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Posts Tagged ‘Books’

The paleta man’s life is not an easy one

12:40 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Books| California| Immigration · 1 Comment

11 Apr 2006

The almost mythical “paleta man” — the guy who strolls down the streets and highways with a little cart full of popsicles, ringing a bell — has become a fixture in this country. His image, I think, puts a face on the struggle of new immigrants to the U.S. Start with nothing, do some very hard work and barely scrape by.

In the age of the internet it seems that most of the conversations about immigration are happening online. The timeliness is great, but at times the discourse lacks depth. Luckily, there are still people taking the time to research and write books that tell stories. BeyondChron.org reviews a book that tells the story of the paleta man and other immigrant workers in California’s Silicon Valley:’

Turns out that in 1993, the Delicias de Jalisco corporation had a sweet thing going it selling its products through largely undocumented Mexican immigrants throughout Northern California. The worker had to pay $2.00 a day for the pushcart and ice, and kept only 33 cents of every 75 cent popsicle sold. After working for eight hours in the hot sun, and pushing the cart for five miles, the street peddler on a good day would make $40.00. Arturo, the immigrant whose daily activities are described in the book, could make $200 a week, as much as he was making working for a non-union janitorial company.

Poeta Tells Stories from and of the Cold

8:30 am By Maegan La Mala · Books| Events| New York City · Comments Off

12 Dec 2005

Ricardo León Peña-Villa is known to many simply as Poeta, and even though his latest book, Loisaida: Historias del Frío, is filled with short stories and not poems, his verse carries a rhythm that more than earns him the title. On Friday, December 9, at the Lectorum bookstore in Manhattan, the book containing 24 stories was officially presented in the U.S. The stories take readers from la Habana, to Umbrella House, occupied by squatters in the Lower East Side (a movement which the Poeta was a part of and the place the story collection is named for), to the country of his birth Colombia.

The New Gabriel Garcia Marquez Book

4:05 pm By Maegan La Mala · Books · 1 Comment

25 Nov 2005

In my ninetieth year, I decided to give myself the gift of a night of love with a young virgin.

If you’re going to shop today, don’t waste your money on clothes you’re not going to wear, or that microwave that’s on sale for $10 (It costs $10 for a reason). Instead, make a quick stop at your favorite book store and grab Memories of My Melancholy Whores, the latest book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The Spanish version came out about a year ago (Memorias de mis putas tristes) but the English translation has been out for a few weeks now. I never realized that translations could take so long nowadays. I guess that’s why it’s good to be multilingual. Could you imagine if the Harry Potter books were only in French? I am sure millions of fans would be fluent in the “language of love” by now.

Via / El Paso Times

A journey through the life of “wanderers”

12:31 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Books| Immigration · Comments Off

17 Oct 2005

Translation Nation, a book by Pulitzer prize-winning author Hector Tobar, isn’t just another rhetorical analysis of the “immigration situation” in the United States. This book, released by Riverhead Books, goes into the trenches to tell the real-life stories of people of all kinds who have ventured from their homes to make a new life in our country — those who Tobar calls “the wanderers”:

Tobar begins on familiar terrain, in his native Los Angeles, with his family’s story, along with that of two brothers of Mexican origin with very different interpretations of Americanismo, or American identity as seen through a Latin American lens-one headed for U.S. citizenship and the other for the wrong side of the law and the south side of the border. But this is just a jumping-off point. Soon we are in Dalton, Georgia, the most Spanish-speaking town in the Deep South, and in Rupert, Idaho, where the most popular radio DJ is known as “El Chupacabras.” By the end of the book, we have traveled from the geographical extremes into the heartland, exploring the familiar complexities of Cuban Miami and the brand-new ones of a busy Omaha INS station.

Translation Nation has already received high praise from critics from The New York Times and The Washington Post as a work which explores the complexity of immigration and the link shared by all Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Via / The El Paso Times and Penguin Books

Dreaming in Cuban Writer Garcia is Dreaming of her New Book Deal

11:33 am By Maegan La Mala · Books · 2 Comments

13 Oct 2005

Cuban born and NYC raised writer, Cristina Garcia, just signed a deal for an undisclosed amount with publisher Knopf, a division of Random House. The deal is for Garcia’s fourth book, titled A Handbook to Luck. The story unfolds in Cuba, Iran, Salvador, and the U.S and deals with themes seen in her previous books, Dreaming in Cuban,The Aguero Sisters,and Monkey Hunting, namely the immigrant experience.

I have truly enjoyed all of Garcia’s books so far and congratulate her on the deal and wish her continued success. Make sure you go out and buy the book when it is released. I know I will. And in the meantime, catch up on reading her previous books.

Via / Publisher’s Lunch

Gloria jumps on the Celeb Kid Lit Conga Line

10:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Books · Comments Off

11 Oct 2005

Because the Estefans apparently don’t have their hands in enough business ventures, Gloria Estefan has a children’s book hitting shelves tomorrow. The book , titled “The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog,”, is your typical underdog (literally) saves the day story with a Latino twist, and according to Estefan is based on her own experience of struggle when she arrived to the U.S. from Cuba as a child.

So far critics aren’t falling all over themselves over the book, which seems pretty common for celeb penned kiddie lit. But I bet that the general Latino parenting community will go out and buy the book because of the sheer lack of Latino themed children’s books in English available. If you don’t believe me, go to your local chain bookstore and check it out for yourself and while you’re there check out Gloria’s latest endeavor.

Reuters

Via / Yahoo! News

Reading Latinos : Books for Hispanic Heritage Month

2:00 pm By Maegan La Mala · Books · Comments Off

29 Sep 2005

Hispanic Heritage Month is more than about los famosos singing and dancing on television and a few brown looking faces and names being stirred in between your regularly scheduled programming. The Association of American Publishers has published on its website a Latino Recommended Reading List. The list has books for adults and children in English and Spanish. Some books are by Latino authors, others are on Latino subjects or can be useful to Latinos regardless of the primary language used.

Hispanic Heritage is also a great opportunity for Latinos to support publishing houses that specialize in the publication and support of Latino authors. Two such houses worth checking out are Curbstone Press and Arte Público Press.

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