Spanish literature

Question

Hello! I would like to hear from you which Spanish or Spanish speaking writers you appreciate the most and what books you recommend me to read. It doesn't matter if it's modern literature or if it's somewhat classical. I'm mostly interested in literature from Spain but feel free to mention anybody worth mentioning. Thank you.

Answer 1

I'll give you some of my favorites!

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• Cien Años de Soledad, de Gabriel García Márquez - Género: Novela / Ficción / Clásicos
• Como Agua Para Chocolate, de Laura Esquivel - Género: Literatura Latinoamericana / Novela

• Confieso Que He Vivido, de Pablo Neruda - Género: Literatura Latinoamericana

  • Crónicas del Ángel Gris, de Alejandro Dolina - Género: Cuentas / Ficción y Literatura

  - Cuentos de Amor, de Locura y de Muerte, de Horacio Quiroga - Género: Cuentos / Ficción / Literatura

  - El Nombre de la Rosa, de Umberto Eco - Género: Novela / Ficción y Literatura

• Estravagario, de Pablo Neruda - Género: Literatura Latinoamericana
• Inodoro Pereyra, de Roberto Fontanarrosa - Género: Humor / Caricaturas - La Casa De Los Espíritus, de Isabel Allende - Género: Novela / Literatura Latinoamericana - Rayuela, de Julio Cortázar - Género: Novelas / Ficción y Literatura

Answer 2

Roberto Bolaño´s "2666" (a book) was listed by the NYT as one of the 10 best books of the year. There is a group read going on here. The book is over a thousand pages long in Spanish -- it reminds me a bit of writers like Umberto Eco. i don´t know yet if I agree with the NYT, but I´m certainly getting a lot of reading practice out of it!

I´m taking a Latin American lit course, but we´re only up to the early 1800s. So far my favorite reading by far was Echeverría´s short story "El matadero". It is a satiric denunciation of church and state....

I also find magical realism to be fascinating, so I love reading Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, etc. (Incidentally lots of non-Latin American authors also use magical realism, including Salman Rushdie).

So who are your favorites???

Thank you for this list. Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to discover Spanish literature because I'm doing the French Lit in my universty. The only one I read from your list is Marquez whom I really appreciate. Thank you for such a nice answer. - kayacool, FEB 18, 2010

Answer 3

I asked a similar question a while ago and got some great recommendations that you may like too. Here's the thread: Latin American History