Great reading that provides a sense of the city, from the Traveler online Ultimate Travel Library.
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Barcelona, by Robert Hughes (1992)
Eminent Australian art critic wrote the best book in English on the history of the city, its art and architecture, and the origins and unfolding of the Catalan identity. Encyclopedic, witty, and gracefully written: essential background for everything in Barcelona a visitor is likely to see.
Homage to Barcelona, by Colm Tóibín (1990)
Irish novelist’s collection of essays on Barcelona’s art and architecture, history, the civil war and the Franco dictatorship, and the emergence of democracy.
City of Marvels, by Eduardo Mendoza (1988)
Picaresque historical novel set in the years 1888-1929, bracketing the two World’s Fairs that put boomtown Barcelona on the map of Europe. Around the central character swirls a cast of cheats, anarchists, and visionary urban promoters.
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (2004)
Best-selling novel set in the narrow streets of the Barri Gòticin the Franco years. Dark, interwoven stories of passion, downfall, and revenge in the tradition of magical realism.
The Time of the Doves, by Mercè Rodoreda (1962)
Written in exile, when it was still forbidden to publish in Catalan. Epic-length tale of love gone wrong, set in the Barcelona of the 1920s to 1940s: a tearjerker Gabriel José García Márquez called “the most beautiful novel published in Spain since the civil war.”
Catalan Cuisine, by Colman Andrews (1999)
Definitive work on the cookery of the region, indexed by sauces and basic ingredients, with a rhapsodic introduction putting it all in cultural context.
