In another thread, TN Explorer suggested a great book:
George Borrow's 1830s "The Bible in Spain" ISBN #1419154001 (The Kessinger Publishing 2004 paperback edition)

I added a recommendation for:

Mark R. Williams' 1990s Story of Spain" ISBN #0970696922 (Golden Era Books, 2004)

Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's 1990s "Journey to Portugal" ISBN 0156007134 (Translated to English and published in 1999 by Harcourt.)

It would be cool to have people continue to add books to the thread.
Books about the history, geography, culture, of Spain or Portugal.
Novels set in either country.
Portuguese or Spanish biographies.
And of course, travel books.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shannon,

Like his/her book about Venice, it's dated but a classic and beautifully written:

James/Jan Morris: Spain

One that inspired me -
South from Granada by Gerald Brennan
(he was buried in a Malaga cemetery)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/102-3402431-0114555...s=South+from+Granada


"Our Lady of the Sewers" by Paul Richardson - simply extraordinairy!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Our-Lady-Sewers-Other-Adventures/dp/0349108579

But let us never forget Cervantes and Lorca!!

Michael

Thanks for posting this, Deborah!

I have pinned this thread so it stays at the top of the page.

I will be posting some of my favorites later and I am looking forward to reading about others.

Perhaps we should make this thread for fiction and recollection and another for travel planning and guidebooks. What does everyone think?

Agree with you there Shannon, let's keep them separate - and dare I suggest another for food and wine!!
3 categories!

For me - this is an ispiring topic - love it - and look forward to hearing about many books I have not heard of.
Michael

Shannon, I like the idea of two separate threads, and I look forward to seeing the suggestions. But neither of those two threads seems to be the place for history, art history, or other nonfiction that's neither travel or memoir.

And a suggestion that falls somewhere between history and memoir: Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell.

How about - if it is not a guidebook - post it here. Will that work?

I wish I'd read Chris Stewart's books [Driving over Lemons, A Parrot in a Pepper Tree and The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society] before going to Las Apujarras.

I very much enjoyed C J Sansom's 'Winter in Madrid,' a novel based on the starting years of WW2.

I don't see any problem with Guidebooks and others.

I am currenctly reading

A Load of Bull, An Englishman's Adventures in Madrid by Tim Parfitt. ISBN #1-4050-4619-8.
Publisher panmacmillan.com.

Funny book and find myself laughing with reading each chapter. I only been to Madrid twice but I enjoy reading about the Madrid that was once was and how things have changed or did not change with the Madrilenos.

Bill

Watching the Spanish News on Television last night and seeing the running of the bulls in Pamplona reminded me of this one

"The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

Michael

(edited per Michael's request)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shannon,

well those already mentioned which i seonc are the A load of Bull, by Tim Parfitt, and Enlgishman which I have corresponded,sent to Spain by vogue magazine to start the magazine there,and stay....did GQ too. Very good about Madrid, been there walk the path ,his story is authentic and nostalgic but for the traveler useful to see the real thing.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

THE Sun Also Rises by Hemingway is good but also,For Whom the Bells Tolls (Hemingway)are good insight into spain.

and the best bookstore in Spain;home is Madrid since 1923. You can buy books in English there too and can order them. These are the branches section in Spanish
http://www.casadellibro.com/otros/quienessomos/0,1107,,00.html

For a fabulous quick read (really, say goodbye to your family when you pick this up - you won't come up for air until it's finished) check out The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Set in 1945 Barcelona, it's part mystery, part love story, part homage to books. Delicious.

quote:

Originally posted by Heather D:
For a fabulous quick read (really, say goodbye to your family when you pick this up - you won't come up for air until it's finished) check out The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Set in 1945 Barcelona, it's part mystery, part love story, part homage to books. Delicious.

I also loved this book. Thanks for posting this, Heather.

The "world literature tour" of the Guardian's book blog, which solicits reader recommendations for books from various countries, is currently featuring Spain. There's lots of discussion on it here, for those who may want to read it or join in.

Hola:
I've just finished a book by Robert Ward "All the Good Pilgrims" that conveys some of the magic of the Camino.

For those interested, the following also offer a window on the perigrinos' world.
Hitt, Jack, "Off the Road". A humourous account of his walk
Dennett, Laurie , "A Hug for the Apostle". An account of travel along the Camino in the 1980's prior to the recent rush of pilgrims. Done to raise funds for MS research
Selby, Bettina, "Pilgrim's Road: a journey to Santiago de Compostela. An account of a cyclist's journey on the Vezelay route.

For contemporary detective fiction Robert Wilson's detective, Javier Falcon offers a view of Seville far from the usual tourist haunts. Falcon investigates nefarious deeds in three novels, "The Blind Man of Seville", The Hidden Assassins" and "The Silent and the Damned" as he attempts to come to terms with his own demons.

Wilson's "A Small Death in Lisbon" is also a good spy novel read.
Dennis

Correction:
Wilson's "Company of Strangers" is the spy novel. "A small Death ..." is another murder mystery.
Dennis

I would also join in the recomendation of "Driving over Lemons" by Chris Stewart, and,
"For whom the bell tolls" E. Hemingway
and add:
1. "Face of Spain" Gerald Brenan, his observations travelling in Spain in the years after the
Spanish Civil War.
2. "Mujer desconocida" Lucia Graves a novel of life for the middle class females in the Franco
years.
3. "Blood of Spain: an oral history of the Spanish Civil War" Ronald Fraser. Lots of detail but
written in the very readable Studs Terkel style of individual voices.
4. "The year of the flood" Eduardo Mendoza

I had been trying to find and reread this last title for a long time, and thanks to this thread, and KT, I could click onto the link that got me to the - World literature tour to Spain - Of course, now I have many other books that I have added to my "must read some day" list.

On a different note, here are my two favorite cookbooks:
"Culinaria SPAIN" is a beautiful coffee table book filled with wonderful photos and recipes categorized by Region. Although I have made several dishes from this book, I mostly just sit and read through it, savoring each story and photograph.
For Christmas, my daughter gave me "1080 Recipes" by Simone and Ines Ortega. According to the preface, this was Spain's favorite cookbook first published 30 years ago and was recently revised, updated and translated for the first time into English. It appears to be very user friendly, with ingredients that can be found in local grocery stores.

And another cook book / coffee table book,
"The Heritage of Spanish Cooking" by Alicia Rios and Lourdes March. The book is filled with great recipes and photos of how the dish is supposed to look, something I appreciate in any cook book. But its extra value are the many accompanyning pages with ancient to modern art and ceramics. this is a book to leave lying around for easy purusing.

A great cookbook is Jean Anderson's "The Food of Portugal"
I also have Culinaria Spain.
I'd love to have all the Culinaria's but they are out of print, and buying them on the aftermarket is not fun because they are so overpriced.

If you'd like to learn more about the almost nine centuries of portuguese history this is book you can't miss:

Portugal: A companion history by José Hermano Saraiva (http://www.amazon.com/Portugal-Companion-History-Aspects-S/dp/1857542118/ref=pd_sim_b_3)

quote:

Originally posted by Shannon:

quote:

Originally posted by Heather D:
For a fabulous quick read (really, say goodbye to your family when you pick this up - you won't come up for air until it's finished) check out The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Set in 1945 Barcelona, it's part mystery, part love story, part homage to books. Delicious.

I also loved this book. Thanks for posting this, Heather.

This book got me through across country flight last week -- loved it!

I've just read The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a great and yes unputdownable book. Have to search out some more of his.

South of Granada was good too and As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee for Spanish life before and into the civil war.

I just finished reading "The Return" by Victoria Hislop. A British woman visits Granada and listens to an old barkeeps story about the lives of a Spanish family during the civil war in that country. Some of the story line hangs heavy on coincidences but she conveys the horror of the Spanish civil war and the years after, many years after, that still put the heavy boot on those who were on the losing side.
kathyk

Here is something eerie...I borrowed a copy of The Shadow of the Wind from the local library Audio version on CD and am gripped and reached the 6th CD of 16 and this particular CD will not play either in my car or my laptop! Usually even if it jumps in my car it will self correct on my laptop (yes I have driven with my laptop next to me so I can listen to a 'cannot put down story' :-.

I am wondering if this is part of the suspense of the story :-). If not this copy needs to go to the cemetry; of course I have put in a request for another copy of the CD at the library and also for the paper copy...

Great book so far...I am amazed at Lucia Grave's translation skill too since it 'sings' in English too. Has anyone read it in the original Spanish?

Letha, have you tried to play it on a regular CD player? If it doesn't play there, it's a goner.

Here's another one to add to the list - The Spanish Bow. I did not want to put it down!

If you are interested in Basque history, language, and culture, The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky is fascinating and well written.

I wonder if this topic can again be "pinned" to stay at the top as it previously had been.

hi bethtanya,

I removed the pin because it is time to feature some other "pins"... we can bump it up now and then or use the search function to find it. Cool?

cool, of course. I thought perhaps it had happened inadvertently. I should have realized there was a plan!

It's so funny, here I thought no one would even notice.

Keep posting about books! I have a new one to post on the travel guide thread.