THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

  By M.Padilla The Latina Book Club welcomes Mike Padilla, author of THE GIRLS FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY CANTINA, who graces us with a short story for Hispanic Heritage Month. Thank you, Mike. It’s beautiful. Felicidades to all of us. Once upon a time there was a boy who was taught by his immigrant parents, through cues sometimes subtle and sometimes overt, that in order to fit in it was better to not bring too much attention to the Mexican in his Mexican American-ness. Like his parents, who wanted to blend into the neighborhood of mostly white shiny faces in which they lived, the boy understood the desire to belong. He wanted to be invited to birthday parties. He wanted people to talk to at school. One day, a teacher (who happened to be the very first black teacher ever hired by his school, with an awesome globe of an Afro the likes of which the boy had only ever seen on TV) said to him, “Isn’t it wonderful to be Mexican? To have such a special culture?” The boy made a fa...

   by Monique Frausto The Latina Book Club celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with the Founder of Blogs by Latinas. Welcome, Monique! I love celebrating the fact that I'm Latino. It's in the way I talk, how I walk with my head held high, how I approach every situation in life, and in what I do every day. As a blogger, I make sure my voice is heard. As a young Latina, I was always trying to prove everyone wrong. Don't tell me I can't do something, because I will do it. I saw how the women in my family were treated and how their voices didn't matter. I wanted that to change. In high school, I was a member of M.E.Ch.A, Student Council, and Keywannettes-pretty much any organization that encouraged us to speak up and make a change. College also gave me the opportunity to help voices be heard. That started the minute I joined my school newspaper. I immediately changed my major and I aspired to become a journalist. Today, I do what I can to support the posit...

   By Raul Ramos y Sanchez The Latina Book Club welcomes the author of AMERICA LIBRE and HOUSE DIVIDED to its Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration. Hispanic Heritage Month is a much-deserved commemoration of the nation’s fastest-growing ethnic group. But it’s more than opportunity to celebrate. It’s also an opportunity to educate, a chance to dispel the many widespread myths about Latinos. Ironically, many of these misconceptions are often perpetuated by other Latinos. The most common source is the “Hispanic marketing expert” who conjures imaginary characteristics about all Latinos to assert their expertise. Here are just a few actual examples: “Hispanics tend to place less importance on time as a concept. This can be frustrating to many non-Hispanics who are used to a fast moving world and are constantly rushing and planning for the future.” “Discussions with Hispanics tend to be more emotional and less rational. Understanding this will allow you to build powerfu...

By Marcela Landres The Latina Book Club welcomes editor extraordinaire Marcela Landres, as she helps us Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. You may celebrate your Latinidad through the food you eat or the holidays you observe. I celebrate my Latinidad with my wallet. For example, on the rare occasion that a Latina is headlining a movie, I march to the theatre and buy a ticket, preferably during the opening weekend. The number of tickets sold during a film’s opening weekend can make or break that Latina’s career. I want her to make it. So yes, I saw Christina Aguilera in Burlesque. (If you refused to see it because of the reviews, keep this in mind: the movie was made for women and gay men. Film critics are, for the most part, heterosexual men. Of course it was panned. What straight man genuinely enjoys a musical that doesn’t involve Monty Python or the creators of South Park?) After seeing Burlesque, I walked out of the theatre smiling and snapping my fingers. That was wort...

   Join The Latina Book Club as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.  Every Friday we will post Portraits of Hispanics in different walks of life.  Today we begin with Latino authors.  Caridad Pineiro author SINS OF THE FLESH Carlos Aleman author AS HAPPY AS LING Dalhma Llanos Figueroa author of DAUGHTERS OF STONE Esmeralda Santiago author of CONQUISTADORA Raul Ramos y Sanchez author of AMERICA LIBRE Torrey Maldonado author of SECRET SATURDAYS THELMA T. REYNA author of THE HEAVES WEEP FOR US I could go on and on and on, but I will limit myself to these authors.  Read and enjoy! LEAVE COMMENT:    Let me know who are Your favorite authors., and how You are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. NEXT:    The celebration continues on Monday, Sept 19, with editor Marcela Landres.       

by Maria C. Ferrer Founder, The Latina Book Club Today begins Hispanic Heritage Month . For one month out of the year, the US celebrates Hispanics, aka Latinos. This year the celebration seems ironic given the current tensions over the immigration bills being considered and laws enacted, but let’s not talk politics or we’ll be foaming at the mouth. Instead, let’s celebrate that Hispanics are an integral part of this great nation of ours. Let’s celebrate Hispanic leaders in our community, in our government, in our schools, in our lives.  For this one month, let’s celebrate what makes Hispanics unique and beautiful – our culture, our music, our letters, our passions, our people. I’m starting my month-long—and life-long—celebration with Familia . My family is the root of my Hispanidad. It is with them and from them that I get my pride in my heritage.  And, so I celebrate that I am Hispanic. I celebrate that I am Puerto Rican. I celebrate that I love my island, Borin...

The Latina Book Club congratulates Nilsa Rodriguez on her debut novel, THE RISING MOON, a YA paranormal romance that is thrilling, scary, complicated and exciting all at once.    Join us today as we "speak" with Nilsa and find out about her new series and her favorite things. How many lives do you have to live to realize that love is stronger than time and death? You and I both know my life is far from normal. I'm a werewolf, madly and desperately in love with a vampire. I could never live a normal life even if I tried." ~Angelia Lafosse Q&A....with Nilsa Rodriguez In your novel, THE RISING MOON, you introduce us to Angelia Lafosse. Tell us about her and her world. Angelia (Lia to her friends) is an eighteen year old girl who has grown up being shuffled between foster home and foster home. She lost her parents when she was only four years old and because everyone she has ever loved died, including her foster mother, Lia believes she is cursed...

   Join Las Comadres and La Casa Azul Bookstore on September 18 at the Brooklyn Book Festival, Booth #125.  Here is the list of Latino authors scheduled to appear at the booth: 12:00pm - 2:00pm Alicia Anabel Santos Ana Galan Dahlma Llanos Figueroa Sergio Troncoso Toni Plummer Torrey Maldonado Yuyi Morales 2:00pm - 3:30pm Caridad Pineiro Carmen Mojica Fabian Charlie Vazquez Daisy Martinez Justin Torres Sofia Quintero 3:30pm-5:00pm Charles Rice-Gonzalez Esmeralda Santiago Gloria Rodriguez Peggy Robles Alvarado Festival Site Address:  Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Public Transportation: 2, 3, 4, 5 to Borough Hall; R to Court Street A, C, F to Jay Street/Borough Hall For more information, visit http://www.lacasaazulbookstore.com/ or http://www.brooklynbookfestival.com/ .  

   BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl Little Brown & Company Official fansite: http://castergirlsandboys.com/ Move over Twilight fans, the Caster girls and boys are here. Casters are the “beautiful people” that inhabit the world of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl in their Beautiful Creatures series. There are Light Casters and Dark Casters ,and both their fates rest in the hands of Lena. She is the only thing that stands in the way of a supernatural civil war in the little Southern town of Gatlin, home to demons and danger. BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS is book two in the series. It will take a bit to catch up on who is who and how this new mysterious world works, but once you get it you too will become a fan of this new world and its inhabitants. There’s Lena who has a horrible choice ahead of her -- She must choose to be either Light or Dark, knowing that whatever choice she makes will automatically annihilate the other. There’s Ethan, Lena’s boyfriend....

This post is an official stop during THE IRISH SOLIDERS OF MEXICO Condo Book Tour . THE IRISH SOLDIERS OF MEXICO By Dr. Michael Hogan Fondo Editorial Universitario Also available in Kindle on Amazon REVIEW:    It has been said that history is written by the victors, or, as Dr. Hogan exposes, not written. The San Patricios were a small battalion of soldiers; some who deserted the US Army during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, or as the Mexican’s call it, The War of Intervention. American writers if they deemed it necessary to mention the San Patricios, dismissed them as deserters and turncoats. Hogan has uncovered that they were more than that. The San Patricios were in fact Mexico’s “Foreign Legion,” made up of Mexicans, Irish, Germans, French, etc; though they continue to be thought of exclusively as Irish soldiers. Yes, some of the San Patricios deserted the US Army because of racial and religious persecution. They had escaped Europe for America only to...