THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

Farrar Straus Giroux, 1984 All lovers of justice are invited to attend a public demonstration of solidarity with the idealists of Canudos and with all rebels the world over,  to be held in the Praça da Liberdade  on the fourth of October at 6 p.m. Called a “modern tragedy on the grand scale,” a “thunderous novel,” a “masterpiece.” THE WAR OF THE END OF THE WORLD is all that and more. Canudos is the Wild West and Neverland all rolled into one. There are no laws, no taxes, no marriage, no worries. Sounds like paradise, but there is always a snake in the grass, and this one is the fictional Brazilian government determined to claim the backlands, crush the outcasts and impose their rule.   Freedom fighters or bandits?   The battle is inevitable, but readers must ask, who truly wins the war? SUMMARY:   Deep within the remote backlands of nineteenth-century Brazil lies Canudos, home to all the damned of the earth: prostitutes, bandits, be...

Women who stepped up Were measured as citizens Of the nation, not as women… This was a people’s war, And everyone was in it. ---Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby First Director of the Women’s Army Corps, WWII Golden Foothills Press This quote from more than 60 years ago is so apropos today.  Women have always had a role in wars, but usually behind the scenes in medical units or where they weren’t at risk of being captured.  But earlier this year, women were finally approved for combat duty, specifically in the infantry, which is why Victor Cass’ new novel seems to be pulled right from the headlines, and maybe a little prophetic too. BLACKWIDOW BITCHES is a political thriller about the first all-female combat infantry unit of paratroopers; Not only soldiers but airborne soldiers! Be warned! This is a big book—846 pages!—about terrorism and war.  It’s raw, horrific, with “blood-soaked” images of war. There are also race issues, gang issues, bull...

Atria Books This book also available in Spanish. I would empty myself of everything but love. – Ichimei Isabel Allende’s THE JAPANESE LOVER is an engaging and romantic tale spanning 70 years and multiple generations. The main themes in this novel are family, friendship, loyalty, identity and above all, love.  Love makes the world go round and in this novel, love’s survival is at its heart. The forbidden love between Alma, a young Polish girl and her family’s Japanese gardener, Ichimei, lasts a lifetime in spite of their racial differences and the trials that separate them. Beautiful love letters and small token gifts keep them connected through his imprisonment in the Japanese concentration camps and afterward when they wed other people.  Readers will laugh and cry as these lovers fall in love, only to lose their love.  Romeo and Juliet?  Maybe, but these lovers decide to live and to love even if it’s in secret and only in their hearts...

   “Through the writing of this memoir, I have released the heavy chains that held me prisoner.   I have learned to once again love the country I come from, but most importantly, I have learned to forgive and to appreciate second chances in life.   My greatest inspiration is living life to the fullest with love and hope for a better world.”   --- Ileana Araguti       SHATTERED PARADISE is powerful, compelling, emotional, and, at the end, liberating.   Be prepared to cry and gasp at some of the passages in this book.   Araguti does a great job of bringing the Nicaragua of her memory to life with its legendary rainforest, colorful characters, vivid and graphic narrative and a love of a country that pours forth from her pen in splendor and darkness both.   And, it is through the eyes of the child that we see the innocence, the beauty of what once was.   And now, through her memoir “that” Nicaragua lives again. ...

REBEL - A VOCES ON PBS SPECIAL FRIDAY, MAY 24 at 10:00 PM ET REBEL is the story of Loreta Velazquez, Confederate soldier turned Union spy. She was dismissed as a hoax for a hundred and fifty years, but new evidence shows Loreta, a Cuban immigrant from New Orleans, was one of an estimated 1000 secret women soldiers of the American Civil War. Deftly weaving lush dramatized scenes of Loreta's riveting tale, vivid storytellers, archival material, and animation, this is a film about a woman, a myth and the politics of national memory. Who was Loreta Velazquez? Why did she fight? And what made her so dangerous she was erased from history?   Watch and find out! Click here for the trailer.