Celebrating literature for, by, and about Latinas
 

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to highlight and celebrate the books and voices of latina writers and readers.

 
 
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NYCBOOKOWL

Hi everyone! It’s been a minute! I’ve started grad school, been busy at work and a lot of other good things BUT I have managed to squeeze some reading time in and I have so many books I want to catch you up on that I’ve enjoyed recently 😊 • We have an informal book club at work which finally gave me to opportunity to pick up Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine which I feel like I’ve seen everywhere and heard so many people gush about so I was excited to pick it up! I did enjoy it but it totally went a direction I was not expecting. I was anticipating a cute rom com and sometimes it was definitely more psychological thrillery😱 and much darker than I anticipated. I did appreciate the twist though and the bucking of genre conventions. I think if you liked A Man Called Ove and Good Girl, Bad Girl this book is for you! • I’m now definitely looking forward to watching the upcoming film adaptation 🎥since it a book that is heavily reliant upon internal monologues and I’m super curious as to how this will translate to the screen. • Are there any popular books that you’ve read that we’re NOT what you were expecting either in a good way or a bad way?🤔 . . . ##book #books #bookstagram #bookhaul #indiebookstore #bookworm #bookporn #booklover #bookstore #booknerd #bookish #booklove #eleanoroliphantiscompletlyfine #booknerdigans #bookphotography #bookaholic #bookaddict #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #currentlyreading #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
I’m back! I spent a super needed vacation in Austin 🌟where I ate all the barbecue and visited some really amazing indies. I’ll share a little more in my IG stories and highlights soon but I think I might have found one of my new favorite indies. Guys, @bookpeople is worth allll the hype and if you’re ever in Austin I definitely recommend dropping by! The space is GORGEOUS, their curation is on point, they have coffee 😩☕️ and they have the most awesome staff blurbs I have ever read. Austin your bookstores are lit! 🙌🏽 . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #bookporn #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #bookpeople #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #austin #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you’re having a lovely weekend! ☀️ • Even though I spend about a sixth of my weekday commuting home I’ve never been much of a audio book person, perfecting to read physical books or listen to podcasts instead🎧BUT I recently downloaded the Libby app which allows you to check out audiobooks from your library and it’s been such a game changer! I recently listened to One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul narrated by the author for my work book club and I really enjoyed the experience. • I am still a audiobook beginner though because I completely forgot I had also requested a physical copy from the library 😅 and although this feels slightly blasphemous after reading some of the physical book, I think I enjoyed the experience of listening to this particular book more as Koul narrates her brand of dry humor with aplomb. • Have you tried audiobooks? If so are there any you recommend? . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #bookporn #booklover #vscobooks #audiobook #bookish #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #bookblogger #scaachikoul #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #ownvoices #bookstagramer
Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend and survived the crazy heat wave! ☀️ • This past weekend I participated in the 24 in 48 hour readathon which was a ton of fun! I didn't make it to the full 24 hours but I did make a big dent in the pile of books I wanted to read and got a lot of reading time in, including some at the beach! (before it got too hot and I returned to the AC)😅 • What did you read this weekend? . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #bookporn #beachplease #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #beach #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #bookblogger #beachreads #booksofinstagram #summer #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Happy Pre-Friday everyone! I am so excited for the weekend coming up! I will be participating in the #24in48 readathon! I will be doing up dates here and on @latinasleyendo. Are you participating too? Let me know so we can cheer each other on!🙌🏽 • In reading news, this year I’ve been reading a lot more non-fiction this year and I’m loving it 🤓Reading a book that shifts your perspective on something you’ve never thought about is exhilarating. I remember the first time I realized as a student that history as we learned it in school was not so much an objective “Truth” backed by facts but rather a story with a particular frame. I was learning about the Mexican-American war in the US, a topic I had previously learned about in Mexico and I was shocked at how completely different the two stories I was told were. Both stories agreed on the facts; dates locations and events, but the way they were framed was radically different (particularly in which side was the “right” side). Something that seems obvious to me now but was a revelation to high school me. • I don’t think this realization would have come as easily or at all if I had not personally experience these two “sides” of the narrative as an immigrant. But this is something that has always stuck with me and I’ve always found it important to search out different narratives of history that differ from what I learned in school. This book is turning out to be so far another one of those perspective shifting books. It essentially de-centers a euro-centric view and tells the “history of human civilization” from an Islamic perspective ☪️It is incredibly interesting (for someone like me who grew up with a very Western-centric perspective) and also surprisingly funny. Ansary’s tone is conversational and wry which make the pages fly by. I am only about a third through but I am enjoying it immensely. • Have you read a non-fiction book that changed your perspective on something?🤔 . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #weneeddiversebooks #nonfiction #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram
Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you’re having a wonderful week! 😊It’s been a little while but I wanted to share some of the book spoils from my recent trip to Albany📚 • I picked these books up from my favorite of the four stores we visited, the Dove & Hudson, a cozy and well curated used bookstores that had an incredible history, philosophy and policial science section that made me drool 🤤 • We also inadvertent stumbled into the store during their 30th anniversary sale and got to chat with the owner who was really nice and recommended other great bookstores in the Hudson River area, including one that is located in a refurbished farm! Unfortunately it was closed while we were there but I definitely plan on going back! . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #bookporn #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #bookhaul #booknerdigans #indiebookstore #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Happy Monday everyone! Where did the weekend go? 😦I feel really lucky that at work there are a lot of fellow book lovers always up for a chat about what they’re reading. For the summer, one of my colleagues even organizes a book club and this time she choose: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng which follows the Lee family in the aftermath of the death of their favorite child Lydia, as well as flashbacks to events leading up to her sudden death. I just finished it this weekend and oh boy, I have all the feelings! • Time for an unpopular opinion: I couldn’t really get into Little Fires Everywhere🔥. I started reading it when it came out and it just didn’t hook me, it felt very slow and meticulous. I put it down vowing to return to it one day. What was interesting to me was that Everything I Never Told you is very similar in this regard, but for some reason this one DID work for me. I appreciated Ng weaving meditations on assimilation, racism, interracial relationships and parental and gender expectations throughout the narrative. Perhaps it is because all of these issues are particularly important to me that I enjoyed this story more, BUT I also think that the mystery fan🕵🏽‍♀️ in me was intrigued enough by the question of what happened to Lydia to keep turning pages until the end. Overall I think Ng has won me over and the think it might be time to give Little Fires Everywhere another chance. • Have you ever put a book down by an author only to find that another one of their books resonates with you? . . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #weneeddiversebooks #booklover #vscobooks #everythinginevertoldyou #bookish #celesteng #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #flowers #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Happy Wednesday everyone! I’m back, slightly sunburned and tired but happy 😊 also I picked up more books than I was expecting during my trip to Albany 😅 • I think I’ve mentioned it before but one of my absolute favorite things to do when traveling is to visit locals bookstores, chat with the book sellers and browse the local history, staff recs or local author section. 🤓I think it’s a really fun way to learn about a place your are visiting and find books you might not otherwise come across. • Our first bookstore stop was this super cozy and well stocked indie called Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza they had the comfiest couches and an adorable kids section too. I had to be dragged out of this one otherwise I would have happily spent the whole afternoon browsing ☺️You can see more pics of the stores saved in my highlights! Do you have any things you like to do when traveling? . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #albany #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #independentbookstore #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #indiebookstore #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Happy hump day! I wish the day was as bright as these flowers but here we are 🌧 • I feel like I’ve started so many books recently but haven’t finished one in a while. I generally have 3-4 books that I have started but switch between them depending on my mood, which sometimes means it takes me forever to finally finish a book. Other times if I’m really absorbed in a book I will drop everything else and just focus on that one. Are you a book monogamist or a do you read multiple books at once? . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #booksandflowers #bookporn #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #booksandcoffee #booklove #coffee #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
 
 

Latinas Leyendo

I hope everyone had a restful weekend! I celebrated Mexican Independence Day 🇲🇽 by making a huge batch of Red Beef Pozole 🥣and it made me very happy. • On the reading end, I wanted to share with your my official TBR for #Latinxathon! There are four books, one for each prompt, plus an audiobook of the Griefkeeper. . 1. VOICES: Read a book written by an Indigenous or Afro-Latinx author:Side Chick Nationby Aya de León . 2. LATINIDAD: Read a book written by an intersectional Latinx author: Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore . 3. ROOTS: Read a translated book or a book featuring more than one language: It Would Be Night In Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo . 4. HERITAGE: Read a book written by an author from a non-Spanish speaking Latin American country (or heritage): I Didn’t Talk by Beatriz Bracher translated from the Portugese by Adam Morris • I am so excited! At the same time I just got slammed with a ton of reading and a presentation for grad school so I don't know how much actual reading time I'm going to have but I will definitely give this challenge a try. If you're not already following the hashtag #Latinxathon to see what other folks are readying I definitely recommend giving it a follow! . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #readlatinx #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #readathon #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy Friday! 🌟I hope everyone's week went well! This week was my first full week of classes and work and boy am I tired! I don't know what I'd do without coffeeI am definitely looking forward to some rest and reading time this weekend! • The good news is that it's almost the #Latinxathon! I had my TBR ready BUT I think I'm going to make a last minute adjustment and swap this one in because it sounds amazing and I really want to read it! This one will fulfill challenge number 3 ROOTS: Read a translated book or a book featuring more than one language🌎 • It Would Be Night In Caracas 🇻🇪 by by Karina Sainz Borgo and translated by Elizabeth Bryer is HarperVia's first Latin American book and will be out this October. • Synopsis: Told with gripping intensity, It Would be Night in Caracas chronicles one woman’s desperate battle to survive amid the dangerous, sometimes deadly, turbulence of modern Venezuela and the lengths she must go to secure her future.Filled with riveting twists and turns, and told in a powerful, urgent voice, It Would Be Night in Caracas is a chilling reminder of how quickly the world we know can crumble. • It sounds like it is going to be a heartbreaking but important read. I am really looking forward to this book for two reasons; I haven't read as many Venezuelan authors as I would like especially in translation and I feel like it's pretty rare to have English language books about contemporary Latin American political issues written BY a Latin American. I will share my updated TBR soon! Who is is reading fiction in translation for this challenge?🙌🏽 . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booksintranslation #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #weneeddiversebooks #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
I hope everyone’s week is going well! This week I had the incredible opportunity to attend the launch party for Harper Collin’s new imprint HarperVia! 🌟I was beyond thrilled to get to celebrate an imprint entirely dedicated to publishing international voices and fiction in translation. It’ll come as no surprise that reading fiction in translation is something that is personally important to me and that I always push for on Latinas Leyendo. Reading internationally can help us see the world from a different perspective, travel to far away places, and bring us together through the universal power of storytelling. I am so excited that HarperVia is meeting this need for diverse and international perspective with their books! • HarperVia will publish three books in 2019, beginning in September with LOST IN THE SPANISH QUARTER by Heddi Goodrich 🇮🇹(out now!)This modern day, cross-cultural tale of first love between a young American and a young Italian was originally written in Italian and then translated by the author—an American who called Naples home for ten years—herself. It will be followed by IT WOULD BE NIGHT IN CARACAS by Karina Sainz Borgo 🇻🇪(out in October), and THE GERMAN HOUSE by Annette Hess 🇩🇪. • Thank you to Lulu @lulu.mnyc and the rest of the HarperVia team who not made it all happen but also included diverse bookstagrammers in the celebration! Thank you for this wonderful opportunity (I’m still pinching myself) and I can’t wait to read all of these amazing titles from HarperVia! . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #fictionintranslation #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #harpercollins #harpervia #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy Tuesday everyone! Tuesday is pub day which means so many more good books to add to your TBR! 📚I'm trying really really hard to focus on reading book I already have before buying new ones because my TBR is a little insane BUT I couldn't NOT pick us this amazing memoir/essay collection: My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education by Jennine Capó Crucet from Picador📝 • Synopsis: Raised in Miami and the daughter of Cuban refugees 🇨🇺, Crucet examines the political and personal contours of American identity and the physical places where those contours find themselves smashed: be it a rodeo town in Nebraska, a university campus in upstate New York, or Disney World in Florida. Crucet illuminates how she came to see her exclusion from aspects of the theoretical American Dream, despite her family’s attempts to fit in with white American culture—beginning with their ill-fated plan to name her after the winner of the Miss America pageant. • This book sounds fascinating, heart wrenching, and humorous all at one and I cannot wait to pick it up! I am particularly interested in her experience in Academia as a Latina, and experience near and dear to my own heart and professional interests🤓This year I've started picking up more personal essays and memoirs and I've been loving it! Are there any essay collections that you loved and would recommend? . . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #weneeddiversebooks #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #ownvoices #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
⚠️GIVEWAY Alert! I am super excited to be partnering with @dominicanwriters 🇩🇴to celebrate Lorraine Avila’s upcoming debut short story collection Malcriada & Other Stories with a giveaway! 🌟Elizabeth Acevedo says "Malcriada & Other Stories is an uppercut to the senses. A powerful debut collection.” • Synopsis: In sixteen stories we travel with a 12 year old who learns her name on a voyage from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico; a former cacao farmer finds a constellation on his lover’s thighs; best friends become strangers and find the essence of themselves in the face of deception; an old man exchanges his homeland for a New York City bodega storefront; preteen boys grapple with authority; female cousins come to terms with their first shared sexual experience; an alcoholic woman finds serenity at the bottom of the sea; feminism is deconstructed by opposing views; on the back of a motorcycle, self awareness is found; and a woman discovers that healing is a series of choices. •  Here are the giveaway rules! • 📚Like this post 📚Follow @Latinasleyendo + @dominicanwriters 📚Tag a Malcriada in the comments! • The book is also available for preorder via the link in @dominicanwriters bio. This giveaway is only based in the U.S. and ends September 13th. The winner will be announced September 16th and will need to complete a google form with their name and mailing address so we can send a copy of Malcriada & Other Stories your way! • Buena Suerte! ❤️ . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #shortstories #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #readlatinx #weneeddiversebooks #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #malcriada #latina #libros #leer
Happy hump day everyone! 🐫 I hope you’re doing well! I have a feeling it’s going to be a day where I need coffee in an IV 😴☕️ But there are several things that I’m looking forward to that are keeping me going. Tomorrow is the book launch for Dominicana and I am beyond excited!! 🙌🏽 • Also this year for #HispanicHeritageMonth I’ll be participating in the @latinxathon! What is the Latinxathon? It is a 10 day readathon running from Sept.15-24 with five awesome prompts designed to get you to read Latinx and read diversely. I am so happy to be participating in such a great community event planned by and for Latinx readers ❤️ Check our the @latinxathon Instagram page or twitter for more info and for the prompts! In the mean time here’s a quick snapshot of my TBR (I’ll also be listening to an audiobook). I’ll be sharing a little more about each one in the upcoming days and also releasing some recs for each category on the blog soon! Are you participating in the Latinxathon?❤️ . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #weneeddiversebooks #vscobooks #latinxathon #readlatinx #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
It’s been a crazy day today (I am officially a grad student!)BUT I couldn’t end the day without giving a HUGE Happy Book Birthday to these two literary titans whose latest books are out today!!❤️❤️❤️ • 🇺🇾 Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis follows five women, “Cantoras” who find each other and create a bond amidst Uruguay’s 1977 military coup when homosexuality was a transgression that was severely punished. This book astounded me with its incredible force, heart, and voice. This has been my favorite read of the year and certainly my biggest surprise. I cannot recommend it enough. • 🇩🇴 Dominican by Angie Cruz is also historical fiction and is based off the writer’s mother’s experiences immigrating from the Dominican Republic to NYC. I had read Cruz previously an loved her writing so I knew going in to expect a powerful and soul-stirring story. And indeed Cruz does not disappoint. BUT I was still blown away by Dominicana’s incredibly real, heart-wrenching and complicated story. Dominicana broke my heart and put it back together but it is still sore in the best possible way and I cannot get it out of my head. I also definitely recommend picking this one up. • I could absolutely gush for paragraphs about how much I love these two books and how they have stayed stuck in my head long after turning the last page. I will try to put together semi-cohesive reviews from all my fan-girling raves for each one but for now I will just go continue gushing about this incredible day in Latinx publishing ❤️ . . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #dominicana #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #carolinaderobertis #cantoras #booksofinstagram #read #angiecruz #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Hi Everyone! Who is looking forward to a long weekend of reading and relaxing? 🙋🏻‍♀️ I can’t believe I start grad school next week 😦I have a feeling that a lot of my reading time will be school related for a while so I’m going to make the most of my last free weekend 🙌🏽 • For some bookish news, there are some incredible book releases coming out next Tuesday, including Dominicana 🇩🇴 by Angie Cruz! I am SO excited, I’ve been waiting for closer to the release date to pick this one up and the time has come! I love both of Angie’s previous books and I’m so curious to see how she tackles this story, inspired by her own mother’s experiences of coming to the US. • I’m also super stoked to be attending the Dominicana launch at Word Up bookstore in NYC next week! 😱❤️if you’re also attending I’d love to say hi! • What are your reading plans for this weekend? . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #angiecruz #dominicana #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #weneeddiversebooks #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
So yesterday Flashed the third book in the Happy Endings series by Zoey Castile came and I wanted to give it a shoutout and wish is a HUGE happy book birthday!🎉 • Zoey is definitely an auto-buy author for me 🌟Her talent spands genres but regardless of whether she is writing about Brooklyn Brujas, Porgs or sizzling strippers she brings 110% to each story all of which shine with heart, humor and characters who you can’t help but get emotionally invested in. • Flashed is the third installment in her contemporary adult series which you can read individually (although you should read all of them!). This one is a modern Beauty and the Best re-telling with a slow burn romance between a reclusive ex-model who was in an accident that left him changed forever and his housekeeper; the only person allowed in his house on the condition that she is not allowed to see him. • I have been saving this one for the right time when I just need to read something I know I will love but I don’t know if it can resist reading it much longer 😄 if you are looking for sizzling, contemporary romance with just the right balance of heart and angsts Zoey Castile is the author for you! . . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #latinxrom #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #readlatinx #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #zoeycastille #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer