Spanish books for C2

In sentence length. At C1 the average sentence runs from 13 to 34 words; in the C2 prose it runs from 38 in Paradise Lost to 51 in La Galatea, and to 96 in Bernal Díaz. Don Quixote even has fewer long words than the C1 books, but in chapters XXVIII-LII of part one sentences average about 51 words. The one verse book, Góngora’s Soledades, is here for its language, not its numbers.

Complete texts, not abridged or adapted: Don Quixote with both parts, of 1605 and 1615, following the first editions with modernized spelling, and all 12 books of Paradise Lost in Cayetano Rosell’s prose translation from an 1873 edition, in one volume with Paradise Regained. Cervantes’s Exemplary Novels (1613), all twelve, follow an 1883 Brockhaus edition. Rodó’s Ariel (1900) follows a 1920 Valencia edition. Teresa of Ávila’s Book of Her Life follows a 1927 Espasa-Calpe edition, Fray Luis de León’s The Perfect Wife an 1898 Montaner y Simón edition, Las Casas’s Short Account the 1552 Seville text with partly modernised spelling, and Góngora’s Soledades Foulché-Delbosc’s 1921 edition. Persiles and Sigismunda follows a 1920 Calpe edition and La Galatea a 1922 Calpe edition (taken from scans), Bernal Díaz’s True History an 1862-1863 Madrid edition, and Ganivet’s Idearium the 1897 Granada first edition (taken from scans).

Better to finish a book from the C1 shelf first. Don Quixote is not only hard but one of the largest books in the catalog: about 384,300 words, 64-107 hours of reading with translation.