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| 44870 |
Spanish Books
Hello. I am studying spanish for GCSE at school, and I was wondering if any Spanish/Mexican/Argentinian/etc. people could recommend any spanish-written books that can be read easily by a beginner. My teacher said he recommends doing this for revising.
Thank you :D
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Language pair: English; Spanish
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| 44942 |
Re:Spanish Books Esperanza Renace
¡Hola Mathy!
No soy de esos países, pero tengo un libro que he leído que es bastante fácil leer, y fue escribido, si no en México, al menos por una Americana Mexicana escribiendo en español sobre la mudanza de su familia de México a California. "Esperanza Renace" por Pam Muñoz Ryan es una historia verdadera, sobre una joven de familia rica que les perdieron todo sus tierras y dinero en lucha de clases, y tuvieron que ir norte a California para trabajar con los campesinos.
Es muy interesante, y aprenderá mucho sobre la cultura Mexicano y de la cultura campesino de California. Lo gocé mucho.
El libro también se hace en inglés con el título, "Esperanza Rising," y me gusta eso, porque cuando estoy leyendo nuevas cosas en español, es muy ayudante poder revisar el inglés cuando tengo problemas con el español.
¡Ojala que este es algo ayudante!
Hi Mathy!
I’m not from any of those countries, but I have a book I read that was fairly easy reading, and was written—if not in Mexico, at least by a Mexican-American writing in Spanish about her family’s move from Mexico to California. Esperanza Renace by Pam Muñoz Ryan is a true story about a young woman from a wealthy family who loses all their lands and money in the class struggle in Mexico, and who has to travel north to California to join the migrant workers.
It’s very interesting, and you’ll learn a lot about Mexican culture and about the California campesino culture. I enjoyed it very much.
The book is also available in English under the title, Esperanza Rising, which I like because it is often helpful to me when I’m reading new texts in Spanish to be able to consult the English in order to see what I may be doing wrong in trying to translate the Spanish.
I hope you find this helpful!
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA, USA
Miembro normal Hablando: inglés, español
Estudiando: español, portugués
Estudié: alemán, turco, chino mandarín
Jugué con: ruso, hebreo, latín, tagalog, francés, lenguaje por señas.
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA, USA
Normal member
Speaking: English, Spanish
Studying: Spanish, Portuguese
Studied: German, Turkish, Mandarin Chinese
Played with: Russian, Hebrew, Latin, Tagalog, French, Sign langua
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Language pair: English; Spanish
This is a reply to message # 44870
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| 44986 |
Thank you!
Thank you, Mark! I will be sure to look out for that book in the future.
Once again, thank you.
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Language pair: English; Spanish
This is a reply to message # 44942
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| 45049 |
Re:Thank you!
Delighted I could help. Please let me know what you think of the book when you've read it. It could make some interesting discussion in the Books/Literature board.
Cheers,
Mark
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Language pair: English; Spanish
This is a reply to message # 44986
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| 45106 |
Your welcome any time
If you can recommend any books to me - English or Spanish - I would be glad to receive your advice.
If you're interested in penpalling, please contact me.
Yours truly,
Mathy
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Language pair: English; Spanish
This is a reply to message # 45049
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| 45107 |
You're welcome any time
If you can recommend any books to me - English or Spanish - I would be glad to receive your advice.
If you're interested in penpalling, please contact me.
Yours truly,
Mathy
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Language pair: English; Spanish
This is a reply to message # 45049
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| 45260 |
Re:You're welcome any time
As a graduate Lit major, I can probably recommend books to you from here to the moon and back again.
Maybe if you told me something about what you enjoy, we could narrow the field down a bit.
This semester I'm studying mostly Contemporary American Literature, so I've been reading Joseph Heller, Don Delillo, Saul Bellow and many others. Enjoying them all tremendously in many different ways.
My other class is one of the most exciting I've had. We started with Carl Jung and Joseph Campell, and now we're surveying a cross section of literature from Sir Gawain and the Green Night to Byatt's Possessions, which you may have heard they made a movie out of not too long ago.
One of my all-time favorites is The Little Prince, which I've read in English and in French.
Cheers!
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Language pair: English; Spanish
This is a reply to message # 45107
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| 45365 |
wow
I can't believe you're reading stuff from Sir Gawain! That is SOOOOOOOOOOOO cool!
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Language pair: English; Spanish
This is a reply to message # 45260
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| 45413 |
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
It really is. Thought it's not so exotic, I think, as it may sound. You can get it pretty much in any bookstore. It's written in Middle English, but it's easy to get really good translations into the modern English. Marie Borroff's "new verse translation" is really popular, and really easy to read. Penguin Classics has a more academic version that comes with lots of commentary and background information that may be a lot of fun if you're a lit person like me, but a lot of overkill if you're just interested in a unique and exciting adventure story. I recommend either one highly.
Hmm. That's strange. They don't have Middle English down as a language available here. What do you think? Have we just found number 116?
Tell me something about the books you have enjoyed reading.
Mark
Sacramento, CA
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Language pair: English; All
This is a reply to message # 45365
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| 45844 |
Re:Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
I LOVE BOOKS! Books are a Panacea. (UNIVERSAL REMIDY) (sorry about spelling) I have read so many books I could not honestly tell you which one was the best. I own over 500 books! there in my closet, on bookshelves, donated to my school library, holding up cat beds. I just love books, I could not live without them. I would recomend any books by Janet Evanouch, Gary Paulsen, Caroline B. Cooney, Lloyd Alexander, and pretty much any book on the civil war!
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Language pair: English; German
This is a reply to message # 45413
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| 45931 |
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lloyd Alexander, et al
I love books too! I would be almost happy to spend the rest of my life curled up in a huge library, just reading everything I could get my hands on. I have bookshelves in every room in the house, and a huge collection of all kinds of books: Children’s books, school books, language books, books in various languages. Old books and new books, novels, and books of poetry and short stories, and spiritual philosophy.
I'm not sure I would call them a panacea, but there is definitely a good book for any possible occasion.
Of your favorites, I’m afraid I only know Lloyd Alexander. A friend of mine who I met when I was in high school recommended his Prydain books to me, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. At that time, I was reading a lot of Anne McCaffrey and Piers Anthony. I loved Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide” books, though he tended to lose his touch as the series went on. I ate up C.S. Lewis’s books, of course, and I enjoy Anne Rice a lot. She has an amazing insight into human nature, and uses her various unnatural creatures—the vampires, mummies, witches, ghosts, and so on, to magnify certain human traits, so as to kind of see them under a microscope. I think she’s brilliant. And she and I graduated from the same college!
I’m a big fan of a lot of Science Fiction (it has to be thoughtful and meaningful—not a “Starship Troopers” kind of story that’s just a big fight with a lot of bug-eyed monsters—Heinlein wrote so many wonderful novels. Why did they have to pick the very worst one to make a movie out of?).
(See next message)
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This is a reply to message # 45844
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| 45932 |
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lloyd Alexander, et al
Part II
I love Shakespeare a lot (My favorite play is Hamlet--it's very intense, but it has a lot of really dark humor in it), and really, just about everything I’ve seen on “Great books” lists have really great things to offer. Dwyn, have you ever seen Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics? It may seem a little dry when you start to read it, but I also think you would really enjoy it, because Aristotle’s values are a lot like your own in many ways. You might find it kind of affirming and rewarding reading. There is some controversy around what exactly it was. Nichomachus was Aristotle’s son, so some scholars think it was a legacy for Nichomachus. Others argue that Aristotle didn’t exactly write it, that his students put it together out of their lecture notes after Aristotle died. But anyway, it’s Aristotle’s view of how to live a successful, happy life. He’s got a lot of great ideas, too. You might enjoy it.
We’ve finished studying "Gawain and the Green Knight," in my class, which was a lot of fun. Next week, we’re starting on "Phantastes," by George MacDonald. He’s a very interesting character, a 19th century writer whose reputation was that he wasn’t the greatest writer, but was an outstanding myth writer. His famous short-story, “the Golden Key” is easy to find on-line with a search engine. His mythic insights were evidently so profound, that he inspired people like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein, to whom he was a personal friend. In fact, after reading “Phantastes” the first time, I was able to see certain ways in which his ideas had appeared in various places in “The Chronicles of Narnia” or “The Fellowship of the Ring.” Great fun.
Talk to you soon!
Thanks for a great topic!
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA, USA.
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Language pair: English; All
This is a reply to message # 45844
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| 45983 |
Re:Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lloyd Alexander, et al
I have never read Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics, but next time I go to Barns and Noble I will check it out, thanks!
P.S. Thanks for the suggestion of typing on Microsoft word and using spell check!
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Language pair: English; German
This is a reply to message # 45932
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| 45985 |
Re:Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lloyd Alexander, et al
Books are like lifeboats, they are always there, always waiting, incase of emergency. They are our tickets to: another world, an adventure, and possibly a great learning experience. We can learn from characters mistake’s or just shrug it off until something similar happens to us. Books can cheer us up when nothing else can. They can make us laugh so hard that we cry, or just give us a good cry. Books can scare us out of our wits, or put us to sleep. To me books are an escape from the world. A book is my lifeboat, always saving me in my time of need. What is your opinion on books?
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Language pair: English; German
This is a reply to message # 45931
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