Spanish Books Books

Este libro te lo recomiendo te hará refleccionar, supe de un gran testimonio de una persona la cuál estaba apunto del suicido por tantos problemas y demás situaciones que el tenía, más sin embargo gracias a este libro pudo sobreponerse y seguir adelante empezando amarse él mismo...Es un libro muy valioso TE LO RECOMIENDO!

AÑOS O UN POQUITO MAS...
Regresa al amor, amiga...ESTE LIBRO TE SEÑALA EL CAMINO Y TU DERECHO A SEGUIRLOP CON LA FRENTE EN ALTO !

y comence a rechazar a cuanto hombre se me acercaba...
Ahora, luego de leer este libro que me hizo réir, llorar de gusto y comprender... yo busco un gran amor!

acabada, LA FILOSOFIA DE ESTE LIBRO ME DEVOLVIO AL AMOR Y A LA VIDA !!!
HURRA !!!

va dirigido al adulto joven...
Es un encuentro con la mitad de la vida, pero NOS ENSEÑA A QUE SEA UN ENCUENTRO GOZOZO !
Toca todo lo que nos afecta a esa edad: Los hijos que se van, la menopausia, la muerte de algunos amigos o conocidos de nuestra misma edad (Ese capítulo es divino! Se llama "Los Dinosaurios Comienzan a Desfilar " )
Y nos ilumina el camino para adaptarnos a ESTA SEGUNDA MITAD DE LA VIDA,PERO CON GOSO, CON UN SENTRDO DEL HUMOR MUY MEXICANO PERO MUY FEMENINO... Por ejemplo, sus viajes al espejo...ja ja !

I had a roommate from Madrid once who was an amazing cook (decided to be a doctor instead of a chef though sadly!), and owning this book is like having him right there on my bookshelf to read anytime I want.

He would cook every Thursday for a small dinner party he started in our neighborhood, and while he was cooking he would tell everyone the history and culture behind the dish. This book does the exact same thing (but with pictures haha).

How do I know that this book is the real thing? They got the story and recipe behind paella right! Even many Spaniards don't know the real story behind this dish!

This book makes you care about the food you make from it.

Love this book! As I have stated in all of my Culinaria series reviews, awesome pictures. I love how these books aren't hokey cookbooks. They're beautifully laid out by region. You get to experience the culture of Spain in this book, not just the food. One thing that deeply satisfied me was that there is a nice section on the Basque region. This region is truly a separate nation in itself. I visited Spain several years ago and their food was wonderful. If you're looking to explore Spanish cuisine, get this book!

"Culinaria Spain" is much more than a simple cookbook. As stated in the introduction, "To savor a nation's culinary customs is to experience the unfolding of an entire culture."

The people who bring you the Culinaria series want you to know that the food of a country reflects not only the geography, topography and climate, but also the history - all the peoples who have conquered, settled or passed through a country leave an impression.

While many people think of Spain and paella, there is much more to it. The people of the northern mountains certainly eat a more hearty fare than the people of the southern Mediterranean coast.

The book is divided by region to illustrate the various cuisine and cultures. For example, the empanada originated in Galicia as a kind of "fast food" for Christian pilgrims.

Culinaria gives you many wonderful recipes, many fun and interesting facts about the food and the regions. There are extensive sections describing wines, cheeses, olive oils, seafood, mineral water and more. The book is beautifully and lavishly illustrated with photographs, not only of prepared foods but of coastlines and mountains, markets, and beautiful Spanish faces.

This is a really nice book if you want to learn more about Spain than just a few recipes!

Highly recommended!!!

The book explains the origin of the different dishes and ingredients including their local names. It makes cooking a marvelous experience. Excellent cook book plus a magnificent coffee table book. We love it.

A perfect book for one either wanting to learn more about Spain or its cooking. The recipes are often simple, always marvelous and take into account the true spirit of the country. If you want to understand Spain and Spanish cooking in all its glory then here it is- there is no better.

Thanks, is a classic, is special for me, I read 40 years ago, and now I felt to read and enjoy his lexicon and fantasy.

The book should be a mandatory reading at university level.
It gives you a different perspective about the human psychological behavior and how it interacts with the reality of society.

Its a great book but the binding was questionable. This is the 2nd book I have seen that has come apart made by the same publisher. Be cautious. It looks nice but the binding could come apart.

This is a wonderful edition (in Spanish) of this classic. It's surprisingly modern and entertaining in the original Spanish. The footnotes are very helpful. The book is compact and easy to transport. Essays about the text round out the novel. If you want to read Don Quijote in the original language, this is the book to get. The price is right. The binding is excellent. My only complaint is the small print which is a little hard on the eyes, but probably only for older readers (like me).

I read Don Quijote in Spanish (my native language) and actually started the book as a sort of challenge. I am not daunted by long books or by the classics, but I was afraid I would not care much for the story of the madman who fancies himself a knight after reading too many chivalry novels.

I started out with a lot of dread - the language is old-fashioned and it needs a little getting used to. I had to look up words frequently and I thought the whole 1100 pages would be a chore. But I was in for a big surprise: not only did I get used to the language right away (the notes to this edition are very helpful in that regard), I also started to enjoy its beauty. Cervantes has a way with words that is a delight to Spanish speakers of any time or age. And it is so funny! I found myself laughing out loud many times, especially at Cervantes' turns of phrase or at the sheer ridiculousness of the situations Don Quijote and Sancho get themselves into... what a delight! I had certainly not expected this book to be FUNNY - but it IS!

Also: Don Quijote and Sancho Panza are two of the most endearing characters I have found in literature, absolutely lovable. I had a hard time saying goodbye to them at the end of the book. And as Jorge Luis Borges said, it seems Cervantes had a hard time letting go of Alonso Quijano, too: the death of Don Quijote is told in a sentence that gets me every time in its simplicity and its love for the subject.

I won't go into the metafiction aspect of the novel - I mostly read for pleasure and I'm not a literary critic, but I enjoyed the essays that accompany this edition. In particular, that of Mario Vargas Llosa really opened my eyes to the fiction-within-fiction and the construction of the novel, as well as to other aspects of Don Quijote that enriched my experience of the novel.

In sum - this book works at all levels and for almost anyone, old or young. It delivers entertainment, two memorable and thoroughly lovable characters and food for thought, all in one package. Quite an accomplishment. No wonder Cervantes is among the literature greats!

Quick, name the ten top novelists from Nicaragua. Give Up? Well extend it then to the top ten from anywhere in Latin America.

After reading this book you will almost certainly put Gioconca Belli on this list. The Inhabited Woman is Lavinia, a modern woman of our time, she becomes 'inhabited' by the spirit of an Indian woman warrior and she joins the revolution against a violent dictator.

At least semi-biographical, Ms. Belli joined the revolutionary Nicaraguan FSLN in 1970 until forced to leave the country in 1975. After Somoza was ousted and th Sandinistas came to power she entered Government service to 1986 when she resigned in to write full time.

Una escritora increible para una historia verdaderamente emocionante donde el presente con su guerra civil en Nicaragua y el pasado con su Conquista espan~ola tienen aspectos en comun, se unen, se cruzan, se mezclan, pero todo tiene siempre sentido. Es una de las novelas mas intensas que haya leido de toda la literatura hispano americana. Lo aconsejo a todos los latinos.

This is a book that is a must because it helps to understand (or at least to have another point of view) about latin american "guerrillas", but also about the subtle and not so subtle differences between men and women, that havent changed so much in hundred years. Going back to the past (to the spaniard invasion)and forward to our days, Belli knits a unique beautiful story of two eras distant in time, but very close in their needs. Not perfect in its "literary structure", but an original, passionate and enlighten story.

As a retired English teacher longing for a "good read". I was delighted from the first chapter of Inhabited Woman. The concept of one woman from one period/culture being a factor in another woman's life sent a tingle through me. As I read on, I was excited in the insights gained by the main character. As she struggled with choices, I found myself rethinking my life and values. The characters are well drawn and the plot complex enough to be interesting. Furthermore, the author's use of langauge and images is sometimes almost poetry. BRAVO!!

Gioconda Belli is one of Nicaragua's most highly regarded writers. Her poetry and fiction have been published in Spain, Mexico, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Finland, Greece and Turkey. She currently lives in Los Angeles. THE INHABITED WOMAN was awarded "Best Literary Work of the Year" by the Union of German Publishers and Editors.

"[It] is a passionate story of love, courage, solidarity and death, where reality and legend blend harmoniously. The lives of the characters are intertwined with the destiny of a country and the struggle of a people for dignity. There is so much truth in this book, that it is impossible for the reader to remain indifferent. This is a story that needed to be told and Belli does it with talent." --Isabel Allende

"THE INHABITED WOMAN is engrossing, reading like an action adventure...[it] opens on a stunning, magical note..." --The Daily News

"THE INHABITED WOMAN revitalizes two literary genres that in recent years seemed to have lost their grips on the imagination of new writers and, as a matter of course, readers-magic realism and social realism." --The Hartford Courant

POR DONDEQUIERA QUE ENFOQUES ESTE LIBRO TE GUSTARA. Realmente es una obra atractiva y bien escrita e inolvidable que te puedo decir..... Mejor te lo recomiendo LEER.. TE ENCANTARA!

SCIENCE: ANGELOLOGY

This book is a masterpiece, which I strongly reccomend

NO PODRÍA SER MAS INTERESANTE, NI ESTAR MEJOR DOCUMENTADO.
Realmente atractivo, bien escrito e inolvidable

sin que importe si eres religioso o no..
Es muy HERMOSO !

This little book gives names to those heavenly hosts you may want to call upon in times of need. "Jerael: Angel of Common Sense and Reason", is one such angel I would love to see help those who just do not seem to be born with this gift. Or perhaps
you may need to pray for "Merisu: Angel of Serenity" the next time you find yourself stuck in that traffic jam with a car full of children full of enegry after a long day at school. This book says it can show you how to call upon these wonderful angels for thier help. Enjoy & may Grace and Mercy follow you all the days of your life.

This book is amazing for learning basic vocabulary and grammar. You'll go through most beginners classes in 10 hours. This book is for those who want to know the language not for those needing to know some words for the weekend. Read it world for word to get best results.

This book has some flaws with it.
1) Some of the associations are not good.
2) It gives you the vocab words and on the next page ask you to translate spanish to english but WARNING answer is on next page with english to spanish exercise.

This book is working!
I have tried the rosetta stone to learn spanish and got more frustrated with every lesson. Spanish by association has taught me tons of nouns and proper spanish grammar in a fun way. For some reason, imagining crazy pictures with the words is working, and I finally feel like a second language is within my reach. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn spanish and have some good laughs while doing it. (guarding a rope in a cloakroom?)

Let's say there were a point system for learning Spanish: you get 0 points for knowing no Spanish at all, and 100 points for being completely fluent. Knowing this book will keep you at a solid 10 points. You will not forget any of the Spanish you've learned, thanks to the mnemonics in the book -- so you will maintain your score of 10 points -- but you will not earn any more than 10 points, because there is so little Spanish in this book.

Wow! After teaching my own Spanish classes and in the public schools for as long as I have, I thought I'd seen all TYPES of books. When I got frustrated with the texts out there, I even wrote my own! But this is an approach I hadn't seen in a book.

I often use word pictures to help my students with memorization. Of course, it should work in a book format! I found myself giggling upon opening the text and reading about the camel in the cama (bed) and a car horn when we open a cajo'n (drawer).

I'll be recommending this book to any adult or child who wants a fun way to memorize new words. With practice, you won't need the book - it teaches you how to teach yourself Spanish! Marvelous!

Sra. Gose
Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 2

I absolutely LOVE this book! I have not seen any other way to quickly (within a few hours) start using real spanish sentences! I haven't been able to read through this book continuously as it suggests, but even spending 15-30 minutes per day has really helped me!

I really like the method of associating a Spanish word with an English word to be able to remember it. And I like how it builds on previous chapters, so you are challenged to remember the vocabulary and then provided the answer, in case you'd forgotten.

I would definitely recommend this book!

I have been involed in criminal justice practice and education for several years. This book is one of the BEST first hand accounts of prison life I have ever read. A plus was that I got to meet the author on Alacatraz during a visit in 1996. We spoke at some length and he signed a copy of the book for me. I was sorry to hear when I went back a few years later for a return visit to the "Rock" that he had died. This book is a keeper for your library!

While Alcatraz is the centerpoint of the book, the overall story is about a young man's life and how it changes--how it is forcibly changed, rather, through a prison system that had reached its limit with him. Though he describes other prisons (including San Quinten), it is Alcatraz that breaks him of his youthful attitudes of rebellion and crime. And that's how Alcatraz was to him and others--not a place of rehabilitation nor even pennance, but a place meant to break them and make them harmless, or kill them. The awful sense of frustration and desperation that must accompany prison life comes through vividly in his narrative.

The story is told with honesty. I felt I had a sense of him as a young man, and later as an older one facing the real, adult world for the first time. Stories of Alcatraz itself, and its escapes, are well-told from an insider's view, with only hints of residual anger.

I bought the book in 1997 on my first visit to the Rock. I loved it and when I returned to Alcatraz a few months later, I was able to meet Jim Quillen and have my picture taken with him. I felt like I knew him because of the book. It was a neat experience.

I got this book in San Fransisco and from then on I was hooked!If I could recommend any book to anyone it would be this one. I couldn't put it down. I won't let anyone borrow it because I don't want it to get ruined. Please if you are looking into getting a book on Alcatraz for yourself or anyone else, get this one! You won't regret it!! I know I didn't!!

Great book! It was very powerful

I read this book a few years ago but still recall its images vividly. The interwoven stories, foreshadowing, and imagery are quite masterful and overall present a great narrative.

Es un libro un tanto complicado, pero muy interesante. Tiene todos los elementos para vivir un poco de risas, muchos escalofríos, un buen absurdo y mucho del ser humano. Una novela que leí hace varios años y que aún recuerdo como cuando la estaba leyendo. Muy pocos libros logran eso.

Poniéndome en plan exigente, me hubiera gustado un poco mas de claridad en el ritmo de la historia, pero aún con eso, es un libro que cualquier amante de la novela debe leer.

(va sin acentos)
Este libro me parecio interesante pero no lo suficientemente bueno para darle 5 estrellas. Tuve un problema con el "ritmo" de libro en especial al principio (digamos a "grosso modo" la primera mitad), ya que me parecio dificil de leer. El autor no parecia tener la fluidez suficiente para llevar la historia, rica en personajes altos en color. En la segunda mitad, cuando se desencadenan las acciones que guiaran al lector al final del libro, se nota una fluidez en la pluma que le da al libro un impulso definitivo. En suma, me parece un buen libro, un poco desigual para ser sincera, con un cierto abuso de adjetivos y una puntuacion un poco marcada que me irritaron en un cierto momento: los que lean el libro quizas comprenderan lo que digo. No merece un 3 en la clasificacion, mas no merece un 5. Puede ser que el prologo, en el que se habla de la admiracion del autor por Garcia Marquez y su amistad con el escritor colombiano hizo crecer una expectativa que no fue completamente satisfecha y esto es quizas, tambien, un error personal.

Compre este libro hace 4 años y acabo de leerlo, no se como pude esperar tanto. Si de mi dependiera no le daria un premio sino dos. El mejor libro que he leido en este año.

El manejo del absurdo en la novela es un arte bastante delicado pues se puede convertir en ridículo o tonto con solo pequeños errores. Estos están completamente ausentes en esta novela, en la cual la locura se explica a si misma a través de millones de pequeños sub cuentos que el autor logra enlazar una historia coherente, donde un cubano ex-veterano de la guerra de Angola en su desespero por escapar de un tigre alado imaginario ( o tal vez no) que lo persigue secuestra un grupo de muchachos que lo único que querían era un poco de sexo en su noche de graduación del colegio. Sin embargo esta trama es solo incidental para que el autor nos pueda presentar como en un mundo incoherente la "locura" es un medio tal válido para darle sentido como cualquier otro.

La novela es simplemente genial.

first edition half this size by same author for $6.50
'beyond the dictionary in spanish'

I'm an intermediate Spanish learner, and when I get sick of grinding memorization, etc, I pick up this book. It's enjoyable, and you really can read it straight through.

Here's a representative entry that shows how many examples the author gives from various countries --

carpeta: A Friend of unusual Falsity since not only does it not mean "carpet" but has very diverse meanings within the Hispanic world. In Spain and Mexico it means a "file," of the sort used in offices. In Peru it means a "desk" of the sort used in schools (elsewhere usually pupitre) and in Colombia it means a "table-cloth" (ornamental; not for meals). I have also heard it used for a "brief-case."

A carpet, as you know, is una alfombra. Wall-to-wall carpet is hecha a medida, "made to measure," but is often referred to as moqueta, "moquette" (carpet-material).

In an earlier commentary about this book, a reviewer wondered how a $7 paperback could be going for upwards of $140. Well, the answer is: scarcity. This is where you have to be careful. The book listed under the title "Cassell's Colloquial Spanish" is said to be the third revised edition, published in 1981. That edition is indeed quite rare, which accounts for its fetching big bucks. However, that's not the end of the story. A couple of other reviewers lamented that there isn't an updated version of this book. It turns out there is, but with a different subtitle.

Which leads me to my story. After seeing the book offered from one of the online sellers at a "bargain basement" (compared to all the others, that is) price, I ordered what I thought to be the 1981 edition. When the book arrived, though, I noticed some differences from the picture and publication info I'd seen at Amazon. So I went back and compared ISBN numbers. The book I'd ordered was not the 1981 edition; the ISBN number for that one is 0020794304. The ISBN number on the one I received is 030407943X. Confused, I typed in that number and was startled by the result. The title of the book with that ISBN number was listed as "Spanish Colloquial", and no author's name was listed anywhere (BTW, Amazon has corrected the title and added the author's name). What's more, the publisher was listed as Orion Publishing Company, not Cassell's. The particularly strange thing about that is the name Orion appears nowhere in the book I have, while the name Cassell's appears several times (I found out later that Orion owned the printing rights to the Cassell's line for several years, but no longer). In addition, the book's cataloging info indicates that the 1981 edition was reprinted three times: 1985, 1988 and 1993. The copy I have is the 1993 reprint, even though the concluding words of the introduction are "Abingdon, 1980, A. Bryson Gerrard." My guess is the 1993 reprint is far less rare than the 1981 third edition. To top it all off, several sellers were offering the 1993 printing at prices lower than what I paid.

So was I duped? It appears that way. But I'm not going to send the book back, because it does contain everything I was hoping to find in the first place. And I concur wholeheartedly with all of the other reviewers. Gerrard has done a tremendous service to English speakers who are passionate about learning Spanish. Some of the information in Gerrard's book is a bit dated, though, which obviously can't be blamed on him. Just try to recall the state of the Internet in 1980 and you'll understand. I don't know if Mr. Gerrard is dead now, but don't let the passage of two and a half decades dissuade you from enjoying his fine work. However, taking into account the need for a more contemporary reference, I would also recommend "Streetwise Spanish" -- both volumes, the dialogue book and the dictionary/thesaurus.

This book is a gem for the student of Spanish, providing the various colloquial meanings of a good many useful Spanish words. The author's various first-hand anecdotes about the situations in which he heard the words used in a particular way will amuse even the casual monolingual reader. Some of his warnings about linguistic etiquette might be a little out of date in the more modern, and Americanized, parts of the Spanish-speaking world, but it's always better to err on the side of propriety. Your command of colloquial Spanish will break down barriers that mere conversational proficiency cannot overcome , and this book has proven to be an excellent teacher for me.

As a speaker of fluent Spanish, this book was invaluable in getting subtle nuances, learning false cognates and distinguishing between meanings from one country to another. It's a fun read as well. I have about 5 copies for my own references and to give away given how valuable and well-written it is.
What I don't understand is how a $7 paperback is going for $40 to $140 on the Internet!

Here is another cult book.

It consists of discourses in response to narrow mind-sets of such as middle-class women in Los Angeles between 1920 and 1952, before color TV and things like that.

Some parts could be worth chewing on.

This book, along with the two other volumes in the trilogy, should be on the shelf of every student of Eastern Wisdom, no matter what their tradition or lack thereof.

It is one of the outstanding features of Paramahansa Yogananda's life and teachings that He did not believe in or create any cults.
When reading His talks and writings one is first of all struck
but the non-judgmental and compassionate heart of this great Yogi/saint/savior.
There is always an area of cooperation demanded in any teacher-pupil realationship or it will not function properly. And those who worked loyally and sincerely with this Master gained great spiritual growth, and every other good thing that the Master represented.
The training was such that one can see the great differences in all disciples trained by him, they are never copies of, but had their individual potentials beautifully enhanced.

The master's life shows us what Jesus Christ was really like and the means to become as they are.

In cults one must loose individuality, creativity, & personal possessions are all given to the evangelist cult founder.
In The tradition of yoga that Yogananda perpetuated, dealings with others were fair and reasonable, he taught not as an overlord but by example and compassion.
Which one experiences just reading his inspiring spiritual expressions of love and life and the way.

The results speak for themselves. One will gain a much better perspective of Yogananda by reading his work or history in many other books, rather than from the incomplete reviews of those who did not get to know him very well.

This particular book, anybody of any religion and background can read it. I think that it unites everybody on Earth no matter who you are. After reading this book my viewpoints totally changed in a positive way. I take things in easier way. Up to this day i am still using the book, especially in difficult moments. I would strongly recommend it to everybody.

This is a must buy. It will not disappoint you if you are looking for answers in your quest for the Truth! It shines the light on the path to God and convinces one for undertaking the supreme journey. It is my favorite book.