The Gray Notebook (New York Review Books Classics)

It is very pleasant to randomly choose an entry to read. Perhaps a section that matches today's date. Like, today in 1919 Pla wrote about Spring and the swallows returning. He was working on translation in the library and then enjoyed some beautiful but vague advertisements he saw in Barcelona. He writes "To live in hope is to live a life of continuous, irremediable disappointment."See, bittersweet but enjoyable.

I adore this book! Lover's of literature, do not miss! I love this book so much that I give it to friends, who also appreciate 'discovering' Joseph Pla. Pla gives readers perspective into real Spain - what Hemingway descried as "The Last Great country". But also. The Grey Notebook is a cozy mesmerizing & often humorous read into a culture that isn't 'over-played '. There are new books coming out every decade about life in France - if not every year since Marcel Proust , but THIS is a rare peek into the wonderful Catalan culture, where the arts are expressed with remarkable virtuosity. In fact, I would describe Joseph Pla as the perfect window into the Catalunya of Antoni Guadi. Whats more, there are vignettes about Barcelona but also the Costa Brava where cooking and the art of gastronomy has really ruled Europe, since early medieval times, and Pla loves to write about cooking.

this is a great book.

An interesting book.

all right

Charming, all of its own.

Serves it purpose

In deutscher Sprache ist leider nur eine schmale Auswahl lieferbar. Hier liegt das komplette Notizbuch eines feinsinnigen, großartigen Beobachters vor. Eine fantastische Reiselektüre für die näachste Fahrt nach Katalonien!

This book is a known classic. A fascinating life and you live it with him. A book to cherish. Not that many copies still out there but worth the search.