Good reads
Top 10 books for language enthusiasts
Here,ready to bookmark, are our top 10 reads that language enthusiasts will love! From romance, expats and the good life to political corruption, exile and freedom, this selection of books (some in the target language) will keep you entertained for hours.
1. The South by Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín's first novel, The South, is the story of Katherine Proctor, a Protestant woman from Ireland, who arrives in Barcelona in the 1950s at a time when the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and the recent civil war still play an important role. Having left her husband and son, Katherine starts discovering the city and embarks on a journey with local painters and artist Miguel.
Irish author Colm Tóibín, who had himself left Ireland to go and live in Barcelona during the 1970s, enjoyed success with his first novel which went on to win the Irish Times First Novel Award in 1991.
2. Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb
Off the southern coast of Italy lies Sicily, home to an ancient culture that with its stark landscapes, glorious coastlines, and extraordinary treasure troves of art and archeology has seduced travellers for centuries. But at the heart of the island's rare beauty is a network of violence and corruption that reaches into every corner of Sicilian life: La Cosa Nostra, the Mafia. In an intoxicating mix of crime, travel, and food writing, Peter Robb, a writer who lived in Southern Italy for fourteen years, sets out to understand both the historic roots of the Mafia and its central place in contemporary Italian politics. And whether he's touting the gustatory strength of Neapolitan espresso, unveiling the Arabic origins of pasta, or unraveling the criminal history of a bandit, Robb seductively brings Sicilian culture to life.
3. The Green Road into the Trees by Hugh Thompson
From coast-to-coast and through the heart of the countryside, Hugh Thomson embarks on a journey exploring the way England was and the way it is today: the legends, literature and natural world that define us.
With acclaimed books about Peru, Mexico and the Indian Himalaya, this time Hugh focuses on discovering and writing about his own land. Casting unexpected light on the way we live now, Hugh’s walk across the country reveals how older, forgotten cultures like the Celts, Saxons and Vikings lie much closer to the surface than we may think.
4. L’amour Actually by Melinda Jones
After one particularly bad day at work, advertising executive and confirmed city girl Melanie Jones decides to give up her old life in search of something new and simpler in South West France. With little knowledge of the country, even less of the language and just the memory of a disastrous school French exchange and a few day trips to Calais, she embarks on her adventure with a suitcase full of optimism and not a little bit of naivety. After all, how different can life in France be? After a series of adventures with skirt-ripping tractors, handsome twin farmers, celebrity not-quite-beens, unusual toilets and a bonkers ex-pat community, all topped up, of course, with lashings of rosé, Melanie begins to discover that her new life in France isn’t quite what she’d thought it would be.
5. Viva South America! - A journey through a restless continent by Oliver Balch
Viva South America! sets out to discover if the dream of Simón Bolívar - for independence, freedom and equality - lives on in modern South America.
Armed with a reporter's notebook and an open mind, Oliver Balch hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Bolívar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into people's homes and into inmates' prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South America's contemporary fight for freedom.
6. Vestivamo alla marinara by Susanna Agnelli
A fascinating autobiography written by author Susanna Agnelli, granddaughter of fiat founder and sister of entrepreneur Gianni Agnelli. This book, which we are currently reading in our Italian Book Club, provides a slice of life of high society Italy during Mussolini years 1922-1945.
Ideal for those who are of an intermediate or advanced level of Italian. Alternatively, an English version is also available.
7. Death in the Dordogne by Louis Sanders
When you moved to France to a picturesque hamlet in the Dordogne no one said it would be like this in February: freezing cold, dark by mid-afternoon and so quiet. Members of the Caminade family keep dying in suspicious circumstances, and the doctor knows more about it than he's prepared to reveal…. Slyly funny and delightfully laconic, Death in the Dordogne is the perfect accompaniment for anyone thinking about a holiday in France!
Ideal for those who are of an intermediate or advanced level of French. Alternatively, an English version is also available.
8. First Spanish Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book by Angel Flores (Editor)
Perfect for beginning students of Spanish, this affordable anthology is filled with 41 delightful stories and proverbs based on works of Don Juan Manuel, Luis Taboada, Ricardo Palma, and other noted writers. Complete and faithful English translations are featured on the facing pages of the Spanish text. Exercises are also included.
9. The Pike: Gabriele D’Annunzio - Poet, Seducer And Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Winner of the most prestigious UK non-fiction award, this month (November 2013) Lucy Hughes-Hallett picked up the Samuel Johnson Prize for her biography of philandering Italian poet and politician Gabriele D'Annunzio. The Pike tells the life story of D'Annunzio, an Italian artist and womaniser who became a national hero and radical right-wing revolutionary.
10. Cronica de una muerte anunciada by Gabriel García Márquez
Cronica de una muerte anunciada (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez, a Nobel prize winner and brilliant story teller. Published in 1981, it tells the story of the murder of Santiago Nasar by the two Vicario brothers in the form of a pseudo-journalistic reconstruction.
Ideal for those who are of an intermediate or advanced level of Spanish. Alternatively, an English version is also available.
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