Some Spanish titles for a very beginner ?

[Idoine]

All is in the title ! I'm a very beginner in Spanish, and apart from a software, I'd like to read some easy books !
Do you have titles to recommend ?

I already bought 3 : "Leyendas" from Gustavo Adolfo Becquer (spanish touch !) and 2 traductions, "Cuentos" of Andersen (as I know pretty all of them, I think it'll be easier) and "Un yanki en la corte del rey Arturo" from Mark Twain (haven't read it, in French or in English, so it's a good opportunity !)

Now I wait for any other idea, just keep in mind I'm in my 40's !

Thank you in advance !

[dreams]

I checked the Spanish section on Feedbooks ...

http://feedbooks.com/book/3387

and saw, La llamada de la selva by Jack London.

"Jack London (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild and other books. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine
fiction, he was one of the first Americans to make a huge financial success from writing."

Source: Wikipedia

I may even put this on my list to be read.

[Idoine]

Thanks, dreams, it's worth a try !
Now I'm looking for Spanish authors rather than traductions (like I do with books wrote by anglophone authors, I buy them directly in English rather than their traduction )

If you read some spanish books when at school, maybe it could do the trick. For exemple, I read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, and "Pride and Prejudice", when I was in Terminal, 17 years old, but then I had 5 years learning english as a 2nd language, after French and German (and it was not an easy one, I'd have like to have an ebook version, then, with dictionnary in it ) !

[wayrad]

I vaguely remember reading El Periquillo Sarniento (the first part, anyway) in my first or second year of high school Spanish. Since it was published in 1816, it ought to be available online.

[dreams]

"Spanish" language books are difficult to recommend as there are differing dialects. My family were Spanish American (roots in Spain) so "spoke" different from the Chicanos (Mexican Americans) in our area. This was also different from what the children spoke as we often combined the languages and added unique American words, Spanglish.

This link will take you to the Wikipedia and you can follow various links to the Spanish dialect that you are most comfortable learning.

Spanish literature (like Cervantes)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_literature

Latin American literature (wide ranging dialects)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_literature

Hispanic American writers (my favorite is Sandra Cisneros)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...erican_writers

I wish it was easier but, here in the States we have so many "versions" of Spanish... It usually ends up being a mix of everything and who you speak with. School was Spanish literature so we read Cervantes. Later, in cultural studies, we added Latin American authors like G.G. Marquez (much easier to read) and in Chicano Studies we added the Mexican American authors (Cisneros).

I think you may have to search for what you would like to read that would be the most useful to you.

[Idoine]

Originally Posted by wayrad

I vaguely remember reading El Periquillo Sarniento (the first part, anyway) in my first or second year of high school Spanish. Since it was published in 1816, it ought to be available online.

I searched the web thoroughly !
I'm now with a great scanned PDF version (of an old book with illustrations), and an HTML version, in 3 parts/pages, that needs to be reworked !

[Idoine]

Thanks, dreams !
I think I'll try Cervantes !

[leandroide]

Originally Posted by Idoine

Thanks, dreams !
I think I'll try Cervantes !

Mmm... it's difficult to recommend books in your own mother-tongue. A native speaker is not aware of the difficulty of a certain author for foreign readers. However, I think that Cervantes for a beginner in Spanish is like Shakespeare for a beginner in English!

I've made a search in Project Gutenberg and found some books that I could recommend. For example, something by Juan Valera ("Pepita Jiménez" or "Juanita la Larga" are nice books) or by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez ("La Barraca", or "Cañas y Barro"). You could also try some from Benito Pérez Galdós ("Fortunata y Jacinta", for example). I like a lot Galdós... it find him similar to Victor Hugo.

Regarding "alive" authors, you could try something from Eduardo Mendoza, or Gonzalo Torrente Ballester ("Crónica del rey pasmado" is short and quite funny). But I'm afraid they are not avalaible as ebooks.

Hope this helps,

L.

[Idoine]

Originally Posted by leandroide

... However, I think that Cervantes for a beginner in Spanish is like Shakespeare for a beginner in English!...

I was afraid of that ! I'l try it nonetheless (I tried Shakespeare as well ! )

Originally Posted by leandroide

I've made a search in Project Gutenberg and found some books that I could recommend. For example, something by Juan Valera ("Pepita Jiménez" or "Juanita la Larga" are nice books) or by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez ("La Barraca", or "Cañas y Barro"). You could also try some from Benito Pérez Galdós ("Fortunata y Jacinta", for example). I like a lot Galdós... it find him similar to Victor Hugo.

Regarding "alive" authors, you could try something from Eduardo Mendoza, or Gonzalo Torrente Ballester ("Crónica del rey pasmado" is short and quite funny). But I'm afraid they are not avalaible as ebooks.

Hope this helps,

L.

Thanks a lot ! Exactly what I hoped !
Now I have some downloading work to do, and no excuse not to progress !

[Idoine]

@ Leandroide, some, from Valera and Blasco Ibáñez, are available for free at Mobipocket. I'll try to see if a use of Calibre can improve the formatting (some pagebreaks are missing !)