Spanish Collection Staff Picks

Guía para lesbianas en un colegio católico

Reyes, Sonora, author.

SPANISH Reyes
Young Adult

"Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she's gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way. After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend before transferring to Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: keep her brother out of trouble, make her mom proud, and, most importantly, don't fall in love. Granted, she's never been great at any of those things, but that's a problem for Future Yami. The thing is, it's hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. So cute. Either way, Yami isn't going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she'll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do?" --

This own-voices young adult book depicts the struggles and joys of daring to be who you are even when everyone is telling you to be someone else. Sonora Reyes’s work shares plenty of love, friendship, and family with readers that are sure to be engrossed throughout.
- Charlotte

Blackouts

Torres, Justin, 1980- author.

RECEIVED
Fiction

"Out in the desert in a place called the Palace, a young man tends to a dying soul, someone he once knew briefly but who has haunted the edges of his life: Juan Gay. Playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized, Juan has a project to pass along, one built around a true artifact of a book--Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns--and its devastating history"--

This own-voices, National Book Award-winning story takes the form of a dreamlike conversation between queer men from two separate generations. Using a mix of blackout poetry and prose, Torres weaves narratives lost and found into a breathtaking work spanning time, space, and humanity.
- Charlotte

La sed

Yuszczuk, Marina, 1978- author.

SPANISH Yuszczuk
Fiction

"En el nuevo mundo por enésima vez recién descubierto de las mujeres, 'La sed' se interna para poner una distancia: de menor a mayor, especie contra género en la taxonomía de los reinos. Una vampira llega a las costas de la Buenos Aires decimonónica para ver por segunda vez en su vida cómo las aldeas se vuelven una ciudad cosmopolita. Es el ocaso de las bacanales de sangre, de la Europa en que se puede matar y comer a destajo. Hay que adaptarse, mezclarse con los humanos, ser discreta. En el otro extremo de la novela, una mujer contemporánea pasea con su hijo por el cementerio de la Recoleta y vive un poco inquieta su modesta emancipación. El encuentro entre el mortal aburrimiento de la una y el gótico a destiempo de la otra desencadena la hermosa novela que deja caer todo el peso de la muerte tumultuosa del pasado porteño sobre las pasiones familiares en sordina del presente. Darwin dice que para los naturalistas, "las especies, cuando se cruzan, resultan especialmente dotadas de esterilidad, a fin de impedir la confusión". Marina Yuszczuk demuestra que en la literatura, por suerte, es exactamente al revés. Los experimentos con lo monstruoso de Mary Shelley y con la astucia doméstica de Jane Austen, más que Drácula, están en el origen de la novela de especies que se niega a ser sólo novela de género."--

Marina Yuszczuk’s latest novel is a Gothic tale spun across two timelines, depicting a sapphic, supernatural romance between a modern woman and a nineteenth-century vampire. This novel showcases the intersections between female agency, horror both modern and historical, and the fragile, all-consuming nature of desire.
- Charlotte

Nuestras almas migrantes : una reflexión sobre la raza y los significados y mitos de lo latino

Tobar, Héctor, 1963- author.

SPANISH Tobar
Nonfiction

Originally published in English, "Our migrant souls" broke new ground with its examination of the social and political forces that shape Latino identity. Now in its first complete translation, Spanish-speaking readers can access Tobar's analysis of the meaning of Latino, promising to build bridges between generations and across borders through national conversation. Inspired by James Baldwin's writings addressing the role of race in America, Tobar's conversations with his Latino students, and his own and his family's life experiences, "Our migrant souls" investigates what it means to be Latino in the United States today.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Héctor Tobar’s 2023 nonfiction work drew attention upon its release for its compelling exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States. Discussing colonialism, politics, immigration, pop culture, and more, "Nuestras Almas Migrantes" uses Tobar’s personal experiences to depict a complicated narrative of the Latino identity in the modern US.
- Charlotte

Una trenza de hierba sagrada : sabiduría indígena, conocimiento científico y las enseñanzas de las plantas

Kimmerer, Robin Wall, author.

SPANISH Kimmerer
Nonfiction

As an indigenous woman, Robin Wall Kimmerer is the heir to a rich legacy that sees animals and plants as our greatest teachers. As a botanist, she has used scientific rigor to better study nature. And as a mother, teacher, and writer, she has dedicated her life to bringing these two perspectives together to advocate for an awakening of ecological consciousness that recognizes and celebrates our deep connection with other forms of life. In A Braid of Sacred Grass, the author weaves experiences and knowledge into a series of illuminating and moving stories that inspire us to strengthen our sacred relationship with Mother Earth. Each chapter is a magnificent lesson in gratitude and reciprocity, reminding us that if we offer our gifts to the world and help it heal, it will return to us with the harmony and well-being we so desire.--

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s bestselling book combines her knowledge of the natural sciences with her experiences as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation to showcase humanity’s relationship with the rest of the living world. Her writing showcases the role of plants in educating the world around them, and the role of society in learning from those teachings.
- Charlotte

Vampiros en El Norte

Cañas, Isabel, author.

SPANISH Canas
Fiction

"Un enfrentamiento entre vampiros y vaqueros en la frontera entre Texas y México en este western sobrenatural de la autora de La hacienda. Como hija de un ranchero en el México de 1840, Nena sabe un par de cosas sobre monstruos; su hogar ha estado mucho tiempo amenazado por tensiones con anglos del norte. Pero algo más siniestro merodea por el rancho en la noche, algo que drena la sangre de los hombres y los da por muertos. Lo mismo que atacó a Nena hace nueve años. Al creer a Nena muerta, Néstor ha intentado huir de su pena, yendo de rancho en rancho, trabajando como vaquero. Pero no hay alcohol suficiente para disipar los terrores nocturnos de dientes filosos; no hay mujer que pueda borrar de su mente a su amor de la infancia. Cuando Estados Unidos invade México en 1846, Nena y Néstor se reencuentran repentinamente de camino a la guerra: Nena es curandera, una sanadora que lucha por probarle a su padre su valía para que no la case con un extraño, y Néstor es miembro de la caballería auxiliar de rancheros y vaqueros. Pero el impacto de su reunión --y la ira de Nena hacia Néstor por abandonarla tiempo atrás-- queda pronto opacado por la aparición de una pesadilla de carne y hueso. Y a menos de que Nena y Néstor resuelvan su pasado y enfrenten juntos el futuro, ninguno de los dos sobrevivirá para ver el amanecer."--

Set in 1840s Mexico, Isabel Cañas’s 2023 Gothic vampire novel is sure to enthrall fans of historical and speculative fiction alike. Two characters torn apart by circumstance but pulled back together by fate must reconcile deep cuts when both of their homes come under attack in this supernatural Western certain to please even the pickiest of readers.
- Charlotte

Los juegos del hambre

Collins, Suzanne, author.

SPANISH Collins
Young Adult

Cuando Katniss Everdeen, una joven de dieciséis años se presenta voluntaria para ocupar el lugar de su hermana en los juegos, lo entiende como una condena a muerte. Sin embargo, Katniss ya ha visto la muerte de cerca y la supervivencia forma parte de su naturaleza.

Suzanne Collins’s classic young adult dystopian didn’t just mark the beginning of a bestselling series when it was published nearly 20 years ago—it redefined a genre. Revisit the powerful story of family, fire, and the fight against corrupt government as Collins’s words continue to make an impact on readers into the present day.
- Charlotte

Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego

Enriquez, Mariana, author.

SPANISH Enriquez
Short Story

First published in 2016, Mariana Enriquez’s collection of short stories set in modern Argentina combines magical realism, Gothicism, and horror into one poignant anthology. From houses whose doors close only to never open again, to protests in the form of self-immolation, Enriquez once again asserts herself as an internationally bestselling author.
- Charlotte

La fiesta del chivo

Vargas Llosa, Mario, 1936- author.

SPANISH Vargas Llosa
Fiction

"Haunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic--and finds herself reliving the events of 1961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million. Rafael Trujillo, the depraved ailing dictator whom Dominicans call 'The Goat,' controls his inner circle with a combination of violence and blackmail. In Trujillo's gaudy palace, treachery and cowardice have become a way of life. But Trujillo's grasp is slipping. There is a conspiracy against him, and a Machiavellian revolution already underway that will have bloody consequences of its own"--Amazon.

Originally published in 2000, Vargas Llosa’s "La Fiesta del Chivo" dives deep into the Dominican Republic of the 1960s. Narrating the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo from the fictional point of view of Urania Cabral, Llosa’s historical fiction novel proves without a doubt why it was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010.
- Charlotte

Salvavidas para madres autónomas : un manual con respuestas para maternar en solitario

Vázquez, Diana Luz, author.

SPANISH Vazquez
Nonfiction

"Esta obra trae respuestas y claridad a las madres autónomas. La activista Diana Luz Vásquez -- promotora de los Tenedores de Deudores y de la Ley Sabina -- responde las dudas que de golpe asaltan a las mujeres que maternan en solitario. Buscar ser un refugio y un consejero riguroso y asertivo, que reivindica y desmitifica la realidad de las mamás autónomas, al mismo tiempo que evidencia uno de los peores problemas que azotan a México y Latinoamérica: los padres abandónicos."--

Diana Luz Vázquez offers a guidebook to single mothers in "Salvavidas Para Madras Autónomas". Operating as a source of comfort and guidance alike, Vázquez’s nonfiction work offers clarity to those struggling with independent parenthood while simultaneously inspiring courage and hope for the future.
- Charlotte