Book reviews and more!

Posts tagged with ‘Spain’

THE LAST MATADOR, by Marc Newman

October 6, 2013

THE LIFE AND DEATH STRUGGLES of Wall Street, of the Spanish bullring, and of family life, compellingly drawn.

Grade: B PLUS

THE LAST MATADOR
Erev Press/CreateSpace
2013

Tags: , , ,

THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN AND POET FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA ASCENDS TO HELL, by Carlos Rojas (translated by Edith Grossman)

May 16, 2013

GLORIOUS, DREAMLIKE SPANISH novel riffs on the life and death of poet García Lorca.  Luminous new translation!

Grade: B PLUS

THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN AND POET FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA ASCENDS TO HELL
Yale University Press
2013

Tags: , , , , ,

A SENSE OF DIRECTION, by Gideon Lewis-Kraus

November 2, 2012

A YOUNG US WRITER’S memoir of three pilgrimages (including the famed Camino de Santiago) has wit, lacks oomph.

Grade: B MINUS

A SENSE OF DIRECTION: PILGRIMAGE FOR THE RESTLESS AND THE HOPEFUL
Penguin
2012

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

THE TIME IN BETWEEN, by María Dueñas

February 28, 2012

SWEEPING EPIC ADVENTURE follows a Spanish woman from poverty to success as a couturiere to wartime espionage.

Grade: B PLUS

THE TIME IN BETWEEN
Atria
2011

Tags: , , , , ,

GOD’S JURY, by Cullen Murphy

January 22, 2012

A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY of the medieval and Renaissance Inquisitions sheds light on modern ideas of punishment.

Grade: SOLID B

GOD'S JURY: THE INQUISITION AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2012

Tags: , , , , ,

BOOKS BURN BADLY, by Manuel Rivas

January 8, 2012

EPIC HISTORICAL NOVEL with a magic realist touch takes in the Spanish Civil War, its origins and its aftermath.

Grade: SOLID B

BOOKS BURN BADLY
Random House
2011

Tags: , , ,

A SHORTCUT TO PARADISE, by Teresa Solano

April 22, 2011

DRY WIT AND BARCELONA flavor make this Catalan mystery (with bumbling Columboesque twin detectives!) awesome.

Grade: A MINUS

A SHORTCUT TO PARADISE
Bitter Lemon Press
2011

Tags: , , , , ,