What did she say?

Below I've listed praise Stephanie's Elizondo Griest has garnered for her third book, Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlands. She's gotten some exciting reviews from some of our favorite Latino authors, including Sandra Cisneros and Luis Alberto Urrea.


Read an excerpt of Stephanie's book here, and see why Luis Urrea said, 'No, you can't say that.' I am glad she did.

Make sure to join us for the reading and booksigning on Friday, Feb. 6th, 2009 @ 7 p.m. Event details here.

"Stephanie Elizondo Griest dances where others fear to tread. There were several places in this book where I said, 'No, you can't say that.' I am glad she did."

-- Luis Alberto Urrea, bestselling author of The Devil's Highway

"This is a travel journal for the new millennium, a biracial woman searching for herself among the complexities of the borderlands."

-- Sandra Cisneros, bestselling author of The House on Mango Street and Caramelo

"I can't think of anyone who does a better job of capturing the people and places that inhabit the soul of a country. She grants us access into the hidden corners of a Mexico we've only heard about, with her own brand of humor, spot-on wisdom, and heart."

-- Michelle Herrera Mulligan, editor of Juicy Mangos and Border-Line Personalities

"A revealing exposé of one woman's struggle to live between two cultures and two worlds, and yet not fully belong to either."

-- Teresa Rodriguez, author of The Daughters of Juárez

Bookclub: The Devil's Highway, recap

Our bookclub discussion for The Devil's Highway was last night. There will be one more opportunity to share thoughts on the book in July, stay tuned for the date and time.

For now, I want to take a quick moment and follow up on last night's book club discussion. We had a nice exchange of ideas, regarding the book and the immigration issues it touches on. Some shared personal stories, or family anecdotes, it was definitely a book that struck a chord with many. One participant said she appreciated how the book humanized the immigrants crossing and a few regretted not having a novel format because we were left wanting to know more. I wondered if perhaps this was Urrea's way of conveying that desperation and feeling of not knowing feelings that perhaps the families left behind still live with.

Different passages stood out for a few of us. For me it was page 32, its a meager list of effects found on the victims that reads like a poem, for another person it was the top of page 165 that names the GPS coordinates that identifies where the journey ends for some victims, for another person it was page 128 that describes how walkers strip nude to escape the heat and how the clothing is found,"eerily neat, carefully folded and left in nice little piles."

Did you read the book and didn't have an opportunity to join us? Are there any thoughts you would like to share before the next book club discussion. We encourage you to post a comment here or send it to info@tianguis.biz.