Books in Spanish

Hi All,

I've just come across the first (!) book in Spanish written by an Hispanic that I've found to be both interesting and not too difficult to follow. One of my conversation exchange partners passed it on to me, and from the sounds of it, the author's other books are similar.
- ¿Quién soy yo? - Julia Navarro

I find that having a book in electronic form also makes it really easy to copy and paste into Google translate, so the reading is not slowed down excessively by looking up words.

¡Saludos!

Steven

p.s. My previous aborted attempts... "Don Quijote" is interesting but difficult. "Cien años de soledad" and "La casa de los espíritus" are less difficult but I couldn't seem to get into the stories. 
 

Maybe we can form a book club in Spanish. I don't want to lose all the studying that I did.

Anything to help us continue learning is a great idea. What did you have in mind Aurora?

Don Quijote...one of the people on the Cuba trip last year was a college professor who spent the entire time there reading Don Quijote. On one level it made sense to me that he was reading a book written in Spanish in a Spanish speaking country...I read Hemingway's Nick Adams Stories while in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where they were set and written. But while the rest of us were exploring the country, seeing new things, and interacting with the people, this guy sat on the bus or on a park bench with his nose in his book. It just seemed like a wasted opportunity to me.

Wow, that's more than a wasted opportunity. The guy must have been totally overwhelmed by the cultural experience and just shut down / crawled into a shell (book).
 

He was a strange guy. Obviously very intelligent but for a professor he seemed profoundly un (or in?)-curios. He seemed not at all interested in the culture, architecture, or any other aspect of the place. Just his book. I decided he was the kind of guy who gives academics a bad reputation: the world outside their lecture hall or lab is unimportant. Which reminds me of this French proverb:
 

A lot of academic types are very introverted and insular.  It does seem like such a waste to go on a trip to Cuba and not interact with the surroundings.  Why bother going?  You can read books at home.

I can see this guy peppering his lectures now with "cultural insights" from his trip - insights he wrote up prior to leaving...
 

Yes, Robert, I was going to give the excuse that maybe he was just too shy! But for someone who probably gives lectures...

Hi guys,

I would recommend reading "Ut y las Estrellas" by Pilar Molina Llorente, she's a Spanish writer; this was the first book I read as a kid; and some schools actually recommend it for their Spanish class... It's short and with short chapters as well, which makes the reading a little faster...

Cheers!
 

Thanks for the word, Marie. Reading books with short chapters is definitely a plus for me.
 

Marie,
You should have a badge in Rocket Spanish called "Spanish Infant"--it's like totally starting over again! Thanks for the book recommendation! 

How about "Special Needs Learner?" Sometimes I think I am regressing.

I know the feeling! "Spanish Slowpoke?" That would be me this summer. No, more like "Spanish Slacker."