Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts

Sunday, June 21, 2026

12TH ANNUAL SUMMER READING LIST FROM LAS COMADRES & FRIENDS NATIONAL LATINO BOOK CLUB

 



This year, Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club celebrates its 20th Anniversary of reading and promoting Latine culture and literature.  They’ve created a community of authors, readers and industry professionals.  Today, June 22, they announce the release of their 12th annual Summer Reading List on this the first day of the summer.

 “Reading is most rewarding when it creates a connection—whether to a character, a culture, an idea, or a shared human experience,” says Teresa M. Tobin, Project Manager. “Our Summer Reading List offers something special for everyone because it celebrates the richness and diversity of Latine storytelling. These books bring together a wide range of voices and experiences that explore culture, identity, family, and community. Whether you're seeking entertainment, inspiration, or a deeper understanding of the world around you, you'll find a story that speaks to you. Enjoy the journey!”

 

  SUMMER READING LIST


1.     Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya (Grand Central Publishing) — Classical

  1. Calladita No More: My Latina Journey and the Lessons that Shaped Me by Hady Mendez (Publish Your Purpose) — Biography 
  2. Convent Wisdom: How 16th Century Nuns Could Save Your 21st Century Life by Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita (Avid Reader Press) — Nonfiction, history
  3. Dreaming of Home by Cristina Jimínez (St. Martin’s Press) — Biography
  4. El Vaquero by Emiliano Trujillo (self-published) — Fiction, thriller
  5. Guatemalan Rhapsody by Jared Lemus (Ecco) — Short stories
  6. Hear Ye Mortals by Yamile Saied Méndez (Levine Querido) — Fiction, YA
  7. Kinds of Grace: Poetry (Flowersong Press) by Jennifer Martiza McCauley — Poetry
  8. P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance by Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau (Duke University Press Books) — Ethnomusicology, Latin American Studies
  9. Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You by Julián Delgado Lopera (Liveright) —  Fiction, LGBTQ+
  10. Run Home: A Graphic Memoir by Alyssa Bermudez (Roaring Brook Press) — Graphic novel, YA 
  11. Still, We Are Sacred by Emanuel Xavier (Rebel Satori Press) — Poetry, LGBTQ+
  12. Talking with Rudy: Platicando con Rudolfo Anaya by Dr. Irene Blea (self-published) — Biography
  13. The Game at the End of the World: Villainous Referees, Communist Bakers, the Secret Women’s World Cup, and a Goalkeeper’s Last Stand by Juan Villoro (Restless Books) — Nonfiction, sports
  14. The Other Moctezuma Girls by Sofia Robleda (Amazon Crossing) — Fiction
  15. The Pecan Sheller by Lupe Ruiz-Flores (Carol Rhoda Books) — Fiction, middle grade
  16. The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Cañas (Berkley) — Fiction
  17. The Sun and All the Other Stars by Karla Montalván (Elizabeth & Minnie Publishing) — Fiction
  18. This Is The Only Kingdom by Jaquira Díaz (Algonquin Books) — Fiction
  19. We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Camara (New Directions) — Historical fiction


 For more information on the 2026 Summer Reading List

email Teresa M. Tobin, Project Manager, at tmtobin.lcbookclub@gmail.com.

 

 Happy Reading and Always Read Latino Lit!

  

 

Monday, January 1, 2024

LAS COMADRES & FRIENDS BOOK CLUB ANNOUNCES BOOKS FOR JANUARY 2024


 We read books as we breathe air, to fill up and live. – Ann Dillard, THE LIVING

 



HAPPY NEW YEAR !  READ LATINO LIT !

  

Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club wishes everyone many enjoyable hours reading Latino literature in the new year.  Here are the book selections for January 2024:  

 


cover- one brilliant flame.jpg      cover- Alborada.jpg




 

ONE BRILLIANT FLAME

By Joy Castro

Lake Union Publishing

 

BOOK SUMMARY:  Key West, 1886. The booming cigar industry makes it the most prosperous city in Florida. As a rebel base for the anticolonial insurgency in Cuba, it’s also a tinderbox for six young friends with ambitious dreams.  They all brim with secrets: Zenaida, the daughter of an assassinated Havana journalist; power-hungry Sofia, who plots a fast track to success; Chaveta, Zenaida’s loyal comrade in arms who fearlessly flouts tradition; Feliciano, a charismatic Spanish anarchist; Líbano, the cafetero, silent and watchful; and Maceo, a daring guerrilla soldier who fights a brutal undertow. As lives intertwine, revolution smolders, and passions ignite, the bustling coral island is set to explode.

 

AUTHOR BIO:  Born in Miami, raised in England and West Virginia, and educated in Texas, Joy Castro is the award-winning author of the memoir THE TRUTH BOOK, two literary thrillers set in post-Katrina New Orleans, essay and short fiction collections. 

 

 

ALBORADA (DAWN): A CROSS-CULTURAL MEMOIR IN POETRY

By Nylda Dieppa

Orange Blossom Publishing

 

BOOK SUMMARY:  In Alborada (Dawn): A Cross-Cultural Memoir in Poetry, Nylda Dieppa sketches the formative and transformative experiences of her lifetime-from childhood on the island of Puerto Rico through maturity in the continental United States-as paralleled by the sun's passage through the times of the day.  From the dawning innocence of a girl's first crush alongside the rise of a young woman's longing to belong and be loved, Dieppa shines daylight on the anguish and delights of both growing up and parenting at every age. Her lyrical and narrative poems highlight the shadows cast by culture shock, and they reveal the encroaching darkness of sorrow and betrayal as the sun sets on a thirty-eight-year marriage. Yet ALBORADA also illuminates the wonder of deliverance from midnight's despair to the hope and wholeness of a new day's dawn.

 

AUTHOR BIO:  Nylda Dieppa is an award-winning author, poet, speaker and motivator. Her novel, ALBORADA, has won the Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association and an International Latino Book Award for Cover Design.   

 

 

Visit the Las Comadres & Friends Book Club website for author bios and more information:  https://latinolit.com/

   

 

SAVE THE DATE!  Monday, January 29, 2024 --- for the Book Club’s Teleconference where we’ll interview authors Joy Castro and Nylda Dieppa.

 

 

Register today and you may win a FREE BOOK:  https://latinolit.com/join-teleconference/

 

 

Here is the link to last month’s interviews with authors Melania Luisa Marte and V.Castro on Las Comadres YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/LasComadresParaLasAmericas



Las Comadres & Friends Book Club

www.latinolit.com


#ReadLatinoLit