Of the more than thirty books which have passed through the reading club, the 9th January was the first occasion on which we were able to enjoy the presence of the writer of the book and, at the same time, the first reading done by a local author. A double debut with ‘La chica de las mariposas’, the novel by Javier Martínez, and the members of the club got to know the story of Vic and Ara, the main characters of the book set in Madrid in the 1990s.

Among opinions awakened by the reading, there was a certain consensus about the harshness of a story in which topics like death, suicide and toxic relationships make sadness prevalent in the story. The book relates tragic situations which, maybe a bit undesirable, sometimes can be seen as exaggerated, but as Martínez explained, in the research he did before writing the book, he confirmed that the story he wanted to tell was totally plausible.

The presence of Martínez allowed those attending to ask him not only about the creation process but also questions and details about the novel, such as the spatial and temporal setting, the narrative in the form of a letter or music, which becomes an additional main character.

For the next readings, we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the sessions of the Encontres a Beniarbeig, so we will read ‘Llibre de meravelles’ by Vicent Andrés Estellés, which Aina Monferrer will talk about on 27th February, and ‘Temps de batuda’ by Enric Valor, on which the session on 12th March will be based, with Tomàs Llopis.

As always, anyone interested in taking part or wanting more information on how the reading club works should contact the Beniarbeig library.