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

Giveaway alert! ⚠️Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday! It's a wonderfully overcast day in NYC today perfect for drinking hot chocolate and reading books 📚 • I recently hit 1k on the 'gram which is still a little mind boggling to me 😱Thank you thank you thank you to everyone of you! I am so happy to have met so many incredible readers and booklovers here in our corner of Instagram and sometimes IRL too! I can't express the happiness that seeing such support for Latinx literature, readers and writers brings me and the community that we have built together❤️ • As a thank you I wanted to to a giveaway! 🎉I will send TWO winners any book of that they choose that has been featured on the Latinas Leyendo instagram feed so far (you’re not limited to the books in this picture!) • This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram, any publishers or authors. You must be 18+ and live in the US to enter. • To enter you must: -Like this picture! -Tag a friend! -Follow Latinas Leyendo! -For an extra entry share this giveaway on your stories and tag me (you can reshare as many times as you want for extra entries) • The giveaway with run from today Wednesday, October 16, 2019 to Thursday, October 24th, 2019. The winners will be announced on Friday, October 25th, 2019. • Muchas gracias y buena suerte! . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #giveaway #vscobooks #bookish #readlatinx #weneeddiversebooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy Tuesday everyone! Who else is as excited about Fall as I am? 🍂🍁🙌🏽I am all about the PSL, chunky knit sweaters, baking (and eating) everything and of course, reading lots and lots of spooky books!📚 • I am a big mood reader and during the Fall I love to read books that match the chilly weather 👻The good thing is that there is lot's to choose from. I've put together a list of 12 spook-tacular Latinx reads to enjoy this October (or any month really) preferably curled up under a blanket with a hot drink on a stormy night. The list is now posted on the blog! (Link is in the bio 👆🏽) • Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez (mi tocaya❤️ ) is absolutely on the list and is also the book I plan to read on Halloween 🎃this year between stuffing myself with pumpkin muffins and supplying trick-or-treaters with all the sugar. • Are you a mood reader too? What are some spooky Latinx books that you're read and loved? . . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #october #vscobooks #cuentosunidos #booklove #readlatinx #latinx #weneeddiversebooks #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #fall #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #halloween #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy almost Friday everyone! Whose's looking forward to a weekend full of reading time? 🙋🏽‍♀️ • Also, do you also love reading spooky books in the Fall? 👻I am such a mood reader and tend to gravitate towards spooky books and thrillers around this time of year. So in that vein... • I am so excited to have worked with Sazón Book Tours to bring you a review of THE TENTH GIRL by Sara Faring and an interview with the author herself! I recently finished this YA Gothic horror/psychological thriller/historical fiction and my brain is still like 😱I am a huge thriller fan and this was such a treat to read, especially on a stormy dark Fall night ⛈You can find my full review and interview with Sara on the blog! (Link in the bio👆🏽) • The short version, read if you like: -Mind bending ‘Black Mirror’ plot twists -Being kept in suspense until the end -Gothic horror vibes and South American historical fiction • What are some spooky books that you're read and recommend? . . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #readlatinx #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #thetenthgirl #vscobook #sarafaring #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy Tuesday Everyone! I hope you're doing well! I want to wish a HUGE Happy Book Birthday 🎂 to Laura Taylor Namey whose book The Library of Lost Things is out today from Inkyard Press! Let's all give her a HUGE Felicidades! Also check out #azulforDarcy organized by @thelatinxbookcorner • Synopsis: From the moment she first learned to read, literary genius Darcy Wells has spent most of her time living in the worlds of her books 📚 There, she can avoid the crushing reality of her mother’s hoarding and pretend her life is simply ordinary. But when a new property manager becomes more active in the upkeep of their apartment complex, the only home Darcy has ever known outside of her books suddenly hangs in the balance. While Darcy is struggling to survive beneath the weight of her mother’s compulsive shopping, Asher Fleet, a former teen pilot with an unexpectedly shattered future, walks into the bookstore where she works…and straight into her heart. For the first time in her life, Darcy can’t seem to find the right words. Fairy tales are one thing, but real love makes her want to hide inside her carefully constructed ink-and-paper bomb shelter. Still, after spending her whole life keeping people out, something about Asher makes Darcy want to open up. But securing her own happily-ever-after will mean she’ll need to stop hiding and start living her own truth—even if it’s messy. • The Library of Lost Things sounds like exactly what I need right now, a little funny and little sad and a whole lot of heart. It also deals with hoarding which for how frequently it affects intergenerational immigrant relationships is not something I've ever seen represented on the page. I have to admit I am super intrigued and can't wait to dive in! . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #readlatinx
Happy Monday Everyone! I'm only on my second cup of coffee at the moment so I'm calling it a win! ☕️This past weekend I started working on my list of most anticipated 2020 releases (which is bonkers considering it's barely October but is it just me or does publishing seem to be speeding up?😅) so you can imagine how excited I was to receive a copy of one of the books on my list Salty, Bitter, Sweet by Mayra Cuevas! Thank you Mayra and @blinkyabooks! • This is another case of love at first site with the cover 😍and then being 100% hooked by the synopsis. This is a YA slow burn rom com revolving around family and food. And there's a hot Mediterranean love interest. And a dog. Yes please to all of this!🙌🏽 • Synopsis: Aspiring chef 👩🏽‍🍳 Isa’s family life has fallen apart after the death of her Cuban 🇨🇺 abuela and the divorce of her parents. She moves in with her dad and her new stepmom, Margo, in Lyon, France, where Isa feels like an outsider in her father’s new life. Isa balances her time between avoiding the awkward, “why-did-you-cheat-on-Mom” conversation with figuring out how a perpetually single woman can at least be a perpetually single chef. The upside of Isa’s world being turned upside-down? Her father’s house is located only 30 minutes away from the restaurant of world-famous Chef Pascal Grattard, who runs a prestigiously competitive international kitchen apprenticeship. The prize job at Chef Grattard’s renowned restaurant also represents a transformative opportunity for Isa who is desperate to get her life back in order—and desperate to prove she has what it takes to work in an haute kitchen. But Isa’s stress and repressed grief begin to unravel when the attractive, enigmatic Diego shows up unannounced with his albino dog🐶 • I'm holding off to read this one closer to it's release date although it's going to be hard as I am a huge sucker for food-themed romances, but I have a feeling it's going to be the perfect Spring read so mark your calendars! . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #readlatinx #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #romcom
Happy Sunday everyone! 🍁I hope you’ve had a great weekend! This weekend/week I am diving into a book I am SUPER excited about: Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary License by María Amparo Escandón. Thank you Penguin Random House for sending me a copy for #HispanicHeritageMonth! I’ll be honest, I hadn’t previously heard of this book but the cover and title intrigued me 🚛 Then when I read the synopsis I knew I HAD to read it. It is basically a re-telling of 1001 Nights set in a Mexican women’s prison. Tell me this doesn’t sound super intriguing?🙌🏽 • Synopsis: While serving a sentence in a Mexican 🇲🇽prison, Libertad González passes the time at the weekly Library Club, reading to her fellow inmates from whatever books she can find in the prison’s meager supply. With her stories, Libertad enthralls a group of female prisoners every bit as eccentric as the tales she tells. But the story that emerges has nothing to do with the words printed on the pages. Instead, she tells the story of Joaquín González, a former professor and fugitive of the Mexican government who reinvents himself as a trucker in the United States. There he falls in love with a wild woman with whom he shares his truck and his life, until he unexpectedly finds himself alone on the road with a baby girl. Joaquín and his daughter make the cab of an 18-wheeler their home, sharing everything—adventures, books, truck-stop chow, and memories of the girl’s mother—until the girl grows into a woman, and a chance encounter with one man causes her to rebel against another. • This sounds funny, quirky, heartbreaking and utterly unputdownable. I can’t wait to dive in!✨ _ #partnering with Penguin Random House to spread the word about the #CuentosUnidos campaign! Use the hashtag #CuentosUnidos to share your favorite Hispanic authors, or what Hispanic Heritage Month means to you. For each social media post using #CuentosUnidos, PRH will donate $1 to We Need Diverse Books (up to $15K) . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #readlatinx #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads
Happy Friday everyone! We did it!! Whoo hoo! 🙌🏽I am SO ready for the weekend! I can't wait to tell you about the book I'll be picking up this weekend, which I am SUPER excited about and seems like just the perfectly quirky and enjoyable entertainment my brain needs right now. Check back in tomorrow to find out what it is! 😉But for now I wanted to share a new bookstore highlights that just went up on the blog! 📚 • Word Up Community Bookstore/Librería Comunitaria @wordupbooks is in my opinion one of the most underrated bookstores in NYC and one I wish more people knew about. The name says it all: it is a bookstore built, staffed and and focused on community and the residents of Washington Heights. It started out as a one month pop-up shop and now caters permanently to it's bilingual neighborhood with programming, author events, and a Spanish language section that puts larger stores to shame. If you find yourself in Washington Heights, I definitely recommend stopping by!🌟 • Check out the blog post for more information on Word Up and what I love about this amazing indie bookstore! Link is in the bio👆🏽 • What indie bookstores do you wish more people knew about? . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #readlatinx #leyendo #bookstore #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #nyc #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #wordupcommunitybookshop #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy First day of October! 🍂it's 70+ degrees here in NYC but you can bet that I've already pulled out the fall decorations and pumpkin scented candles! 🙌🏽(and yes, I raided this cafe's pumpkin display for this picture, don't worry, I put them all back🎃) • Along with chilly weather and delicious caffeinated beverages, Fall always brings a bonanza of incredible books 📚 . Once of my most anticipated releases of this year is definitely Carmen Maria Machado's memoir THE DREAM HOUSE coming out on November 5th from Graywolf Press! (Thank you thank you thank you to Graywolf for sending me a copy!) • You're going to want to mark your calendars for this one folks! Carmen Maria Machado, author of HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES is back with her genre-bending, unsettling and unflinchingly honest voice. This time however, Carmen dives into her own life, examining a relationship that turned abusive through the lens of various narrative tropes. She unpacks her religious upbringing, the assumption that lesbian relationships are supposed to be safe havens, and of course, she includes plenty of pop culture too. This sounds like it will be a hard hitting, but hugely important and cathartic memoir that gives voice to an often overlooked aspect of queer lives in mainstream media. I absolutely can’t wait to dive into this memoir. . . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #carmenmariamachado #vscobooks #bookish #readlatinx #instabooks #latinx #graywolfpress #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy Friday everyone! 🌟I hope you've had a great week! This year has been the year that I've fallen in love with short short stories, essays, and epistolary works. They're the perfect read to pick up when I need a break from school reading and I am so happy to be picking this collection of letters next. I've had my eye on THE BOOK OF EMMA REYES for a while and @penguinrandomhouse was kind enough to send me a copy🙌🏽I cannot wait to dive into it this weekend! • Synopsis: Emma Reyes was an illegitimate child, raised in a windowless room in Bogotá 🇨🇴 with no water or toilet and only ingenuity to keep her and her sister alive. Abandoned by their mother, she and her sister moved to a Catholic convent housing 150 orphan girls, where they washed pots, ironed and mended laundry, scrubbed floors, cleaned bathrooms, sewed garments and decorative cloths for the nuns—and lived in fear of the Devil. Illiterate and knowing nothing of the outside world, Emma escaped at age nineteen, eventually establishing a career as an artist and befriending the likes of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera as well as European artists and intellectuals. The portrait of her childhood that emerges from this clear-eyed account inspires awe at the stunning early life of a gifted writer whose talent remained hidden for far too long. • Tell me this doesn't sound incredible? 😍If you are looking for some non-fiction in translation, a classic from South America, or just a look at the life and writing of an incredible woman, pick this one up!✨ _ #partnering with Penguin Random House to spread the word about the #CuentosUnidos campaign! Use the hashtag #CuentosUnidos to share your favorite Hispanic authors, or what Hispanic Heritage Month means to you. For each social media post using #CuentosUnidos, PRH will donate $1 to We Need Diverse Books (up to $15K) . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #fictionintranslation #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #weneeddiversebooks #read #reading #vscobook #readlatinx #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer