Contributions by Juan Soto Ivars
Juan Soto Ivars is a writer and journalist from Murcia, Spain. He is the author of the novels Ajedrez para un detective novato (Seville’s 2013 Ateneo Prize for a novel by a young writer, forthcoming), Siberia (awarded the Storm Prize as a literary discovery in 2012) and La conjetura de Perelman; he also edited the anthology Mi madre es un pez with Sergi Bellver. He was named one of the best young writers of 2012 by El Cultural and by his grandmother. He knows how to read and write.
Arrebato [madrid]
![Arrebato [madrid]](http://www.buenosairesreview.org/wp-content/uploads/castigado.jpg)
Juan Soto Ivars
I used to live in Madrid, but now I only go when I’m able, and feel like it. When I get there I perform certain rituals, like a pilgrim arriving at Santiago de Compostela. One is to have a beer at a great bar called Pepe Botella, and another is to give in to the temptation of Arrebato (“Rapture”), a bookstore on La Palma street, right in the middle of Malasaña. It’s a second-hand bookstore, but that second hand has a soft touch. Pepe, the bookseller, finds objects of value to the literary sybarite and offers them up for sale instead of keeping them for himself, which is what I would do. It’s not like Tipos Infames, a nearby bookstore with a Michelin star for selling new work. It’s a space for exploration, a place where you never … Read More »
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