THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

The Latina Book Club welcomes Thelma T. Reyna , editor, of the newly published WHEN THE VIRUS CAME CALLING.  It's a heart-wrenching anthology that records the events Americans - and the world! - have been living and struggling with these past seven months.  Some of the stories are hard to read, but all expose the havoc this disease has wrought and, most importantly, the resilience of people who refuse to be defeated.  WHEN THE VIRUS CAME CALLING:  COVID-19 STRIKES AMERICA Thelma T. Reyna, Editor   A ground-breaking anthology of 46 distinguished American contemporary poets and prose writers, written in real time in the first half of the historic, devastating coronavirus COVID-19 invasion of America in 2020. In heart-wrenching, wide-eyed observations, firsthand events, tragedies, and reflections, these top authors document for us the horrors, grief, and heroism of friends, family, neighbors as we watched the disease unfold. Here are moments of hope and togethe...

Just when there is a light at the end of this Covid-19 tunnel we’ve been bunkered in for the past eight weeks, there is a confrontation at the Brambles in Central Park and a murder in Minneapolis that shatter our lives, our country, the world. The Latina Book Club condemns racism in all its forms. We especially condemn the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police.   We stand in solidarity with our Black brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors, and community members. We Are   In This Together .   We recognize that ALL Americans are equal, and that no matter the color of our skin, religion, sexual orientation, economic background, et al, ALL of us are part of the whole, and we must be treated with respect and dignity. We know that by working together we as a community, as a country, can ALL stamp out racism, police brutality, sexual harassment, bullying and greed, and create a new and better world. Until that time comes, please know th...

Vintage Books  1985 Think of love as a state of grace: not the means to anything but the alpha and omega, an end in itself. —Florentino This novel by Gabriel García Márquez seems very apropos for this time. We are under a pandemic, and the protagonists in this historic novel are under their own pandemic.   Of course, it takes 50+ years before the boy gets the girl, but love is forever. Some readers have problems with Florentino.   He seems an obsessive Don Juan – bedding everything with breasts—and yet still insists that he is a “virgin,” that he only has one love. Is it because Fermina is the one who got away, or because she is the other half of his soul? Readers have been battling over this question for over 50 years, and will probably continue to do so for another 50.   Read it again and let us know where you stand.   Happy Reading.—mcf LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (EL AMOR EN LOS TIEMPOS DE COLERA) was first published in 1985. It...

I never wanted to work from home. I like the hustle and bustle of New York City, and I enjoy the dynamics of an in-person workplace. March 13 was the day the world changed for me. Suddenly, I’m working for home.   All meetings are virtual ones. Now I really have to order internet service.   It was the end of the world as I knew it. The corona virus had taken over the world, and changed its name to Covid-19.   It was not sexier; it was just more terrifying. New York City becomes the epicenter of this plague.   Governor Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio tally the dead.   500 dead loved ones. 600 dead loved ones. 799 dead loved ones.   And, my niece an operating nurse in the biggest hospital in Queens, where all the sick go, where ice trucks are parked outside because the morgue is full and there are no more empty rooms or corridors to place the body bags. These are scary times.   BUT, our Medical Personnel are Super Heroes . T...