Spanish books for B1
At B1 you read in all the tenses, including the subjunctive, and follow a plot without translating every line. Apart from one school reader at A2, complete Spanish texts in this catalog start at B2, so this shelf holds MovaReader adaptations: six Spanish classics, Don Juan Manuel’s Count Lucanor, Rojas’s La Celestina, Lope de Vega’s Fuenteovejuna, Calderón’s Life Is a Dream, Zorrilla’s Don Juan Tenorio and Galdós’s Marianela, and five great European novels, retold in Spanish at near-original pace, 12,100 to 15,800 words each.
B1
11 books
- La Celestina Fernando de Rojas A B1 retelling of the 1499 tragicomedy 12 126 words 2-3 hours
- Fuenteovejuna Lope de Vega A B1 retelling of Lope de Vega’s play 12 264 words 2-3 hours
- Don Juan Tenorio José Zorrilla A B1 retelling of Zorrilla’s drama 12 646 words 2-4 hours
- Pride and Prejudice Orgullo y prejuicio Jane Austen A B1 retelling of Austen’s novel in Spanish 12 802 words 2-4 hours
- Les Misérables Los miserables Victor Hugo Hugo’s novel retold for B1 13 376 words 2-4 hours
- The Count of Monte Cristo El conde de Montecristo Alexandre Dumas A B1 adaptation of Dumas’s novel 13 522 words 2-4 hours
- The Three Musketeers Los tres mosqueteros Alexandre Dumas Dumas’s swashbuckler, retold for B1 13 522 words 2-4 hours
- The Hound of the Baskervilles El sabueso de los Baskerville Arthur Conan Doyle A B1 retelling of Conan Doyle’s mystery 14 507 words 2-4 hours
- Life Is a Dream La vida es sueño Pedro Calderón de la Barca Calderón’s verse play as B1 prose 15 374 words 3-4 hours
- Count Lucanor El conde Lucanor Don Juan Manuel A B1 retelling of medieval Spanish tales 15 617 words 3-4 hours
- Marianela Benito Pérez Galdós A B1 retelling of Galdós’s novel 15 837 words 3-4 hours
The level's books side by side
The catalog measures two things: the average sentence length and the share of long words, 9 letters or more. Every book on the shelf averages 11-12 words per sentence, and a long word comes from one in 27 in Count Lucanor to one in 21 in Les Misérables and The Hound of the Baskervilles. That puts them between A2, where the adaptations run 9-10 words per sentence and a long word comes at most one in 28, and B2, where complete texts start at 13 words per sentence in Unamuno’s Mist. The difficulty is even in every book, from the first chapter to the last.
- La Celestina Fernando de Rojas Words per sentence 12Length 12 126 words
- Fuenteovejuna Lope de Vega Words per sentence 12Length 12 264 words
- Don Juan Tenorio José Zorrilla Words per sentence 11Length 12 646 words
- Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Words per sentence 12Length 12 802 words
- Les Misérables Victor Hugo Words per sentence 11Length 13 376 words
- The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas Words per sentence 12Length 13 522 words
- The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas Words per sentence 11Length 13 522 words
- The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle Words per sentence 12Length 14 507 words
- Life Is a Dream Pedro Calderón de la Barca Words per sentence 12Length 15 374 words
- Count Lucanor Don Juan Manuel Words per sentence 12Length 15 617 words
- Marianela Benito Pérez Galdós Words per sentence 12Length 15 837 words
How these books read in MovaReader
Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears right there, with no dictionary in another tab. The reader remembers your place and the words you opened. Signing up is free.
Before you read
Are these the original texts?
No, these are MovaReader adaptations in Spanish: Don Juan Manuel’s Count Lucanor (1335), retold from medieval into modern Spanish, Rojas’s La Celestina (1499) and Lope de Vega’s Fuenteovejuna (1619), Calderón’s Life Is a Dream (1636) and Zorrilla’s Don Juan Tenorio (1844), both verse plays retold in prose, Galdós’s Marianela (1878), Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813), Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), and Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers and Hugo’s Les Misérables, from the French. Each keeps the main line of its source in about 12,100-15,800 words and is not a translation of the full text.
How is B1 different from A2 in this catalog?
In grammar and pace. The A2 adaptations tell their stories in the past tenses with 9-10 words per sentence; at B1 the retellings use all the tenses, including the subjunctive and the conditional, with 11-12 words per sentence and more long words.
How long does a book take?
2-4 hours each: the books run from about 12,100 to 15,800 words, in 14 chapters of roughly 900-1,100 words, so a chapter fits into a short sitting.
What should I read after B1?
The B2 shelf of complete Spanish texts. The closest in pace is Unamuno’s Mist, 13 words per sentence; the easiest in vocabulary is Martí’s The Golden Age, though its sentences are long.