Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15 each year. This 30-day observance is split between the months of September and October to cover several pivotal moments and events in the history of Hispanic and Latinx countries, such as gaining their independence from Spain. During this period, we honor the contributions, cultures, history, and voices of these communities with just some of the books by Latinx authors in our collection. Join us in this celebration by reading one or more of the books from this specially curated list.
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Celebra El Mes de Herencia Hispana Nacional del 15 de septiembre al 15 de octubre cada año. Esta observación de 30 días es dividida entre los meses de septiembre y octubre para cubrir varios momentos esenciales y eventos en la historia de países hispanos y latinx como el logro de independencia de España. Durante este periodo, honramos las contribuciones, culturas, historias y voces de estas comunidades con algunos libros por autores latinx en nuestra colección. Acompáñanos en esta celebración leyendo uno o más de los libros incluidos en esta compilación especial.
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DB 114584 After hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez
Annotation: "Guapo pobrecito, her grandmother calls him. The "poor handsome man." Professor Jeremiah Post, the poor handsome man, is in fact standing in the way of Alejandra "Alex" Torres turning Loretta's, her grandmother's bar, into a viable business. The hot brainiac who sleeps in one of the upstairs tenant rooms already has all of her Mexican American family's admiration; she won't let him have the bar and building she needs to resurrect her career, too. Alex blowing into town has rocked Jeremiah to his mild-mannered core, but the large, boisterous Torres clan is everything he never had. He doesn't believe Alex has the best interest of her family, their community, or the bar's legacy in mind. To protect all three, he'll stand up to the tough and tattooed bartender with whom he now shares a bedroom wall-and resist the insta-lust they both feel. But when an old enemy threatens Loretta's and the surrounding neighborhood, Alex and Jeremiah must combine forces. It will take her might and his mind to save the home they both desperately need." -- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
DB 112551 Crying in the bathroom: a memoir by Erika L. Sánchez
Annotation: "Growing up as the daughter of Mexican immigrants in Chicago in the '90s, Erika L. Sánchez was a self-described pariah, misfit, and disappointment-a foul-mouthed, melancholic rabble-rouser who painted her nails black but also loved comedy and dreamed of an unlikely life as a poet. Twenty-five years later, she's now an award-winning novelist, poet, and essayist, but she's still got an irrepressible laugh, an acerbic wit, and singular powers of perception about the world around her. In these essays about everything from sex to white feminism to debilitating depression to the redemptive pursuits of spirituality, art, and travel, Sánchez reveals an interior life that is rich with ideas, self-awareness, and perception-that of a woman who charted a path entirely of her own making. Raunchy, insightful, unapologetic, and brutally honest, Crying in the Bathroom is Sánchez at her best: a book that will make you feel that post-confessional high that comes from talking for hours with your best friend." -- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
DB 111757 Miss del Rio by Bárbara Louise Mujica
Annotation: "1910, Mexico. As the country's revolution spreads, Dolores, the daughter of a wealthy banker, must flee her comfortable life in Durango or risk death. Her family settles in Mexico City, where, at sixteen, she marries the worldly Jaime del Río. But in a twist of fate, at a party she meets an influential American director who recognizes in her a natural performer. He invites her to Hollywood, and practically overnight, the famous Miss del Río is born. Dolores's star quickly rises, and her days become a whirlwind of moviemaking and glamorous events. Swept up in L.A.'s glitzy inner circle, she takes her place among film royalty such as Marlene Dietrich and Orson Welles. But as her career soars, her personal life becomes increasingly complicated, with family tragedy, divorce, and real heartache. And when she's labeled box office poison amid growing prejudice before WWII, Dolores must decide what price she's willing to pay to achieve her dreams and if her heart and future instead lie where it all began...in Mexico." -- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook
DB 110163 Solito by Javier Zamora
Annotation: "|Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago—“one day, you’ll take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure.”| Javier Zamora’s adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone amid a group of strangers and a “coyote” hired to lead them to safety, Javier expects his trip to last two short weeks. At nine years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents’ arms, snuggling in bed between them, and living under the same roof again. He cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family. A memoir as gripping as it is moving, |Solito| provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. |Solito| is Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home." -- Provided by publisher.
DB 108967 Treasures of the Mexican table: classic recipes, local secrets by Pati Jinich
Annotation: "Although many of us can rattle off our favorite authentic Mexican dishes, we might be hard pressed to name more than ten. Which is preposterous, given that Mexico has a rich culinary history stretching back thousands of years. For the last decade, Pati Jinich has sought out the culinary treasures of her home country, from birria, to salsa macha, to coyotas, to carne asada. Many of these dishes are local specialties, heirlooms passed down through generations, unknown outside of their original regions. Others have become national sensations. Each recipe is a classic. Each one comes with a story told in Pati's warm, relatable style. And each has been tested in Pati's American kitchen to ensure it is the best of its kind. Together, these essential recipes paint a vivid picture of the richness of Mexico." -- Provided by publisher. -- 2021.
DB 106459 Violeta by Isabel Allende
Annotation: Violeta is born to a well-off family in 1920, and lives through the tumult of the twentieth century. She tells her story in letters to someone she loves above all others, recounting times of devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2022.
DB 102112 Tesoro by Yesika Salgado
Annotation: Collection of fifty-seven poems exploring identity, family love, mourning, and roots. In the title poem, the author occupies the liminal space of her Salvadoran and American identities as she loses and mourns a family member. Some violence. 2018.
DB 99404 Mexican gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Annotation: Mexico City, 1950. After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, socialite Noemi´ Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. Both the home and its owners seem to have a dark past. Contains violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2020.
DB 114365 Donde somos humanos: historieas genuinas sobre migración, sobrevivencia y renaceres by Reyna Grande
Annotation: "A unique collection of 35 groundbreaking essays, poems, and artwork by migrants, refugees and Dreamers-including award-winning writers, artists, and activists-that illuminate what it is like living undocumented today." -- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Spanish language.
"Una colección de 35 ensayos y poemas audaces, importantes e innovadores de inmigrantes, refugiados y soñadores, incluidos escritores, artistas y activistas galardonados, que iluminan la experiencia de vivir sin documentos." -- Proporcionada por la editorial. -- Sin calificación. Audiolibro comercial.
DB 112903 Ñamérica by Martin Caparrós
Annotation: "There is a certain region of the world in which twenty countries and more than 400 million people share a language, a history, a culture, concerns and hopes. We know it poorly; we know mostly its myths, its reflections, its commonplaces; we think of it as it was in other times. This region is called or could be called N~américa - and this book wants to tell it and understand it as it is now. Martín Caparrós has been traveling through it for many years and has looked at it from all sides: from its big cities to its small towns, from its reggaeton to its economies, from its violence to its food, from its governments to its soccer, from its inequality to its insurrections, from its migrants to its books, from its defiant women to its corrupt politicians, from its new rich to its always poor, from its history to its diverse futures. With all this, N~américa assembles a fresco that shows us that N~américa is not what we thought it was. A mestizo book, a crossbreed of words, N~américa is, like The Hunger before it, a chronicle that thinks, an essay that tells, a great story assembled with that style that defines its author as one of the language's decisive storytellers." -- Translation provided by NLS. -- Violence, strong language and some descriptions of sex. Spanish language.
"Existe cierta región del mundo en la cual veinte países y más de 400 millones de personas comparten una lengua, una historia, una cultura, preocupaciones y esperanzas. La conocemos mal; conocemos sobre todo sus mitos, sus reflejos, sus lugares comunes; la pensamos tal como era en otros tiempos. Esta región se llama o se podría llamar N~américa -y este libro quiere contarla y entenderla tal como es ahora. Martín Caparrós lleva muchos años recorriéndola y la ha mirado por todos sus costados: desde sus grandes ciudades hasta sus pequeños pueblos, de su reguetón a sus economías, de su violencia a sus comidas, de sus gobiernos a su fútbol, de su desigualdad a sus insurrecciones, de sus migrantes a sus libros, de sus mujeres desafiantes a sus políticos corruptos, de sus nuevos ricos a sus siempre pobres, de su historia a sus futuros tan diversos. Con todo eso, N~américa arma un fresco que nos muestra que N~américa no es lo que creíamos. Libro mestizo, cruza de palabras, N~américa es, como antes El Hambre, una crónica que piensa, un ensayo que cuenta, un gran relato montado con ese estilo que define a su autor como uno de los narradores decisivos de la lengua." -- Goodreads. Tiene lenguaje ofensivo, descripciones de violencia, y algunas descripciones de índole sexual.
DB 108958 Una canción inesperada: un testimonio bello y enriquecedor by Leire Quintana
Annotation: "Leire Quintana decided to leave her life in a big city behind, retreat to a monastery, and learn to listen to her own song. How did this experience change the way she saw the world? What life lessons did she learn? Leire Quintana has a lot to tell us: 'I was overwhelmed by the thought of losing my family or friends, and even the impossibility of making new friends because I was in a cloistered monastery. Later I came to recognize that without solitude, the solitude of my cell, I could not progress. [...] Little by little I discovered the causes, the hidden needs that I hadn't known how to manage, I questioned my fears, I embraced them and I knew, by offering them my attention, that that was all they needed to disappear.'" -- Translation provided by NLS. -- Spanish language. 2016.
"Leire Quintana decidio´ dejar atra´s su vida en una gran ciudad, retirarse a un monasterio y aprender a escuchar su propia cancio´n. ¿Co´mo cambio´ esta experiencia su modo de ver el mundo? ¿Que´ lecciones de vida aprendio´? Leire Quintana tiene mucho que contarnos: 'Me abrumaba el pensamiento de perder a mi familia o a mis amigos, e incluso la imposibilidad de hacer nuevos amigos por el hecho de estar en un monasterio de clausura. Ma´s adelante fui reconociendo que sin soledad, la soledad de mi celda, no podi´a progresar. [...] Poco a poco fui descubriendo las causas, las necesidades encubiertas que no estaba sabiendo gestionar, cuestione´ mis miedos, los abrace´ y supe, al ofrecerles mi atencio´n, que era todo lo que necesitaban para desaparecer.'" -- Amazon.com.
DB 108880 La frontera de cristal: una novel de nueve cuentos by Carlos Fuentes
Annotation: "Nine stories by the award-winning Mexican author are tied together by the title reference to the border between Mexico and the United States. Fuentes explores the cultural and economic differences between the Hispanics and the Anglos where they intermingle geographically." -- Provided by NLS. -- Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. Spanish language. 1995.
"En "La frontera de cristal", Carlos Fuentes es el mismo narrador de sus mejores libros: agresivo, vital, poderoso. Encuentra todos los a´ngulos posibles en una historia, con una variante insospechada: la comicidad. Esta es una novela relatada a trave´s de nueve cuentos que transcurren, de un lado y del otro, en las proximidades de la raya fronteriza entre Me´xico y Estados Unidos. Ma´s alla´ de lo inevitable, que suele presentarse en forma de discriminacio´n, violencia y desamparo, los personajes que habitan estas pa´ginas encuentran material para los suen~os y energi´a para el humor, asi´ sea tan so´lo porque saben que "la u´nica frontera real esta´ entre el cuerpo y el alma". Carlos Fuentes reproduce la separacio´n que se ha dado entre ambos pai´ses a lo largo de 200 an~os y la examina con el cristal de la discriminacio´n, el racismo, la violencia, pero tambie´n la fuerza de la vida mexicana, que parece sobrevivir a todas las agresiones." -- Proporcionada por la editorial. -- Contiene algo de lenguaje ofensivo y algunas descripciones de i´ndole sexual. Audiolibro comercial.
DB 108570 Tiempo muerto by Margarita García Robayo
Annotation: "Luci´a and Pablo are Colombian immigrants who've built their lives together in the US yet maintain conflicting attitudes towards their homeland and the extent to which it defines their identity. After undergoing fertility treatment, Pablo finds himself excluded from raising their twins, and the new family situation seems to question the very nature of their relationship and of who they believed they were. In search of respite and time to reflect, Luci´a takes the kids to her parents' apartment in Miami. Meanwhile, Pablo learns he is suffering from a syndrome known as 'Holiday Heart'. But is this just a break, or is it really the final days of their marriage?" -- Goodreads. -- Descriptions of sex and some strong language. Spanish language. 2017.
"El matrimonio de Luci´a y Pablo es un espejo de la sutil forma que puede llegar a cobrar la violencia cuando llega al fin del amor. Esta es la historia descarnada de ese tiempo muerto, de ese amplio y doloroso espacio que se abre, muchas veces de manera inexplicable, entre dos seres que se aman." -- Goodreads. -- Contiene algo de lenguaje ofensivo y descripciones de i´ndole sexual.
DB 108856 De vuelta a tu amor by Isabel Acuná
Annotation: "Melisa Escando´n and Gabriel Preciado Lavalle could not be from more different worlds: she, a senior literature student, and he, a powerful industrialist from one of the richest families in the northern part of the country. They meet at the Hay Festival in Cartagena de Indias. Gabriel is an enigmatic, attractive, and dominant man who is immediately attracted to Melisa and begins the conquest. Melisa is an inexperienced and innocent young woman, who begins her relationship with the young industrialist amid a cloud of mistrust. While they live a passionate romance, the guerrillas plan Gabriel's kidnapping. For revenge, Melisa is implicated in the kidnapping, and from that moment on everything becomes a chaos that gradually separates the couple. It is a story that will intertwine unsuspected feelings, misunderstandings, dark intentions, unresolved conflicts, eroticism, and the power of love and forgiveness." -- Translation provided by NLS. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Spanish language. 2010. ----
"Melisa Escando´n y Gabriel Preciado Lavalle no podi´an ser de mundos ma´s distintos. Ella, estudiante de u´ltimo an~o de Literatura, y e´l, un poderoso industrial de una de las familias ma´s ricas del norte del pai´s. Ambos se conocen en el marco del Hay Festival, en Cartagena de Indias. Gabriel es un hombre enigma´tico, atractivo y dominante que se siente atrai´do por Melisa de forma inmediata y empieza la conquista. Melisa es una joven inexperta e inocente, que inicia su relacio´n con el joven industrial en medio de una nube de desconfianza. Mientras ellos viven un romance apasionado, la guerrilla planifica el secuestro de Gabriel. Por venganza, Melisa es implicada en el secuestro y desde ese instante todo se vuelve un caos que poco a poco separa a la pareja. Es una historia que entrelazara´ sentimientos insospechados, equi´vocos, oscuras intenciones, conflictos sin resolver, erotismo y el poder del amor y del perdo´n." -- Goodreads. -- Sin calificacio´n. Audiolibro comercial.
DB 108737 Los perros del fin del mundo by Homero Aridjis
Annotation: "Accompanied by Pek, a xolo dog with whom he has a lively conversation, Jose´ Navaja searches for his brother, who may have been murdered. The search takes him from Mexico City to Ciudad Jua´rez and the Mexica underworld, where he meets a whole range of sinister and spectral characters: narcos, their girlfriends, psychopathic policemen, kidnappers hunted to death, gods of the Aztec pantheon, rabid hitmen, and orphaned children waiting to grow up to become predators. This novel is a sort of mythological thriller, but it is also much more than that: a successful conjunction of past and present, of representation of today's brutal Mexico and the ancient supernatural world of gods, priests and hitmen where both solar rites and human sacrifices are practiced; finally, it is also a tribute to the ancestors before the mestizaje, to their speech and their worldview, which have crossed several centuries and resonate in our present." -- Translation provided by NLS. -- Violence, some strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. Spanish language. 2012.
"Acompan~ado por Pek, un perro xolo con quien dialoga animadamente, Jose´ Navaja busca a su hermano, que quiza´ haya sido asesinado. La bu´squeda lo lleva del Distrito Federal a Ciudad Jua´rez y al Inframundo de los mexicas, y en esos lugares conoce a toda una gama de personajes siniestros y espectrales: narcos, buchonas, polici´as psico´patas, secuestradoras perseguidas hasta la muerte, dioses del panteo´n azteca, sicarios rabiosos y nin~os hue´rfanos que esperan crecer para convertirse en depredadores. Esta novela es una suerte de thriller mitolo´gico, pero tambie´n es mucho ma´s que eso: una lograda conjuncio´n de pasado y presente, de representacio´n del Me´xico brutal de hoy y del antiguo mundo sobrenatural de dioses, sacerdotes y sicarios donde se practican tanto ritos solares como sacrificios humanos; finalmente, es asimismo un homenaje a los ancestros previos al mestizaje, a su habla y su cosmovisio´n, que han atravesado varios siglos y resuenan en nuestro presente." -- Goodreads. -- Contiene algo de lenguaje ofensivo, descripciones de violencia y algunas descripciones expli´citas de i´ndole sexual.
DB 107750 Santo y seña by Pura López-Colomé
Annotation: Collection of poems by this Mexican author with themes such as vivid remembrances of childhood, the natural helplessness of humans, and the solitude of intelligence. Spanish language. 2007. -- Coleccio´n de poemas de esta autora mexicana con temas como el recuerdo vi´vido de la infancia, la impotencia natural del ser humano y la soledad de la inteligencia.