Celebrating literature for, by, and about Latinas
 

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NYCBOOKOWL

I hope everyone is doing well in this gorgeous Tuesday!☀️ • So Memorial Day weekend kinda snuck up on me, I completely forgot about the three day weekend! 😱 I am so excited and hope to get a lot of reading done. In the mean time I can day dream about the lazy Saturday morning I plan on spending like this. • Do you have any reading plans for Memorial Day weekend? . . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #bookporn #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #coffee #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #booksandcoffee #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Happy Monday 😴☕️ everyone! Summer has finally arrived in NYC and I am sooo excited for this iced coffee weather!🙌🏽 • Did you know that May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month? What better way to celebrate than by reading Asian American and Pacific Islander authors? 📚There are plenty of incredible Asian and Pacific Islander authors who write fiction that I absolutely love but for some reason, this year I've been drawn to non-fiction and when I saw the synopsis for this book I knew I had to request it from the library, and my hold finally came in! • Synopsis: Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Gordon H. Chang. In this groundbreaking account, award-winning scholar Gordon H. Chang draws on unprecedented research to recover the Chinese railroad workers’ stories and celebrate their role in remaking America. An invaluable correction of a great historical injustice, The Ghosts of Gold Mountain returns these “silent spikes” to their rightful place in our national saga. • I remember learning about Chinese laborers working on the Transcontinental Railroad in High School 🚂It was a footnote on a paragraph and that was it. I felt baffled since it was clearly an incredible story especially given hostile context of the later Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and wanted to know more. I am so happy that on the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Chang's book is giving voice to these workers who quite literally built the future of American with their hands. • If you want to learn more, Buzzfeed news also has an excellent article on how the stories of these workers and their descendants are finally being centered. . . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #nonfiction #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #asianamericanandpacificislanderheritagemonth #booksandcoffee #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Happy Sunday everyone! Summer is apparently here in NYC! ☀️It's a perfect day to browse the Strands outdoor carts. You never know what hidden gems you might find! . . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #thestrand #bookporn #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #nyc #nycbookstore #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #indiebookstore #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
I hope everyone is having a good Monday! ✨Also Ramadan Mubarak to everyone celebrating Ramadan! • I have today off so I am planning on catching up with what feels like my ever growing TBR. It doesn't help that I recently bought more books😅. This is my last haul from BookBook, which is sadly closing down it's physical location in the West Village. I talked a little more about this in an earlier post but I though I would show you want I acquired. • The bookstore employee has some raised eyebrows for me when I was checking out and told me that "these books paint an interesting picture of you" which I will take as a compliment💁🏻‍♀️What can I say? I love reading all sorts of books. I know some readers that are very genre specific and will stick to one genre or not read fiction or only read fiction which I think is totally ok but I think I'm too restless to just read one genre only although I certainly have my "comfort read genres" • What about you? Do you tend to stick to one genre or do you like to explore? . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #booksandcoffee #bookhaul #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #indiebookstore #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #plants #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Hi everyone! I hope you're doing well on this cold and rainy weekend🌧 (hey at least it's perfect reading weather) • Book Blogger Headscarves and Hardbacks runs an annual #RamadanReadathon to support Muslim authors each year during Ramandan. If you are interested in finding out more, go check out @muslimreadathon. • I am absolutely atrocious at following through on readathons as anyone who has seen me try the Dewey's 24 Hour readathon only to fall asleep by midnight because I am a grandma at heart knows 😅BUT I am going to make it a priority to read books by Muslim authors this Ramadan. Starting with... • Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age Story by Amani Al-Khatahtbeh. This is is a memoir by the founder of MuslimGirl.com @muslimgirl. Amani was 9 years old and living in New Jersey when the 9/11 attack happened. In this memoir, Amani reflects on how she and her family (who immigrated from Jordan 🇯🇴) experienced navigating their identity and religion in the face of increased xenophobia and Islamophobia in the US. Amani is a great writer, her prose is blunt, brilliant, and full of heart. She brings her story to life and shares how she turned resilience into strength and how she decided to take back control of the narrative being told in the media about Muslim women by launching an incredibly successful online media platform for and by Muslim women. 💪🏽Her story is definitely one that will be inspiring and reaffirming for many readers🙌🏽 . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #bookporn #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #weneeddiversebooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #bookblogger #ownvoices #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #muslimgirlarmy #igreads #igbooks #bookstagramer
Happy hump day everyone! I hope your coffee is strong and your book excellent ✨Today I want to give a shout out and farewell to one of my favorite NYC bookstores. Here in NYC we're very spoiled when it comes to having an embarrassment of riches when it comes to bookish events, a great library system, and of course my personal favorite, plenty of indie bookstores to choose from 📚Even so, the book retail space in the city faces many obstacles that make it difficult to stay afloat and operating, including increased rent prices. This year, several bookstore like McNally Jackson's and the Strand faced uncertainty in their future amid rent hikes and city landmark designation negotiations. One of the city's smaller but one of my personal favorites, BookBook is sadly closing its doors this year. • BookBook was a cozy, excellently curated, friendly neighborhood hangout that I loved to go wander around in during my lunch break. The staff was always kind and knowledgeable. Their selection of on sale books was one of the best I've encountered (I found it hard to walk out empty handed when the books were great and the prices so reasonable!) and I would often see people with pets or children enjoying the outdoor display or the children's section. When I heard that they were closing, I felt sad that Bleeker street was loosing a store that was so important to me and I'm sure to many other local bookworms. We'll miss you BookBook! . . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #indiebookstore #bookshop #booklover #vscobooks #bookstore #bookish #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #nyc #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Happy Friday everyone! We made it through the week! 🙌🏽I am soo sleepy all I want to do I stay in bed and read 🤓Is this what adulting does to you? The good news it that my weekend is cleared for reading which is great because all my library book due dates are coming up! 😅Right now I am working on wrapping up The Wicked and The Wallflower by Sarah Maclean which I am reading with the wonderful @ultrabookgeek ❤️ • Sarah Maclean was my gate way author into romance and she remains one of my auto-read authors today! I read The Rogue Not Taken when it was recommended by @bookriot and never looked back. Now romance, mystery and fantasy have become my go-to comfort genres. The Wicked and the Wallflower has all the trademark Sarah Maclean elements: a roguish hero, a smart and sassy heroine and of course plenty of witty banter. I cannot wait to find out how it ends, the only downside is that I'll have to wait until July for book 2! • Are there any books or authors that were your "gateway" reads into a new genre you hadn't previously read? . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #romance #bookporn #booksandplants #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #booksandcoffee #unitedbookstagram #coffee #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #plants #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Hi everyone! It’s almost Friday! 🙌🏼 what are you reading this weekend? 📚I just finished The Club by Takis Würger. This book takes one of my favorite literary settings, a secret society within an elite academic institution, and adds a dash of Megan Abbott-like intrigue, frames it with an examination of the structures created and maintained masculinity and privilege and adds one bang of an ending 😱 • Hans, an orphaned German boy with a talent for boxing is recruited from his isolated life at boarding school by his troubled and brilliant aunt for a secretive mission: to infiltrate a small group within a club of elite Cambridge boxers to investigate a crime. Slowly Hans befriends and is eventually invited to join the Pitt Club, a fraternity of wealthy and privileged Cambridge men, while wavering between working to uncover their secrets and loosing himself in the process. The reader, just like Hans feels like an infiltrator into the world of Britain’s young elites. We peels back the glamorous curtain to uncover a violent and misogynist world that is simultaneously mesmerizing and horrifying. • Würger’s examination of masculinity, power, violence and privilege feels particularly salient in today’s news cycles. This book dissects the resilience of predominantly masculine and toxic enclaves of power in the upper echelons of the socio-economic ladder. Würger does an excellent job of examining these structures and the way they affect different people through a multiple POV narrative and beautifully sparse, tense prose (shout out to the translator Charlotte Collins). • The Club will appeal to anyone who enjoyed The Secret History by Donna Tartt, or The Likeness by Tana French or anyone who is interested in reading suspense in translation. TW for sexual violence, violence and homophobia. Thank you to Grove Atlantic for sending me a free review copy! . . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #theclub #bookporn #takiswurgner #vscobooks #booknerd #partner #booklove #instabooks #booknerdigans #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #groveatlantic #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
Hi everyone! I hope you’re having a great Monday/ April Fools Day! I can’t believe it’s April already! 😱 • I am so ready to jump into Spring, there are so many great bookish things coming up this month like the Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon, Independent Bookstore Day, and so many awesome book events and releases! 🙌🏼 • This past weekend my NYC book girl gang had an amazing time catching up, eating amazing treats and of course talking books. I feel so grateful to have such an awesome bookish group of women in my life to nerd out with ❤️ and of course we ended up having a book swap. I can’t wait to dive into these books! Have you read any of these? . . . . #Book #books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #thecruelprince #severance #booklover #vscobooks #booknerd #bookish #booksandplants #instabooks #awomanisnoman #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #bookaddict #plants #bookhaul #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #bookgasm #bookstagramer
 
 

Latinas Leyendo

Hi everyone! It's such a gorgeous day outside today 🌼I wish I were outside in the park with a book and an iced coffee😩 But there will be time for that this weekend. Speaking of, I have an ambitious TBR for this weekend (mostly driven by upcoming library due dates 😅)So I was planning on doing a low key one-woman readathon, I'll let you know how that goes on IG stories! Do you have any reading plans for this long weekend? • Also just a reminder that Mil Mundos's Indiegogo is live! It is an amazing community space, bookstore and cafe in Bushwick! You can go to the link on their IG page @milmundosnyc to find out more! Their shelves are #goals (yes that is an AOC candle) Spot any of your favorites? . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #shelfie #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #brooklyn #vscobook #reader #igreads #indiebookstore #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you're doing well and are fully caffeinated! ☕️I wanted to give a big thank you to Diana from @owlslittlelibrary for this copy of When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton✨ • Next Year in Havana was one of my favorite reads of last year and accordingly, her second book When We Left Cuba was on my list of most anticipated releases of 2019. Cleeton does such a wonderful job of weaving together so many elements into her story like history, family drama, adventure and romance without sacrificing a tight and utterly bingable plot. She also creates and develops nuanced characters who you want to root for and is excellent at bringing the lush settings of her books to life. In short, she writes the best summer reads that leave you breathless but also teach you a thing or two about Cuban and American history along the way☀️ • I absolutely can't wait to dive into this one, which follows Beatriz as she is recruited by the CIA 🕵🏼‍♀️for a dangerous undercover mission to infiltrate the Cuban revolutionary government, putting her life and unexpectedly her heart at risk. • If you haven't picked up this series and are looking for the perfect summer read, I recommend starting with Next Year In Havana. Also aren't these covers gorgeous? 😍 • What do you look for in a perfect summer read?🍹 . . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booksandplants #vscobooks #bookish #coffee #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #booksandcoffee #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #chanelcleeton #vscobook #whenweleftcuba #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #weneeddiversebooks #latina #libros #leer
Happy Monday! (Is that a thing?) ☕️May your coffee cup never empty. What are your reading plans for the week? • After binging on a bunch of literary fiction novella (which were admittedly pretty good overall) I felt I needed a change of pace. Is anyone else a mood reader like this? 🤔I will often binge on a single genre until I get a little burnt out and then switch gears. So I picked up the Love Sugar Magic series by Anna Meriano which at this point includes A Dash of Trouble and a Sprinkle of Spirits. They are absolutely adorable and were the perfect antidote to all the literary angst I've read and I would be a great buddy read or gift for any middle graders in your life 🍰 • The first book in the series series follows Leonora or Leo, the youngest of the five Logroño sisters whose family owns a bakery in a small Texas town. Leo soon realizes that her family has been keeping a secret from her: all the women in her family are brujas and weave magic 🧙🏼‍♀️into the bread that they bake but she is too young to be initiated yet. Never one to let her age deter her Leo sets out to practice the craft in secret, but when her friend Caroline needs help, Leo is sure her magic could help, what could go wrong? • This book takes elements of Zoraida Cordova's Brooklyn Brujas series and Little Women and bundles it up into the cutest middle school book. Did I mention this book also comes with recipes? 🍴This book will surely be a treat for you or the young reader in your life and might magically make you hungry too! . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booksandcoffee #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #plants #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #coffee #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you’re enjoying your weekend 😊 what are your reading plans? • I recently finished a novella that I had been postponing for a while. But when I finally picked it up I couldn’t put it down! 🙌🏽 • All My Goodbyes is a literary fiction novella by contemporary Argentine author Mariana Dimópulos 🇦🇷 The story chronicles the ever restless life of the protagonist as she travels from Buenos Aires to Europe, through multiple cities, jobs and love affairs. Each one ends unhappily in the protagonists search for love and home before she finally returns to Argentina and settles in rural Patagonia where at last she feels she has found true happiness, before tragedy strikes again. • This story has an unusual and irresistible premise: It’s is told in a non-linear fashion and at the beginning, the story opens with a gristly murder investigation 🕵🏼‍♂️ but we don’t know who it’s was or what happened. Between flashbacks of the protagonist’s life we find out more and more until we reach the Agatha Christie-esque twist ending. I personally love “reverse” murder mysteries like this and this particular mix of non-linear literary fiction and murder work for me. • The protagonist is equally fascinating. She is complicated to say the least. She is restless, privileged, self-sabotaging and an admitted chronic liar. She is equal parts frustrating and a tragic hero. It took me a little bit to get into the story but I am glad I stuck with it and recommend it to both literary fiction and mystery fans. . . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #coffee #vscobooks #bookish #booklove #weneeddiversebooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #booksandcoffee #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
It's Friday!! Woo hoo! 🙌🏽We made it! It's been one crazy week and I am ready to catch up with friends, sleep and of course read! 📚I am starting a super cute series that is right up my alley and is filling the whole left by With the Fire on High. It is also a great change of pace after reading so many lit fic novellas at once😅. I'll share what it is this weekend so stay tuned! • In other news, Mil Mundos Libreria/Cafe announced that it will be launching it's Indiegogo campaign soon! Go check out their page and website on Monday to find out more about how you can support this amazing Latinx space in NYC! ✨I mean take a look at these shelves! All their picks are on point! Let’s keep this space open for everyone! 🙌🏽 . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #weneeddiversebooks #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bibliophile #milmundos #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #nycbookstores #latina #libros #leer
Hi everyone! If you are in the NYC area I hope you are enjoying the gorgeous sunshine! ☀️ • This week I finished El Cuerpo en que Nací or The Body Where I was Born in English by Guadalupe Nettel as part of the Spanish language bookclub run by @lupita.reads @niaitathomas and @bklnbooks (go follow them!)🙌🏽 • Even through Spanish is my first language I have been reading primarily in English basically since after high school. Reading in Spanish has been something that I've been wanting to get back into. Guadalupe Nettel has also been an author that has been on my TBR for a while so I'm so glad that these wonderful bookstagramers provided the opportunity to give this one a go! • Overall I really enjoyed reading this book although it took waaay longer to finish that an English language book would have😅 as it took my brain several false starts in getting into a Spanish reading mindset rather than translating or reading outloud in my head. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but do any other bilingual readers run into this? I also kept picking up other books that I was really excited about and library books that were due. • I am still absorbing the book, and would probably would need time to form more cohesive thoughts on what I liked and why since it IS a pretty out there book but I did want to give my first impressions 🤔 • The book follows the protagonist, who is born with a spot over the pupil of one of her eyes, through her childhood raised by progressive parents in Mexico City 🇲🇽 in the 70's and through her adolescence. It is told as a one sided dialogue by the protagonist to her therapist. It is quirky, wry and surprisingly emotional as she recounts her messy family relationships particularly with her mother and grandmother. Overall I greatly enjoyed this book but I do wonder how much was shaped by my experience reading in Spanish and finding hilarious similarities between the book and some of my own experiences being brought up in Mexico City by progressive parents. I don't think this will be everyone's cup of tea but I did really enjoy it and am glad I picked it up! I am really looking forward to continuing #readingmymothertongue in the future.
It’s hump day! We did it! 🙌🏽It’s been a strangely busy week and I haven’t gotten as much reading done as I would like but a bunch of library holds came in for me and I’m so excited to get a good chunk of reading this weekend📚 • I did finish up another library book this week: Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza 🇦🇷 . Reading this book really brought home to me how subjective reading a book is. By all objective standards I should have loved this book. It alternates between the protagonist, a woman, recounting her life story and snippets of deep dives into art history, particular painters and paintings sprinkled with interesting anecdotes that tickles the art history nerd in me 🎨The way in which these snippets of art history intersect, mirror and inform the protagonists life is beautiful and subtle in a way the reminders me of Alexander Chee’s Queen of the Night which I loved. You can’t read this book without stopping to look up the paintings she describes so vividly. The book also plays around with POV and dives into Argentine political history and society. • So overall it includes so much of my literary catnip and I did enjoy it but I didn’t love it as much as I expected. I think ultimately it was not the right time for me to read and enjoy it. Maybe I will go back later and reread it because a big part of me really wanted to love it. I think I am just a little burned out on novellas that deal with the problem of upperclass women and their artistic aspirations 🤭 as this is the third similar book I have finished this month. 😅 I am such a mood reader! I need a change of pace. Does this happen to anyone else? . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookworm #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #OwnVoicesReviews #booklove #instabooks #latinx #booksandcoffee #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #bookreview #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #igreads #weneeddiversebooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
I hope everyone is having a not too Mondayish Monday ☕️ • This past weekend I had a great time visiting @milmundosnyc, catching up with friends and enjoying the city. Although I’ve been meaning to go on a book buying ban, I couldn’t help picking up some books from Mil Mundos, their curation is great! 🙌🏽 • Among the books I picked up is Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. This is a classic of modern Mexican fiction and is loved by so many people. I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet 🙈It’s definitely been on my TBR for forever and I finally picked up a copy❤️I can’t wait to read it at last. I am particularly intrigued after Elizabeth Acevedo mentions it as one of her favorite books and an influence for With the Fire in High. Have you read Like Water for Chocolate? . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #booksandcoffee #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #coffee #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #bookblogger #weneeddiversebooks #booksofinstagram #read #bookhaul #vscobook #reader #igreads #igbooks #latinasleyendo #bookstagramer #latina #libros #leer
Hi everyone, I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful day if you’re in NYC! I love sunny weather it makes me so happy and also crave agua fresca 🍉 • I just dropped by @milmundosnyc an amazing Spanglish bookstore, café and community space that recently opened in Bushwick, Brooklyn. They have an amazing selection of books, a great children’s section and also host various events and performances for and by the Latinx community in Brooklyn. I fell in love with this space and the amazing work they do❤️ • As you know, running independent bookstores and community spaces in New York is never easy. Mil Mundos is entirely staffed by volunteers who dedicate their time and passion to bringing this amazing resource to their community but they need your help to keep the space open and operating! They are launching a fundraising effort soon which I will share but if you’re in Brooklyn I encourage you to drop by and check out this space, grab a book and coffee and help spread the word! . . . #Books #bookstagram #vscocam #vsco #bookstore #leyendo #booklover #vscobooks #bookish #indiebookstore #instabooks #latinx #bookphotography #unitedbookstagram #latinxreads #weneeddiversebooks #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #read #reading #vscobook #reader #nyc #igbooks #latinasleyendo #nycbookstores #latina #libros #leer