Romper una canción. Así se escribió el disco Vinagre y Rosas, de Joaquín Sabina. (To Break a Song

Once, when Spanish novelist and poet Prado was feeling down after a breakup, his old friend (and iconic singer-songwriter) Joaquín Sabina tapped into his hard luck, offering him a straightforward proposition. "I live in a domestic happiness that makes it impossible for any verse to come out; but you are beaten, and that's a gold mine. I suggest that I take advantage of your misfortunes and we go somewhere to write songs against your ex…." That terrifying and tempting offer sent the two off to Prague. They started writing the first song, "Embustera" ("Liar"), on the plane. Ten days and five songs later, Vinagre y Rosas—Sabina's latest record—was conceived. This lively, funny, and insightful chronicle of how the songs were written, and meticulously rewritten, in Prague, Madrid, and the island of Rota, will fascinate the millions of Sabina fans. In a conversational tone, "Benja" shares hilarious anecdotes, spills details of the singer's personality and habits, and exposes the creative process that shaped each song. They tease each other constantly and celebrate every great verse with the same silly dance that makes everyone in the bar in Prague think they are gay. They don't care. Not surprisingly, this chronicle is also a celebration of their friendship. "I wasn't so much depressed about having lost her as I was about the many things I was forced to lose in order to keep her," confesses Benja in the beginning of the book. By the end, the spirit of that woman, known to the readers as "Virgen de la Amargura" ("Madonna of Bitterness"), has been exorcised. A fun and relevant title for bookstores and collections with pop culture material.—Ximena Diego, Brooklyn, NY