Discover GEEO’s recommended books to read before you travel to Spain. Our book club is a way for travelers to learn through literature about the places they’ll be visiting.

These are some of our favorites about Spain, so if you’re heading there, take a look (the GEEO book club is not a required element of our programs, just a bit of added fun)! We hope you will enjoy the books we have selected and they will enhance your experience.

You should be able to find most of our selections through the links below and in your local library system as well. Do you have any feedback on our selections or suggestions for additions? Contact us and let us know!

Recommended books to read before traveling to Spain:

Fiction:

• Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali (Bookshop.org | Amazon)
• Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving (Bookshop.org | Amazon)

Nonfiction:

• Moorish Spain by Richard Fletcher (Bookshop.org | Amazon)
• The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by María Rosa Menocal and Harold Bloom (Bookshop.org | Amazon)

For those looking for more suggestions, here are some other books you may want to consider:

• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (Bookshop.org | Amazon)
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (Bookshop.org | Amazon)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (Bookshop.org | Amazon)
• The Carpenter’s Pencil by Manuel Rivas (Bookshop.org | Amazon)
• Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain by Chris Stewart (Bookshop.org | Amazon)
• Barcelona: A Thousand Years of the City’s Past by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (Amazon)
• Discovering Spain: An Uncommon Guide by Penelope Casas (Amazon)
• South From Granada by Gerald Brenan (Amazon)
• The Heretic by Lewis Weinstein (Bookshop.org | Amazon)

Bonus recommended films and videos to watch before traveling to Spain:

GEEO travelers can register with SIMA Academy for free using a unique access code that we provide after our programs end. Feel free to contact us if you would like to receive the access code early. For this program, we recommend watching Out of Plastic. SIMA Academy utilizes the storytelling power of award-winning global short documentaries to nurture globally competent and socially active learners worldwide.

GEEO utilizes both Bookshop.org and Amazon Associates links for the above-suggested books. If you purchase a book through one of the links above, you’re supporting us as a nonprofit and helping more teachers travel through GEEO!