Spanish Books (en español) Recommendations please!

[Alan]

Why can't I find a Spanish bestsellers list on Amazon.com? I am looking to build my Spanish language book collection (consisting of 4 books just now). Please reply with your suggestions.

I am particularly interested in non-fiction books about History and documentary-style political books. But I will read fiction too if you recommend it! I'm reading El Alquimista just now (translated from Portugese).

Thanks :)

[barca]

Isabel Allende - mi pais inventado (My Invented Country) - superb first person memoirs of life as daughter of Salvador Allende, living in Chile, the coup, the constant displacement etc. Well worth a read!

[Ben]

Cronicle of a death foretold (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8439703864/sr=8-1/qid=1154525514/ref=sr_1_1/202-3699572-8379823?ie=UTF8&s=gateway) by Garcia Marquez is wonderful, much easier than Love in a time of Cholera or 1,000,000 years of boredom, sorry, solitude ;)

[Pepino]

It's a fiction suggestion I'm afraid, but Como Agua Para Chocolate is an eye-opening read that I was co-erced into reading as part of my Spanish course recently. Lots of hidden passions, lots of secrets, lots of food/sex related metaphors that you never thought possible! It was a bit like Jackie Collins meets Barbara Cartland.... in Mexico! (Think about that combination for a moment without smiling! :rolleyes: There isn't enough skin on a persons face for that much make-up! ;D )

It wasn't too hard a read, and if you're still confused by the end, then you could always fill in any gaps by renting the DVD.

Not a wholehearted recommendation but thin enough to get through without bringing on an anuerism. I wish I could say the same for La Sombra del Viento, which I'm currently thinking of abandoning...!

[greytop]

You can always order from Spain via El Corte Inglés (http://www.elcorteingles.es/tiendas_e/Cda/Libros/Eci/Libros_Home/0%2C5065%2CECI%2CFF.html) for example. I doubt they are as cheap as Amazon however!

[Alan]

Thanks all,

barca, I could only find that book used. They have the hardback but I hate reading hardbacks. I'll keep an eye out in the future for it: it sounds really interesting.

Ben, I have 100 años de soledad but haven't read it yet. It's a bit, erm, challenging. But I'm putting in an order for your suggestion.

Pepino, the order is in. Funny you mention La Sombra del Viento - it was in my shopping basket. You've made me reconsider :)

greytop, yeah, that's the thing. Amazon has most of the books, they just don't make any attempt to organise it sensibly. There is no amazon.es that I'm aware of, so they should have a Spanish language section within amazon.com/amazon.co.uk with the same top sellers lists as they have for the rest of the languages. Maybe in the future, I'll look at El Corte Inglés to find what I want to buy :)

[barca]

Isabel Allende - My Invented Country is available in loads of different editions on Amazon (my copy published by Harper).

If you want South American literature (highly recommended) Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende are a good place to start. Garcia Marquez' 100 Yrs of Solitude is not so bad you know - I read it in 4 days a few summers ago - pretty powerful, worthy of Nobel Prize. If that proves too heavy, he has 2 books of short stories - Strange Pilgrims and Selected Stories. Some are really well written and very clever. Give them a go!

I'm a Spanish teacher, but all we do these days is Garcia Marquez' Chronicle of a Death Foretold or No-one Writes To The Colonel. Literature has scarce place on syllabus these days. Let me know if you need more titles to consider.

[Bolboreta]

By Allende I suggest "Paula" (you can find that one on amazon.uk, on paperback). It's (also) an autobiography she wrote when her daughter fell seriously ill, and it's amazing. Allende isn't exactly known for her realism if you don't add "magic" before it, so even when she's telling facts it reads like fiction. It's a sad book, since it was written in very sad circumstances, but it also makes you laugh at some points (which is quite weird if you've been crying your eyes out like I did), and it manages to show you what a mother goes through when she's losing her daughter and what an incredibly life Allende has lived.

And I'm also going to recommend a satire: Sin noticias de Gurb, by Eduardo Mendoza. It's a hilarious story about an alien lost in Barcelona during the 92 Olympic Games. A critique on the Spanish society told by a very "different" point of view.

[timg]

There was some discussion on a previous thread (http://www.notesfromspain.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128), but I think they were all fiction.

[Edith]

Isabel Allende - mi pais inventado (My Invented Country) - superb first person memoirs of life as daughter of Salvador Allende, living in Chile, the coup, the constant displacement etc. Well worth a read!

I loved that book, and it's quite an easy read as well. BTW, Isabel Allende is Salvador's Allende's niece.

[Edith]

Garcia Marquez' 100 Yrs of Solitude is not so bad you know - I read it in 4 days a few summers ago.

That's one of the most difficult books I ever read in any language!

[Marina]

Isabel Allende - mi pais inventado (My Invented Country) - superb first person memoirs of life as daughter of Salvador Allende, living in Chile, the coup, the constant displacement etc. Well worth a read!

Just a little correction, Isabel Allende is the niece of Salvador Allende not her daughter. I know that because I've read most of her books, except the 2 or 3 last ones. There was a time when I read most of them one after the other because they are really compelling and interesting. I think that my favourite was "La casa de los espiritus" perhaps because it was the first one I read but as Bolboreta I also recommend "Paula". But it is true that you cry non stop.

If I had to graduate them I would recommend to read "Como agua para chocolate" first as is shorter and probably easier than Isabel Allendes' books. Then I would go for her books and finally I would try Garcia Marquez. As a Spaniard I would say that when I read them, most of them more than 10 years ago, I found them so rich of information that I always had the feeling that I was not taking in a 100% of the details!


I would also recommend some Migel Delibes books, some of the old ones are a bit out of date, but he is a great writer and his books contain great information of Spanish life. "El Camino" and "Cinco horas con Mario" are probably the best known but I would also recommend "Señora de Rojo sobre fondo gris" and "El hereje (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8423337294/sr=1-2/qid=1154538261/ref=sr_1_2/102-2607934-7266502?ie=UTF8&s=books)" which is available in amazon.

[Alan]

A general question: when you say it's available on amazon, do you mean .com or .co.uk, or does it make a difference?

I tried to order these books through amazon.com - they want to charge me the same again for postage. No chance!

Maybe amazon.fr . . .

Edit: heh, all the Spanish books on amazon.fr are listed as "livres en anglais". Come on, it's a major language and you have seemingly NO organisation over it! But at least they seem to have more Spanish books than .co.uk and charge less to deliver than .com. Tip to all UK people looking for Spanish books - order from amazon.fr.

[Alan]

Okay, the latest purchases are:

Como Agua Para Chocolate
La Sombra del Viento
Cronica De UNA Muerte Anunciada
Mi Pais Inventado

I might get others later.

[Edith]

A general question: when you say it's available on amazon, do you mean .com or .co.uk, or does it make a difference?

I guess I'm really lucky! Most of these Spanish-language books are available in Utrecht or Amsterdam and if they aren't, I can order them directly from a bookstore in my home town!

There are exceptions to the rule, though. Normally, ordering English-language books is no problem either, but I ordered Ben and Marina's book Errant in Spain almost two months ago and it still hasn't arrived.

BTW, El espejo enterrado by Carlos Fuentes is an excellent non-fiction book on the history of Spain and Mexico. Needless to say, it's one of my favorites.

[Alan]

Yeah, maybe, but remember you live in a country where it is common to speak 4-5 languages :) Not here! Here, people are impressed with my level of Spanish, which is not good.

I could send you the PDF of Ben's book with his permission since you've paid for the hard copy.

[Ben]

Normally, ordering English-language books is no problem either, but I ordered Ben and Marina's book Errant in Spain almost two months ago and it still hasn't arrived.

I neeed to sort this out. Amazon are I believe not handling books well from the publisher, Lulu. The book may never arrive from Amazon, so I recommend cancelling that order and getting it straight from Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/content/169417).

[Edith]

I neeed to sort this out. Amazon are I believe not handling books well from the publisher, Lulu. The book may never arrive from Amazon, so I recommend cancelling that order and getting it straight from Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/content/169417).

Oh... OK! Thanks for reminding me, I will cancel the order and get it from Lulu.

[Netsirksmada]

Cronicle of a death foretold (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8439703864/sr=8-1/qid=1154525514/ref=sr_1_1/202-3699572-8379823?ie=UTF8&s=gateway) by Garcia Marquez is wonderful, much easier than Love in a time of Cholera or 1,000,000 years of boredom, sorry, solitude ;)

The Solitude one isn't that bad!

[barca]

Whoops! Yep, Isabel Allende WAS the niece not the daughter - relying too much on memory!

The One Hundred Years of Solitude debate rumbles on......but surely the opening 10 pages or so have to be the best intro to any book in terms of firing up the imagination. The travelling gypsy who introduces ice for the first time into the village, everyone crowding round to see what magic he has brought. Fantastic.

I'd also recommend El Camino by Delibes.

Don't forget books by Laurie Lee - especially As I Walked Out One Summer Morning and A Rose For Winter.

[Ben]

A plea for help while we are on the subject:

Do you have a Spanish book or film (or several!) that you could write a short review about to help build the NFS books and film archive? Details here (http://www.notesfromspain.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5603)

[Edith]

Yeah, maybe, but remember you live in a country where it is common to speak 4-5 languages :) Not here! Here, people are impressed with my level of Spanish, which is not good.

I could send you the PDF of Ben's book with his permission since you've paid for the hard copy.

I think your Spanish is fine Alan! :)
LOL, if you want to meet some real polyglots Denmark and Sweden are the place to be.

[intrepida1981]

Here are a list of recent books that you might find interesting ;)

Non-fiction

El Enigma de Colón by Juan Eslava Galán which explains the mysteries surrounding Colón from all the possible points of view and gives the details of the uncertainties about the first people stepping on América’s soil, the Vikings or the Fenicians?

Martina, la rosa número trece by the writer and journalist Ángeles López which reconstructes the last moments in the life of Martina Barroso, one of the thirteen roses, which were the young women –seven of them were minors- executed by the Franco regime, in August, 5th of 1939.

El rastro del asesino analyses the way in which the Spanish police uses nowadays the investigations and circumstances of the most relevant cases of the last years. Journalists Patricia López and Vicente Garrido analyse the cases of Tony King, the so-called Asesino del Naipe and so on.

Fiction

Franco. Una Historia Alternativa by Julián Díez (ed.) which contains short stories which daydreams with possibilities like what could be happened if Franco hadn’t taken part in the insurrection?

Del viento y la memoria by the Galician writer Ramón Pernas. A fiction based on a true story, the arson of a library in a Galician small town, days before of the coup by Franco.

El verano del inglés, by Carme Riera. The plot centers around a state agent called Laura who despite being 49 years old, wants strengthening her English skills to promote herself professionally. She decides to move into an English country house whose owner provides full board and also a daily eight-hour classes for a month. The novel is influenced by Poe, sisters Brontë, The turn of the screw by Henry James – the owner is called Mrs. Grosse- and Psicosis by Hitchcock.

Enjoy!! :)

[enia]

Why can't I find a Spanish bestsellers list on Amazon.com? I am looking to build my Spanish language book collection (consisting of 4 books just now). Please reply with your suggestions.

I am particularly interested in non-fiction books about History and documentary-style political books. But I will read fiction too if you recommend it! I'm reading El Alquimista just now (translated from Portugese).

Thanks :)

I have read this book some years ago ...and I think is nice, interesting.
Maybe you can try the book ..Tuareg...by Alberto Vazquez Figueroa.
It is interesting to.
if you want send me an e-mail . Enia.

[timg]

Maybe you can try the book ..Tuareg...by Alberto Vazquez Figueroa.
It is interesting to.
I've recently finished this book - quite compelling and very enjoyable, I thought.

[rob]

If you truly wish to test your Spanish and level of understanding then I suggest you read books written by members of the Generation of 98. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_of_%2798)

Niebla by Miguel de Unamuno is particularly difficult to read, not because of the level of Spanish but because of its use of metpahors to represent the Spanish problem at the turn of the 20th century. Its diffcult enough to follow in English, so you put it into Spanish and few people have any hope of understanding whats going on :D

[Flexichick]

Cronicle of a death foretold (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8439703864/sr=8-1/qid=1154525514/ref=sr_1_1/202-3699572-8379823?ie=UTF8&s=gateway) by Garcia Marquez is wonderful, much easier than Love in a time of Cholera or 1,000,000 years of boredom, sorry, solitude ;)


Ha! This book drove me crazy (and I'm generally a GGM fan). Too many generations of people with similar names. I couldn't keep them all straight. It gave me a headache, yet I still read it to the end.