Sept / Oct

Libro de Mal Amor
By Fernando Iwasaki

Author Fernando Iwasaki introduces his main characters in a pretty unique way —through the eyes of the women who have loved him. Ten chapters that carry the names of the many women who have trashed him throughout the many years of his unfortunate love life. But, has it really been totally unfortunate? These experiences tell us that stories don’t only have a negative side —in the words of the author “an unsuccessful love live leads to a funny life since a bad love is a guarantee of good humor.” Description in Spanish: Fernando Iwasaki nos presenta un personaje de forma original y divertida: a través de las mujeres que no lo han amado. La poco afortunada vida amorosa del protagonista se nos presenta de esta forma, en diez capítulos que llevan el nombre de otras tantas mujeres que le han dado calabazas a lo largo de los años. Experiencias que no sólo tienen un lado negativo pues, en palabras del propio autor "a falta de éxito amoroso bueno es el éxito humoroso, pues el mal amor es garantía de buen humor". (Product Description)

Leader/Host: Tertulia Literaria
Discussion Meeting: Tuesday October 25th 6pm
Location: Instituto Cervantes ~ 31 W. Ohio

Agosto 2011

Tales from the Town of Widows / La Aldea de las Viudas.
by James Cañón

"Esta novela ganó en Francia el premio a la mejor primera novela extranjera publicada en el año 2008, y el premio de los lectores del festival América de Vincennes (también en Francia). En los EEUU, fue obra finalista del premio nacional de novela Edmund White, y del premio nacional de novela Lambda. Kirkus Reviews la escogió en el 2007 como uno de los “10 Mejores Libros del Año” para grupos de lectores. ... La aldea de las viudas nos deja una grata impresión con el manejo sobrio del lenguaje, la imaginación desbordada, la reflexión profunda sobre la condición humana, la religiosidad, el sexo, la guerra y el sistema político. Esta novela es en síntesis, según las palabras de un redactor de Washington Post Book World “Encantadora . . . Una historia divertida y a veces espeluznante, que Cañón cuenta con encanto y mordacidad.” Libardo Vargas Celemin (Revista de Letras).

http://www.revistadeletras.net/%E2%80%9Cla-aldea-de-las-viudas%E2%80%9D-violencia-genero-y-realismo-magico/

Leader/Host: Fanny
Discussion Meeting: Sunday August 21st, 2pm
Location: Hollywood Beach

Come celebrate our 5 year Anniversary!!!!

July 2011

A Visit from the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan

2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

"Readers will be pleased to discover that the star-crossed marriage of lucid prose and expertly deployed postmodern switcheroos that helped shoot Egan to the top of the genre-bending new school is alive in well in this graceful yet wild novel. We begin in contemporaryish New York with kleptomaniac Sasha and her boss, rising music producer Bennie Salazar, before flashing back, with Bennie, to the glory days of Bay Area punk rock, and eventually forward, with Sasha, to a settled life. By then, Egan has accrued tertiary characters, like Scotty Hausmann, Bennie's one-time bandmate who all but dropped out of society, and Alex, who goes on a date with Sasha and later witnesses the future of the music industry. Egan's overarching concerns are about how rebellion ages, influence corrupts, habits turn to addictions, and lifelong friendships fluctuate and turn. Or as one character asks, How did I go from being a rock star to being a fat fuck no one cares about? Egan answers the question elegantly, though not straight on, as this powerful novel chronicles how and why we change, even as the song stays the same." Publishers Weekly.

Leader/Host: Sarah
Discussion Meeting: Saturday July 30th, 11am
Location: Waterfront Cafe (6219 North Sheridan)

May/June 2011

In The Country of Last Things
by Paul Auster

"In a book-length letter home, Anna Blume reports that her search for a long-lost brother has brought her to a vast, unnamed city that is undergoing a catastrophic economic decline. Buildings collapse daily, driving huge numbers of citizens into the streets, where they starve or die of exposureif they aren't murdered by other vagrants first. Government forces haul away the bodies, and licensed scavengers collect trash and precious human waste. Weird cults form around the most popular methods of suicide. Anna tries to help, but the charity group she joins quickly runs out of supplies and has to close its doors. A number of post-apocalyptic novels have been published recently; Auster's, one of the best, is distinguished by an uncanny grasp of the day-to-day realities of homelessness. This is a scary but highly relevant book." Edward B. St. John (Library Journal).


Leader/Host: Colleen
Discussion Meeting: Sunday June 12th, 11am (Brunch!)
Location: Fanny's Porch.

Abril 2011

Santa Evita
By Tomás Eloy Martínez

"Argentine writer Martinez's latest novel explores his country's obsession with the legacy of Eva Peron, populist wife of former dictator Juan Peron. Let no reader assume, however, that this is a straightforward, chronologically strict novel about Evita from humble origins to early death. Primarily, this is the odd history of Evita's mummified body after her untimely death from cancer in 1952 at age 33. When his wife died, General Peron insisted her body be preserved for posterity; after his ouster, the powers who succeeded him as leaders of the country feared the possible use of Evita's body as a tangible symbol around which Peron's supporters might rally. In telling this almost macabre story of who did what with Evita's body and when, which is accomplished in a mixed-media format--a blend of fiction and documentary, essay and memoir--the author ultimately establishes a full portrait of Evita, emphasizing her impact on Argentine history both in life and after. A complex, challenging novel that lovers of Latin American fiction will applaud." Brad Hooper (Booklist).


Leader/Host: Sarah
Discussion Meeting: Wednesday May 11th (~6pm)
Location: Revolution Brewery (2323 N Milwaukee Ave-California Blue line stop)
http://revbrew.com/

Febrero / Marzo

Freedom
by Jonathan Franzen (576 pages)

From the National Book Award-winning author of "The Corrections" comes a darkly comedic novel about family. Franzen's intensely realized characters struggle to learn how to live in an ever-confusing world--one with the temptations and burdens of liberty, the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, and the heavy weight of empire.


Leader/Host: Open
Discussion Meeting: Saturday April 9th (~2pm)
Location: tbd

Diciembre/Enero

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time.

By Greg Mortenson.

Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts.

(From Publishers Weekly)

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Leader/Host: Sarah

Discussion Meeting: Monday, Jan 3rd (~6.30pm)

Location: Restaurante Irazu (1865 N. Milwaukee)