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Hey there, I want to practice and keep up with my Spanish skills, so I'm looking for some good books in Spanish.

Here's what I have:
Como Agua para Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
Santeria - Migene Gonzalez Wippler
La Fiesta del Chivo - Mario Vargas Llosa
Las Cenizas de Angela (Angela's Ashes) - Frank McCourt

Of course, I have yet to completely finish any of them I was going to try to tackle Don Quixote in Espanol, but man, that is one loooong book! So I never got around to doing that...

What Spanish books would you recommend?

Forget about Don Quixiote unless you have an unabridged Spanish Dictionary containing archaic Spanish words.

I bought a copy cheap. I tried to read it. I got about 50 pages into it when I got tired of not finding 9 out of 10 words I didn't know, and I'm not bad at reading Spanish. I asked my Spanish teacher. He told me that most Spanish Speakers in Guatemala, educated ones, don't try because its so difficult. It's like reading Middle English, if you know Modern English.

That being said, it was incredible to read those 50 pages, and theres a lot to it that the English translation loses in translation.....

Other books-

Will get back to you....

Hey Marisa!
I'm trying; quite hopelessly I might add, to take my own Spanish (very poor) to the next well by reading libros en espanol myself. Here's my recommendation:
1. Diarios de la motocicleta: Ernesto Guevara. Yes, we'll all extolled the virtues of the movie, but the book has some of the most poetic language that basically reinforces that Che was, over and above everything else, a die hard romantic at heart.
2. El amor en tiempo del cholera: Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Beautifully written, good suspense.
3. Labrinto del solitud: Octavio Paz.
If you like poetry, pick up a bilingual edition of Naruda's poems.

Well you´ve got loads of suggestions,
and really forget the Quijote. I am a native speaker and I think it is an extemly hard book to read.
Here my suggestions:
-Cien años de soledad, and El coronel no tiene quien le escriba from Gabriel García Marquez
-La casa de los espíritus Isabel Allende
And poetry, I just love everything from Mario Benedetti.

Hey Marisa,

If you can find a copy of Caramelo, by Sandra Cisneros in Spanish, I highly recommend it. She's even from Tejas!

It's the multi-generational story of a Mexican family that moves back and forth between Mexico and the US. It's terrific. I read the English version, but I bet it's available in Español as well.

Cheers,

Travis

Thanks for the suggestions, and keep em coming!

I am going to order Diarios de la motocicleta: Ernesto Guevara soon. That's something I've been wanting to read for a while

Marisa -

Assuming that the Location given at the bottom of your post is accurate (around here, that´s not too certain!), I´d say you might also want to check in the Young Adults section of the booktores, too. I don´t know any specific titles, not reading in any languages other than English, but there should be books in other languages somewhere in those sections. The reason I suggest YA is that they tend to be about topics that adults do find interesting, but the books tend to be more, ahem, accessible than adult novels, so they could be helpful for practice.

Let us know how your reading goes, and ¡buena suerte! KML

...y no e lo tragó la tierra by Tomas Rivera is a good read, assuming you can find it in spanish! It has been widely translated into ...And the Ground Did Not Devour Him, and was also made into a widely acclaimed PBS movie called ...And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him. Very good.

You might want to look at Amazon.com for spanish books if you can't find them elsewhere, or if you have a strange jones for Lord of the Rings in spanish.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/301731/102-1411962-3392965

I can recommend you any book written by Marcela Serrano (she's a chilean writer), Reo de Nocturnidad (by Bryce Echenique), Los siete locos (by Roberto Arlt)



Gabriela

I bought Diarios de Motorcicleta for my lunch time reading. I'm glad to say that I can comprehend about 80% without a dictionary

I had bought La Fiesta del Chivo when I was in Peru, and had a really difficult time comprehending that one. I spoke to a friend of mine today, a native Spanish speaker, and she said that is one of the more difficult books...so I didn't feel so bad

Thanks for all the suggestions!!!

hi friends im new here and i just wanna say that if you love the libros en espanol you should visit

http://www.ofertondelibros.com/ofertas/default.asp?tab=S&pi=xtian&cam=padre

where there are offering libros en espanol and in english in 50% and 90%
for all the world .. and i wanna say also that the book
"Cultura de los Indios Norteamericanos " i liked it so much very interesting..

regards

Thanks for the link, christianito!

Roberto Bolaño's 'La Pista de Hielo'
Cortazar's 'Rayuela'


I'll think about it some more.

quote:

Of course, I have yet to completely finish any of them I was going to try to tackle Don Quixote in Espanol, but man, that is one loooong book! So I never got around to doing that...

I agree with the above posters...forget about it. I was supposed to read it in Spanish for one of my advanced courses, but ended up reading in English because I had to look up every other Spanish word (old Spanish like Shakespeare is old English).

Garcia Marquez in Spanish can also be very difficult. I tried once and my teacher (in Spain) asked me why I would do that to myself. The books recommended, however, have wonderful translations and are awesome books.

Como agua para chocolat is a great read and not too difficult in Spanish. I believe La Casa de los Espiritus is the same way.

I am off to get Motorcyle Diaries (in Spanish).