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Lejos
de Casa
by Lourdes Miquel and Neus Sans
This one seems to
be easily available.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon. |
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Poderoso
Caballero
by Lourdes Miquel and Neus Sans
And so does this one.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon. |
| You can also find others by
clicking here
but the best thing to do is go to Spain and buy them there! |
Recommended by: Georgie, Director
of JMJ |
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Don
Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes
A world-famous classic. The funny and sad story of Don
Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful sidekick Sancho
Panza and their adventures in sixteenth-century Spain.
Easier to read than you might expect.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon. |
Recommended by: Ana, teacher at JMJ |
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The
Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A gripping story set in Barcelona around the time of
the Spanish civil war (though written in 2001). It's
about a young man who is inspired by a novel he finds
in a secret place and the adventures he has unravelling
the mysteries of its author's life, much of which seems
to mirror his own.
Somewhat gothic but very accessible, easy reading.
I loved it.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon. |
Recommended by: Georgie |
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Two excellent
accounts of life during the Spanish Civil War by men
who were actually there, one an American and the other
a Brit: |
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For Whom the
Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon. |
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| For
an English view of contemporary southern Spain, I would
definitely recommend Chris Stewart, the former Genesis
drummer who went to live in Andalucía. His books
are very well written and contain a lot of self-deprecating
humour - he's at least as funny as Bill Bryson. I've
read all three and look forward to more.
Natalie, student at JMJ
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Driving Over
Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia
by Chris Stewart
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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A Parrot in the
Pepper Tree: A Sort of Sequel to "Driving Over
Lemons"
by Chris Stewart
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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The Almond Blossom
Appreciation Society
by Chris Stewart
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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The Blind Man of Seville
by Robert Wilson
A gripping thriller, long but very
fast-moving. Don't be put off by the opening chapter
describing the gruesome murder; the tone changes completely
after that. I liked and identified with the hero, Inspector
Jefe Javier Falcón, and lost myself in this book
for some weeks.
There is a lot of Spain and Spanish
about this novel and I enjoyed feeling immersed in the
culture.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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Recommended by: Georgie |
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The Silent and the
Damned
by Robert Wilson
The second book in the Javier Falcón
series, following on from The Blind Man of Seville but
standing alone as a story.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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The Hidden Assassins
by Robert Wilson
The third book in the series.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
|
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|
My favourite South-American
writer is Isabel Allende (1942 - ). She introduced me
to a world of love, hardship, strong women, political
instability and passion, set in the warmth(/heat) of
magical countries where the dead are never really dead
and life has intense meaning.
Isabel is the niece of
Salvador Allende, president of Chile until his assassination
in 1973. She was born in Lima (her father was a diplomat)
and subsequently moved around Latin America quite a
bit, often for political reasons, before settling in
California.
I met her once when she
came to Manchester on a book tour and found her a very
forceful presence - a bit more feminist than is strictly
necessary in a city like Manchester but that's her history.
She's an amazing woman and I admire what she has achieved.
The books I'm recommending
are her early ones. Once she moved to the United States,
I feel she lost her powers to some extent, though I'm
judging that purely on the first book she wrote after
settling there, The Infinite Plan. I was disappointed
by that but, as soon as I've finished reading all the
other books on my list, I'm going to try some of her
others.
Georgie
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The House of
the Spirits
by Isabel Allende
One of my top five favourite books ever.
An epic tale spanning four generations of a matriarchal
family, a deeply involving story of love, social differences
and politics.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon. |
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Of Love and Shadows
by Isabel Allende
A bit thinner than The House of the Spirits but still
excellent. Love and the fight for justice in a volatile
political climate.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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Eva Luna
by Isabel Allende
More magic realism and glorious storytelling in this
novel about a girl growing up and making her life in
a turbulent South-American country.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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The Stories of
Eva Luna
by Isabel Allende
A collection of diverse stories told by the Eva Luna
of the previous book to her lover.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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Another
giant of South-American literature is Gabriel García
Márquez (1928 - ), born in northern Colombia.
He has had a phenomenal career, travelling widely and
achieving global acclaim for his writing, both as a
journalist and as a novelist. In 1982, he won the Nobel
Prize for Literature. |
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One Hundred Years
of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez
An involving story of the ups and downs
of generations of a family. It has a similar feeling
to Isabel Allende's stories - a masculine version.
I found some of his other books rather
dry and gave up on them but this one is great.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon. |
Recommended by: Georgie |
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Like Water for
Chocolate
by Laura Esquivel
A love story told through receipes.
Passion, the struggle against a tyrannical mother and
beautiful, Latin-American magic realism.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
|
Recommended by: Janice, student at JMJ |
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The Bridge of
San Luis Rey
by Thornton Wilder
Set in eighteenth-century Peru, this
very short book describes the lives of five people who
die together when a bridge collapses. A Franciscan friar
ponders why and how these people were "chosen".
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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Recommended by: Georgie |
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Mario Vargas
Llosa (1936 - ) is a Peruvian novelist and politician.
He has written many diverse books that are well worth
reading. I've read two very different ones: Aunt Julia
and the Scriptwriter (entertaining) and Who Killed Palomino
Molero? (tense and disturbing). Click here
to peruse what's on offer in translation and choose
one you like the sound of.
Georgie |
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The Vision of
Elena Silves
by Nicholas Shakespeare
A story of religious faith and human love in the Peruvian
jungle.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
|
Recommended by: Georgie |
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| Borderland
|
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The Tortilla
Curtain
by T.C. Boyle
A powerful story of conflict between
a middle-class, white American couple in Los Angeles
and an impoverished Mexican couple who illegally immigrate.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
|
Recommended by: Georgie |
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| The
Philippines |
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The Blue
Afternoon
by William Boyd
Although this starts
off in Los Angeles, the main action takes place in Manila.
Written in 1993, it's set in the early twentieth century
and tells the story of a man's relationships with his
daughter and with his lover. Slightly far-fetched occasionally
but still a good story with a good sense of place.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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In
brackets…
If you like this one, you will probably also enjoy Boyd's
other books, though they are all about/set in different
places.
Brazzaville
Beach is about a woman studying chimpanzees and
her relationship with her husband. Set in Africa and
England. Very well written. I really enjoyed it.
An
Ice-Cream War is about a generally overlooked World
War One campaign in East Africa. It's the stories of
a man out there and his wife left behind in England.
Thought-provoking.
Armadillo
is about a loss-adjuster in London who, on a routine
visit to a client, finds a dead body. There's the unravelling
of this mystery and also the revelation of Lorimer's
own secrets. Surprisingly funny in spots.
Recommended by: Jonathan, student at
JMJ
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The Tesseract
by Alex Garland
This is a clever story of the intersection
of the lives of three disparate sets of people. It gives
a strong feeling of life in Manila and the countryside
beyond it.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
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In brackets…
If you like this one, you might also enjoy the book
that first made Alex Garland famous, The
Beach. It's very different from The Tesseract but
equally good. I've recommended it as a book about/set
in Thailand (which it is).
Recommended by: Georgie |
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to top
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| Films:
For an overview
of the development of Spanish cinema from MovieMaker
magazine, click here.
The director Pedro Almodóvar
is prolific and influential and his films give a good
flavour of contemporary Spanish life. To search for
him on Amazon, click here. |
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Women
On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
Certificate: 15
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Actors: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano,
Rossy de Palma, María Barranco
Language: Spanish (English subtitles)
This wacky comedy about women in Madrid
and the problems they have with men is as good an introduction
as any to Almodóvar. I enjoyed it, particularly
as a chance to see Antonio Banderas before he hit Hollywood.
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon. |
Recommended by: Georgie |
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Evita
Certificate: PG
Actors: Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce, Jimmy
Nail
Language: English
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musical, filmed
on location.
Based on the true story of back-street
girl Eva Duarte and her phenomenal rise to stardom as
wife of Argentinian president Juan Perón in the
1940s, this is not exactly a documentary but it gives
an idea of what happened.
Wonderful music, excellent singing and acting. (Banderas
at his best!)
Click here
to buy this now from Amazon.
|
Recommended by: Georgie |
Back
to top
|
| Inspired
to learn Spanish? Have
a look at our introduction
to the Spanish language.
Back to Recommended Reading
|
