Following on from my post Literary Musings (thank you all again for your recommendations!), I have decided to create this reading challenge with the goal to read more books from Spain. It will run until September 2027 (any number of books goes – see the banner below). The only rule is that authors must be from Spain (either born in Spain, nationality is/was Spanish, or who strongly identify(ed) with Spain, rather than Latin America). I will do mid-way check in and wrap-up posts, and will leave the banner with this page (+ any participants and updates on their reviews) in my widget area. I have also created an external link page for anyone who wants to add their reviews. Below are my preliminary list of fifteen novels I want to read for this challenge.
I. La Regnta by Leopoldo Alas
II. The Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco IbÑñez
III. Fortunata and Jacinta by Benito PΓ©rez GaldΓ³s
IV. La sonrisa etrusca by JosΓ© Luis Sampedro
V. The City of Marvels by Eduardo Mendoza
VI. In the Night of Time by Antonio MuΓ±oz Molina
VII. Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda
VIII. In Diamond Square by Mercè Rodoreda
IX. The House of Ulloa by Emilia Pardo BazΓ‘n
X. A Heart So White by Javier MarΓas
XI. The Olive Labyrinth by Eduardo Mendoza
XII. The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo JosΓ© Cela
XIII. Cinco horas con Mario by Miguel Delibes
XIV. The Holy Innocents by Miguel Delibes
XV. Time of Silence by Luis MartΓn-Santos
BOOKS READ SO FAR (updated 21/09/2026):
Congrats on jumping in!
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Brilliant, thank you for doing this. I’ve read Death in Spring, which was extraordinary so will read In Diamond Square for starters but any encouragement to read from Spain is very welcome!
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Thanks, it’s time for me to read another book from Spain. Thanks for the prompting.
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This does sound like fun–I should read a couple over the next year. Thanks for the list you gave in the previous post.
I do think A Heart So White is really very good–I’ve read it twice. The twist is so shocking it was interesting to read it a second time. Much better than In the Battle Think on Me.
I’d likely try to read that Mendoza, and I’ve never read any Cela.
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I’m looking forward to reading A Heart so White, then, especially if it has a twist, thanks!
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Enhorabuena, a robust starting list. Pleased to see la Pardo BazΓ‘n representing Galicia, early womenΒ΄s rights activism and social commentary on the rural class system. And VBI for Valencia. If you wanted a Balearic author Ana MarΓa MatuteΒ΄s Primera Memoria is available in English as The Island in the Penguin European Classics series.
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Matute is a completely new to me author, but the novel sounds good, adding it, thank you!
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This is what I like, Diana, an open-ended yet focused reading challenge which, though spanning a year, doesn’t stipulate titles or numbers of books to be read; I’m in! City of Wonders has already caught my attention, however…
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I’m glad you’re in, thank you! I’ll be putting links to all the contributors’ posts (if there be any) in this post and in the page above dedicated to this challenge. And, yes, I also love challenges which are not too, well…challenging.
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I shall pop something in my end-of-month Bookwise summary about this, and may even read a Spanish title before then β I know I have a couple of YA novels by Carlos Ruiz ZafΓ³n on my shelves.
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