THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

    Arte Publico Press 1973 Slowly, then rapidly, the city began to fade from view as Nilda looked out the window.   First, the Park Avenue Market began to disappear and she looked back at 110 th Street where she went shopping with her mother almost every day; then all the buildings, tenements, streetlights and traffic faded from view. Panic seized her and she swallowed, fighting a strong urge to cry as she longed to go back home that very second. ---Nilda Named an “Outstanding Book of the Year” by The New York Times and one of the “Best Books of the Year” by the American Library Association in 1973 when it was first published, Nicholasa Mohr’s classic novel, NILDA, about life as an immigrant in New York City offers a poignant look at one young girl’s experiences. Issues of race, religion and machismo are movingly depicted in this groundbreaking coming-of-age novel that was one of the first by a Latina author to be hailed by the mainstream media. S...

   Every Wednesday The Latina Book Club features excerpts from exciting novels by Latino authors.                                                                                                  Happy Reading and Happy Holidays! This is the season to be jolly but we have a great “dark” excerpt for readers from our friend Carlos Colón from book 1 of his Sangre Series -- SANGRE: THE COLOR OF DYING .  No reason to be scared…if you’ve been good!   Here’s a mini interview with ...

The Latina Book Club congratulates author Eddie Cisneros   on the second book is his HIS-PANIC trilogy.   We are happy to share an excerpt with our readers. HIS-PANIC: Exit to Boogie Down By Eddie Cisneros Excerpt "I sluggishly walked around the neighborhood. The last few days had been disheartening to say the least. I was starting to second guess whether or not this whole drug life I'd become a part of was really something worthwhile anymore. There were mixed emotions running through my head. I felt lost and confused. That simple infatuation of selling drugs and making money had turned against me, betraying me. More so, was the fact that I now had a great deal of trust issues swirling. I remember talking with Taz while hanging out at Jerome Park one night. I was able to open up about a lot of things, about my argument with Duckie and the whole situation with Rosemary and her brother. I explained to him that I really thought m...

   I am no longer that hungry, insecure little girl anymore. While I’ve managed to subdue my past, I believe my past hasn’t spoiled me, but has prepared me for the future. I may not be perfect but, whenever I stumble, I can wipe the crud off and walk on.       Life is precious.  Life is worth living.  As I choose to walk in forgiveness, to become better and not bitter…I am whole.  I am significant.  I am free at last.  ¡Wepa!     --- Mary A. P é rez Chart House Press RUNNING IN HEELS is a story about child abuse, survival, forgiveness and redemption. Mary P é rez’s first memory is that of her and her older brother being kidnapped from their kindergarten school by their mother and her latest boyfriend.  By the time Mary is three her parents are divorced and she alone is living with her mom.  Mary grows up a hungry child – hungry for food, but more importantly, for love and accept...

   HOT OFF THE PRESS!  BOOK DEBUTS TODAY! From a Bronx housing project to the Federal bench, Sonia Sotomayor has come a long way.  She is an inspiration to Latina girls of all ages.  Here for the first time, is the story of Sotomayor's rocky childhood, and the long, hard road to becoming the first Hispanic and the third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court.  It's a personal look at the private woman behind the bench.  Congratulations, Sonia! BOOK SUMMARY:     MY BELOVED WORLD  tells the story of Sotomayor's precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to giv...