Thursday, January 05, 2006

Spanish songs in Andalusia

Arturo Perez Reverte series of swashbuckler novels set in 17th century France is being released in the United States. The second is out now. I've read quite a few of his, and my favorite is probably the Nautical Chart. Judging by the Amazon reviews this is a less popular opinion, but hey you can get the book for a penny over there so why not try it? His older books are literary mysteries set (mostly) in modern Spain. He is now pulling a Dumas with these series.

A Spanish friend told me that the one book to read from Spain is Trafalgar by Benito Perez Galdos. Apparently all the school kids read this, and the wiki says that he is considered the second greatest Spanish novelist after Cervantes. So how come we don't read his stuff over here? Before you yell "ignorant Americans" consider this. I couldn't find hide nor hair of the book in English, here in the US or in Britain (maybe the Antipodes? Nope, just checked.) For whatever reason Amazon US has a German edition on the site, although it is out of print. I suppose I could go learn Spanish and read this free version on Project Gutenburg. Even though I already have piles of books I will never read, I am somehow vexed that I cannot get ahold of this book.

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