Homepage La Ciudad de las Bestias bookclub

Spanish Reading Book Clubs
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This session of the bookclub, we will read La Ciudad de las Bestias | L30?? by Isabel Allende.

The link to the bookclub page is here.

We have a collaborative google sheets for vocabulary, grammar and notes here! Feel free to add anything you didn’t know, chances are, if you needed to look it up, someone else also probably needed to do the same.

According to previous votes, bookclub should be starting early March, following this schedule.

Chapter Start date Title End page Pgs in Ch. Wk #
1 18 Mar La pesadilla 20 12 1
2 25 Mar La excéntrica abuela 34 14 2
3 1 Apr El abominable hombre de la selva 42 13 3
4 8 Apr El río Amazonas 62 20 4
5 15 Apr El chamán 74 12 5
6 15 Apr El plan 82 8 5
7 22 Apr El jaguar negro 96 14 6
8 29 Apr La expedición 116 20 7
9 6 May La gente de la neblina 134 8 8
10 13 May Raptados 150 16 9
11 20 May La aldea invisible 168 18 10
12 27 May Rito de iniciación 188 20 11
13 3 Jun La montaña sagrada 208 20 12
14 10 Jun Las bestias 224 16 13
15 17 Jun Los huevos de cristal 234 10 14
16 24 Jun El agua de la salud 252 18 15
17 1 Jul El pájaro caníbal 274 12 16
18 8 Jul Manchas de sangre 288 14 17
19 15 Jul Protección 306 18 18
20 22Jul Caminos separados 307 9 19

Will you be participating?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Maybe
0 voters

The book has 424 pages, so now comes the question, how many pages per week would you like to read?

  • Less than 10
  • 10
  • 15
  • 20
  • 30
  • Other
0 voters

On average, each chapter has around 15 pages. I’ll add the exact number of pages per chapter once I have the book (or if someone already has it, they can share it!).

On what format will you be reading?

  • Physical book
  • Ebook
  • Audiobook
  • Physical and audiobook
  • Ebook and audiobook
  • I’m not sure yet
0 voters
3 Likes
2

Could we get a bookclub tag on La Ciudad de las Bestias ?

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I voted for a slightly slower reading pace since I’m not all that confident with my reading abilities.

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Chapters are quite short, so we could do one chapter a week for example (around 15 pages), or less. It all depends on what the majority prefers.
But if you have any problems understanding anything, you can always ask, that’s what the bookclub is for. We could also start a Google sheets with some vocab (and even grammar if needed).

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5

Thanks for setting this up! Looking forward to reading along. Ordered a second hand copy from eBay for £3.41, should be here in a few days. Happy to contribute to a vocab sheet.

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6

I think I’d prefer splitting it up by chapter rather than doing it by page number. Since this is our first club and we have some beginners, I think starting with one chapter a week might be good?

Looking at the book that won, I wonder if there’s any chance we’ll find the word chalupa in here :joy_cat:

5 Likes
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So far, majority is going for the 15-20 pages range, so in that case I agree, it’d make the most sense to do one chapter per week.

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Got my copy today. Here is a photo of the index page that shows the length of each chapter. My edition has 315 pages, I’ve included a photo of page 1 to show the text density.

Summary

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4 Likes
9

I’m still waiting on my copy but maybe in the next few weeks while I’m on holiday I can try to do something to help get my spanish level back to where I was previously so I can try to understand at least bits of this while I try to join in. Had to buy the other two books in the series as well :rofl:

5 Likes
10

I’m still not sure whether I’ll be able to get a physical copy or just the ebook. I prefer physical books, because then I can write in them, especially since I’ll try to do more active reading with this for once. However, none of the bookstores around me have it, and I can’t order it now because I’m moving soon.

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My book arrived today, along with the 2nd and 3rd one in the series. My Spanish will most likely not be ready when I read this but I’ll roll with it :joy:

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I came across the cover for the Japanese translation today - 神と野獣の都:

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Should we do everything on a single thread, or have a weekly thread?

  • Only one thread
  • Weekly thread
  • I don’t care
0 voters

I’ll build the schedule right now, 15 pages won, with 20 pages as a close second, so we’ll do one chapter per week since that’s the page average. I’ll be using the page count from @Micki 's edition. If anyone has the ebook version, you can share the book percentages, I’ll add them! (I’m still hoping I’ll be able to somehow get a physical copy before we start)

3 Likes
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The only week with 2 chapters is week 5, with 20 pages total. Let me know if that’s okay, or if you have anything you want to add/change.

Chapter Start date Title End page Pgs in Ch. Wk #
1 18 Mar La pesadilla 20 12 1
2 25 Mar La excéntrica abuela 34 14 2
3 1 Apr El abominable hombre de la selva 42 13 3
4 8 Apr El río Amazonas 62 20 4
5 15 Apr El chamán 74 12 5
6 15 Apr El plan 82 8 5
7 22 Apr El jaguar negro 96 14 6
8 29 Apr La expedición 116 20 7
9 6 May La gente de la neblina 134 8 8
10 13 May Raptados 150 16 9
11 20 May La aldea invisible 168 18 10
12 27 May Rito de iniciación 188 20 11
13 3 Jun La montaña sagrada 208 20 12
14 10 Jun Las bestias 224 16 13
15 17 Jun Los huevos de cristal 234 10 14
16 24 Jun El agua de la salud 252 18 15
17 1 Jul El pájaro caníbal 274 12 16
18 8 Jul Manchas de sangre 288 14 17
19 15 Jul Protección 306 18 18
20 22Jul Caminos separados 307 9 19
3 Likes
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I don’t really mind, it certainly requires less effort from the organiser to just have one thread. On the other hand we are a mix of reading levels, and it’s easier for people who have fallen behind to stay engaged and ask questions if there is a single thread for each week.

It would be great if new people discovering Natively joined us while the bookclub is running. Again it’s probably easier for people catching up to ask questions and add their own thoughts if it’s divided into weekly threads.

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16

If you have access to a Spotify premium account you may be able to listen to the audiobook included in your subscription.

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There’s also a version of the audiobook on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6wWOZceeVI&list=WL&index=2&t=8s

6 Likes
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I ordered the book(s :see_no_evil:) and got the audiobook on audible today. Looking forward to it!

I also put in my votes, of course.

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I’m thinking I’m highly unlikely to be able to understand much in this so I’ll probably end up doing my usual and lurking in the comments, maybe understanding a little of what I’m reading or maybe not understanding anything :rofl:

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Well every book club needs its lurkers. Plus the camera function on Deepl works really well for Spanish!

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