Spanish Literature Recommendations
One thing I really would have appreciated when I first started learning Spanish was a list of books originally in Spanish, graded by difficulty and grouped by theme. My goal for this page is to be that. I will add to this page as I continue to read. I’ll also make a note of if the audiobook is available.Note:where possible I have linked to my bookstore.org page. This is an alternative to Amazon that gives your local bookstore of choice a 20% comission. I will also get a 10% comission if you buy the books listed here through my link
Beginner Books
Criteria to Start: This are books I felt like I could read after the Harry Potter series fairly easily. They require completion of at least the Spanish 1K deck, and probably a couple hundred thousand words of graded readers.
Fantasy
Sendero del guardabosques (España)
Review of book 5. Books aren’t the best quality (repititive, weak MC, little character development), but are absolutely excellent for learning.
All 20 books are on audible. All books are eligible for Kindle Unlimited.
La ciudad de las bestias and its sequels (Chile/Estados Unidos)
I haven’t reviewed these in-depth, but I also can’t recommend them. Absolute orientalist crap. I talk a little about both of them in this blog post.
Audiobook available
Como agua para chocolate (México)
Not reviewed in-depth, but discussed here. Short, sweet and lyrical.
Audiobook available
Memorias de Idhun: La resistencia (España)
Not reviewed in-depth, but I think this book is pretty bad. On the level of Fourth Wing. Might be your jam if you like that kind of thing though.
El Bestiario de Axlin (España)
Not reviewed in-depth, but much better than Memorias Idhun. One of the best post-apocalyptic settings I’ve ever seen. Discussed here
Audiobook available.
Ciertas cosas oscuras (Estados Unidos
Not reviewed in-depth. Not sure if to count this as a native Spanish book or not, since it was published originally in English, but the author is Mexican, and it is set in Ciudad de México. This is a fun, easy, vampire novel, with some elements of romance. Vampires feel very unique and Mexican.
Audiobook available.
Memoir
Cajas de Cartón (Estados Unidos)
I haven’t reviewed this in-depth, but I recommend it highly. Memoirs of a college professor about his childhood growing up as a migrant farm laborer. I discuss the book a little in this blog post.
Audiobook available
Non-fiction
Ikigai (España)
I haven’t reviewed this in-depth, but this is a perfect beginner book with lots of easy and repetitive vocabulary. The book talks about Ikagi, which is a Japanese philosophy of life. I talk about Ikagi a bit in this blog post.
Audiobook available
La gran adicción: Cómo sobrevivir sin internet y no aislarse del mundo (España)
Review. Maximalist critique of internet use.
Audiobook available.
Los Cuatro Acuerdos (México)
No in-depth review. Standard self-help spiel under the guise of “ancient toltec wisdom”/ some new-age spirituality. Not a bad idea to read if you’re into that stuff, but honestly nothing special.
Audiobook available.
Intermediate Books
Criteria to Start: These are what I would call “normal” adult books. Something you might find and read at an airport. I became comfortable with these around ~1000 hours of immersion and around 4 million words of reading.
Fantasy
Olvidado Rey Gudú (España)
Reviewed in-depth here. Absolutely nothing like it in English. Highly recommend. Also recommend a reread at a more advanced level.
Audiobook available
La saga de los confines (Argentina)
I have no in-depth review of this (still have to finish the third book). This trilogy is a fantasy retelling of the invasion of the Americas with a big dose of Tolkein. The writing can be a little confusing at times, but the plot is very straightforward.
Audiobook available
General Fiction
Habana año cero (Cuba)
No in-depth review of this one. Part chic-lit, part noir, this short book was predictable, but painted a vivid picture of the effects of the fall of the Soviet Union on Cuba on levels both personal and political. I found out about this book through Charco Press, which is a British publisher/translator that aims to bring new Latin-American fiction to English readers.
Audiobook available
El libro negro de las horas (España)
No in-depth review of this guy. Never have I ever read such a nerdy thriller in my life. This is a book about the criminal underworld surrounding…rare book dealers. Nothing like it that I’ve seen in English.
Audiobook available
Persona normal (México)
Ass book. Read this for Refold book club and we all found it insufferable. Don’t read
Audiobook available
En agosto nos vemos (Colombia)
No in-depth review, but this was a short,fun book about a family tradition of serial cheating over the summer on vacation :). Posthumous publication by Gabo, so quality isn’t as good as his other stuff
Audiobook available.
El matrimonio de los peces rojos (México/France)
I review this in my best books of 2025. This a collection of 5 short stories, each featuring an animal that parallels an interpersonal situation. Highly, highly recommend.
Audiobook available.
Distancia de rescate (Argentina)
No in-depth review. This is an urban horror story about two families that slowly descend into madness because of environmental pollution. Quite short (~100 pages), but I found to be tricky because of the writing style.
Audiobook available.
Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego (Argentina)
No in-depth review. This is a collection of urban horror stories set in Argentina. Most of the stories start off really well, but I found the ending of most stories (except the titular story) to end quite dissapointingly.
Audiobook available.
Historical Fiction
Africanus (España) Not reviewed in depth but discussed here. Generally liked Africanus, but it becomes a bit of a slog. Great for learning Roman history though. Also not available in English.
Audiobook available
Roma soy yo (España) No in-depth review, but discussed here. Recommend much more highly than Africanus, and I don’t think there’s a similar book that focuses on this phase of Caeser’s life.
Audiobook available
Maldita Roma (España) Review. Very entertaining, but very ridiculously biased in favor of Caesar. Lots of other resources about this time in Caesar’s political career. Plan to write more on this topic soon with an angle towards the duties and pitfalls of historical fiction.
Audiboook available
El guerrero a la sombra del cerezo (España) Review. Really enjoyed the mystery element of the two plots of this one.
Audiobook available
El imperio eres tú (España) No in-depth review but I thought this was a really interesting way to do historical fiction, blending narrative and textbook-style history. Discussed more here.
Audiobook available
La catedral del mar (España) Not reviewed in-depth, but I really enjoyed the book and the TV series. Very graphic however. Do not recommend for kids. Discussed here.
Audiobook available
Sidi (España) Review in Spanish on my Goodreads. This is a (relatively) short book about a short period in the life of the Spanish hero Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, more commonly known as El Cid. I loved the dialogue and descriptions of the battle scenes in this book, but found the character development lacking, and some of the period specific vocabulary difficult. Pérez-Reverte also sometimes writes in the most confusing way.
Audiobook available.
Largo petaló de mar (Chile/US) Review. Sprawling family saga about the Spanish Civil War, Latin American immigration, and political conflict in Chile. Very manageable in terms of vocab, but a lot of description and little dialogue. Audiobook Available
Violeta (Chile/US) No in-depth review. Follows the life of Violeta del Valle from 1920 to 2020 (Spanish Flu→ COVID) across a century of tumult in an un-named South American country (which is obviously Chile from the lack of acknowledgement of the Falklands War). I found the main character to be a selfish prick, and the lack of specifics about chilean history to be frustrating, especially compared to the other Allende book on this list.
Audiobook Available
Non-fiction
No te arrepientas (España) I haven’t reviewed this in depth, but thought was a little too preachy and perhaps too biased. However, nice counterpoint to the standard anti-colonization narratives. A little discussion here.
Audiobook available
Una historia de españa (España) I haven’t reviewed this in depth, but I don’t like Perez-Reverte’s writing style and I found the jokes to fly completely over my head. I discuss more in this blog post.
Audiobook available
La gran aventura del reino de asturias(España) I haven’t reviewed this in depth, but this book was too filled with names and dates. I discuss more in this blog post.
No audiobook available. Kindle Unlimited.
Petrocalipsis (España) This book is by Spanish oceanographer and climate science Antonio Turiel. It’s generally about the energy crisis and why various proposed solutions are nto going to work. Highly recommend checking it out, especially if you are a fan of collapse-related content in English (Nate Hagens, JMG, etc.)
Audiobook available on Spotify
Aprendiendo a aprender (España) Plenty of similar books in English (Ultralearning, Make it Stick, etc.), but this was an excellent recap for me of science-based learning strategies to help me expand my Spanish vocabulary to the education domain. Bonus points for being originally in Spanish.
Audiobook available
La naturaleza del entrenamiento (España) This is a book about endurance training in general. Manuel is a big proponent of training like our ancestors lived, which is a very interesting concept, although not one that I’m sure I fully agree with. Discussed more here
No audiobook available
Mi país inventado (Chile/EE.UU) I discuss this book in my best books of 2025. This is a collection of nonfiction essays of Allende’s reflecting on her life and the history of Chile. Best of her books in my opinion.
Audiobook available.
Science Fiction
Hijos del dios binario (España) Review. Recommend highly. One of the few thrillers I have enjoyed over the past few years.
Audiobook available (and free with Audible membership)
La invención de Morel (Argentina) Review. Short, mysterious, and profound.
Audiobook available
Plan de evasión (Argentina) No in-depth review. This felt quite thematically similar to La inveción de Morel, but was told partly through letters which was quite cool.
Audiobook available
Cuerpos del verano (Argentina) Review. Short, sweet and provocative.
Audiobook available not through Amazon.
Advanced Books
Criteria to Start: Honestly, these are the kind of books that you would struggle with in your native language, so there isn’t a set start point. I wouldn’t tackle until you’ve got at least 4 million words and some intermediate books under your belt.
Fantasy
Cuentos Completos de Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina) Haven’t reviewed in depth, but one of the best things I’ve ever read. Very difficult though. I discuss in various blog posts here, here and here.
Audiobook available
Cien años de soledad por GGM (Colombia)
Review. This is not really a novel, but a styilized historical retelling of the history of Colombia and I found it very difficult for that reason. Gabo also loves his low frequency vocab. I would read other of his stories, like Crónica, before tackling this one.
Audiobook available
Philosophy
La rebelión de las masas por José Ortega y Gasset (España) Review. Was a pretty difficult read, but mainly because of the ideas, although there were numerous Spanish words I was not familiar with. A strident cultural critique of our modern society
Audiobook available
Del sentimiento trágico de la vida por Miguel de Unamuno (España) Review. A difficult read, but mainly because of the quoted philosophers and references, and less so because of the Spanish. I did however, find Unamuno less straightforward than Ortega y Gasset, and thus more difficult to understand.
Audiobook available on YouTube