THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

Grove Press “You just want to go deep enough to arrive at that moment when your thoughts stop  and all you feel is the water and your heartbeat.” THE VEINS OF THE OCEAN is not a novel that is easy to put down or to forget once finished. Both a tragedy and a romance, Patricia Engel’s second novel stuns and warms the reader in equal measure. F rom Florida to Cuba to Colombia, our heroine – and the reader! – are taken on a hard journey to solace and redemption. This is a deep novel with lots of under currents, and just like the swimmer who sheds her clothing in preparation of jumping into the water, so does our heroine shed her past and her guilt, and dives into the ocean to cleanse her soul and spring forth reborn and renewed. SUMMARY:  For seven years, Reina Castillo visits her brother Carlito on death row for throwing his unfaithful girlfriend’s daughter off a bridge.  History had repeated itself, because the same thing had happened to Carlito when he was a

For centuries books have been “challenged.”  In some cases the books were stored away out of sight, out of mind; in worse cases, they were burned and lost forever.  Even today, books are “banned” for all sorts of reasons – violence, foul language, portrayals of abuse/drugs/alcoholism, religious points of view, sexual content, etc., etc., etc.  Believe it or not, even The Holy Bible was banned at one point for sexual content and violence.  No wonder it’s the number one bestselling book every year. So to Celebrate Banned Book Week (Sept 25 – Oct 1) and to Celebrate Our Right to Read, here are 15 “notorious” Latino Books that have been banned at one time or another for all sorts of reasons.  We encourage you to add them all to your Library and read them in public.  Happy Reading! NOTORIOUS BANNED LATINO BOOKS 1.              …And the Earth Did Not Devour Him by Tomás Rivera 2.              Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez 3.              Bless Me Ultima b