THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

  Dark.   Scary. Mysterious. Deadly. Monsterous. She had me at Puerto Rico. Ann Dávila Cardinal’s first solo novel  is suspenseful and thrilling at the same time.     Lupe, a self proclaimed Gringa-Rican, from Vermont visits Puerto Rican to spend the summer with her father’s family, including her police-chief Tio.   Only this summer is different. El Cuco, a childish bogeyman is killing teenagers and Lupe is in the middle of solving the mystery. Seems El Cuco is targeting “los cangrejos” – five estranged friends one of whom is her cousin. Lupe pairs with Javier, one of the cangrejos and a former addict. The spirited duo are in a race against time to stop the Cuco before anyone else dies.   FIVE MIDNIGHTS is an energetic super natural thriller with great glimpses of Puerto Rican barrios. It is an action packed fast page-turner. The author has also created a great cast of interesting diverse characters, which we are happy to report are back in the s...

Al jibaro nunca se le quita la mancha de platano. A jibaro can never wash away the stain of the plantain .                         -Esmeralda Santiago Vintage, 1990 If you are Puerto Rican, you have probably heard of Esmeralda Santiago.  She is the author that gave Puerto Ricans a face and a voice.  She is every Boricua – torn between two cultures, two languages, two identities.  Which is the real Esmeralda? The answer is another question – why can’t she be both? Esmeralda’s WHEN I WAS PUERTO RICAN is the first of three memoirs that take readers from the pueblitos of the small Caribbean island to the big city in Manhattan.  Esme’s new life is full of challenges, discoveries and dualities.  In fact, the original version of the novel had two parts  –  Puerto Rico and America.  Esmeralda is both Puerto Rican ...

Algonquin Books I wasn’t looking for a specific place, since I didn’t believe there was any place I belonged . –Jaquira Fierce. Eloquent. Harsh. Stark. Empowering.     From Ponce to Miami, Jaquira’s life is not easy.   It’s full of doubt, violence, suicide, mental illness, fear, shame, rage, and finally defiance and confidence. She read books on the download, dreamed of getting out of Miami and traveling the world, dreaming of adventures. Jaquira never dreamt of a specific place, because she never felt that she’d belong. Now, she shares her story, her journey to the woman she has become and celebrates today. SUMMARY:   While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Ric...

The Latina Book Club has become an affiliate of Bookshop to help support local and independent bookstores.  Visit us at   https://bookshop.org/shop/latinabookclub . Bookshop is an online bookstore that believes bookstores are essential to a healthy culture. They’re where authors can connect with readers, where we discover new writers, where children get hooked on the thrill of reading that can last a lifetime.   By design, Bookshop gives away over 75% of its profit margin to stores, publications, authors and others who make up the thriving, inspirational culture around books! To date, Bookshop has raised $1.5 million dollars. Bookshop hopes to help strengthen the fragile ecosystem and margins around bookselling and keep local bookstores an integral part of our culture and communities.   They are a B-Corp - a corporation dedicated to the public good.  The Latina Book Club is proud affiliate. Please check out The Latina Bo...

The Latina Book Club celebrates LATINX  HERITAGE MONTH every day. To honor authors during this celebratory month, we will highlight a new book every day. Join us and #ReadLatinoLit. Ingram Spark DAUGHTERS OF THE STONE By Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa Vibrant. Lyrical. Powerful.  DAUGHTERS OF THE STONE follows five generations of Puerto Rican women on their  physical and spiritual journey from the Old World to the New. SUMMARY:   It is the mid-1800s. Fela , taken from Africa, is working at her second sugar plantation in colonial Puerto Rico, where her mistress is only too happy to benefit from her impressive embroidery skills. But Fela has a secret. Before she and her husband were separated and sold into slavery, they performed a tribal ceremony in which they poured the essence of their unborn child into a very special stone. Fela keeps the stone with her, waiting for the chance to finish what she started. When the plantation owne...

Anger doesn’t just disappear. It bubbles along, it surfaces in different ways. You try not to feel it every waking minute. You learn to live with it .---Averil In the midst of life we are in death. ---from a prayer   Jaded Ibis Press At Last!  Women are speaking out against abuse in Hollywood, on TV….everywhere.    The Latina Book Club salutes the silence breakers and the survivors.  Hence, when this “brilliant, moving novel” –KINGDOM OF WOMEN by Rosalie Morales Kearns– crossed our path, we were intrigued by its title and its exploration of violence against women. KINGDOM OF WOMEN is a suspenseful, provocative, and captivating debut novel. Rosalie Morales Kearns has written a bold and fantastic futuristic novel with realistic characters, fast-paced action and enough surprises to keep readers riveted.  Kearns puts her Catholic school upbringing to good use in this book.  It’s peppered with scripture and saints-name-dropping but ...

   The Latina Book Club congratulates author Jon Marcantoni on his first Spanish-language novel, TRISTIANA.  We were happy to learn all about the novel and what is happening with La Casita Grande.     Darío: When you look at my body, what do you see? You see muscles, chest, arms and legs, my sex? Or do you see skin that is destined to decay? Bones destined to be picked apart by insects until what remains is grinded into dirt. Do you see a walking death that fights to stay within this body? You see my inevitable end, and the hole it will create in the lives of those who love me? What you see if a passing thing, like a memory. And I am alive, I live within your mind, because my destiny is to be buried, and in truth the ground is where this body desires to be above anywhere else. When I look at my children sleeping under the mosquitero, I see a piece of my Isabella and I, a piece which will suffer when we die. The time is coming. Even though in t...

Poetry is like a song, like a psalm, like a prayer. Poetry is different things to many people, and April being Poetry Month, The Latina Book Club is celebrating by featuring Latino poets all week long. We are happy to welcome poet, author and artist  Manuel A. Meléndez ,  and honored that he has graciously shared a poem with us at the end of our chat. A CHAT WITH POET MANUEL A. MELENDEZ Q:  We are celebrating poetry month so we'd like to know What poetry means to you? How and why do you love it so?   Manny :  A poem was the first thing I wrote as a young boy.  And it all happened because I had a crush on this girl in school and I was too shy to speak to her, so I decided to write her a poem.  Of course, she thought I was weird, but thanks to her she made discover the creative side  in me.  Then a few years later I came across a book, which I still have, titled “The Best Loved Poems of the American People. “...