Spanish Books Books

This is just the basics. Our son loves learning Spanish. He's 3 and I want to encourage it. My old tapes are coming back to me from Jr. High and High School Spanish. I'm able to help him with simple sentences using the words from this book. He really likes the pictures. Some of the words are different than in other versions. This can be a bit confusing. Not sure which is correct all of the time, but it serves our purposes. We have two other versions of this dictionary and cross reference. My son likes it because he knows it guarantees more reading time with mom.

Great pictures! Great book! Nice notes on pronunciation. I wish DK made a line of picture dictionaries for all languages.

This is a GREAT picture dicionary for ALL ages. I am a college student living in Spain and it has really helped me perfect my spanish. The pictures really help. You must buy this.

I was so happy to find this book. I am teaching my 2 year old Spanish but I don't know Spanish. We're learning together. This book was great because it has the pronunciation of the words also written phonetically. I sure don't want to teach her what I -THINK- the word should sound like. 2,000 common words with lots of pictures. It's a great addition to the other books/CDs I'm using.

well, what is to happen when the "ultimate player", who has arranged an impossible game of snakes and ladders by which to try the worth of the object of his seduction is the first one to commit the mistake that gives it all away???
naturally enough, in such a case, she has no option but to call for all cards to be now put on the table - signs and gestures cannot continue to be after this unexpected turn of events: that the creator of the trap has been the first one to go and call the King when the roof was just "not" falling. so what is he to do after this has happened? was the posibility of "his" failing in his books?
as to her, she is only sure that nothing can continue to be quite as it was and also it is somehow a shame that now there is just nothing more to hope for, nothing more to upset the monotony of life all of a sudden. she knew that she would not have failed, but she had simply not expected that he would just rush to do wrong at the very first trial of trust...!!

This is the most famous depiction of the ancient legend of Don Juan, the unrepentant and bold sinner from Spain. A masterwork of Romanticism, "Don Juan" tells the story of Juan Tenorio, a worldly man whose only interest in life is to seduce as many women as he can. He makes a bet with his friend Luis Mejía, to see who is more fortunate with women. Don Juan wins, but his father writes him off from his testament. After that, Don Juan rapes Luis' fiancée. All this gives him, of course, a bad reputation, so the father of his beloved Ines forbids him to marry her. Events unfold then at a rapid pace, amidst duels, murders, illegitimate seductions and tragedy, including the apparition of ghosts. But more than just a cloak-and-dagger play, this work is a fascinating elaboration on the central myths of sin and repentance; of trespassing and divine forgiving; of the redeeming possibilities of true love, as distinguished from the sins of the flesh which lead to hell. In the Spanish world, it is the play that is staged every year, by the beginning of November when Day of the Dead is celebrated. It is a sum-up of the Romantic myth and, as all classical works, it admits different interpretations, from the literal to the philosophical. And it's a lot of fun too.

This book tells of the fascinating story of Don Juan Tenorio, the ultimate player. Don Juan is to players what William Shakespear is to poets. This story is told with a masterful wit, and has an incredibly exciting plot. This book, like so many others, is one of those that many people know, but few have read. This book is well worth the money spent on it.

Don Juan Tenorio is the ultimate player. He is to players what William Shakespear is to poets. This is a fascinating story which talk about Don Juan, a young man that is out to seduce as many women as he can. Not only that, but he is probably the most succesful player ever known to man! find out what happens to him in this classic story full to the brim of adventure and excitement.

An excellent publication of this Argentine Gaucho classic. The compelling story of the legendary quintessential Argentine gaucho, Don Segundo Sombra.

This is one of the greatest books in Argentine literature. I can remember reading it at the age of sixteen and the impression it made on me. It was as it was telling my own life and childhood in the countryside with the good men that I knew there. And how they all dissapeared facing a modern and much different world giving the word gaucho a more "typical" and superficial meaning. Very, very strange, it made on me the same effect than, lately and older, Islands in the Stream by Hemingway. I strongly recommend it, though my comment is very personal. (sorry about my awful English)

I am surprised by how few people know of this book. An excellent novel protraying the master/disciple relationship and questions of ones destiny. It is a pleasure to read.

Don Segundo Sombra is a classic that deserves to be re-issued. Elegantly written with superb images, the novel despicts not only the adventurous life of the gaucho but also the journey toward self-discovery.

I picked this book up on the way to the airport, and ending up laughing out loud the whole flight (much to the annoyance of my fellow passengers, I'm afraid.) A bleak but terribly funny look at human nature... nature red in tooth and claw, in this instance.

Dostoevsky's Last Night is a daring and unexspected ride through rick and redemption by an author who is obviously not afraid to take risks. In this dazzling novel, Jorge, a passionate and eccentric man addicted to gambling seeks help with Lucia, his shrink. But instead of finding the accepting and caring person he was looking for Lucia attempts to cure him with straitforward no nonsence opinions and caustic advice, which causes Jorge to become more fond of her than he exspected. The plot, however, is not the most interesting part of Dostoevsky's Last Night -- the ideas are. Rossi moves through her novel with incredible grace, showing both the beauty and the tyranny of passion. Borrowing from numerous psychological, literary, and popular influences she constructs a book that burns with all the passion of the gambling table but with much more certainty of comming out a winner.

Although I've not read the translation into English, I wanted to set the record straight and indicate that this novel is not "full of hope." It is, however, a completely engrossing story. One finds oneself being seduced by Jorge and pulled into sharing his vision of gambling, the world, and himself, which is an indication of Peri Rossi's virtuosity as a writer, as this pessimistic, superior and world-weary vision is apparently not her own.

A sexy, intelligent book about a man who defines himself by his addictions (in his case it is too gambling). An idea novel, plus just a moving story full of hope.

I actually bought this back in 1995 after I had played in a garage band for about a year. I had "played by ear" and never learned to read music. I picked this up with intentions of expanding our band and then put it aside as life got in the way and the drums went in storage. So, fast forward to 2008 and the kit is out of storage and set up with some new hardware. THIS BOOK IS AWESOME! It lays down the basics in an easy-to-follow format and then converts that to sheet music... I CAN READ MUSIC NOW! I was able to get through the entire book in less than 2 weeks and am proficient at fills and grooves, I never did that after 3 years of playing by ear. The CD tracks are great and easy to follow. The lead-out counting gets the beat in your head before the sticks even move. The ONLY suggestion I'd make with this book is to get a good quality metronome to play along with. I'd couple this with another book, "picture yourself drumming" which is a bit more extensive in the descriptions and methodology. Another great choice would be "All about drums", again, great teaching method and some real sheet music and examples of popular songs in that. No complaints here, just order the book and get practicing!

I had absolutely no musical background, but I learned basic rock drumming by using this book together with the video guide Drum Basics Step One and Two by Sandy Gennaro. The authors' instructions are easy to understand and follow, and you don't have to know how to read music to start playing. I would strongly recommend using these materials with a Yamaha DTXpress, and practice, practice, practice.

I started drumming about 2 months ago with a basic set, Tommy Igoe's 'Getting Started on the drums' dvd and this book. The book is endless pages of exercises that gradually builds in difficulty. It's great. Each new pattern gets you using all four limbs, and are easy to modify for more practice (open/closed hi hats, crash vs hi hats, etc). It's got sycophated patterns, drum fills, and stuff on establishing a 'groove' with a band/bass player. Not the end-all of drum books, but perfect for beginners.

This is an excellent beginners and improvers book for budding drummers and percussionists, providing a comprehensive introduction to rock and blues drums. Written by Sandy Gennaro, an experienced session musician, and accompanied by a most useful practice CD, it will provide knowledge and confidence for all tomorrows drummers.

UN libro para la vida. Si has amado, vivido y soñado este libro tiene algo para ti, y si no has hecho ninguna de esas cosas con este libro aprenderas que se siente cada una de ellas desde un lenguaje universal y sencillo. Un libro excelente.

This is a wonderful selection of Benedetti love poems made by the author. Very enjoyable even to those for whom poetry is not a favorite genre, as the language is easy, most poems short, and we can all relate with the feelings described. A good start to get acquainted with the wonderful work of this man... the book also makes a great gift to give a girlfriend.

Bennedetti es un autor que nos tiene acostumbrados a lo cotidiano, a lo urbano, al sentir de seres normales ante situaciones que se le dan a cualquiera. Su poesia, a diferencia de lo tradicional, es abierta, amplia, sutil en su forma de hacer llegar el mensaje, pero sin tabues ni complicaciones. Este libro viene en dos ediciones, una de ellas incluye un disco compacto con todas las poesias leidas por el autor mismo. En todo caso, es la mejor recoleccion de poesia de Bennedetti. Disfrutela

No itroduction is necesary when we are talking about Mario Benedetti. His capacity to comunicate with the reader, the simplicity, and the humanity of his works is what makes him famous all through latin america. "My estrategy is deeper and more simple My estrategy is that same day I don't know how or with what pretext you finally need me" Benedetti. Beautiful indeed

this book is just...really good. no words. just good.

Es la historia de amor, que mucha gente sueña para su vida... y solamente unos pocos podemos vivirla y difrutarla de esa manera y con esa intensidad.

Son de esas historia donde la piel, el corazon y el alma se extremecen de tal manera que lo unico que queda es agradecer a Dios, por amar y ser amado de tal manera.

Es una verdadera historia de amor, desde el principio hasta los "80 años"... tal cual como deseamos vivirla nosotros.

Felicitaciones Nicholas Sparks, sos todo un maestro

I read this book in about 5 hours. It's pretty hard for me to do that...but it was just impossible for me to put down this book. Nicholas Sparks is a genius, he truly knows how to write. He is the William Shakespeare of our time. Any book this man writes is truly a work of art.

I LOVED this book. It was honestly one of the ebst bookd I've read. Nicholas Sparks is such a talented writer. His books just come to life in your imagination and you can't put the book down once you've started. I've read many of Sparks' books and anyone you choose to read is outstanding! Nicholas Sparks truly has a GREAT gift!!!

Definitivamente una de las mejores obras de ciencia ficcion que he leido. La complejidad del tema espacio-tiempo-dimension es absolutamente formidable y envolvente. Los que ya vieron Matrix Reloaded comprenderan que tiene un cierto paralelismo con el libro, tanto por su trama fundamental como por su historia de amor entrelazada.

es un libro, ke no termina de sorprenderte hasta el final... tiene toda la emocion, y creo ke es un libro espectacular, donde se mezcla la ciencia ficcion, en la vida del hombre, muy pero muy bien...

10 puntos

De lo mejor, este libro vale la pena leerlo, quizá lo mejor que escribió Asimov y eso ya es decir mucho.

Este es uno de los libros de ficción que más ha perdurado en mi memoria, recomendado para volver a leer despues de unos años. It's one of the best fiction book I have ever read, it's recommended to read more than once.

There are few books in the last five years that I did not want to end. This was one of them. It was awarded "1st place - Fiction, novel" in the 2007 Alaska Professional Communicators Communications Contest. Alaska Professional Communicators is the Alaska affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women.

This saga explores the history of a family who immigrated to America from Mexico in the early nineteen hundreds. There is an awareness of the detailed research & expert touch necessary to seamlessly intertwine actual historical personages and events with the characters' story. This novel is a shining example of personal and historical disasters woven with masterful skill to create a bright and colorful tapestry.

One of the prevading themes that surfaces in this book like a shark's fin, throughout the story is the social struggle between poor men and the "hacendados", the privileged, rich class of men who exploit them. In this novel, the hook is used as a unique metaphor. It encompasses a name, a place, a dream, family, and of course El Gancho, the name of the book.

The main characters of the book, Prudenciano Nava and Paz Nava are portrayed exceptionally well. The author let's you get to know the characters, loveable in their own rights but fallible, as all people are. Some of the less loveable characters are motivated by everything from hunger for admiration and esteem to using others' weaknesses for their own gain.

The reader is introduced to Prudenciano Nava in the first chapters of the book. The writer quickly pulls the reader into the setting with a wealth of vivid imagery. Prudenciano Nava lives a reckless life. He works as a laborer with his childhood friend and runs from what Texans call "rodeo" to "rodeo"

. As we venture through Prudenciano Nava's life with him we learn about his frolics and foibles: Relationships, responsibility (or lack there of) as well as Prudenciano's penchant for cultivation of females' expectations, to their moral detriment and families' anger.The author brings you so far into the world he has created & the characters that abide there it seems you can feel the breath of these characters and hear their heartbeats. There are many escapades and escapes in this saga. The escapes are more serious, fleeing from supervisors that consider the help expendable; disease; starvation, and a war ravaged Mexico, and ultimately a flight to another country where our characters continue to reap the consequences of their choices.

Ultimately Prudenciano Nava emerges as a survivor above all else.

The author successfully communicates the vivid immediacy of living life
constantly on the edge. We feel the grit and dust of the roads of Mexico,
taste the tobacco and the alcohol, and feel the desert heat. This book works on various levels, as history, as an adventure, or as a social or political commentary. The reader looks through an open window into the past, raw and real.

Read enough books and you'll eventually find a book that encompasses all the elements you really enjoy: a well-written tale of adventure, action, realistic situations, and, most importantly, memorable characters in a great storyline. "El Gancho: A Saga of an Immigrant Family's Journey out of Mexico" by Michael Travis fits that description. On the surface, Travis' book is a fictionalized, but truthful, account of his great-grandparents and their migration from Monte Escobedo, Mexico, to Sydney, Montana. But beneath the surface is the story of the immigration of Mexican people to the U.S. in the early 1900s, a time when immigration wasn't the contentious issue of today. In fact, in those days, America actively encouraged migration. The United States' westward expansion with its attendant increase in agricultural production and the accompanying growth of railroads and the like called for large amounts of cheap labor. Mexican immigrants provided that labor more readily and cheaply than any other group. And helping hold everything together, Travis has made "El Gancho" a different sort of history book. He's made it interesting and entertaining as he intersperses his story of family with actual historical people and events.

"El Gancho" (meaning the Hook in Spanish) centers around the life of Travis' great-grandfather Tereso Minjares, known in his earlier life as Prudenciano Nava. Talk about your memorable characters, Prudenciano Nava is that and more. In following the family's northern migration, Michael Travis manages to do something few authors writing about their ancestors achieve. Travis makes their lives extremely interesting and exciting, and yet manages to portray them with all their faults and frailties. We see Prudenciano/Tereso as an egotistical man whose pride, laziness, fondness of tequila, and disdain for honest labor leads him to make some seriously bad choices that affect not only himself, but others, particularly his much younger, long suffering wife, Paz. Although 33 years his junior, she is obviously the more mature of the two.

Although the first chapter has 78-year-old Tereso Minjares taking a break from the sugar beet field and reflecting back on his life, the story really starts with the illiterate 48-year-old Prudenciano Nava toward the end of his career with the Mexican rodeo. Nava is a master at a particularly dangerous event known as tailing the bull. This event involves flipping a full-grown bull onto its back by its tail. Few men could do this as the experienced and wily bulls came equipped with more than a ton of muscle and very sharp horns. While his partner on horseback acted as a target to draw the animal into a rampaging charge, Prudenciano came from behind, grasped the animal's tail and flipped it on its back. That's if all goes well. When things don't go well, the animal's size, agility and razor sharp horns poses a real threat of serious injury or death for one or both men and their horses. Such was the case in Fresnillo when, in front of his estranged family, Prudenciano misses the tail and the bull kills his life-long friend and partner, Tereso. Depressed, Prudenciano practically begs to be allowed to return to his father's ranch.

It's there on Emilio Nava's ranch that Prudenciano's life takes a significant turn. Quickly remembering why he left in the first place, Prudenciano rebels against work and the requirement to learn to read and write. As he resorts to his old ways of boasting and bossing others around, he alienates both his father and his older brother, Abundio. Then, he meets Abundio's 15-year-old stepdaughter, Maria Paz Esparsa. Following a fight with his brother, Prudenciano leaves, taking a willing Paz with him. They manage to throw off their pursuers long enough for them to quickly marry and their long arduous trip north begins.

Over the ensuing years, Prudenciano tries valiantly to provide for his wife and their expanding family. But his pride, his inability to read, his fondness of drink, and his preference for reliving his past glories regularly interfere. He takes up work in a silver mine, only to have a cave-in nearly kill him as he saves his boss. When an outbreak of typhus sends the family to Chihuahua (walking the whole way), Prudenciano becomes a guard in service to one of the town's richest men. And it's there he first encounters Pancho Villa and warns him of a traitor in his midst. It's also where he gets tagged with the nickname "El Gancho," as he participated in his last la Colleada. But their relatively good life comes to a quick end when, worried that authorities will learn he helped Villa, Prudenciano moves with Paz and their three children to El Paso, once again walking the whole way.

Entering the United States legally, thanks to centavos Paz has put away, Prudenciano soons succumbs to another meaning for the term El Gancho. Promising good jobs, good pay, and housing for families, unscrupulous labor agents extend the hook and lure men into dangerous or low paying jobs. The process is made all the easier by the illiteracy of the average immigrant. Prudenciano gets a backbreaking job on the railroad with he and his family sharing a drafty boxcar as a house. Then, following a drunken binge in celebration of Mexico's Independence Day, Prudenciano nearly kills a man accidentally and soon finds himself on the run. A year later with a new name, Tereso Minjares, he sends for Paz and the children to join him in his new job at a logging camp. After several more moves and several more jobs the family finally settles in Sydney, Montana, working sugar beets for the Holly Sugar Company. Of course, they arrived there after Tereso once again swallowed the hook offered by John Dillon, the same man who'd talked him into the railroad job.

All in all, "El Gancho" is a great story filled with exciting adventures and incredulous difficulties, many of them brought on by the poor choices made by the colorful Prudenciano/Tereso. Anyone wishing to understand the real challenge of coming to los Estados Unidos in the early 1900s would do well to read "El Gancho."

Michael Travis describes the attitudes and expectations of the Mexican culture with incredible accuracy. Even in modern days, I have seen many men and women struggle within their family roles for better or for worse. Prudencio Nava's difficulty with alcoholism and settling into a permanent home along with Paz's struggle to keep the family together reflects the lives of many Mexican family's today. El Gancho brings into the perspective the historical ramifications of the Mexican migration into the United States during the late 1800 and early 1900. It has given me insight into my own Mexican family's prejudices and mistrusts of other cultures and for authority in general. During his reading at the Fairbanks Arts Association Bear Gallery, Michael explained the extensive research necessary for this book. His hard work is to be admired. I wish I had his dedication to find out more about my family roots.

Weaving a rich tapestry of history, tall tales and outright lies, Michael Travis presents his reader with a story that spans more than thirty years and four generations, taking us from rural Mexico to an immigrant colonia in Montana.

Travis especially excels at subtly building tension in his reader particularly in the 'colleada', a death-defying rodeo event. Using brutal and resonant imagery as a conductor's wand rather than a club, Travis evokes artfully evokes appropriate feelings and empathy with his characters throughout the novel.

If a criticism could fairly be leveled at Travis, it is that he's too unflinchingly honest about his characters, often they are despicable and/or inscrutable, and by the end of the book it is difficult for the modern, enlightened reader to empathize or identify with his protagonist due to his defiant ignorance and all consuming machismo. But in truth, this should be seen as a strength on Travis' part. The reader must remember that Prudenciano Nava is not a modern man, not even for his own time. He is a primal creature who runs on instinct and raw power. He recalls the classical hero who, despite all of his strength and power inevitably falls to his untempered hubris.

Most of all, El Gancho is the story of a world, a place a people and a time that will seem both alien and familiar to the modern reader. These things are truly just next door in both time and space. The life changes of the Minjares family parallel the enormous changes that the world was experiencing at that same time. As life would never be the same for Prudenciano's family again, so too would the world never be the same.

I highly recommend this book. Read it if you love history. Read it if your ancestors or you crossed that Big River long ago or last week. Read it if your connection to your own family runs deep or you wish it did.

To paraphrase the foreword by Joe Minjares, Prudenciano Nava is that primitive creature that lies dormant, just beneath the surface in all of us. Incomprehensible yet utterly human. This story is for everyone.

Son pequen~as historias tan simples, tan profundas... Me facina la manera en que Galeano escribe. Creo que ya he leido varias historias mas de 5 veces...
Se los recomiendo a todos...
ABRAZOS!!!

Este é definitivamente o livro que toda e qualquer pessoa deveria ter na sua estante de casa. Para grandes e pequenos. Um livro que fala da vida de uma forma deslumbrante.

Los Abrazos no es solamente un libro; es obra de arte. Dentro de sus paginas, Galeano nos ha compuesto una sinfonia de voces entregadas en historias breves, fabulas, poemas, suen~os y dibujos. El conjunto logra transmitir lo maravilloso, misterioso, ironico y horroroso de la condicion humana, jamas sin perder su enfoque en la situacion particular de America Latina. Este es un texto al que visito con frecuencia para re-encender mi coraje, profundizar mis raices y refrescar mi alma.

Beautiful book. Uno de los libros más sabios y lindos que he leído. Pequeñas historias sobre vida, amor, política, sociedad... tantas experiencias concentradas en unas pocas palabras, bien elegidas, e hasta ilustradas por el propio autor. En prosa, pero lleva por dentro la poesía de vivir con pasión.