All the following are in Spanish with the exception of three titles in Catalan that are marked in red and three works about Spain but not written by Spanish authors at the end of the list. With any luck, I'll be able to put together some kind of a Spanish literature reading project next year to complement my French literature reading project plans. In the meantime, totals to date: Spain (24) + Argentina (47) + France (32) = 103 books in the TBR.
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1) Anónimo. Libro de Alexandre (Cátedra).2) Anónimo. Libro del Caballero Zifar (Cátedra).
3) Anónimo. Poema de Fernán González (Editorial Castalia).
4) Alvar, Carlos y Alvar, Manuel (eds.). Épica medieval española (Cátedra).
5) Berceo, Gonzalo de. Milagros de Nuestra Señora (Crítica) [partially read].
6) Falcones, Ildefonso. La catedral del mar (Grijalbo).
7) Goytisolo, Juan. Don Julián (Cátedra) + Count Julian (Dalkey Archive).
8) Herralde, Jorge. El optimismo de la voluntad: Experiencias editoriales en América Latina (Tezontle).
9) Laforet, Carmen. Nada (Destino).
10) Lope de Vega. El caballero de Olmedo (Clásicos Castalia).
11) López de Ayala, Pero. Rimado de Palacio (Clásicos Castalia).
12) Marías, Javier. Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí (Debolsillo).
13) Márquez Villanueva, Francisco. El concepto cultural alfonsí (Edicions Bellaterra).
14) Martín-Santos, Luis. Tiempo de silencio (Crítica).
15) Pérez-Reverte, Arturo. El caballero del jubón amarillo (Alfaguara).
16) Riera, Carme. La meitat de l'ànima (Proa) [partially read].
17) _____. L'estiu de l'anglès (Proa).
18) Ruiz Zafón, Carlos. El juego del ángel (Vintage Español).
19) Santa Teresa de Jesús. Libro de la vida (Clásicos Castalia).
20) Somoza, José Carlos. Clara y la penumbra (Debolsillo).
21) Teixidor, Emili. El Llibre de les Mosques (Proa).
22) Fletcher, Richard. Moorish Spain (University of California Press).
23) Kurlansky, Mark. The Basque History of the World (Penguin).
24) Reilly, Bernard F. The Medieval Spains (Cambridge University Press).
El enfoque de mis estudios es la literatura latinoamericana y por eso no he leido ninguno de los libros en español. (Excepto algunos poemas de Lope de Vega. Prefiero de Góngora.) Pero leí The Basque History of the World y tuve la oportunidad de conocer a Kurlansky. Era un poquito... grosero, pero me gusta su libro. No es perfecto, pero es bueno. Me interesa mucho Euskara y la cultra vasca y querio leer más libros sobre ella.
ResponderBorrarI can't say that I've read any of the titles in your list, but a while back I did read The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, which I rather enjoyed. Can I safely assume, as El caballero del jubón amarillo is one of the Captain Alatriste novels, that you've read and enjoyed the earlier books in that series?
ResponderBorrarI also see a Carlos Ruiz Zafón on your list, which makes two whole authors I'm familiar with here, although, in the case of Ruiz Zafón, I've only gotten as far as placing The Shadow of the Wind on my bookshelves. Must really get to reading that here someday soon!
Heh, read the Laforet! Tell me what it's *actually* about. ;-)
ResponderBorrarI know most of the names and got some on my TBR pile (Zafón and Marias) as well but not all that many. I mostly read female Spanish writers. Almudena Grandes Los aires dificiles is a favourite. Francesc Miralles is an author I read at the beginning of the year. That one in German though. I'll be interested to read your reviews as it is really not familiar terrain.
ResponderBorrarwonderful list richard not overly familar with some of the names ,see you got cortazar as your header just read autonauts of cosmoroutes last week by him ,look forward to your reviews of these ,all the best stu
ResponderBorrarThe Angel's Game is quite good, despite the Gothic atmosphere being laid on too thickly. But I'm not sure I'd call it a "literary" book.
ResponderBorrar*Lu: ¡Hola! Espero poder leer más autores españoles en el año que viene, pero en realidad yo también estoy más acostumbrado leer a los latinoamericanos en estos días. De todos modos, gracias por la anécdota sobre Kurlanksy y su libro: ¡que chistoso! ¡Saludos! PD: En cuanto al Euskadi y la cultura vasca, ¿sabes que en Argentina se usa la palabra "gallego" para nombrar a cualquier tipo de persona "española" (sean del País Vasco o no)?
ResponderBorrar*Amanda: That Pérez-Reverte that you ask about was actually a gift from my wife, who knew that I'd enjoyed some other books of P-R's when we were first going out. Haven't read any of the Alatriste novels yet, though, nor anything else by P-R in about 5 or 6 years! I liked The Shadow of the Wind when it first came out, but I've been scared to read the follow-up since I've heard so many negative things about it.
*Emily: One of these days, one of these days--may have to share your secret, though! (Don't worry.)
*Caroline: I'm not familiar with Francesc Miralles, but I've heard a lot of good things about Almudena Grandes the last couple of years. Contemporary Catalan literature is also known for having a relatively large percentage of female authors among the biggest names. Haven't read much Spanish literature in the last year, so I hope to correct that soon. Cheers!
*Stu: Cortázar was one of my "must-reads" for the year, so I'm giving Rayuela/Hopscotch another try before the calendar winds down. Liked your Autonauts review, by the way! The Goytisolo, Laforet, and Marías books are the big name modern ones on my list, but the rest include a bunch of second-tier authors or classics from the medieval days (one of my early loves in Spanish lit).
*E.L. Fay: I'm glad to be reminded that you enjoyed The Angel's Game because I know a bunch of other people who hated it. At least I won't expect too much from it now!
Great list, Richard - I just photoblogged my immediate TBR pile, which is pretty scary! On yours, I know lots of the early stuff (student days ...) and some of the more recent ones, but I'm useless with the 'modern classics' like Goytisolo and Perez-Reverte. I too loved La sombra del viento, but have so far only made it halfway through El juego del angel - am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on all these :)
ResponderBorrar*Kirsty: Belated thanks for the visit and the comment! I've kind of let Spanish lit slide in favor of Latin American lit these past couple of years, but I hope to balance things out a little more in 2011. So much great stuff to read from all the major time periods on the peninsula.
ResponderBorrar