Blog #The Culture Vulture

The Christmas / New Year holiday is so long in Spain, and the weather forecast for this year is so bad, that we need something to do indoors, other than watching end-to-end Christmas films and TV repeats. How about reading a good book? Here are The Culture Vulture's suggestions for a festive reading list in no particular order. The writers are American, English, Irish, Norwegian, Ukrainian and two Spanish.

The Spanish celebrate Christmas and New Year differently to most other countries. The month-long 'fiesta' lasts from 8th December, Immaculate Conception, through to 6th January, Epiphany. What happens in between is different also. Paul Whitelock first wrote about this back in 2020, when many traditional events were cancelled because of Covid-19. The original article has been tweaked. Here's the up-to-date version.

John Lennon, the former Beatle, was shot dead in New York City on December 8th, 1980, by deranged fan Mark Chapman. That was 45 years ago. The world was shocked! It happened in broad daylight outside the apartment block in New York where Lennon lived with his second wife, the Japanese multimedia artist Yoko Ono.

Not only is it the start of the fiesta de Sanfermines in Pamplona, it's also the 20th anniversary of the London Bombings, when four suicide bombers attacked three underground trains and a London bus during the morning rush hour. While the encierro in northern Spain is a joyous occasion, the events in London represented a colossal outrage. More here.