Fermat’s Last Theorem de Simon Singh (1997)

 

‘I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.’

It was with these words, written in the 1630s, that Pierre de Fermat intrigued and infuriated the mathematics community. For over 350 years, proving Fermat’s Last Theorem was the most notorious unsolved mathematical problem, a puzzle whose basics most children could grasp but whose solution eluded the greatest minds in the world. In 1993, after years of secret toil, Englishman Andrew Wiles announced to an astounded audience that he had cracked Fermat’s Last Theorem. He had no idea of the nightmare that lay ahead.

In ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ Simon Singh has crafted a remarkable tale of intellectual endeavour spanning three centuries, and a moving testament to the obsession, sacrifice and extraordinary determination of Andrew Wiles: one man against all the odds.

Say Nothing de Patrick Radden Keefe (2018)

 El desembre del 1972, a Belfast, uns homes amb passamuntanyes es van emportar Jean McConville de casa seva. No la van tornar a veure. Tenia trenta-vuit anys i era mare de deu fills. Aquest és només un dels molts episodis ocorreguts durant el conflicte que es coneix com els Troubles. 

Aquest llibre sobre el conflicte nord-irlandès i les seves repercussions utilitza el cas McConville com a punt de partida per mostrar una societat devastada. La violència brutal no només va deixar marca en persones com els fills de McConville, sinó també en membres de l’IRA ressentits per una pau que estava lluny d’aconseguir una Irlanda unida, i els va obligar a plantejar-se si les morts que havien provocat no eren sinó mers assassinats.

Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia de Tracey Thorn (2019)

 In a 1970s commuter town, Tracey Thorn's teenage life was forged from what failed to happen. Her diaries were packed with entries about not buying things, not going to the disco, the school coach not arriving.

Before she became an acclaimed musician and writer, Tracey Thorn was a typical teenager: bored and cynical, despairing of her aspirational parents. Her only comfort came from house parties, Meaningful Conversations and the female pop icons who hinted at a new kind of living.

Returning more than three decades later to Brookmans Park, scene of her childhood, Thorn takes us beyond the bus shelters and pub car parks, the utopian cul-de-sacs, the train to Potters Bar and the weekly discos, to the parents who wanted so much for their children, the children who wanted none of it. With endearing wit and great insight, Thorn reconsiders the Green Belt post-war dream so many artists have mocked, and yet so many artists have come from.

Just Kids de Patti Smith (2011)

In 1967, a chance meeting between two young people led to a romance and a lifelong friendship that would carry each to international success never dreamed of. The backdrop is Brooklyn, Chelsea Hotel, Max's Kansas City, Scribner's Bookstore, Coney Island, Warhol's Factory and the whole city resplendent. Among their friends, literary lights, musicians and artists such as Harry Smith, Bobby Neuwirth, Allen Ginsberg, Sandy Daley, Sam Shepherd, William Burroughs, etc. It was a heightened time politically and culturally; the art and music worlds exploding and colliding. In the midst of all this two kids made a pact to always care for one another. Scrappy, romantic, committed to making art, they prodded and provided each other with faith and confidence during the hungry years--the days of cous-cous and lettuce soup.

Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. Beautifully written, this is a profound portrait of two young artists, often hungry, sated only by art and experience. And an unforgettable portrait of New York, her rich and poor, hustlers and hellions, those who made it and those whose memory lingers near.

Dolça introducció al caos de Marta Orriols (2020)

Què passa en una relació amorosa, estable però encara relativament jove, quan un dels dos pren una decisió unilateral que afecta directament el futur de la parella? Quan la Marta li comunica al Dani que no vol ser mare, s’obre entre els dos una esquerda que els portarà a orbitar per uns llimbs plens de dubtes i indecisions que els impulsaran a repensar-se com a individus i com a parella.

 

Aquesta novel·la és una invitació a nedar pel mar de contradiccions en què es converteix la possibilitat de ser pares. Una anàlisi íntima al voltant de la voluntat, l’instint, la llibertat i les estructures socials. Marta Orriols ens ofereix una història propera i plena d’arestes sensibles on torna a desplegar la seva habilitat narrativa per descriure les emocions i pulsions més íntimes.

Càlcul d'estructures de Joan Margarit (2005)

 

És aquell nen callat que juga sol.                                                           S’està darrere d’aquests ulls de vell,
resisteix l’envestida del migdia
escoltant els confusos versicles de les ones
i els crits dels cossos nus i rovellats
entrant en l’aigua freda i transparent
de la platja de còdols. Té vergonya,
va d’un a l’altre amagatall dels contes.

Dorm dintre meu, perduda criatura:
dorm dintre meu en una nit de reis
on volen en silenci les escombres
i els llops deixen petjades en la neu.
A fora el cel s’emplena d’albercocs
i el mar blau fosc de prunes es desfà
damunt dels negres ganivets de roques.

Wonder de R.J. Palacio (2012)

 I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. 

I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an Xbox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go.

If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way. But I’m kind of used to how I look by now. I know how to pretend

 
August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. WONDER, a #1 New York Times bestseller, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.