Books on Spain

ThirdMan

Hi.

I'm interested in finding some books on Spain, particularly fiction dealing with the civil war. I've already read Orwell's Homage To Catalonia, but anything similar would be great. I'm not restricted to fiction either, so all recommendations are welcome.

Thanks.

Havermeyer

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

It's set in the aftermath of the Civil War. I haven't read it yet myself, but will be covering it next year in college so I'll be reading it over the summer.

By all accounts it's supposed to be a good read.

ThirdMan

nummnutts wrote: »

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

It's set in the aftermath of the Civil War. I haven't read it yet myself, but will be covering it next year in college so I'll be reading it over the summer.

By all accounts it's supposed to be a good read.

Just looked it up... sounds absolutely perfect! Thank you.

Denerick

Recently read Homage to Catalonia by orwell.

I seem to remember enjoying 'A Moment of War' by laurie Lee when I was younger. It was similar to Orwell's book, but probably less well written and more sentimental.

Manach

The excellent historian Jan Morris wrote a very evocative book on Spain in the 60s as it was on the cusp of modernisation : called "Spain"

PurpleBee

How about For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway?

Sl!mCharles

nummnutts wrote: »

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

It's set in the aftermath of the Civil War. I haven't read it yet myself, but will be covering it next year in college so I'll be reading it over the summer.

By all accounts it's supposed to be a good read.

It is excellent. The sequel is good as well from what I can remember. Love the setting.

adrian522

+1 for "For whom the Bell tolls"

Also I've heard good things about this, actually bought it a while back but havn't gotten around to reading it yet

https://www.google.ie/search?sugexp=chrome,mod=10&ix=nh&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=ghosts+of+Spain

ThirdMan

Thanks guys. Some great recommendations in there. I'll be lying on the beach in 7 weeks making my way through a few of those.

I also came across The New Spaniards by John Hooper. It sounds very promising.

nompere

I enjoyed this a lot:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Winter-Madrid-C-J-Sansom/dp/0330411985/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335090393&sr=1-7

I like his Shardlake books, set in Tudor England as well.

draoicht

I thought "Soldiers of Salamis" by Javier Cercas was very good, a Spanish novel translated into English.

It's set in the present with a journalist investigating an incident that happened during the Civil War.

http://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Salamis-Javier-Cercas/dp/0747568235/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335141607&sr=8-1

Also, "Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past" by Giles Tremlett (non-fiction) a book looking at what's known as "The Pact of Forgetting" where after Francos' death it was largely decided not to mention the past and what had happened during the Civil War and after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of_forgetting
http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Spain-Travels-Through-Silent/dp/0802716741/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1335142022&sr=8-14

adrian522

draoicht wrote: »

I thought "Soldiers of Salamis" by Javier Cercas was very good, a Spanish novel translated into English.

It's set in the present with a journalist investigating an incident that happened during the Civil War.

http://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Salamis-Javier-Cercas/dp/0747568235/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335141607&sr=8-1

Also, "Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past" by Giles Tremlett (non-fiction) a book looking at what's known as "The Pact of Forgetting" where after Francos' death it was largely decided not to mention the past and what had happened during the Civil War and after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of_forgetting
http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Spain-Travels-Through-Silent/dp/0802716741/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1335142022&sr=8-14

Did you read Ghosts of Spain? Only the first chapter is about the Civil War and its aftermath and that's very good but the rest of the book is weak and he lets his opinions and bias cloud what he is writing about. I'm sure there are better books out there about the civil war and the aftermath.

chasmcb

I haven't read it yet myself but I've heard some rave reviews for Manuel Rivas's novel Books Burn Badly, set during the Civil War

donaghs

Laurie Lee's "As I Wandered Out One Midsummer Morning" (1969) is great account of his wandering travels through Spain in the 30s on the eve of the Civil War.

He also wrote an account of his time in the International Brigades when he returned later, "A Moment of War" (1991). I haven't read this yet, but the reviews are good. However, it was written a long time after, and I have read some literary/historical commentators questioning many aspects of historical authenticity in this last book.

Crazyivan 1979

+1 for the shadow of the wind, what is the sequel called?

I also enjoyed 'winter in madrid' by CJ Sansom

I read 'homage to catalonia' after a visit to Barcelona, wish I had read it before I went. There is a George Orwell square there!

Morzadec

donaghs wrote: »

Laurie Lee's "As I Wandered Out One Midsummer Morning" (1969) is great account of his wandering travels through Spain in the 30s on the eve of the Civil War.

He also wrote an account of his time in the International Brigades when he returned later, "A Moment of War" (1991). I haven't read this yet, but the reviews are good. However, it was written a long time after, and I have read some literary/historical commentators questioning many aspects of historical authenticity in this last book.

This is an absolutely amazing book, definitely the best travel book I've read. The prose is unbelievably good, almost poetic at times, but without pretension. It's strange because it's not all that long ago but the scenes and places he describes are like a different world. Even the first part of the story when he's in England is fascinating. It's a pretty short book but a very rewarding read.

'Winter in Madrid' as has been suggested is a very good thriller set mostly during the 2nd World War in Madrid, with some flashbacks to the Civil War and pre-Civil War times.

'Ghosts of Spain' is a very good book for a general overview of Spanish history, culture and regional differences. It's a great book for understanding Spain and I would say a must-read for anyone going to live there.

EDIT: I'll also throw a shout out for a book a friend of mine wrote (although I haven't read it yet myself), The Sun Struck Upwards', by Luke Darracott http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Struck-Upwards-Luke-Darracott/dp/0954491920 Another travel book, the title is actually a quote from Laurie Lee's masterpiece and I assume he was trying to get a sense of that book 75 years or so on. He visits all the regions of Spain over 2 months, writing about his experiences.

The Mulk

Crazyivan 1979 wrote: »

+1 for the shadow of the wind, what is the sequel called?

I also enjoyed 'winter in madrid' by CJ Sansom

I read 'homage to catalonia' after a visit to Barcelona, wish I had read it before I went. There is a George Orwell square there!

Angel's Game is the 'sequel' to Shadow of the Wind but is not a direct follow on.Some of the characters are different, (I won't spoil it for you).
I think the third in the series is being translated into English at the moment, it's on Amazon pre order, The Prisoner of Heaven and it seems to follow on directly from where Shadow of the Wind ends.
The Carpenters Pencil by Manuel Rivas is also a good read.
I did buy The Time of the Doves – Mercè Rodoreda but didn't really enjoy it, set in Barcelona at the beginning of the civil war.

Thanks for the other two suggestions.

Did anybody else seek out 'Els Quatre Gats' while in Barcelona it was the first I heard of it in Shadow of the Wind.

barhoula

Definetly read Manuel Rivas. He read at the Cuirt Festival in Galway just a few weeks ago and was amazing. His novel "The Carpenter's Pencil" is great and his new one "Books Burn Badly" also focuses on the Civil War.

PatrickL

barhoula wrote: »

Definetly read Manuel Rivas. He read at the Cuirt Festival in Galway just a few weeks ago and was amazing. His novel "The Carpenter's Pencil" is great and his new one "Books Burn Badly" also focuses on the Civil War.

+1 on all of this (he was great at Cúirt). Just read The Carpenter's Pencil and really enjoyed it.

The New Spaniards you mentioned is also a good read, you can easily dip in and out of it if it's a holiday book. I have that and the original, The Spaniards, but haven't made much of a dent in them yet. But of course they deal with post-Franco Spain, as opposed to the Civil War.

thegreengoblin

Has anyone read any of Jason Webster's books about Spain? They're a mix of autobiograpy and history. The first one Duende is about his quest to become a flamenco guitarist and is a bit self-indulgent at times but worth a read. Andalus is much better. He takes a look at Moorish Spain and in the process ends up meeting an illegal immigrant from Morocco whereby it turns into something of a travelogue but no less worthy for it.

His third book is Guerra, which is my favourite and deals with the legacy of the Civil War in Spanish society today. It's an excellent read, particularly if you haven't much knowledge of that time in Spain's history.

He has also done a couple of other books which I haven't read. One is about his attempt to make a life for himself and his family on a mountain farm while the other is a crime novel set among the bull fighting community of Valencia during the Fallas festival.

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed Tremlett's Ghosts of Spain, while the New Spaniards is worth a look also.

And for anyone with even an interest in Spain and sport, Phil Ball's Morbo is a truly brilliant book which looks at the country's fascination with football over the years. It's far more than just a book about football, it gets to the heart of Spain itself and I highly recommend it.

spiceitup

Another worth reading might be Ian Gibson's biography of Lorca, but it might be too specific for your purposes,

dohouch

Books4Spain
Look up Gerald Brennan, Chris Stewart,

treacyjane

I enjoyed 'winter in madrid' by CJ Sansom

trishasaffron

Manach wrote: »

The excellent historian Jan Morris wrote a very evocative book on Spain in the 60s as it was on the cusp of modernisation : called "Spain"

Reading this at the moment and am mostly very much enjoying it - she creates a wonderful atmosphere. However there is a smidgen of "English colonial on tour amongst the natives" about it. Got to thinking that I would be afraid to read any book Morris might write on the "picaresque charming Oirish".

BrendanCro

May seem like a strange reply but if you want to understand Spanish history can do a lot worse than understanding the history of Spain's football clubs.

FC Barcelona is such an integral part of Catalonia and can only be fully understood by understanding Madrid too. Athletic Bilbao and Real Socieadad are the Basque clubs (Athletic have never played a non-Basque i think).

Anyway I'd recommend the following:

• Barca - A people's passion by Jimmy Burns
• La Roja - a Journey through Spanish football by Jimmy Burns
• Morbo - the story of Spanish football by Phil Ball

Dortilolma

nompere wrote: »

I enjoyed this a lot:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Winter-Madrid-C-J-Sansom/dp/0330411985/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335090393&sr=1-7

I like his Shardlake books, set in Tudor England as well.

Ditto, I really enjoyed Winter in Madrid and am a fan of Sansom's writing.