Rómulo Gallegos

A novel of love and family conflicts set against the way of life on the huge ranches of the Plains and the Arauca river basin.

A Novel

Doña Barbara

Allie Herrington

This year for one of my personal reading challenges I'm trying something I'm calling's "The Great American-Read-Through". For it I'm trying to read (or reread as the case may be) through as much of The Great American Read list as I can. I'm doing this because I want to understand why the books on the list are so beloved, even the ones I personally dislike (50 shades, Flowers in the Attic, Twilight, Left Behind, etc.) I'm starting at #100 and working backwards to #1. By the end of this year I'd like to make it through at least #51. This may not happen though as there are a lot of books in the back half of the list that were either nominated as a series (i.e. Alex Cross) or are a part of a series (i.e. Ghost). In either case, I want to read the whole series, because I think that that will give me a better understanding of the book/series popularity than a single example will. 

Anyway, without further ado, here's the book that came in at #100, Doña Barbara.

Librarian: I'm sure than many libraries already have a copy of this book. I know that it's unlikely that they have more than one copy (unless it's a university library and this book is being taught in a South American literature class), and many of those copies may only have been acquired when the book was nominated for the Great American Read, but I do hope that making the list changes that. It's such a gorgeous book that I'm sure that more people would fall in love with it if they had a chance. I hope that librarians across the country got a chance to really talk this one up during the Read this past summer.
Reader: What a beautiful book. I'll admit that I hadn't read this novel before. In truth, I hadn't even heard of it. I'm glad though, that it was on the list and I had the chance to read it.
In reading it I absolutely understand why it would deserve to be on a list of best loved novels. The prose is gorgeous and super poetical. As I read, I found myself constantly highlighting favorite passages. The words dance across the page. Both the author, and the translator do an impressive job of drawing the reader into the prose.
Why isn't this one on more high school reading lists? (Any high school reading lists? I mean I've never heard of students reading this one, but maybe they just don't read it around me.) 

Reading Challenge: Great American Read Through

Doña Barbara A Novel

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