The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea (2006, Little, Brown and Company; 528 pages) Teresita is not an ordinary girl. Born of an illiterate, poor Indian mother, she knows little about her past or her future. She has no idea that her father is Don Tomas Urrea, the wild and rich owner of a vast ranch in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. She has no idea that Huila, the elderly healer who takes Teresita under her wing, knows secrets about her destiny. And she has no idea that soon all of Mexico will rise in revolution, crying out her name. When Teresita is but a teenager, learning from Huila the way plants can cure the sick and prayer can move the earth, she discovers an even greater gift: she has the power to heal. Her touch, like warm honey, melts pain and suffering. But such a gift can be a burden, too. Before long, the Urrea ranch is crowded with pilgrims and with agents of a Mexican government wary of anything that might threaten its power. The Hummingbird's Daughter is the story of a girl coming to terms with her destiny, with the miraculous, and with the power of faith. It is the tale of a father discovering what true love is and a daughter recognizing that sometimes true love requires true sacrifice. Find this title in our collection: The Hummingbird's Daughter Recommended by: Maite
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Rabbit Boss by Thomas Sanchez (1973, Alfred A. Knopf; 468 pages) Spanning a century in the life and death of an Indian tribe, this legendary, epic novel tells the story of four generations of the Washo in the California and Nevada Sierra. It is a novel of dreams dying, the loss of power, the rebirth of the spirit, and one of the most brilliant fictional evocations of the American West ever written. Panoramic in scale and powerful in its impact, Rabbit Boss was cited by The San Francisco Chronicle as, "one of the most important books of the 20th century," by The New York Times as "a novel of epic dimensions," and by Vanity Fair as "a landmark of our literature." This is a dense book, rich in myth, legend, and tragic reality. Though we don't have a copy in our collection, the book is available to our patrons from one of our consortium libraries. It is well worth the read. Find this title in our catalog: Rabbit Boss Recommended by: Greg FOOLS CROW -- a suspenseful, bittersweet, and moving novel of a people's bygone way of life9/16/2015 Fools Crow by James Welch (1987, Penguin Books; 402 pages) In the Two Medicine Territory of Montana, the Lone Eaters, a small band of Blackfeet Indians, are living their immemorial life. The men hunt and mount the occasional horse-taking raid or war party against the enemy Crow. The women tan the hides, sew the beadwork, and raise the children. But the year is 1870, and the whites are moving into their land. Fools Crow, a young warrior and medicine man, has seen the future and knows that the newcomers will punish resistance with swift retribution. First published to broad acclaim in 1986, Fools Crow is James Welch's stunningly evocative portrait of his people's bygone way of life. Perhaps the greatest novel about the Native American way of life. Find this title in our catalog: Fools Crow Recommended by: Greg DOC -- fact and mythmaking converge in this action-packed historical novel about Doc Holliday9/15/2015 Doc by Mary Doria Russell (2011, Random House; 434 pages) Born to the life of a Southern gentleman, Dr. John Henry Holliday arrives on the Texas frontier hoping that the dry air and sunshine of the West will restore him to health. Soon, with few job prospects, Doc Holliday is gambling professionally with his partner, Mária Katarina Harony, a high-strung, classically educated Hungarian prostitute. In search of high-stakes poker, the couple hits the saloons of Dodge City. And that is where the unlikely friendship of Doc Holliday and a fearless lawman named Wyatt Earp begins— before the gunfight at the O.K. Corral links their names forever in American frontier mythology—when neither man wanted fame or deserved notoriety. This is a well-written historical novel, full of adventure, history, and the romantic lure of the wild west. Find this title in our catalog: Doc Recommended by: Ann Rayuela (Hopscotch) by Julio Cortazar (1963, Pantheon; 578 pages) Horacio Oliveira is an Argentinian writer who lives in Paris with his mistress, La Maga, surrounded by a loose-knit circle of bohemian friends who call themselves "the Club." A child's death and La Maga's disappearance put an end to his life of empty pleasures and intellectual acrobatics, and prompt Oliveira to return to Buenos Aires, where he works by turns as a salesman, a keeper of a circus cat which can truly count, and an attendant in an insane asylum. I remember the evening I found this book in the Literature section of my college library. I went home, started reading, and didn't stop until dawn. It was one of the most exciting and fabulous reading experiences of my life. Rayuela, or Hopscotch in English, a novel by Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar, is a stream-of-consciousness novel, and it can be read according to two different sequences of chapters. Cortazar wrote the book in Paris and the first chapter sequence takes you to that city. The author referred to this novel as a counter-novel. He used a punning interior monologue and he also uses different languages. It is clearly written under the influence of the aesthetics of jazz (a music that Cortazar loved) and the New Wave Cinema. The characters in Rayuela are absolute jewels. You will never forget La Maga or Horacio Oliveira, a bohemian, in the first sequences, or Talita and Traveler in Book 2, which takes the reader to Argentina. This book is reminiscent of the writing of James Joyce. It is a piece of literature that is fundamental to anyone who wants to call themselves well-read. Find this title in our catalog: Hopscotch (Rayuela) Recommended by: Maite LOOP'S PROGRESS -- hilarious, brilliant, obscure coming-of-age trilogy deserves wide audience8/13/2015 Loop's Progress by Chuck Rosenthal (Harper & Row, 1987; 233 pages) An uproarious, hilarious, crazy, philosophical family history set in the 1940s and '50s in a decaying working-class neighborhood in Erie, Pa. This is the first book in the Loop Trilogy (followed by the equally brilliant Experiments With Life and Deaf and Loop's End). Narrated by teen-aged Jarvis Loop in a narrative that loops and winds with the elliptical, magical realistic brilliance of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the laugh-out-loud logic of John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, this may well be the funniest book you ever read. The cast of characters include Red, Jarvis' larger-than-life father who terrorizes his family and neighbors out of sheer contrariness; Jarvis' mother, Helen, who keeps a menagerie of religious statuary around the house; Neda, his 300-pound genius sister who devours books as fast as she does chocolate; and an entire neighborhood filled with memorable oddballs and nutjobs. This is a book that will stay with you and leave a mark. Order this title through Interlibrary Loan: Loop's Progress Recommended by: Greg |