Marina Alonso de Caso at her bookstore “Books are plants. They come from plants”
About Marina and La Salina
Marina is Mallorquina, form Palma. She studied at studied at the Frenchschool in Palma and trained as a sociologist, specialising in cultural sociology, with a Master in Comparative Literature from Sorbonne. Fluent in Malloquin, Spanish, French, English and German, she has always loved reading. She left Mallorca at the age of 17, and lived in places like Mexico and Berlin. Before returning to Mallorca five years ago, She she worked at Gallimard, the famous French publisher, and may of the books she sells today come from there…
La Salina is an oasis of calm in the bustling Santa Catalina neighbourhood in Palma. Marina wanted it to be a Mediterranean bookstore, with books from different countries. So, she stocks books in French, Spanish, Catalan, Italina… There are also some German books / a nod to her partly German heritage. When choosing the name of the store, she knew that it had to have something to do with the sea, as its design was also mediteranes , with a lot of wood and plants. La Salina was this image, a metaphore that came to her mind. Just like la salina (a mountain of salt) is created of grains of salt, a bookstore is created with tiny – books! There is this constant movement too… just as the wind blows the grains of salt and la salina is never the same shape, the same happens with the bookstore, with books constantly coming in and out… La salina is never the same and neither is the bookstore… An additional inspiration came from Pedro Salinas´s quote: “Para vivir no quiero islas, palacios, torres… Que allegria tan alta vivir en los pronombres”
Marina also runs a monthly book club and this column is intended to give you several recommendations each month.
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
Elizabeth Strout is a no. 1 New York Times bestselling author and a winner of the Pulitzer price. New York Times Book Review stated that Strout “illuminates both what people understand about others and what they understand about themselves”. Zadie Smith said: “Strout made me love this strange woman I´ve never met!” Oh William! explores “the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep” through Lucy Barton, a writer, and her husband William who “has always been a hard man to read”. It is a great summer read, but it also makes you think long after you have turned the last page…
Green Mallorca by Patricia Parinejad
The first of the two coffee table books we will talk about this month is Green Mallorca, a collection of beautiful photos, with some serious message behind it. It tells “green stories” about people and businesses all over this beautiful island we call home – from farm houses and retreats to restaurants and conceprr stores, and a lot more. The author hopes to “inspire you to minimize your carbon footprint and support a sustainable and Green Mallorca for the generations to come”.
Andreu Genestra: Mediterranean
Andreu Genestra was born in Inca in 1983. He has been sneaking into his grandparents´ house ever since he was little to get involved into casserole making. He started working in a restaurant aged 17 and now runs his own restaurant where he mixes the essence of Mediterranean cuisine with the most elaborate techniques in the industry. Mediterranean is “a perfect dialogue between product, territory, taste and technique” according to Ferran Adria of elBulli. Flicking through it, I felt that I was seeing Mallorquin cuisine with a fresh pair of eyes, that I finally understood the context, the history behind it.
Marina Alonso de Caso
La Salina Bookstore
C/ Bayarte 21 Palma
Instagram: @lasalinapalma
Text: Mia Naprta
E-mail: mia.naprta@gmail.com
Instagram: @mianaprta
Photos: Private archives
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