Spanish Books Books

A very human story, the surreally interpreted world of a woman, through her life. Reminds me of Camus' "Stranger" for athmospheres and coldness of style. Highly rewarding reading.

Advise: The book was written in catalan. So, the original title is "La plaça del diamant". It's one of the best of Catalan literature. It's around the story of a woman during the civil war

If Catalan, the language in which this novel was written, were a world language like Spanish, Merce Rodoreda would be as famous as Gabriel García Márquez, who called La Plaza del Diamante "the most beautiful novel published in Spain after the Civil War."

This book is well worth reading. The portrait of Catalunians at the time of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)is excellent. The ramifications of war on non-participants is examined, particularly on women and children. Although originally written in Catalan, it is studied in Spanish as an exemplary example of Spanish Literature of the 20th Century. Just so you know, it has also been made into a movie with English subtitles, although as usual it is much better to read the novel. Natalia becomes "Colometa" (pigeon/dove)and reverts to Natalia. She finds herself in a controlling relationship...will she find her wings? Pay attention to the imagery of the doves and the diamonds and the constant tracing of images.

Tuve conocimiento de este libro a travez de un amigo que me encontre en un avión viajando para Miami. En cuanto llegue a la librería mas proxima, lo compré y ahi comenzo mi aventura y deleite en este libro

A Profecia celestina é um livro muito empolgante, quando você começa a ler não quer mais parar, pois a cada instante o livro revela coisas que são úteis no nosso dia a dia e que nos dão uma nova imagem da vida humana. O livro nos leva à consciência que as coincidências têm uma razão de ser, e trata isso de uma forma coerente e não muito filosófica. Gostei muito desse livro... Márcia Cristina Mendes Deischl (Brasil

Este libro presenta conceptos que algunas personas ya manejabamos, me llegó como una reafirmación al trabajo que estamos realizando. todas las personas deben de leer este libro para entrar a la corriente evolutiva del planeta. Este libro ya se volvió un clásico en la literatura universal.

EXCELENTE.

No se si sea un libro de superación personal, pero en cada una de las iluminaciones, encontré algo positivo que aplicar a mi vida personal. Y conste que normalmente soy una persona super escéptica. Además me gustó porque es sumamente digerible (fácil y agradable de leer). Me gustan las historias que involucran cosas del mundo maya. Repito que soy de naturaleza escéptica, pero al final del libro ya tenía yo en mis manos formas palpables de cosas que siempre sentí en el aire, como el amor, la importancia de agradecer los alimentos y comerlos con gusto y conciencia, y sobre todo: pensar siempre de manera positiva.

Los niños es muy usual que se sientan solos, ya que solamente ellos saben lo que guardan, y este libro te guiará para saber lo que sienten y poner en práctica los consejos. TE LO RECOMIENDO !

Los peques son seres complicados,con mucho mar de fondo.
Averiguarlo es muy importante, Y ESTE LIBRO TE GUIA PARA SABER LA VERDAD Y PONER EL REMEDIO.
Los niños jamás lo dicen: Ni siquiera conocen el nombre de "Soledad "
A nosotros NOS CORRESPONDE INVESTIGARLO...

AND EVEN THE THOUGHT OF YOUR CHILD FEELING LONELY SEEMS ABSURD, PAINFUL, UNBELIEVABLE...
But the interior world of kids is mysterious, and ussually, when they are REALY IN PAIN, THEÝ DON'T TELL ONE WORD ABOUT IT TO PARENTS..

Your child might feel miserable at school, at home or both... AND IT'S NOT EASILY DETECTED...

Please, read this book OF LOVE..just because you love them and PUT A STOP TO THEIR UNKNOWN LONELINESS...

junto con "Cómo y Cuando decir que no a Nuestros Hijos "
Bellísimo, perceptivo y acertado.

Este es un libro extremadamente divertido. El trama salta del cuento (verdadero?) entre Varguitas y la tia Julia por una parte y las "radio-novelas" cada vez mas ridiculas por otra (del escribidor).

Hay escenas inolvidables como cuando Varguitas y Julia buscan a un alcade corrupto para consagrar su matrimonio (menor de edad, documentos falsos, etc.). Tambien, la manera en que el esbridor se burla de su audiencia con sus historietas (personajes muertos que reaparecen, etc.), nos hace pensar que Mario Vargas Llosa hace lo mismo con el cuento autobiografico de su amor con Julia con nosotors, los lectores.

Un libro estupendo -- quisiera conseguir la version de Julia ("lo que Varguitas no dijo", ed. Khana Cruz, 1983, Julia Urquidi Illanes, Lccn #84120106" -- por favor me avisen si tienen mas informacion).

I couldn't stop reading it eventhough they were too many names I really found it interesting,fast to read and with a lot of humor.What I need is that I have to talk about this book at school and I'm not very good at doing this.Can some one help me?I've got to get the best grade because I'm a little low in grades right now.Thank you very much.
I hope someone understand my English because it has been a long time since I've spoken it.Bye.

Although this novel has been termed "Flaubertian" by more than one writer (and not only as a compliment, at least in some cases), my opinion is that Gustave Flaubert was never even close to portrait the untangible spirit of everyday love, hate, lust, greed, gossip, fanatism and passion the way Vargas Llosa does in this novel. Perhaps people from more temperate societies could have a difficult time understanding how all the forementioned characters interact to form everyday life in Latin America, but if anybody could show it to them, it is Vargas Llosa. In this novel a demented,compulsive chauvinist, racist(anti-Riverplateans) and diminutive radio soapopera scriptwriter is nevertheless redeemed by an unconquerable zeal to portray what are just small exagerations of what really happens aroud him; and even serves as an inspiration for a budding writer and his forbidden love. How all this twists and turns is fascinatingly complex, and beyond any possible synopsis.

I never thought I could get so much reading pleasure out of a Latin American writer. I am hooked and will try to read all of Mario's books. This book took me to a fascinating culture in Lima, and the life and tribulations of a young and aspiring , latin writer and lover and the characters of a decade long gone in the world

I was going to write this review in Spanish, but, all the other ones are in English, so I will play along...

This books has one passage, when Seguismundo talks to the girl for the first time, when he says:

Con cada vez que te veo
nueva admiración me das,
y cuando te miro más,
aun más mirarte deseo.
Ojos hidrópicos creo
que mis ojos deben ser;
pues cuando es muerte el beber,
beben más, y de esta suerte,
viendo que el ver me da muerte,
estoy muriendo por ver.

God, I never get tired of reading that passage, it is the best, my favorite in the world.

Loved the rest of the book.

Ps: For the lawyers: The above passage is copyrighted, blah, not mine, yours, blah.

This book is one of the most comprehensive works of Spanish literature. It forces you to think about honor, loyalty, love, and dreams. Perception is reality in this world created by Calderon de la Barca. This is a timeless creation.

This play by Pedro Calderon is one of the treasures of Spanish literature. From the golden age of hispanic civilisation comes this tale of a country in turmoil, the mistreated prince at the heart of it all, and a mysterious woman who brings order out of chaos.

Este libro es bien confuso al principio pero despues que empiezas a leer te das cuenta de que es muy interesante, asi que lean este libro de Pedro Calderon, que sin duda alguna no lo van a poder soltar. La vida es sueno es un libro que te lleva a realizar que es verdad que la vida sin lugar a duda es y sera simplemente un sueno del que no puedes escapar, con cosas buenas y cosas malas tambien. LA VIDA ES SUENO, te va a facinar!!!!

For those interested in reading about Colombian society, this work of fiction is a good read. Though not extremely profound, it is nevertheless entertaining.

One can't help but feel saddened at the feud between the Barragans and the Monsalves, which is the premise of this story. The characters are colorful and emotionally riveting... you actually feel sorry for Mani, who has to choose between loyalty to a long-held traditiion or the wishes of his expectant wife. I think Laura Restrepo is one of the most talented writers of our generation, and she is able to weave fact and fiction, fantasy and reality into an incredible tale of lust, greed, vengeance and filial duty. Utterly amazing story!

This ought to be required reading for every politician in Washington. It explores the culture of Columbia and lays bare why we are fools to try to intervene in something we hardly understand.

i approach magical realism with as much skepticism permitted this rational being, but leopard in the sun only hints at the unseen to provide a lyrical and haunting saga of colombia's own hatfield and mccoy blood feud. the writing is pitch perfect, the characters limned to symbolic fullness, the plot a potboiler. combine west side story, scarface, with some premodern juju, and you might arrive at the sense of this wonderful book.

This is one of my favorite tapes for learning Spanish. Fun, and easy to understand songs for the entire family.

The audio is of high quality, the speakers have clear voices and the cards are very helpful. My only problem with it is that they go too fast for a beginner, but they all do. It seems obvious to me...slow down! When a baby is learning to speak, you don't say "apple" all of the time, sometimes you have to say "aaa pull" I have to stop the tape player over and over and over........However, I do recomend this. I would buy it again.

My daughter (age 10) and I have been playing Linguafun card games for a few days and really enjoying it. The cards guarantee success in speaking in sentences right away, rather than learning numbers and colors and just a few phrases at first, the way I learned in school. It's spurred us both on to learn more--I only wish there were more sets of cards from Linguafun.

I am a Spanish teacher, and have used the Linguafun cards in the classroom. I was amazed at how easily my students learned Spanish using these cards and cassette! The set comes with instructions for many different games, but our favorite in the classroom is "War". I have reviewed and tried many products for teaching Spanish, and Linguafun is by far THE BEST! It's the easiest way I have ever seen of learning a foreign language. I can't wait for all the other languages to be available

This book is the real deal. It's a story Spanish-American War from a real participant's view, instead of some long-winded pseudo-intellectual pedagogue.
Unlike the more famous [and high ranking] participants, such as Theodore Roosevelt and George Dewey, who wrote about their exploits, Charles Johnson Post was a private. He was a combat veteran who successfully dodged Spanish bullets and survived the Cuban campaign only to nearly die in the horrific quarentine camp which awaited the returning soldiers.
Not only did Mr. Post write a great story, but illustrated the scenes of the war.
My reason for not rating this a 5 is that there were not enough of Mr.Post's artwork and for printing copies of his water colors in B&W!

The Little War of Private Post is undoubtedly a classic in the genre of "American Memoirs of the Common Soldier". Common in this case is most uncommon as Charles Post recounts his days with the N.Y. 71st infantry during the Spanish American War. His account of the experience of combat rings true, but truer yet, an unfliching look, sometimes poignant, sometimes hilarious, of his experiences as a citizen soldier in the Spanish American War. From the incompetence of the high command to the inadaquacies of the supply chain, Post leaves no doubt in our mind as to the idiocy of going to war in haste to serve the popular will, a timely reminder for our present situation. His descriptions of the food, the living conditions, (especially aboard the transport ships), the lack of unified command strikes one as curiously contemporary in light of the more than 100 years separation. Post went on to live a varied and adventurous life, his war time sketches and paintings have a very vivid impact onto our black and white images of the Spanish American War. They can be found in larger size in Living Color in older issues of American Heritage, February 1957 as I recall, where I first saw his art as a boy. A lively and entertaining account of a now forgotten era, highly reccomended by this old reader.

A classic story of one man's experiences during the short, but brutal war in Cuba. Private Post details his everyday struggles to keep his health, his sanity and his life intact. Amazing information on small details of what life was like in the army at the time. The heat, bad food, military blunders, inept commanders, cunning Spanish foes, the wounded, sickness and victories are explained in Mr. Post's basic and direct style. A must read for any fan of this conflict that allows the reader to suffer along with the soldiers wearing wool tunics and armed with weapons that were outdated. A classic. Check it out.

I first read this book in 1961 when it was published by Signet in a mass market edition when I was at university. I have found it so valuable that it is still in my collection.
As a long time "grunt" historian of the life and times of the common soldier I have had occasion to refer to this time and again for details of clothing and equipment. Post was an illustrator for a New York paper and went to war carrying his sketchbook as a member of a New York National Guard unit still equipped with Indian War vintage single shot "trapdoor" Springfield rifles firing black powder whose smoke revealed their firing positions to the Spaniards concealed with smokeless firing Mauser rifles.
A less grim story is that the box knapsacks carried by the troops were admirably suited to carry bottles of whiskey in the blanket rolls and demijohns in the compartments along with a pair of spare socks and some toiletries.
Seldom was an amphibious campaign more mismanaged or carried out but this is not the place for that discussion.
This war was the last gasp of that primitive nineteenth century organization dominated by the technical bureaus and in which the Commanding General of the Army commanded only his own personal retainers in peace time. The main result of this war was the establishment of a proper general staff for planning and training on the European model.
The commentator, Graham A. Cosmas, is a long time specialist in the history of the Indian fighting army.

Soy un estudiante "hispanofil" de la lengua castellana y compró el libro para estudiar/practicar porqué parece ser un libro interesante, sobre cosas actuales, y no tan dificil porque tiene muchos capítulos cortos.

Es, de verdad, muy interesante. A leer el libro es como ver a muchos sitios y actos, en America Latina y el mundo en general, sin viajar, sientado en la silla. Es mejor que las noticias "normales"; muy descriptivo, no es completamente objectivo porque tiene las opiniónes y afecciónes politicas del escritor, y para mi fui muy comodo la posibilidad a leer unos capitulos cada vez.

Voy as comprar más libros de Sr. Jorge Ramos.

Purchased this book and started reading and could not put it down. Very good and coloquial narrative style. Also read Bajo la Mascara from same author, but this is far better,Highly recommend this book.

Congratulations to the author, waiting for the next one.

Iris Sanchez

Another great book by Jorge Ramos. Well written, easy reading, and very informative. He tells it "like it is"...

Yo me identifico mucho con este libro, pues en el, Jorge Ramos habla de la guerra de El salvador y yo siendo Salvadorena recuerdo exactamente todo lo sucedido durante la guerra en mi pais.
Ademas admiro mucho al senor Jorge Ramos.

There's a sea-horse race in this book. Not just a sea-horse race, but a sea-horse race inside a giant diamond-shaped tank of oxygenated fluid that also holds a beautiful submerged woman dancing and creating music with the movement of her locks of hair, sometimes enhancing the gyration of her head with sudden tosses and jostles of her hips. There's not only that, but several automaton devices that use flotation and buoyancy to drive their mechanic parts and act out various historical and mythological scenes. Like Voltaire suddenly doubting his atheistic doctrines, or Atlas kicking a celestial object, or Pilate being branded on the forehead.

All of that takes place inside the gigantic diamond-like tank of oxygenated fluid. A very lustrous fluid.

By the way, the English translation sometimes calls the sea-horses "hippocampi." Don't be confused: in context, it means sea-horses. It's not talking about parts of a brain. You might be thinking, "well there's no possible room for confusion there!", but au contraire. Because inside the tank is also a floating head/face of Danton, composed exclusively of the preserved nerves and musculuture, without any bones or skin. And re-animated with expertly applied electrical currents, courtesy of Canterel and his cat.

And they're not just any sea-horses. They're sea-horses equipped with "setons" attached to a shining golden sphere that they themselves created by kneading together small globulets of golden wine that Canterel pours into the tank and lets float down to them.

The entire episode I'm talking about took place long after the book had already left my jaw on the floor. In short: read it. You know that "dream-like" quality that hyped books supposedly possess? Say, like "Amnesia Moon"? Well Raymond Roussel accomplishes all that without any narrative tricks, without any deception, without any ill-defined or sensationally blurred "boundaries between dream and reality" or any of that nonsense. Roussel accomplishes his feats the old fashioned way: with elbow grease, and imagination. He accomplishes it by giving everything to you, not hiding things from you.

Who is the Canterel I mentioned above? Canterel-- a name that one should never utter aloud except on bended knee-- has the wealth and quirk of Willy Wonka, combined with the wealth and ingenuity of Bruce Wayne. Which makes for a very rich, very marvelous fellow. His estate and private collection puts both of those men's assets to shame, quite extravagantly.

As you already know, the book is a narrated trip through some of Canterel's exhibits. He aims to please, though. So don't think that the book will lack character, plot, or suspense just because it's a sort of museum-tour. There's stories within stories that explain the exhibits. And they have everything that archetypically good "stories" have, and more: love, betrayal, forgiveness, fantastic magnanimity, loss, disgrace, lust, vindication. I was breathless waiting for the resolutions of certain tales, practically jumping off my reading-bench to cheer for the characters, or otherwise immobilized by the revelations and vicissitudes.

Did I mention that nerves/musculuture of Danton's head are set into physiological motor motion by an electric current provided by a swimming cat whose hairless body acts as a battery after eating a specially-designed pill and is trained to stick its head into a long metal hat-like cone which becomes its electrode terminus?

And it's all described soberly, no tricks. By the way, Roussel (though there's a chance it's the translators doing, since I haven't and couldn't read the original French) tells his stories, tells the motivations and actions of characters, with a very skillful use of words, using strong descriptive verbs and nouns. The sentences held together with a unique power. Many times I took great pleasure in re-reading certain sentences, because they were said so absolutely perfectly. Of course, that should be the hallmark of a professional writer, but I don't find it too often.

So anyway you'll feel like you're there. You won't even have any disbelief to suspend. At certain points, like a particular early exhibit that I won't name, I said to myself, "There's no going back, this is too fantastic, there's no POSSIBLE EXPLANATION of this, Roussel has crossed the line, this is uncanny and totally unrecoverable at this point, I feel exploited!," and I kept reading, kept reading-kept reading, "by god, no, by GOD HE'S DONE IT!, he's doing it, by god Canterel, Roussel, you've done it, my good holy god unbeliEVABLE!!! Whew. Wow." I had to close the book for a minute and lean against a fence, nodding my head uncontrollably. When you close this book and put it on your shelf when done, you'll keep suspecting that it's about to burst open and spill out its contents all over your room, neighborhood, and city-- and you'll feel like an angry god for actually having the ability to close the book and contain it.

Book will take your breath away. If not check your pulse. Or, try something else. Bye.

I used to have so much fun reading this book. I remember I miraculously found a copy in some book shop on the far southside of Chicago for $8. One night I was drinking with some classmates shortly after class and I made the mistake of lending this irreplacable book to one of them, which of course the fool never returned nor probably ever read or if he did appreciated. May every curse be piled upon your perfidious little name, punk, which it is a blessing I can't remember it was so long ago.
I remember the first time I read Impressions of Africa, right after graduating high school. I was a naive young admirer of Duchamp at the time, and I kept seeing these references to Roussel, and the description of Impressions made it sound like a travel book. Had I known him then I might have expected something like a French William Cobbett. Ha! I don't think I realized something definitely strange was going on in those pages until I reached the part with the father and his sons echoing their voices off of each other's chests with their shirts being stuck to their skin "by some sticky substance", -- the word "substance" somehow set me laughing for a solid twenty, thirty minutes, and all the hilarity, the absurdity of the Incomporables' show that had gone on before were finally apparent to me. I have been a lover of Roussel ever since; the only casualty was my perspective of Duchamp's accomplishment, which is as Duchamp himself admitted greatly indebted to Roussel's.
Locus Solus is the book Roussel wrote after Impressions and the two make a pair unlike any other in literature. Locus is presided over by Martial Canteral, a figure right out of Jules Verne, who Roussel once said was a name that should not be spoken aloud "except on bended knee," -- hm, yes -- Canterel is a famous scientist and inventor, and the book is set at his estate where a group of distinguished figures have been invited to a tour of guided by none other than its owner and director. The book follows the tour as one of the eyewitnesses, and the sights along the way are so bizarre, the machinery so complex and beyond any reasonable utility, it quite defies any attempt to describe the effect here. One impression I think that merits a word or two is the apparent lack of emotion in the book. I would say that there is a great amount of sadness and tragedy in the book that adds a kind of under-layer parallel to the encoded sentences of Roussel's method. The vitallium episode, in which Canterel invents a "certain chemical" that makes the bodies of the dead become animate again (but are still dead) has a very particular strain of anguish and loss inherent in its concept. And then there is also the weariness of the visionary experienced by the reader, the author, and the characters being audience to so many impossibilities one after the other piled up so high there is an actual physical exhaustion after the conclusion. And then of course there is also the tragedy of the author himself, who had both novels lavishly adapted for the theater, and created two of the most colossal failures in the history of drama, causing riots and scandal at the showings and humiliation to the author. He ended up a pitiful man, addicted to drugs and having spent all his fortune, he killed himself in his forties with a great dream "of a glory that shall outshine that of Victor Hugo or Napoleon."
This is not a book for everyone, perhaps even for very few. However there is no good reason these two books are out of print. It is long past time they are reprinted and Roussel be given the honor he deserves.

i read this book when i was about 13 and i have been wanting to read it again for 17 years. i remember it only vaguely, but i know it was good. please mister publisher, print it again.

Roussel's novels are giant puzzles, in which he describes images and stories that have a unique carnival logic. Punning relationships generate textual rebuses (rebi?), in a way that makes the reader aware of the book as a mechanism, but Roussel gives too few clues to really understand it. In Locus Solus, Roussel gives a tour of the museum garden of an eccentric millionaire, who, like Roussel himself, collects with a frenetic and psychedelic rationalism. Please, Riverrun Press, reprint this book.