One of my goals for 2026 is to read a whole book in Spanish. My conversational skills are passable, but I’m a visual learner and want to get better!

I’m still debating whether I should go straight for a book originally written in Spanish and accompany it with the English translation OR read the Spanish translation of a book I’ve already enjoyed in English. Either way, I will likely do an immersive read if the Spanish language audiobook is available, and all four of these are!

My aunt who just came to visit for the weekend inspired this wish of mine — she's been teaching Spanish for over thirty years, and she knows I'm a very visual learner. She highly recommends "El Murmullo de las Abejas" by Sofía Segovia and is sending me her copy, but I also found the translated English version and the Spanish audiobook. I kind of love the idea of achieving this goal with a book originally written in the language I'm trying to learn more of.

I'm 90% certain I first heard of "Corazón Migrante" by Reyna Grande thanks to @Carmen, and while essay collections are not usually where the spirit moves me, I love love love a good memoir. Possibly a very good idea to break up my reading a bit and even reread some for better language retention...?

"Vampiros en El Norte" by Isabel Cañas is one I recommended to a friend recently, and I was so thrilled to hear she enjoyed it! While my copy of "The Hacienda" is still staring at me from my shelf awaiting my (necessary) attention, what if she and I were to buddy read the Spanish translation together?? We are at about the same level speaking-wise, but I'd have to see if reading in Spanish is of interest to her.

Finally, "Amor Entre Libros" by Emily Henry is the one I am likely to get through the quickest. I have read and reread my English copy over and over, so I definitely think I can grasp new words in Spanish a lot easier/faster given my familiarity with the story. I can't decide if this is a cop out and I'm not challenging myself enough, or if this is a wise entry point that will help me become a more adept Spanish reader.

What do you think? Do any of the above sound like an obvious must? Where should I start?

(Both the English and Spanish versions of all four books are tagged below and have been added to my bookshelf. While one of these four is definitely where I'd like to start, I'm open to suggestions for books in Spanish I can add to my TBR!)