Summer Reading

Hi all,

We’re still here! Some of our students may have left the office, but a few of us are still here quietly working away during the summer months and our local book group is going strong.

So, I’m popping in with a few pieces of news to share.

First, keep your eye out for scattered updates from Hania, who will be keeping us company this summer as she shares more interviews from award-winning Américas authors and illustrators.

Second, I’m pleased to report that our local book group has decided to continue reading adult novels over the summer. In case you’re in Albuquerque and want to join us, or if you’re further afield and just want to follow along, below I’ve copied what we’ll be reading.

That’s it for now!  Don’t be surprised if you hear from us every now and again in the next few weeks when opportunities arise, but come August we’ll return to our scheduled content.

Cheers,
Keira

 

June 19th @ Tractor Brewing |  5:00-7:00 p.m.

1800 4th St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102

The Complete Stories of Clarise Lispector

The recent publication by New Directions of five Lispector novels revealed to legions of new readers her darkness and dazzle. Now, for the first time in English, are all the stories that made her a Brazilian legend: from teenagers coming into awareness of their sexual and artistic powers to humdrum housewives whose lives are shattered by unexpected epiphanies to old people who don’t know what to do with themselves. Clarice’s stories take us through their lives―and ours.

From one of the greatest modern writers, these stories, gathered from the nine collections published during her lifetime, follow an unbroken time line of success as a writer, from her adolescence to her death bed.

NY Times Review / New Yorker / The Globe and the Mail / Paris Review

 

July 17th @ Casa Rondeña | 5:00-7:00 p.m.

733 Chavez Rd, Los Ranchos De Albuquerque, NM 87107

Umami / Umami by Laia Jufresa

It started with a drowning.

Deep in the heart of Mexico City, where five houses cluster around a sun-drenched courtyard, lives Ana, a precocious twelve-year-old who spends her days buried in Agatha Christie novels to forget the mysterious death of her little sister years earlier. Over the summer she decides to plant a milpa in her backyard, and as she digs the ground and plants her seeds, her neighbors in turn delve into their past. The ripple effects of grief, childlessness, illness and displacement saturate their stories, secrets seep out and questions emerge — Who was my wife? Why did my Mom leave? Can I turn back the clock? And how could a girl who knew how to swim drown?

In prose that is dazzlingly inventive, funny and tender, Laia Jufresa immerses us in the troubled lives of her narrators, deftly unpicking their stories to offer a darkly comic portrait of contemporary Mexico, as whimsical as it is heart-wrenching.

NPR Book Interview / The Culture Trip Review

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September 18th | Week in Review

¡Hola a todos! I hope everyone is doing well considering the climactic circumstances we are under. I am sending you positive vibes and lots of love.

— Teaching Tolerance shared Developing Empathy resources for Pre K- 12 teachers.

– Our Américas Award friends shared on their Facebook page an important article that highlights the reality of diverse children’s book. BookRiot Justina Ireland questions “Where Are All the YA Books for Kids of Color: September Edition.”

— Also, on their Facebook page Lee & Low Books shared “12 YA Books with Characters of Color and LGBTQ Characters.”

-Here is a review of the advance reader’s copy of The Distance Between Us, a memoir for the young readers shared by our friends in Facebook, Latinxs in Kid Lit. “The Distance Between Us thrums with novelistic tension and detail, offering chiseled portraits of individuals and rendering the settings they come from in vivid form.”

— Cuatrogatos shared the book trailer to El Viejito del Sillón, a book by Antonio Orlando Rodríguez published in Mexico.

– Lastly, Anansesem: The Caribbean Children’s Literature Magazine shared that “Books Have The Power to Include, to Exclude and to Create Heroes.” “All children should be seen. No child should have to qualify for entry into the world of picture books. They are powerful. They have the power to include, to exclude and to create heroes.”

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Image: Candles. Reprinted from Flickr user Amranur Rahman under CC©.

Book Review: Krik? Krak!

There is no question that Krik? Krak!’s short stories are gritty.  Danticat doesn’t hold back any punches as she gives us a glimpse into the reality of Haitian life through the nine short stories included here.  Her prose is both beautiful and simple—it’s part of the genius of her work.  The clarity and subtlety of her writing stands in stark contrast to the heaviness of what her stories share. Rarely can an author translate such depths of emotion and paint such lasting images, much less in the span of a short story, as Danticat does.

The power of these stories is found in their examination of the lives of ordinary Haitians trying to survive the brutality of both of the Duvalier regimes.  Taking place in Port au Prince, the fictional Ville Rose, and New York City, the majority of her stories focus on the lives of individual women. They force us to acknowledge both the plight and the unending strength of these Haitian women. They are a testament both to the survival and the depravity of the human spirit. Poverty, hunger, corruption, and torture are depicted alongside resiliency, faith, dignity, and hope. As we become familiar with Danticat’s characters, moved and pained by the seemingly increasing distance between their hopes and their lived reality, we are forced to realize that it is the actions of other humans that have created such painful experiences.  Not all of Danticat’s characters survive; in fact, many do not.  But what continues to remain is the spirit of hope, the determination to hold on to what it really means to be Haitian, even after one has escaped to the United States. Quite creatively, Danticat weaves a more circular connection among the female characters of her stories, alluding to related lineages.  While there are connections among the stories through references to other characters or events, each story can stand on its own, making it easy for a teacher to pick and choose which stories would be most appropriate for his or her class.

Our Next Good Read. . .Krik! Krak!

Join us May 7th at Bookworks from 5:00-7:00 to discuss our next book.  We are reading Krik! Krak! by Edwidge Danticat.   It’s quite a moving set of short stories, described in the following:   “When Haitians tell a story, they say “Krik?” and the eager listeners answer “Krak!” In Krik? Krak! In her second novel, Edwidge Danticat establishes herself as the latest heir to that narrative tradition with nine stories that encompass both the cruelties and the high ideals of Haitian life. They tell of women who continue loving behind prison walls and in the face of unfathomable loss; of a people who resist the brutality of their rulers through the powers of imagination. The result is a collection that outrages, saddens, and transports the reader with its sheer beauty” (Amazon.com).

We hope to see you there! We’re looking forward to hearing what you think about Danticat’s work!

Thanks so much to the wonderful group of ladies who joined us last night for our April discussion of The Surrender Tree!!  If you couldn’t make it to the book group, be sure to let us know what you thought about The Surrender Tree by commenting on a post.  We want to hear your thoughts too!