Cualquier novelas de Español que me recomienda?

Question

Quiero a aprender más Español y creo que la manera mejor para aprender es leer los libros. Así que, hay algunos libros particulares que está leyendo ahora, que recomendaría.

Por favor puedes responder en inglés porque mi español es un poco mal. Yo espero que me ayudes. Muchas gracias.

Answer 1

What type of books do you like? If you mention some genres or titles you like in English, people will be able to make better and more relevant recommendations. Also, if you have read any books in Spanish, it would be helpful to know what they are so we can judge what level of vocabulary and other aspects of linguistic complexity you're up for and give you books that will stretch your brain a bit but not be so difficult that you'll give up on them. I don't mean to be unhelpful, I'm just trying to figure out what to recommend to you.

That being said... Now, I know that Spanish translations of English books are often rife with errors and also that it really is different reading a book in its original source language, but just for your first foray into reading Spanish novels, you might want to try a book you've already read in English, as this will be much easier. People seem to like the Harry Potter books for this, but I can't comment personally on this as I haven't done it myself. Just from what I can gather from your question and that your profile says your Spanish level is 'intermediate' I would say that you might have good luck with books aimed at teens. It's not great literature, but it's something you'll probably be able to understand.

A bit more advanced, Mario Vargas Llosa's books are selling quite well these days, what with his winning the Nobel Peace Prize recently.

And this site (of a Peruvian magazine) lets you download as a PDF the first chapter of some recently released books. This might be a good idea to see if it's at a good level for you and if it's interesting.

Answer 2

Estoy leyendo "El País de Espías" en español. Fue escrito por William Gibson. Me gusta mucho. Los libros de Harry Potter son divertidos, también.
I'm reading "Spook Country" in Spanish. It was written by William Gibson. I like it a lot. The Harry Potter books are fun, too.

Answer 3

I recently read "El alquimista" by Paulo Coelho and found it a fairly easy read; while at the same time, I was also able to pick up a few interesting phrases with which I was not previously familiar.

I also recently (re-) read the book "Manos en la nuca" by the Chilean expat, Ángel Parra. This one was a bit more difficult and had quite a few idiomatic phrases that I was unfamiliar with, but I found it an interesting read nonetheless.

• Me gustan mucho las novelas de Paulo Coelho! - mapletw Nov 19, 2010

Answer 4

El primer libro en español que leí fue "La Casa de Los Espíritus" por Isabel Allende. Y luego leí "De Amor y de Sombra" y "Eva Luna" también por Allende. Después de aprender más vocabulario leí libros por García Márquez, "Cien Años de Soledad" y "El Amor en Los Tiempos de Cólera". García Marquez es mi autor favorito en inglés o en español. "Cien Años" para mi fue un libro muy dificil pero increiblemente bueno. No cabe duda que leer ayuda mucho a aprender más vocabulario y gramática.

• Graet choice of books and authors! Isabel Allende es una de mís autoras favoritas. - Myneg Nov 20, 2010

Answer 5

Cajas de Carton, stories from the life of a migrant child. An easy first read, entertaining.
El Alquimista, Paulo Coelho

Answer 6

Si buscas en el internet, encontraras mucho libros diseñados para aprendices desde principante hasta intermedio. Normalemente contienen un a introducción y una seccion de vocabulario en los margenes . Si no entiendes mucho español puedes probar una libro bilíngue que tiene una historia en español junto con una traducción. Tengo mucho exito con la Bibila. Si eres estudiante de la Bibila te dará un prespectivo nuevo porque son fraseados ligeramente diferente que las versiones en inglés . Te recomiendo la Nueva Versión Interacional Me resulta muy facil de leer pero me desafia desde un prespectivo de aprendizaje.

• Muchas gracias, pero no soy estudiante de la Biblia, aunque aprecio el consejo. :) - Seb79 Nov 19, 2010
• I am not a bible person at all...but I read it out loud a lot when I was first learning spanish, and it really helped my pronunciation for some reason! Most people think I'm a native speaker when I speak, so I think it was a really good technique! - Carol Nov 19, 2010

Answer 7

Estoy totalmente de acuerdo: leer más=aprender más. Me gustan los cuentos cortos porque es posible leerlos enteros en poco tiempo sin perder la trama. "Cuentos de Eva Luna" por Isabel Allende es buenísimo y también recomiendo cualquier cuento de Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, o Juan Rulfo. Me encanta la literatura latinoamericana. ¡Espero que te la disfrutes también!

Answer 8

I am currently reading Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote. I'm only about halfway though, but I'm finding it brilliant and hilarious. I also enjoyed Sandra Cisneros' El Arroyo de la Llorona.

Edit: I'm reading Don Quixote in English and Spanish simultaneously. Although it can be a bear at times, I've realized that the English translation doesn't always catch some of Cervantes' jokes, so it's been worth it! It might be beneficial to find something you can read in both languages if you're uncomfortable delving into Spanish full-force.

• Voy a tomar una clase de Cervantes el próximo semestre...¡me da miedo! - daphne505 Nov 19, 2010
• I bet it will be fantastic! I would love to take a Cervantes seminar or something like that. - mapletw Nov 19, 2010

Answer 9

OK, I don't want to immediately throw myself at the deep end with heavy literature works......I want something which is funny, slightly simplistic in plot and not too complex with vocab. Or do you think something heavy is what I need to build on the easy going vocab that I already have, using Spanishdict as a tool if I need help on a certain phrase? Because, ultimately I want the end result to be one in which I have gotten better at Spanish.as an entirety (not simply the language aspect, but knowledge of culture, food, etc)

• And just to add- I haven't read any Spanish books before, only newspapers!! - Seb79 Nov 19, 2010
• I would start with something fairly simple, then. You will only get discouraged if you start in over your head. - MacFadden Nov 19, 2010
• The first book I really ENJOYED reading in Spanish was "Como Agua Para Chocolate"...it's very entertaining, and not too complex... - Carol Nov 19, 2010

Answer 10

My current favorite author is Laura Restrepo, a Colombia journalist who mixes magic realism in with current events and politics...I find her really fascinating...I loved Dulce Compania and El Leopardo al Sol. Gioconda Belli is also great...La Mujer Habitada was amazing...I originally found it in the library in English and found it sort of awful, but then my friend gave it to me in Spanish and it was transcendent! Sofia de los Presagios is also wonderful. And of course, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is always great.

I agree with one of the previous posts that reading a spanish translation of an english book might be sort of disappointing...witness my experience with Belli...

Answer 11

I would recommend rain of gold by: Victor Villaseñor, or any of his books. You can find them in Spanish or English.

Answer 12

By chance I discovered a book at my local library called Asesinato en el Barrio Gótico. It's part of a series of books called Leer en español. Although it was only level 2, i.e. the second easiest level, it had enough expressions that I wasn't familiar with, so it wasn't a waste.

The advantage of these books as I see it, is that although they are "learners" books, they're not kids books. The language used might be relatively simple but the story is interesting enough.

There are footnotes for words that the author/publisher thinks might be new to the reader. Plus at the end there are a set of questions to answer, to see if you've understood a particular chapter.

The downside is that they can be quite expensive for what is a very small book. I recently found a level 3 book, which only has 35 pages for the story and 5 pages for the footnotes / questions.

Answer 13

Seb79, you might find a few of the audio-books from digitalpublishing helpful. They include an audio CD which you can simply listen to as well as a CD-ROM with the story displayed on the screen while the narrator reads the words.

Do not be thrown off by the fact that the publisher is a German company. Although the translation for words that one does not know may be given via a "hover" mechanism in German, you can easily look them up in a Spanish-English dictionary, which you would have to do anyway. And indeed, the program includes software to allow you to create your own little popups with your own little translations for the difficult words.

I prefer to simply listen (not reading at all) to the audio and trying to figure out what is being read. It is time-consuming...I spent nine days for nine minutes on my first trial...but rewarding.

The offerings run the gamut from "easy" (I suggest La gaviota y el gato que le enseña a volar) to more difficult but interesting (I suggest Pepe Carvahlo y una desconocida) to what seems to me much more difficult, but worth it - a lot of Spanish...peninsular slang, and humorous: I suggest Un asunto de honor

Answer 14

Any ideas??

Answer 15

I started with some 'Cuentos Cortos' which had the English translation on the opposite page, it's currently on loan to a friend but I can remember it contained stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

I then took on a lighter read (although about 700 pages long!), a bestseller called 'La cathedral del mar' by Ildefonso Falcones. It's set in the 14th century, in Barcelona, so there are some old old words I think, but I learned loads from reading it, and I cried when it had ended which is something I rarely do with a book in English!

I'm currently halfway through 'El Plan Infinito' by Isabel Allende, she is an incredible writer, however I have to look up more words while reading it, so I would have to put it at a more advanced level than the bestseller. Her description of the main character's experiences in Vietnam is not particularly explicit, but it is somehow relentless, hammering home the awfulness - wow.

Just go for it, if you have the patience you will really benefit.