THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

     Our April Book of the Month is AS HAPPY AS LING by Carlos Aleman. The characters, some real, others mere illusions, have all made the same blunder. They have chosen to judge their lives. And in judging and labeling, they have eaten from the tree of good and bad, unaware that tragedy is often the greatest teacher of compassion and love. ----Unknown balsero A benediction: May you be as happy as Ling, rolling in the cool morning sand, shouting to the one you love, ‘te amo!’ ----Carlos Aleman, author AS HAPPY AS LING is surreal, passionate, disturbing and irresistible. It’s like Dante’s INFERNO and Garcia Marquez’ 100 YEARS OF SOLITUDE. I whole heartedly recommend it. AS HAPPY AS LING is about war, compassion, abuse, truth, faith, depression and most of all, about love -- Love of family, of lovers, of friends, of God… love of self. It’s the story of Adrianna and Octavio, whose marriage is torn asunder by war. He is deployed yet again and she enters into ...

                                          Q: You are a writer and a painter. Do you prefer one medium over the other or do the two feed of each other within you? A: I like to think of painting as taking a snapshot, and writing as directing a full length motion picture. Other than that, it's hard to draw parallels. I'm a great admirer of other painters, and a bit of an art history buff. Since my work hasn't been exhibited, I don't take my own work too seriously, and do it purely for enjoyment. I started writing only a few years ago. I never thought I had the literary background to write fiction, but over time, I transitioned from journaling to an attempt at a memoir (a very bad one I might add). Eventually, I wrote nine drafts of AS HAPPY AS LING, polishing to the point t...