Cathedral of the Sea
Driving Over Lemons ( contemporary memoir, but wonderful)
For Whom the Bell Tolls

Shadow of the Wind set in post civil war Barcalona.
The Angel's Game, the prequel to Shadow, set in the 20s in Barcalona.
Both by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. A little historical, a little atmospheric, fun reads.
Later on this year his third in this trilogy is coming out, Prisoner of Heaven.

There's one by some gent named Cervantes . . . title escapes me but it generated the English word "quixotic." Features an errant knight and a wise-acre sidekick who rode a donkey . . .

The wife liked Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom. Spanish Civil War fiction is fish-in-a-barrel, unfortunately. Much of Alan Furst's NIght Soldiers takes place in Catalonia.

The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez-Reverte is outstanding. Short enough to read on the flight too. His Captain Alatriste novels are pretty good too and they stand alone despite being a series (thus, I skipped #3 and missed nothing). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Alatriste

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay is set in a fictional Spain equivalent - he writes "fantasy" fiction that is (other than his first two works) really just historical fiction with renamed locations (there's one book set in pseudo-France, two set in pseudo-Byzantium, one set in pseudo China, one set in pseudo-Wales).

The Last Jew by Noah Gordon. Focus is the Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews and "new Christians" (conversos) in the late 15th century.

http://www.noahgordonbooks.com/lastjew.html

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions. Will see what my local library might have or, maybe the couple of Half Price stores here in town.