Deborah's Spanish Literature Recommendations

I love Hispano-American literature, what I love most of all is when a writer makes you travel around the world. They gave you not just a fantastic story, they also teach you different life styles and cultures in different times. Here are some of my favorites Hispanic writers:

Isabel Allende, (b 1942, Lima, Perú) is a journalist and a Chilean writer, she is the most popular Ibero-American fiction writer. Her most famous books are La Casa de los Espiritus (The House of Spirits) and one of my favorites, Ines de mi alma (Ines of My Soul) both taking place in Chile and Peru. My other favorites are:

  • La Ciudad de las bestias (City of the Beasts)
  • El bosque de los pigmeos (Forest of the Pygmies)
  • El reino del Dragón de oro (Kingdom of the Golden Dragon)
Of course you can get them in English, but the Spanish version can help you to improve your vocabulary.

Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa (b 1936, Tenerife-España) Journalist, inventor and the best selling Spanish writer. He traveled around the world working as a journalist and his books make you travel not just in space in time as well. His best book is Tuareg taking place in North Africa and my favorite, Viracocha about Peru and Ecuador and taking place when the Spanish just began exploring Peru.

Alfredo Bryce Echenique (b 1939 Lima, Perú) An amazing Peruvian writer, his writing contains lots of humor and his books give a very nice vision of high class Peruvian society. Un mundo para Julius (A World of Julius: a Novel), is his best known novel and my favorite is La Vida exagerada de Martin Romaña.

Ciro Alegría (b 1909 d 1967 Huamachuco, Perú) Writer, politician, and Peruvian journalist. He is the most important writer of the indigenist style in Peru. Mundo es Ancho y Ajeno (Broad and Alien is the World) is considered to be his masterpiece, it is about life in the Andes of Peru and is my favorite of his several novels.

Gabriel García Márquez (b 1928 Aracataca, Colombia 1928) Journalist and a Colombian writer. He received a Nobel Price in Literature (1982). His best novel is the well known 100 anos de Soledad (100 Years of Solitude) His favorite and my favorite is El amor en los tiempos del Colera (Love in the Time of Cholera). Both take place in Colombia.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte (b 1951 Cartagena, España), writer and Spanish journalist. He is in historical stories like Captain Alatriste and Cabo Trafalgar and La Reina del Sur (The Queen of the South) (México/Spain) is my favorite.