Advanced Spanish book recommendations
Hola a todos, I've been studying Spanish at a university level for six years now, and I'm looking for good books to read in Spanish to keep advancing outside of class. I've read quite a few full length Spanish novels already, so I'm not looking for easy. I'd like something that's interesting and will keep me reading, but that's also a bit of a challenge and will introduce me to other writing styles. What are your favorite Spanish books?
Some that I would recommend:
-El Camino, Miguel Delibes
-La plaza del diamante, Merce Rodoreda
-Marianela, Benito Perez Galdos
13 Answers
I read an English translation of this book. Some day, maybe, I'll be good enough to read it in Spanish. If you have not already read it, consider:
Cien Años De Solidad - por Gabriel Garcia Marquez
You might enjoy Aura by Carlos Fuentes. Not necessarily a "mystery" novel, it does, however, employ a very interesting narrative style.
Del amor y otros demonios by Gabriel Garcia Márquez is a fairly good read.
If you like political/historical, you might like Manos en la nuca by Chilean singer, songwriter and author, Ángel Parra.
Another classic that is also steeped in history is the World War I era novel, Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis by Vicente Blasco Ibañez. This one should be available online for free (as I believe that any copyright should be well expired by now).
I also enjoyed El alquimista by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, but I would be hesitant to characterize this as an "advanced" read.
Right now I'm reading De amor y de sombra by Isabel Allende and a non-fiction work by journalist Jorge Ramos called Lo que vi: Experiencias de un Periodista Alrededor del Mundo (The latter being basically a series of essays). I have not gotten far enough in either to give you a qualified opinion on them, but I will let you know later if I think they are worth the time.
Try: Carlos Ruiz Zafón: Wiki
La sombra del viento y El juego del ángel
Suggested because they seem to fit your recipe/prescription
Vivir para Contarla, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Los cuentos de Jorge Luis Borges.
Cien Años de Soledad is excellent in Spanish and is a very unusual story, but very well-known. I used it as a book for learning new words with a tutor.
I have enjoyed several of the books by Francisco Jiménez:
Senderos fronterizos
Cajas de cartón
Más allá de mí
When I studied abroad in a Spanish university two of my American who were there with me took a Spanish literature class. One of the books they had to read was Amor se escribe sin hache. They really enjoyed the book and from what I saw of it it had a very different writing style from most of the book that I have ever read :p
Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's a little shorter, and it's one of those stories that give you a little piece of the plot here, another there... If you like mystery-ish things you'll probably enjoy it as much as I did.
Try last year's Nobel prize winner: ' Mario Vargas Llosa' he is a fantastic and prolific writer.I read four of his books in English translations.I hope sometime in the future to be able to read one of his books in the original.
Re Zafon, Today I bought a copy of his latest in what is now a trilogy. It's called El Prisionero Del Cielo.
I'm looking forward to starting it tonight 
I'll read just about anything- I've been a huge bookworm since I was 4. As long as it has good characters and plot, I'll enjoy it. However, I especially like books with some sort of mystery in them, even if they aren't specifically mystery novels. I also like fiction that relates to historical events or political/historical movements.
what kind of boks do you like reading?
