Part 1: The Setting

The book fair is an open-air event, held in the Parque del Buen Retiro, generally known just as the Retiro, Madrid's central lung, for three weeks beginning the last weekend of May. This timing means it is just when people are beginning to feel really summery and the park is an attractive possibility anyway. 

I usually wait until the last weekend, when the novelty has worn off some and slightly fewer people attend, so it is a little easier to get to the actual books. But last year (2001), I suddenly realized I needed a particular volume in a hurry, so my wife and I went earlier than usual and dedicated a Sunday afternoon to the fair. 

It was a splendid day, the sun giving the park that special, Goyesque light which makes Madrileños claim "de Madrid al cielo"  (Madrid is the next best thing to heaven). The rowing boats on the lake were all taken. Buskers busked, skaters miraculously managed not to knock anyone over, jugglers and acrobats were performing. People sprawled on the grass, singly,  in couples or groups, while those walking around seemed to be speaking almost any language but Spanish, except for the many of South American origin - Colombians, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, most of whom would be recent immigrants, keeping a nostalgic weekly date with their countryfolk. Myriad pretty girls resolutely exposed arms, legs and other, equally interesting bits,* determined to banish the paleness of winter.  

The casetas, stalls, at the feria were just opening up after lunch as we arrived, and there was a mere trickle of book lovers. The stalls are arranged on either side of a long avenue, and the consensus nowadays is that you go round clockwise, following the numbers of the casetas in ascending order. This kind of general agreement does not really fit with Spaniards' innate non-conformism, which tends to push them in various, conflicting directions. I fondly remember one particularly glorious year, not very long ago, when so many people decided to go round the wrong way that it ended up being the right way.

The number of stalls had been reduced that year, from 466 to 389, in order to "reduce the environmental impact on the park." In any case, 389 is a hefty number of bookstalls to get round. One change last year which was definitely an improvement was that the casetas were organized in four groups - General, Specialist Bookshops, Publishers and Institutions. I say it was an improvement, though of course some city council genius had decided that the institutional group, ministries and the like, the stalls of which are usually deserted, should be placed at the southern end, where the avenue is wide, while the much more entertaining specialist bookshops, including those dedicated to e.g., cinema, women, gays, music, foreign languages or children, were at the other, much narrower end, creating an enormous bottleneck.

*Necks, for example.

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