My Spanish Reading

In a needed and welcome fit of spring cleaning in my office yesterday, one of the things I rearranged was the section of my bookshelves holding the dictionaries, books, magazines, and papers (and more papers) that I have used in the five different Spanish classes in which I have participated over the past six or seven years. Two of those classes each take place once a week now, a private one on Monday and a ten-person class on Friday, the first with a European-certified language teacher who happens to be Danish, the other with native Spanish language teachers, two of them, who share the schedule at various times throughout the year. I have several archivos (files) of papers with exercises, explanations, and photocopies of dialogues or short stories that we often read in the larger class. For the private class, our usual practice is to read a book (at home) and discuss it in class; we look for contemporary titles, with lots of dialog. Sometimes that means what we call young adult literature or women's fiction. I was surprised how many books I had stuffed on my bookshelves. Here is the list of what I have read that is still on the shelf:

• Como Agua para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate), by Laura Esquivel, a Mexican author.
• Dulces Mentiras (literally Sweet Lies, but titled Bitter Sweets in the original UK version), by Roopa Farooki, born in Pakistan, raised in London.
• Admiración (originally Tribute), by Nora Roberts, a U.S. author I had only heard about before reading this in Spanish.
• Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter, a native of Littleton, New Hampshire. First published in 1913, this Spanish version was purchased in a very contemporary edition labeled "Chicklit: Novellas de siempre para la mujer de hoy" in the German low-price supermarket Lidl.
• Daddy Long-Legs, by Jean Webster; though missing from the bookshelf. Originally published in 1912, we read the Chicklit "classic novels for the woman of today" version.
• Spanish Stories/Cuentos Españoles; a Dual-Language Book, edited by Ángel Flores. Departing even more from the contemporary criterion, this is a study book comprised of 13 classic or representative works (or excerpts) of Spanish literature, starting with "About What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Very Wild, Unruly Wife," by Don Juan Manuel (1282-1349) to "The Guard," by Juan Goytisolo (1931-  ). I have only read four of these so far, but I expect we'll get round to all of them in time, with some space in between. Sometimes it's really necessary to read the excellent English translations, too, that appear side by side with the Spanish.

And here are other books that I have not completed yet:

• Un Burka por Amor, by Reyes Monforte, a Spanish radio and TV personality. Both my teacher and I gave up on this one, because in spite of the fact that it is in its 6th printing, it did not grab either of us in the first 100 pages. Maybe later, or maybe not. 
• Atravesando Fronteras (Crossing Borders), an autobiography by Jorge Ramos, a Mexican living for 20 years in the U.S. I picked this up at Half Price Books in Cincinnati and have read 50 pages; I do want to continue reading this when I have the time.
• Historia de España para Dummies, by Fernando de Cortázar, which I found in one of my travels through the Madrid airport. Like many Dummies books, it is easy to dip into this in many places and learn something. I use it for reference, but it would be good to read more parts of it.
• I should also be reading more parts of the Manual programado del conductor 3, the 244-page driver's manual that I started a couple years ago. As you may expect, it is really boring and much of it is obvious. However, I've looked through it and cannot find anywhere the rules for driving in roundabouts, though I have learned some surprising things, such as that bicyclists are permitted to ride two abreast on many streets.
• Don Quijote de la Mancha, of course, but this is a Novelas Famosas edition, in simplified language and greatly abbreviated, and get this--several pages in comic-strip format. I think this is definitely the YA version.
• Mujeres de 60, by Hilda Levy, an Argentine. I bought this book in Argentina before my 60th birthday and perhaps I'll finish it before my 70th. It seems to be part funny and part advice, but not exactly gripping even as I make my way through my 60s.

And now I need to go review for my class tomorrow. We are reading Cuentos de America, a young adult book that was given my husband in Argentina about 60 years ago. It has one story from each of the Latin American countries. So far we've done "Sumé," a legend of Brazil. For tomorrow it is "Las Naranjas," a charming little story from Mexico.