Isabel Allende

[muggle not]

Have any of you read Isabel Allende's books. I enjoyed House Of Spirits, Daughter Of Fortune, and Portrait In Sepia. All good books which you can get a good feel for on Amazon.

I was fortunate enough to attend "An Evening With Isabel Allende" in 2002 at the University Of Virginia. Wow, what an interesting person and the stories she told were great. She discussed many of her books and some of her life which is a story in itself.

[Kell]

SOunds like she's a very intersting person. I might have to pick up House of Spirits - I think that's the one I've heard of most often.

[Galactic Space Hamster]

I can highly recommend "House of Spirits" I really like Allende, but I have only read two of her novels, so far. The next one I get will be Zorro.

[muggle not]

I can highly recommend "House of Spirits" I really like Allende, but I have only read two of her novels, so far. The next one I get will be Zorro.
Ok, what is the other book of hers that you have read. :D

[Galactic Space Hamster]

I read Eva Luna but I didn't like it nearly so much as I liked House of Spirits I have read though that it's not one of her best and am looking forward to reading a lot more of her over the years to come :)

[Mamacita]

My sister gave me Daughter of Fortune for my birthday last year...I haven't gotten around to reading it yet b/c I want to be able to appreciate it. It's much heavier than most of what I read....yeah, I read fluff! LOL!! With my work, I need "brain candy" whenever I can get it. ;)

But it sounds like a really good book, so maybe it will be my book to curl up with on a cold winter weekend.

[Kell]

I have Daughter of Fortune on my TBR pile - it's part of my Olympic Challenge too...

[muggle not]

I was fortunate enough to attend "An Evening With Isabel Allende" in 2002 at the University Of Virginia. Wow, what an interesting person and the stories she told were great. She discussed many of her books and some of her life which is a story in itself.

One of Isabel's quotes from her discussion:

Allende: People. I want people to love each other, to like each other, to know each other, to look at each other in the face and see the humanity in each other. That is why I write about different races, about people from different backgrounds, about immigrants, and people who are confronted with pain and loss. And then, in that moment of great loss, these people all of the sudden see the face of the enemy--and there is no enemy, it is just another person who is in pain as well. I find that fascinating because that has been my life experience. I write about strong women because I don’t know any weak women. I really don’t know any. I don’t invent strong women for my books, I just pick them up from in the street, and those are the women I know. I’m not kidding! I’m the kind of person who overhears conversations in a restaurant and writes them down in the napkin, and those are the characters in my books. And those are the stories in my books.

[pontalba]

I have two of her books. Zorro and Daughters of Fortune, and stalled on both. I bought DoF first, and read maybe a quarter of it before giving up. I thought Zorro would be more to my taste, haveing grown up on the old TV series and the movies, but no dice.
It is possible that it was my mood at the time or whatever, barometric pressure might have been off....but I will try again.
But not right this minute. :D

[Sela]

I've only read a couple of her books. I picked up ... The Pygmy Forest? Something like that. It's supposed to be YA, but I haven't read it yet. I have really enjoyed what I've read by her, though. Eva Luna, House of Spirits, Daughter of Fortune. And I'd love to read Zorro, too.

[wrathofkublakhan]

Zorro was pretty awesome.

I was amazed to find that the author was commissioned to write this book - is this a common thing?

The book is a good read, sort of a "how Zorro became Zorro" with plenty of history and political and world description of the time. The cover for my book was beautiful and was one of the reasons I bought it. I see other titles listed in this thread, perhaps I'll have to go a-hunting.

[Princess Orchid]

I read Allende's "Zorro", and I swear, by then end of it I was in love with the protagonist! The only other book of hers I've read is "Aphrodite".

[Amakash]

I love Isabel Allende..she is one of my favourite authors.

I've read quite a few of her books including (if I can remember!)

House of Spirits
Of Love and Shadows
Eva Luna
Protrait in Sepia
Daughter of Fortune
City of Beasts
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
Forest of the Pygmies
And I started reading Ines of my Soul (Iwas really excited to pick up a hardback copy of this in Waterstones with £5 off...only to discover that it was a signed copy!)

I think that the City of Beasts triology were amoung my favourites. They were written for young adults, but I found them to be quite magical.