Ático de los Libros

Martin Scorsese is adapting "Silence" by Shusaku Endo in what we expect is going to be another "The Mission". Exploring Endo's works before he becomes the author everyone has to have read might be a good idea. Apart from that, he is a solid writer, crafting his sentences like a carpenter and hearbreakingly displaying his knowledge of the human soul. El mar y veneno is a beautiful example of aesthetic pain and pleasure.

This book is a literary guide to love: namely, what have writers, philosophers, and other such creatures said and concocted about love? A compilation of the most beautiful words under the sun, with one of hte most fierce covers we have ever published.

El camarada, de Takiji Kobayashi, autor de Kanikosen

Françoise Sagan, la archiconocida autora de "Buenos días, tristeza", fue durante toda su vida una rebelde a contracorriente, con múltiples adicciones y amantes. Durante uno de los internamientos voluntarios para desintoxicarse, escribió este diario (con 22 años) en el que la escritura se convierte en una herramienta para no pensar en las drogas; una Sagan que lee y se asombra ante Rimbaud, Apollinaire o Proust. Con ilustraciones brutales y perspicaces de Bernard Buffet.

William Goldman of "The Princess Bride" fame deserved nothing short of this beautiful, eerie and fantasy Venice for his only other S.Morgenstern story, "The Silent Gondoliers". Will Luigi become an accomplished gondolier, without a striking voice? The only way to find out is to plunge in the deep, misty waters of Goldman's Venice. Yes, we also fell in love with Iñigo Montoya and now that we are supposed grown-up publishers, we are so proud to have William Goldman, master of masters, in our catalogue.

A new series by Ático de los Libros, hence the strong bold white logo. What would a short story series be without a Russian? Nikolai Gógol, one step forward. Por qué se pelearon los dos Ivanes is a moving tale about friendship and loyalty and silly quarrels, flavoured by  strong hot Russian tea and beautiful violet dark eyes. Agreed, a book cannot be as seductive as a pair of ochichornia. Or can it? Go on and read.

A new series by Ático de los Libros, hence the strong bold white logo. We could absolutely not start without Mr. Henry James: any short story party where he is not attending is neither short nor a party. The very funny tale of Mr. Frank Saltram and the Coxon fund heiress (where there is a James, there is a heiress) is told in suave, decadently long sentences. Red upholstery velvet for The Coxon Fund, what else?

A new series by Ático de los Libros, hence the strong bold white logo. Short classics with a cover designed to make you want to caress the book and take the little gem home. Marcel Proust is in charge of the story; and thanks to Idee, we've envelopped it in French Modernism. Très becoming.

Philip Hoare wrote a book about whales in 2009. Wait, no: Leviathan won the Samuel Johnson Prize because it is so much more than a book about whales. It has sold 200,000 copies in England and Antonio Muñoz Molina, Fernando Savater, Alex Ross and W.G.Sebald loved the writing, the Melville musings, Moby Dick passages and the myriad trivia that turned it into the amazing tale that caught our attention.

Dame Beryl Bainbridge's noir-ish Injury Time (which will be published in Spanish on September 13th, 2010 as La cena de los infieles) deserved no less than the tongue-in-cheek rose tablecloth with forks, knives and... yes, a gun for dessert. Wonderfully clever, fun cover for a wonderfully clever, fun book.

Guía literaria de Roma: or in other words, what did the literature masters think and write about the Eternal City? Rilke, Goethe, Gibbon, Twain, James, Stendhal... La guía literaria de bolsillo, el perfecto complemento para el callejero, que dice dónde está el Panteón, pero no qué dijeron de este monumento los viajeros que nos precedieron. Una idea de Ático de los Libros para los viajeros impenitentes y para los penitentes, también.

While this is not yet published - the book is due out by May 2010, we are so in love with the Marc Simont illustrations, and how our designer has used it, and the beautiful and difficult translation of The 13 clocks, and the preface by Neil Gaiman... We simply cannot help posting it.

Viktor Shklovski's Zoo or Letters Not About Love needed precisely that aged look and feel. The subtle heart is the master touch. Again, great design by Compañía.