Reading Recommendations Spain
 

Hello,

I am going to Spain in June (Barcelona, Granada, and Seville) and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for good books to read. Not travel guides, but fiction set in these places, biographies etc. I just finished a trio of biographies on Catherine of Aragon, Isabella and Ferdinand and would love some new books that either shed some light on the history of these areas or are set in these locales...

I saw a similar thread last week about books and Italy, and everyone here is so knowledgeable, I thought I'd try here for recommendations on Spain.

Thanks in advance!
Kate

Jan Potocki: The Manuscript Found in Saragossa.

A phantastic, highly imaginative novel. Simply breathtaking.

http://www.amazon.com/Manuscript-Fou...dp/0140445803/

I know you asked for fiction, but there is a spectacular non-fiction book by the dead art critic Robert Hughes simply called Barcelona. It is witty, insightful and highly entertaining.

Garcia Lorca is a well-known playwright and poet from Andalusia. His best know works are the plays Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding), Yerma, and La Casa de Bernarda Alba (The House of Bernarda Alba).

I helped refine part of a cousin's doctoral these on Calderón de la Barca, a leading figure in the Golden Age of Spanish Theatr in the 1600's. I would read La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream).

Maybe James Michener's Iberia.

"James Michener's Iberia"... No, the times have changed!

The Shadow of the Wind, Don Quixote, The Gaudi Key

I read Michener's Iberia during our first six month trip to Spain in 1972. It dulled the excitement of the day by reading it at night and his predictions for Spain were almost all incorrect.

The Fencing Master and the various entries in the Alatriste series by Perez-Reverte.

Shadow of the Wind is well-written and overly dramatic.

As a general point of information, Goodreads has excellent lists for many countries, and you don't need to join to access them.

In the Night of Time by Antonio Muñoz Molina

A Heart So White by Javier Marias

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

In the House of Bernarda Alba is a favourite of mine!


Thin

Another Robert Hughes book, a biography of Goya, which by necessity sheds light on the history of Spain, both before and after Goya lived:
http://www.amazon.com/Goya-Robert-Hughes/dp/0375711287

Is this the book you read about Isabella? If not then now recommended, "Isabella: The Warrior Queen" by Kirstin Downey:
http://www.amazon.com/Isabella-Warri...dp/0307742164/

Both are non-fiction, but I thought to be easy, enjoyable, and informative reads.

Robert Wilson's Sevilla-books, especially The Blind Man Of Seville is a great thriller and an encounter with the city and the atmosphere: http://www.robert-wilson.eu/falcon/
http://www.robert-wilson.eu/falcon/blind.html

Gerald Brenan's classic "South from Granada":
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Classic.../dp/0141189320
http://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...travel-writing

Eduardo Mendoza's The City of Marvels about Barcelona between the two world fairs in 1888 and 1929: http://www.amazon.com/The-City-Marve.../dp/0671702343

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!

Covered a few times in the past.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...p-to-spain.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...d-portugal.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...t-in-spain.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...p-to-spain.cfm