Reader's Place: September 15, 2021
CELEBRATING HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
El Norte: the epic and forgotten story of Hispanic North America, by Carrie Gibson, 2019 (Library Catalog)
The Hispanic past of the United States predates the arrival of the Pilgrims by a century, and has been every bit as important in shaping the nation as it exists today. El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present--from Ponce de Leon's initial landing in Florida in 1513 to Spanish control of the vast Louisiana territory in 1762 to the Mexican-American War in 1846 and up to the more recent tragedy of post-hurricane Puerto Rico and the ongoing border acrimony with Mexico.
The Five Wounds, by Kirstin Valdez Quade, 2021 (eLibrary, Library Catalog)
It's Holy Week in the small town of Las Penas, New Mexico, and thirty-three-year-old unemployed Amadeo Padilla has been given the part of Jesus in the Good Friday procession. He is preparing feverishly for this role when his fifteen-year-old daughter Angel shows up pregnant on his doorstep and disrupts his plans. Their reunion sets her own life down a startling path.
In the Heights: Finding Home, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter, 2021 (eLibrary, Library Catalog)
Lin-Manuel Miranda gives readers an extraordinary inside look at In the Heights, his breakout Broadway debut, written with Quiara Alegría Hudes and now a feature film. Miranda offers untold stories, perceptive essays, and the lyrics to his songs. Features newly commissioned portraits and never-before-seen photos from backstage, the movie set, and productions around the world.
Tonta, by Jamie Hernandez, 2019 (Library Catalog)
Though a self-styled loner, Tonta is forced to confront her dysfunctional family history when a weekend of punk rock, lucha libre, and hanging out by the pool with her self-absorbed half-sister, Vivian, is disrupted by a botched burglary which leads to the discovery of long-suppressed family secrets.
Cowboy Graves: three novellas, by Roberto Bolaño, 2021 (Library Catalog)
Chilean writer Bolaño’s (1953-2003) novellas deals with convulsive political and social change, secret surrealist artist societies, and the never-ending mysteries of love.
Compiled by Ina Rimpau