My favourite books

I like reading very much , it's one of the things that I like most although I don't have enough time to read as much as I'd like nowadays.
I read much more in English than in Spanish and I can tell you that it may help you improve your language skills a great deal. However , we have such great writers in Spanish that one should never miss the pleasure of reading in our own language.
It's difficult for me to decide which my favourite books are cause there are many that I've enjoyed a lot but I'm going to try and mention some of my favourite ones :

'The Lord of the Rings', by JRR Tolkien. I read it when I was eighteen and I still love it. One of my favourite characters is Eowyn. I've always had a soft spot for the warrior lady who killed the evil Nazgul.
'Harry Potter', by JK Rowling. Specially 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' and 'The Half-Blood Prince'. My favourite characters are Ron, Hagrid and Snape, each of them for a different reason.
'The Shadow of the Wind', by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, which is just superb and written in Spanish. If I had to choose a character, It'd be Fermín, so funny and so tender at the same time.
'One Hundred Years of Solitude', by Gabriel García Marquez. It's one of the most beautiful and poignant stories I've ever read.
Well, there are other books that I really like, but I think these ones, two in English and other two in Spanish, can be a good example.

Now I'm looking forward to knowing about your tastes, about the books you like.
I'll be happy to read your replies.

I like reading very much too and, like you, I don't have much time to read. I have read two of the books that you have mentioned: 'The shadow of the wind' and 'One hundred years of solitude' (I didn't know this word).
I liked the first one very much. I specially liked how the writer goes on telling you two different stories that, at the end, are not so different. I will not say anything else. Somebody else may want to read the book. I have also read the second part, 'The game of the angel', but I didn't like it as much as the first.
The other one is one of my favourite books. While I was reading it I wondered all the time how someone could have such imagination. Then I knew that some of the things that García Marquez wrote had happened to him or his family in real life. What incredible life!

I'm glad to know that you like those great books too. I think they are so good that I'd recommed them to anyone.
When I started reading 'The Shadow of The Wind' I noticed from the first page that it wasn't just another entertaining book, it was something special. I just couldn´t put it down. It made me think, then laugh and then feel sad ... and so many things at the same time!
I lent it to most of my friends and family and all of them loved it. ( At least that's what they told me)
As for 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', I read it a long time ago, but reading it was an experince I've never forgotten.
I have Zafón's last book at home but I haven't started it yet. I'll have to find some time for that.

Let's see what other other books people can recommed us ! We may discover another jewel !

I like reading very much too and I read at night. At the moment , I'm reading "POST MORTEM", by PATRICIA CORNWELL . She's American and this book was written in 1990.

I read a lot : books, magazines , newpapers ... My favourite writer is MARY HIGGINS CLARK. She was born in New York. I love her books and I´ve read twenty books written by her.

One of the kind of books (I don’t know how to say “género”) that I like most is the historical novel. Last summer I read The Pillars of the Earth and A world without end by Ken Follet and I liked them a lot. I enjoy these books which are more than 1000 pages long. They catch me and I read and read but I don't want to reach the end.
A book which I also enjoyed was The History of King Transparent (I’m not sure if that’s well written) by Rosa Montero, who is one of my favourite writers. I found it very entertaining.
And finally, I’m going to recommend you a book by a writer from Asturias who is not very known and has been a great discovery for me. His name is Fulgencio Argüelles and he wrote a book called The Blue Palace of Belgiam Engineers, which is the story of a young gardener who began working at the palace of the Belgiam engineers in Asturias in the 30s. I'm sure you will like it. By the way, he has another book which is called The "clamores" of the Earth which is similar, and not just because of the title, to the Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. (Does anybody know how to say "clamores" in English?)
I don’t know the writers that you have mentioned but I’ll try to read some of their books and I’ ll tell you. Can you recommend me some of their books?

When you need to look for a word you don´t know , remember that there are lots of free dictionaries on the Internet and you can find some in our blog. They are very uselful.
See you, guys.

I bought last week "the boy in the striped pyjamas" and I lobe what I 've read so far . It is easy to read but it is very sad
Here I leave you an extract where the plot is explained. The book is also sold in English


The book is about a young boy, Bruno, the son of a Nazi commander general. He has a head-strong sister, Gretel (called "the Hopeless case"). They used to live in a five-storey mansion in Berlin but one day they are suddenly transferred to a place called "Out-With", by his father's boss, the "Fury" Hitler (Out-With is really Auschwitz, and the Fury is The Fuhrer, but Bruno can't pronounce the words correctly). Bruno, angered and confused by his father's decision to move, and desperate to go home, spends his time in his room, without any friends to play with. He misses their old home. In such a small space, there isn't any room for exploration (a hobby of Bruno's), as there was in the house in Berlin.

From his bedroom window, Bruno spots a fence behind which he sees many people in 'striped pyjamas'. These are Jews, and they are in a Nazi concentration camp. One day his parents come to an agreement that both Bruno and Gretel need a tutor for their education, so they hire Herr Liszt. To Bruno, Herr Liszt is the most boring teacher one could ever have; he teaches social science instead of reading and arts, which Bruno prefers. So, in boredom and confusion, Bruno wonders what is going on at "Out-With" (Auschwitz) and why people are always dressed in striped pyjamas there. One afternoon, he goes exploring, and meets a Jewish boy called Shmuel, a name Bruno has never heard before but that apparently is quite common in the concentration camp. Shmuel soon becomes Bruno's friend and Bruno visits him every afternoon to talk. Bruno is told that the people in the striped pyjamas on the other side of the fence are Jews and that he and his family are "the opposite".

The story ends with Bruno about to return to the family's old home in Berlin. As a final adventure, he agrees to dress in a set of striped pyjamas and climb under a loose wire in the fence to help Shmuel find his father, who went missing in the camp. The boys are unable to find him, and just as it starts to rain and get dark, Bruno decides he would like to go home, yet the Nazis in the area of the camp force the boys to go on a march. Neither boy knows where this march will lead. However, they are soon crowded into a gas chamber, and the author leaves the story with Bruno pondering, yet unafraid, in the dark holding hands with Shmuel. "...Despite the chaos that followed, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel's hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let go."

In an epilogue, Bruno's father subsequently discovers Bruno's clothes by the fence and figures out what happened to him. Several months later, Allied (although not stated, presumably Russian as the Red Army liberated Auschwitz) soldiers come and order the Nazi soldiers to come with them, and Father goes without complaint, because, "He didn't really mind what they did to him anymore."