Mi propria biblioteca
August 28, 2022 10:52 PM Subscribe
Help me find FICTION books I will love - written in Spanish! Quirks inside.
My Spanish reading comprehension is pretty good, and whatever I don't know, I can easily look up. So don't worry about that piece.
Problem is: I'm having a hard time finding books in Spanish I really love. I have a similar problem in English, but at least with those I can glance at a page or two and make a judgment call pretty quickly.
Some tips as to my taste:
My Spanish reading comprehension is pretty good, and whatever I don't know, I can easily look up. So don't worry about that piece.
Problem is: I'm having a hard time finding books in Spanish I really love. I have a similar problem in English, but at least with those I can glance at a page or two and make a judgment call pretty quickly.
Some tips as to my taste:
- Spanish-language literature from anywhere is fine, including the US.
- I prefer short and pithy over long and wordy. Graphic novels are typically a really good answer for me.
- I am ever appalled by typical literary cis white male-isms, but I won't shun a fully felt, thoughtful novel by a cis white guy.
- Genres I gravitate to: speculative, science fiction, spy novels that are at least somewhat critical of the society where the spies come from (John le Carré comes to mind), horror, 19th century novels. I'm wary of a lot of science fiction because of cis white male-isms, though.
- Genres I don't really care for: police procedurals, and most of what constitutes non-genre 20th OR 21st century literary fiction. Anything like Donna Tartt is absolutely out, same with Hemingway and Virginia Woolf. I don't have the patience required.
- Books written in Spanish that I adore: El Beso de la Mujer Araña by Manuel Puig, Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego by Mariana Enriquez.
- Books considered classics that I put down after a few pages: Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo. I found it drab. See my comment about literary fiction above.
- English language writers I love: Martha Wells, Rebecca Roanhorse, John le Carré, Mick Herron, Tana French, the Brontes, Ted Chiang, Helene Wecker, S.A. Chakraboty, Isaac Bashevis Singer (although he may have written in Yiddish), James Lee Burke.
Response by poster: I should add: I'm generally not a fan of magical realism either. I'm more into what Bashevis Singer called "demonic realism." But I'm willing to look at the magical realism genre / style from lesser known authors.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 3:40 AM on August 29, 2022
posted by Sheydem-tants at 3:40 AM on August 29, 2022
I've been enjoying modern Mexican literature which fits a lot of these criteria. There's some great small independent presses right now.
Paraiso Perdido has a lot of great stuff. I recommend anything by Rodriguez Liceaga. He has a new book out with Ediciones Franz in Spain. I'd also recommend Alfonso Lopez Corral and his interesting book Cien Caballos en el Mar.
If you want a taster, there's Hambres Heroicas which is an anthology of short stories by a lot of Mexican writers.
I just finished reading Ave Barrera's Puertas Demasiadas Pequenas which I think you'd enjoy. I plan to read her Restauracion next.
I've just ordered a bunch of books from Ediciones Era but have not read them yet. This includes a book of essays by Gonzalo Lizardo and Ana García Bergua's new book Leer en los Aviones.
I assume you have read Rivera Garza's El Mal de la Taiga which has been winning lots of awards lately. I found it intense and beautiful and only wish it was longer.
Tierra Adentro (twitter) is a publishing house run by the Mexican government whose purpose is to promote the Arts and publish young or new authors. Many of the authors listed above got their start by being published by Tierra Adentro.
On the subject of Classics, this Latin American scholar on Twitter published a list of his 13 favorite Latin American short stories of the past century. They are all available to read online. Some authors you have heard of and others perhaps have not.
posted by vacapinta at 5:21 AM on August 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
Paraiso Perdido has a lot of great stuff. I recommend anything by Rodriguez Liceaga. He has a new book out with Ediciones Franz in Spain. I'd also recommend Alfonso Lopez Corral and his interesting book Cien Caballos en el Mar.
If you want a taster, there's Hambres Heroicas which is an anthology of short stories by a lot of Mexican writers.
I just finished reading Ave Barrera's Puertas Demasiadas Pequenas which I think you'd enjoy. I plan to read her Restauracion next.
I've just ordered a bunch of books from Ediciones Era but have not read them yet. This includes a book of essays by Gonzalo Lizardo and Ana García Bergua's new book Leer en los Aviones.
I assume you have read Rivera Garza's El Mal de la Taiga which has been winning lots of awards lately. I found it intense and beautiful and only wish it was longer.
Tierra Adentro (twitter) is a publishing house run by the Mexican government whose purpose is to promote the Arts and publish young or new authors. Many of the authors listed above got their start by being published by Tierra Adentro.
On the subject of Classics, this Latin American scholar on Twitter published a list of his 13 favorite Latin American short stories of the past century. They are all available to read online. Some authors you have heard of and others perhaps have not.
posted by vacapinta at 5:21 AM on August 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
El eternauta is a graphic novel that feels very H.G. Wells-y, written in the late 1950s by Hector Germán Oesterheld, who would later join a leftist guerrilla movement and be executed by Argentina's military dictatorship. It holds up surprisingly well.
Some more context here.
posted by dr. boludo at 6:51 AM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
Some more context here.
posted by dr. boludo at 6:51 AM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I think you might like Amparo Dávila.
And maybe Temporada de huracanes, by Fernanda Melchor.
And Samanta Schweblin - Distancia de rescate is in my to-read pile.
posted by plant or animal at 7:12 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
And maybe Temporada de huracanes, by Fernanda Melchor.
And Samanta Schweblin - Distancia de rescate is in my to-read pile.
posted by plant or animal at 7:12 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I read this in translation so I can't speak to the Spanish style, but Yuri Herrara's Señales que precederán al fin del mundo was gripping in English, and also fairly short and broken into smaller chapters, so maybe easier on the non-native speaker.
posted by praemunire at 7:47 AM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 7:47 AM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I also came here to mention I had only read Yuri Herrera in translation but thought he might fit the bill! I've actually only read La transmigración de los cuerpos (in English, The Transmigration of Bodies), which is kind of post-apocalyptic noir, but it was also short and compelling and made me want to search out Signs Preceding the End of the World.
posted by sigmagalator at 9:42 AM on August 29, 2022
posted by sigmagalator at 9:42 AM on August 29, 2022
Back when my Spanish reading comprehension was at its peak I really enjoyed La ciudad de las bestias (and sequels) by Isabel Allende. I find some of Allende's adult novels too slow/literary, but this is YA and has a good fast pace. You can even borrow it from Archive.org.
My local library puts out YA book recommendation lists that I usually consider pretty good. Here's the current Spanish-language one. I've read English versions of a few of them. I particularly liked El verano de las mariposas. Las forsombrosas, Yaqui Delgado quiere darte una paliza, and Yo no soy tu perfecta hija Mexicana were also good.
The Enola Holmes books are also available in Spanish translation.
posted by sibilatorix at 11:19 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
My local library puts out YA book recommendation lists that I usually consider pretty good. Here's the current Spanish-language one. I've read English versions of a few of them. I particularly liked El verano de las mariposas. Las forsombrosas, Yaqui Delgado quiere darte una paliza, and Yo no soy tu perfecta hija Mexicana were also good.
The Enola Holmes books are also available in Spanish translation.
posted by sibilatorix at 11:19 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
You will find some great books by scrolling through the book reviews of back-issues of Latin American Literature Today.
Some short and pithy recommendations I found through LALT:
* Quebrada by Mariana Travacio is a Western-type story set in the mountains of Argentina. Her other short novel, Como Si Existiese El Perdón, shares some characters and locations, is also great, but has a lot more gunfighting.
* De Un Mundo Raro by Solange Rodriguez Pappe. This author loves creepy ghost stories. One example story is an interesting take on the Day of the Dead where one day of the year, the family's deceased relatives really do come back to visit... as zombies. And they're hungry... Some of the stories could be considered science fiction.
* Temporada de Huracanes by Fernanda Melchor, mentioned above. This book was so addictive I couldn't put it down, in the sense of watching bad and dumb people make bad and dumb decisions, but being unable to look away. Contains a very high ratio of Mexican slang, you will read the phrase "pinche chamaco" about 5 times a page. Some characters are very transphobic and homophobic, but I got sense that the author was siding with the queer characters.
Also mentioned above,
* Amparo Dávila wrote some amazing short stories in the creepy/horror vein. Example: El Huésped.
* El Mal de la Taiga by Cristina Rivera Garza was a great anti-detective story / fever dream.
Finally, I just read La Última Niebla by María Luisa Bombal, written in the 1930's. She's considered the mother of magical realism. This was a 60-page enthralling short novel that could be considered a feminist psychological drama, almost thriller. It came in a single volume with her other short novel, La Amortajada, which I'm about to read. Apparently Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Juan Rulfo said they were inspired by her.
posted by umber vowel at 7:57 AM on August 30, 2022
Some short and pithy recommendations I found through LALT:
* Quebrada by Mariana Travacio is a Western-type story set in the mountains of Argentina. Her other short novel, Como Si Existiese El Perdón, shares some characters and locations, is also great, but has a lot more gunfighting.
* De Un Mundo Raro by Solange Rodriguez Pappe. This author loves creepy ghost stories. One example story is an interesting take on the Day of the Dead where one day of the year, the family's deceased relatives really do come back to visit... as zombies. And they're hungry... Some of the stories could be considered science fiction.
* Temporada de Huracanes by Fernanda Melchor, mentioned above. This book was so addictive I couldn't put it down, in the sense of watching bad and dumb people make bad and dumb decisions, but being unable to look away. Contains a very high ratio of Mexican slang, you will read the phrase "pinche chamaco" about 5 times a page. Some characters are very transphobic and homophobic, but I got sense that the author was siding with the queer characters.
Also mentioned above,
* Amparo Dávila wrote some amazing short stories in the creepy/horror vein. Example: El Huésped.
* El Mal de la Taiga by Cristina Rivera Garza was a great anti-detective story / fever dream.
Finally, I just read La Última Niebla by María Luisa Bombal, written in the 1930's. She's considered the mother of magical realism. This was a 60-page enthralling short novel that could be considered a feminist psychological drama, almost thriller. It came in a single volume with her other short novel, La Amortajada, which I'm about to read. Apparently Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Juan Rulfo said they were inspired by her.
posted by umber vowel at 7:57 AM on August 30, 2022
You've probably already considered this, but since you liked Las Cosas Que Perdimos En El Fuego by Mariana Enriquez, you will probably also like her other short story collection Los Peligros De Fumar En La Cama.
Another fantastic collection of horror short stories in the same vein is Sacrificios Humanos by María Fernanda Ampuero of Ecuador.
posted by umber vowel at 1:35 PM on August 30, 2022
Another fantastic collection of horror short stories in the same vein is Sacrificios Humanos by María Fernanda Ampuero of Ecuador.
posted by umber vowel at 1:35 PM on August 30, 2022
Oddly enough, the little Spanish-language literature I have read (in translation) is all Argentine.
It might be obvious, but the short stories of Borges? They are second only to Ted Chiang's, in my reckoning.
Through reading Borges (in translation), I have discovered Silvina Ocampo, and I really enjoyed her short stories in Leopoldina's Dream, though they might not be for everyone:
posted by vincebowdren at 2:18 PM on September 3, 2022
It might be obvious, but the short stories of Borges? They are second only to Ted Chiang's, in my reckoning.
Through reading Borges (in translation), I have discovered Silvina Ocampo, and I really enjoyed her short stories in Leopoldina's Dream, though they might not be for everyone:
the unique, disturbing fantastical atmosphere of her mature period: a world where strange events overwhelm mundane bourgeois reality, where motives are obscure, and where a great cruelty presides over life.And through the connection with Ursula K Le Guin, I have discovered the fantasies of Angélica Gorodischer, with mixed results. I really enjoyed Kalpa Imperial and have re-read it several times, and will re-read it again with pleasure; Trafalgar was good fun, but Prodigies, the most literary of the three, bored me.
posted by vincebowdren at 2:18 PM on September 3, 2022
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I too love sci-fi and speculative fiction, and generally am not a huge fan of "novels". Bu whatever you think these books will be like, you're probably wrong. They are utterly wonderful and written by a native Spanish speaker.
posted by underclocked at 3:10 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]