SEPTEMBER BOOKS OF THE MONTH
Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club is pleased to announce its books for September.
RUNNING by Natalia Sylvester and
AFTERLIFE by Julia Alvarez.
Save the date! Monday, September 28, for our Live interviews with the authors.
Register for
the September 28 teleconference by clicking here.
Buy your books at Las Comadres Book Club Book Shop here: https://bookshop.org/shop/lascomadresbookclub
BOOK OF THE MONTH: RUNNING by Natalia Sylvester (Clarion Books)
SUMMARY: When fifteen-year-old Cuban American Mariana Ruiz’s
father runs for president, Mari starts to see him with new eyes. In this authentic, humorous, and
gorgeously written debut novel about privacy, waking up, and speaking up,
Senator Anthony Ruiz is running for president. Throughout his successful
political career he has always had his daughter’s vote, but a presidential campaign
brings a whole new level of scrutiny to sheltered fifteen-year-old Mariana
and the rest of her Cuban American family, from a 60 Minutes–style tour of
their house to tabloids doctoring photos and inventing scandals. As
tensions rise within the Ruiz family, Mari begins to learn about the details of
her father’s political positions, and she realizes that her father is not the
man she thought he was.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Natalia Sylvester is the author of two novels for adults, CHASING THE SUN and EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME, which won an International Latino Book Award. Born in Lima,
Peru, she grew up in Miami, Central Florida, and South Texas, and received a
BFA from the University of Miami. RUNNING is her YA
debut. She lives in Austin, Texas, and can also be found at www.nataliasylvester.com.
CONVERSATIONS WITH BOOK: AFTERLIFE by Julia Alvarez (Algonquin Books)
SUMMARY:
Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the
center of AFTERLIFE, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has
just retired from the college where she taught English when her
beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted
but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to
find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has
always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her
favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that
the world demands more of her than words.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College. Her work has garnered wide recognition, including a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Woman of the Year by Latina magazine, and inclusion in the New York Public Library's program "The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez." IN THE TIME OF BUTTERFLIES, with a million copies in print, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.
Happy
Reading
#ReadLatinoLit
