The book club that only reads books on board a ship

Blanca Pujals became an editor through a brave decision. She had tired of her job as a lawyer and enrolled in a master's degree in editing, which was what she had always wanted to do as a child: live surrounded by books. From her master's final project, a project emerged that she presented to Viena publishing house, thus was born Petits Plaers, a collection of novellas, short books of high literary quality. One of the most special summer nights of her life was, precisely, sharing the reading of one of the collection's most emblematic books –Good morning, sadness, by Françoise Sagan– on board a boat in L'Escala. 

“The Vitel·la bookstore in L'Escala organizes beautiful book clubs because they take place on board a boat at sunset, sailing through beautiful coves. I chose Good morning, sadness, because it is a summery book with many moral dilemmas that leads to interesting conversations. Furthermore, it was a totally immersive experience, as we were doing the same as the characters: sailing the Mediterranean while drinking cava,” explains Pujals, who still remembers “the smell of the open sea”, so different from “the smell of sunscreen on the beach”. “The smell of the open sea is purer, more intense. I also really remember the light: we boarded the boat when it was still daylight and little by little dusk fell. The sky changed color but so did the sea; the sky went from intense blues to warm oranges and the sea turned silvery. At times it looked like an impressionist painting and it was a little harder to focus on the book. There was a moment when we were all golden: I call it the hour of the handsome ones”.

After the book club, the editor went to dinner with her husband and they ended up eating “delicious anchovies” in a restaurant in the town. “It was one of those Mediterranean evenings of having special conversations, of enjoying the cool air and the beginning of summer, at that moment when you just start to get a tan and you feel handsome and everyone is friendlier”.

Pujals has always known how to enjoy the summer. From his teenage summers, he strongly remembers the hikes with the youth group along the coastal path of Alt Empordà, "between secret coves where hardly anyone reached." "You would walk all day and then take a swim. I ate the best peach of my life in a cove in Cadaqués after a whole day of hiking. It was very special to sleep in tents in the open or to camp out," says the editor, who argues that summer nights are magical and different precisely "because we are more predisposed for them to be special nights."