Via The Modern Novel weblog (which I hope you're following -- lots of good foreign literature coverage to be found across the site) I find the results of ABC's experts'-poll of las mejores novelas españolas desde 2000 -- the best Spanish novels since 2000.
(It seems pretty clear to me that this is a poll of the best Spanish (as opposed to Spanish-language) novels -- and it would be pretty outrageous if it weren't (quite a few Latin American novels strike me as obviously superior to some of this stuff) -- the confusion presumably arising from the presence of we-all-know-he's-Peruvian-right-? Mario Vargas Llosa atop the list.
But Vargas Llosa has been a Spanish citizen since 1993, and they clearly have no problem claiming him as one of their own; longtime Spanish resident Roberto Bolaño, who surely might have placed a book or two on any Spanish-language list, on the other hand is ignored.)
A surprising number of these books are under review at the complete review (and The Infatuations would be ... if I could get my hands on a copy):
Needless to say -- I disagree with the experts.
A surprising number of these books are under review at the complete review (and The Infatuations would be ... if I could get my hands on a copy):
- 1. The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
- 3. Your Face Tomorrow by Javier Marías (only the first volume under review at this time)
- 4. Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas
- 5. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- 7. Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol
- 8. Montano (Montano's Malady) by Enrique Vila-Matas
Needless to say -- I disagree with the experts.