH 2016
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Author |
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David Baird![]() |
" Don't Miss The Fiesta"....Interesting novel by this author....set in a small mountain village in Andalucia....Good read,and background to Spanish way of life in the early eighties is well documented. |
Antony Beevor
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"The Battle for Spain" ...........First published in 1982 as "The Spanish Civil War". Now updated using a host of new archive material - a very readable account of the Civil War which received an extremely favourable reception in Spain and became a No 1 bestseller here. |
Gerald Brenan
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"South from Granada"...............The author settled in Andalucia in the 1920's "The Face of Spain" ................ The author returned to Spain in 1949 for the first time since the Civil War. He was determined to see what had become of the country he loved, to speak to ordinary people and to experience life in small towns unvisited by foreigners. |
Javier Cercas
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"Soldiers of Salamis" ................Outstanding novel set during the Civil War |
Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio
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"The River"..........One of the most important and successful Spanish Novels of the last fifty years - during the Civil War, the river Jarama was the scene of a bloody, month long battle. In this novel, set twenty years later the Jarama is a favourite picnic spot to escape the Madrid heat.. The novel describes one hot day in August when various groups of people from Madrid, young and old, go down to the river and picnic |
Victoria Hislop ![]() |
"The Return".... Beneath the majestic towers of the |
Peter Kerr
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"Snowball Oranges" ..................New life in Majorca, the author has written three follow up books |
Derek Lambert
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"Spanish Lessons" .....................Lambert's story of setting up a new life in La Xara |
Laurie Lee ![]() ![]() ![]() |
"As I walked out one Midsummers Morning"..Laurie Lee's walk across Spain in the 1930's "A Moment of War"...................Laurie Lee's experiences in the Civil War
"A Rose for
Winter " ........Andalusia
is a passion - and fifteen years after his last visit Laurie Lee
returned. He found a country broken by the Civil War, but the totems of
indestructible Spain survive: the Christ in agony, the thrilling
flamenco cry-the pride in poverty, the gypsy intensity in vivid
whitewashed slums, the cult of the bullfight, the exultation in death,
the humour of hopelessness-the paradoxes deep in the fiery bones of
Spain. Rich with kaleidoscopic images, A Rose for Winter is as
sensual and evocative as the sun-scorched landscape of Andalusia itself. |
James Michener
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"Iberia" ......................... Iberia is a detailed exploration of Spain at it existed in the mid 1960s. The author takes great pains to be neutral on such subjects as the Moorish occupation, Islam, Catholicism, Francisco Franco and other controversial subjects, but he is characteristically detailed about his explorations. This is a work of non-fiction, so there is very little of the story-teller Michener in the book, but the exploration of the Iberian Peninsula and its people, industry and arts is well worth the read. For those living in the Valencia region, there is a very interesting chapter on Teruel. |
George Orwell
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"Homage to Catalonia" .............Orwell's experiences in the Civil War |
Paul Preston
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"Doves of War" ............... This is a true account of four women's participation in the Civil War
"The Spanish Holocaust".The
brutal, murderous persecution of Spaniards between 1936 and 1945 is a
truth that should have been told long ago. Paul Preston here offers the
first comprehensive picture of what he terms “the Spanish Holocaust”:
mass extra-judicial murder of some 200,000 victims, cursory military
trials, torture, the systematic abuse of women and children, sweeping
imprisonment, the horrors of exile. Those culpable for crimes committed
on both sides of the Civil War are named; their victims identified |
Charlene Quince
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"Jávea/Xàbia A Year in the Life of a Spanish Town " Great book on Javea |
Chris Stewart
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"Driving over Lemons" .............A new life in Andalucia "A Parrot in the Pepper Tree" ..A sequel to the above "The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society" ...... Third book in the series |
CJ Sansom
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"Winter in Madrid" ................ A compelling tale and a vivid and haunting depiction of Spain in 1940, not long after the end of the Civil War. The reality of Madrid of 1940 is recreated by the author in authentic detail... the sorry state of the city is evoked in all its blood, dust and melancholy, and the story itself will keep you gripped up to the end. |
Giles Tremlett
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" Ghosts of Spain" ........... Fascinating insight into the people whose country I live in. Tremlett goes on a journey around Spain - and through its recent past. His journey is also an attempt to make sense of his personal experience of Spaniards. |
Jason Webster
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"Duende" ..."The most authentic and compelling account of Flamenco in English, and one of the best books ever written about Spain"....Literary Review......When Jason Webster heads off for Spain in search of "duende" the intense emotional state - part ecstasy, part desperation - so intrinsic to flamenco, he has no idea of what to expect. Part of this book is set in Alicante. Jason Webster has also written "Andalus"...unlocking the secrets of Moorish Spain...Jason travels around Spain in the company of a young illegal immigrant from Morocco.. a study of the neglected Arab ancestry of modern Spain - apparent in its food, language, people and culture.Yet again, a fascinating insight into the country in which we chose to live. " Guerra" ........... One of the best books I have read about the Civil War. Easy to read and not hard going like some of the others. Professor Paul Preston ( author of "Doves of War" ) says "Perhaps only a foreigner, and a foreigner who lives in Spain, could give a truly accurate picture of how the memory of the Civil War still dominates so many people's lives in the country. In all its glare and gloom, this is what Jason Webster's vivid and perceptive journey through the tortured memory of modern Spain provides" This book gave me a much better understanding of the war and its aftermath than anything else I have read. Jason's website have a look at this to find out about his new book "Sacred Sierra" published in February 2009. Also read his fascinating articles on various aspects of Spain. Sacred Sierra is another fabulous read from this author, chronicling a year on a Spanish Mountain in the Castellon province, not far from us. Jason and his wife bought a deserted farmhouse and from a twelfth century Moorish book on gardening, they set about creating their dream. "Or the Bull Kills You"...Jason's first novel..a detective story set in Valencia. A lot of fascinating information on bull fighting has been woven into the story. Great Read |
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
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"Shadow of the Wind"................Novel set In Barcelona in the 1940's Ten year Daniel Sempere is brought by his father to a mystery book depository underneath the streets of Barcelona. Here all books are protected from being forgotten or destroyed. His father asks him to choose one book, and swear to protect it for the rest of his life. He picks up a copy of an unknown book by an unknown writer. He loves the book, and his curiosity leads him to investigate the mysterious life of the author. As he does so, he is drawn into a story of murder, betrayal, passion and revenge "The Angel's Game."............ If you enjoyed "Shadow of the Wind" in my opinion this is even better 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 slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Then David receives the offer of a lifetime: he is to write a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realises that there is a connection between this haunting book and the shadows that surround his home...TOP OF PAGE
The Prisoner of Heaven returns to the world of the
Cemetery of Forgotten Books and the Sempere & Sons bookshop. |