kristin. ([info]ridethebrakes) wrote in [info]linguaphiles,
@ 2008-06-30 20:50:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:spanish, spanish literature

contemporary spanish lit
So, maybe some of you guys can help me out. I have just returned from a few months in Spain, and would like to continue reading books in Spanish to keep up my language skills. While I am familiar with much of the classic works, I'm interested in discovering some post-Franco contemporary literature. We read Obabakoak by Bernardo Atxaga and Soldados de Salamina by Cercas, and I enjoyed those a lot.

Some of my favorite contemporary authors right now are David Sedaris, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer, etc. I also like beat lit and poetry, too. I'm looking mainly for Spanish authors, but really anything written in Spanish will do. I'm pretty open-minded, so feel free to suggest anything you like to read.

Thanks a lot!


(Post a new comment)


[info]mollyeireann
2008-07-01 01:16 am UTC (link)
Try El cuarto de atrás by Carmen Martín Gaite. :D

(Reply to this)

[info]hobbitblue
2008-07-01 01:18 am UTC (link)
I don't read spanish but have come across some good authors in translation, particularly enjoyed The Athenian Murders (la caverna de las ideas) by Jose Carlos Somoza

You likely already found this wiki list of spanish language authors but just in case...

(Reply to this)

[info]nerd4live
2008-07-01 01:28 am UTC (link)
I really like Jorge Luis Borges, although his writing is super intellectual and may be hard to read in Spanish (I mostly read his stuff in English). I like David Sedaris too, and although Borges isn't anything like him I thought you'd like a suggestion from someone with similar taste :)

(Reply to this)

[info]tonytraductor
2008-07-01 01:43 am UTC (link)
Argentina has some great authors.
I'm not familiar with the authors you list, however.

(Reply to this)

[info]sparkofcreation
2008-07-01 02:02 am UTC (link)
I'm reading La sombra del viento right now, it just came out a couple years ago, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I'm really loving it. But all I can tell you so far is it's about a little boy who gets a book. You'll have to take my word that it's better than it sounds. My mother-in-law read the translation about a year ago and has been hounding me to read it since--it was a huge deal in the UK.

Also, Enrique Jardiel Poncela (esp. La «tournée» de Dios, about what happens when God decides to visit Spain on vacation) and Torcuato Luca de Tena (esp. Los renglones torcidos de Dios). Despite the title, the latter is not religious in nature; it's about a woman who is in a mental hospital--is she really crazy, or is she really a private investigator working a case? I believe those two are both 1970s-ish.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]eslee
2008-07-01 11:56 pm UTC (link)
I'll second La sombra del viento, though I read it in English as well. It was a fantastic read, and I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of the cycle (he has said their will be four interrelated books).

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]marsupial_panda
2008-07-01 02:13 am UTC (link)
Though not Spanish, I highly recommend Roberto Bolaño and Ricardo Piglia.

(Reply to this)

[info]kennis_world
2008-07-01 05:24 am UTC (link)
Gabriel García Márquez is a good author to look into.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]sparkofcreation
2008-07-01 01:19 pm UTC (link)
I don't know if I'd say that? I mean, García Márquez is brilliant, but I find him really difficult to read. The language is so dense that reading even a short book by him feels like running a marathon. In general I can read without stopping for several hours straight if a book really grabs me, but with García Márquez I can read, at the most, half a chapter at a time. It took me three months to read Del amor y otros demonios, and that's a short one. I wouldn't recommend that he be one of the first authors someone reads.

I'm a huge Isabel Allende fan, also, but I wouldn't recommend her to someone who's not already completely at ease reading in Spanish, either. Except possibly Los cuentos de Eva Luna, the truly autobiographical ones (Paula and her newest one), or the young-adult fantasy series (which I absolutely adored and recommend to everyone ... but not in translation).

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]kennis_world
2008-07-01 10:16 pm UTC (link)
Oh ya, I definitely agree that he is hard to read, and that I wouldnt recommend beginners to red his work. Im having a hard time just getting through the first chapter of El amor en los tiempos de cholera. I wanted to try reading one of his novels in Spanish after reading 100 Years of Solitude in English first.

I want to look into some of Isabel Allende's novels, I've heard some good things about them.

Do you know any good authors that would be better suited for people who are almost at an intermediate level?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]sparkofcreation
2008-07-01 10:26 pm UTC (link)
Laura Esquivel? My favorite is probably La ley del amor but of course her best-known is Como agua para chocolate. I started reading her when I was in my third semester of college.

Of Isabel Allende, I'd say Cuentos de Eva Luna and the young-adult series (La ciudad de las bestias, El reino de los dragones, El bosque de los pigmeos, though you could probably skip the last one).

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]oconel
2008-07-01 07:56 am UTC (link)
I agree with everything [info]sparkofcreation recced.

I'll also add some books by Arturo Pérez Reverte: "La tabla de flandes", "Territorio Comanche", "La piel del tambor" or "La reina del sur"

Alos, I'm currently reading "La catedral del Mar" by Ildefonso Falcones and I'm loving it.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]muckefuck
2008-07-01 02:29 pm UTC (link)
I'd been curious about Catedral del mar for some time until my Spanish sister-in-law's mom (a retired Spanish teacher) responded to my query by saying, "If I wanted to read Da Vinci code, I'd read that and not some Spanish knock-off." Does that sound the least bit fair or was she being unnecessarily dismissive?

(She has recommended Roberto Bolaño highly and recently turned me on to Isabel-Clara Simó, who I'd offer as a suggestion but for the fact that she writes in Catalan rather than Spanish and I can't vouch for the translations. Same goes for Quim Monzó.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]sparkofcreation
2008-07-01 02:40 pm UTC (link)
Which reminds me, I was also quite enjoying Javier Sierra's La cena secreta, which reminded me of a cross between The Name of the Rose and The Da Vinci Code (it's set in a monastery, about the painting of the Last Supper) but then life got in the way. In any case, the English translation (The Secret Supper) made him the first Spaniard to reach the New York Times bestseller list. According to Wikipedia.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]oconel
2008-07-01 02:54 pm UTC (link)
I've read about a third of it and so far there's no "mystery" around. So far it's more about the life of a family in the middle ages and the power the noblemen, the church and the rich have over normal people. I'll let you know what I think when I'm done with it.

(Oh, thanks for the suggestions. I'm able to read Catalan, so it could be a good opportunity to try to read a whole book).

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]mer5
2008-07-01 11:50 am UTC (link)
I agree with both [info]sparkofcreation and [info]oconel recs and I add the "prequel" of "La sombra del viento" called "El juego del angel" (it's not exactly a prequel because it's set in 1920 or so instead of postwar Barcelona).
I'd also recommed "La ciudad de los prodigios" by Eduardo Mendoza and if you like irony and parody his humoristics books like "El misterio de la cripta embrujada".

And if you want adventure books Matilde Asensi's "El salón de ambar" and "El último catón" are quite good.

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…