Re: Books about Spain..
 

Saw John Tams in concert last week, brilliant folk singer and many references to the Sharpe series.

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Don't you believe it! I still enjoy my copy of Hola! magazine!!:lol:
Looking forward to a few new reads...gracias!

Carol

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Yes, if he is the chap who plays one of Sharpe's riflemen in the TV series (tall, dark-haired?) I'd agree. His voice is unique.

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Yes he played Dan Hagman

Re: Books about Spain..
 

LOL not at all.....I think with busy lives in Britain it's a case of finding time. I tend to read when I have flu etc. If I get hooked then everything stops until I finish it. I find it so relaxing to turn the din of the TV off and read.. no matter how stimulating the book might be, it is so much more relaxing.
By the way my knowledge of the classics is a fraud...read some of the orignals, but most of it gleaned from those wonderful Classics Illustrated comics. You see them for sale all the time on E-bay, and when I occasionally buy one, the images instantly take me back to being 10 years old ..;)

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Shirley Maclaine wrote a book called the camino, about that pilgrims walk in Northern Spain, I read it and always wondered if she really did the whole thing as she claimed she did. Its full of a lot of new age claptrack, so I wouldnt really recommend it...theres a bit of history in it, anybody know if she really did it, or was it just a ruse.....is that how you spell ruse....

This is what the blurb says about her journey, has anyone out there done the walk? It must be quite an achievement to complete it...

"Known as the "Camino," the ancient road to Santiago de Compostela is a famous pilgrimage trek taken by people for centuries across northern Spain. It is said, by some, that this 500-mile path lies directly under the Milky Way and that it reflects the energy of the star systems above it. Facing her seventh decade of life on earth, writer and actor Shirley MacLaine decided to take this fascinating trek. She wasn't sure why, she only knew that the Camino had been travelled for thousands of years by "saints, sinners, generals, misfits, kings and queens". Her motivation was that doing the trek would help "to find one's deepest spiritual meaning and resolutions regarding conflicts in Self".

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Carol - have you tackled any Spanish books yet? I´ve read the adapted and shortened version of Don Quijote because, well, it is supposed to be the Spanish book isn´t it? Not really taken with the story line though.

Otherwise I have read El Alquimista in Spanish which is really easy to read and quite enjoyable. But the book was translated into Spanish - original version is Brazilian Portuguese I think. And I read El Perfume "The Perfume" in Spanish, but again it wasn´t original version which I think is German?? And that was extremely hard to understand.

I´d like to tackle a book written in Spanish by a Spanish author sometime, but I´m not familiar enough with the authors to know which one to go for or which one suits my tastes better. (Not really into modern fiction or non-fiction). Heard of Miguel Delibes?? Read anything by him that you would recommend??? I´ve noticed he does a few not too lengthy looking books!!

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Right, a serious post now.

I have a very well read copy of 'Como agua para chocolate' by Laura Esquivel.

Brilliant book and it gets wheeled out every now and then for a read.

Re: Books about Spain..
 

I remember that book....Annie and I had to read extracts from it in Spanish when we first arrived here as part of our Spanish classes in the academy.

Bit girlie though wasn´t it?? All those recipes!!!

Re: Books about Spain..
 

I quite like it, a friend gave me the book years ago, said it was my kind of book, and I didn't read it for ages, I thought the same, but it turned out a really nice book. Different.

Re: Books about Spain..
 

We´d only been here a few weeks when we had to read it (or parts of it) so our level of Spanish wasn´t that great at the time and I have to say I found it really difficult.

If I had another go now I´m sure I would get a lot more out of it.......I can always gloss over the recipe parts:D.

It was made into a film too (Spanish language). After reading the book and discussing it in class they showed us the film....it seemed to make much more sense then!

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Perhaps she did it in a former life ?? Hadn't she claimed to be reincarnated like Madonna and many others??
I read Perfume by Patrick Susskind in English. Fascinating read but fizzled out at the end I thought. In Spanish.. well top marks to you.
Can someone with a more ordered mind than my own please collate all these suggestions into one list??
You never know JDR might even be able to put a link into Amazon so we can buy them online.
And Carol I am with you on Hola. They had a copy in the phlebotomy dept of the local hospital and it was really good for my Spanish. Well that's my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Hola! Yes, I am sad;)...but, I couldn't resist. (In the order as posted on the thread):
“The Blind Man of Seville” by Robert Wilson.
“Driving Over Lemons” and “A Parrot in a Pepper Tree” by Chris Stewart
“Spanish Lessons” by Derek Lambert
“South from Granada” by Gerald Brenan
"Winter in Madrid" by C.J. Sansom
“Ghosts of Spain” by Giles Tremlett
"Andalus", "Duende", and, "Guerra" by Jason Webster
"The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
"Spanish Steps" by Tim Moore
"It's not about the Tapas" by Polly Evans
Bernard Cornwell's The "Sharpe" series, most recent edition, “Sharpe's Fury"
“The Camino” by Shirley MacLaine
“Don Quijote” by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
“El Alquimista” by ?
“El Perfume”, or “Perfume” by Patrick Susskind
“Como agua para chocolate” by Laura Esquivel
"Hola!" magazine(!)

More to follow...

Regards,
Carol

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Whats wrong with Matts "Yellow River" :)

Re: Books about Spain..
 

Matt!!!!

Matt who???????

Rosemary