Best Hispanic American Literature

But Oscar may never get what he wants. Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007 : It's been 11 years since Junot Díaz's critically acclaimed story collection, Drown , landed on bookshelves and from page one of his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao , any worries of a sophomore jinx disappear. He captures not only the fat, virginal, impractical Oscar, but he also gives a sexy vigor to Yunior, who serves as narrator and Oscar's polar opposite. Davis also gives voice to Oscar's mother, Beli, whose fukú curse infects the entire family, except for Oscar's sister, Lola, performed in a flat voice by Snell, whose performance overlooks Lola's energy and resolve.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A terrific story which sucks the reader in and holds on to you until the final page."
"Interesting."
"Love love love this book and Junot Diaz."
"Díaz uses tone and point-of-view brilliantly as he weaves together languages, cultures, and characters."
"The main character, Oscar, was easy to sympathize with and I fell in love with his passion immediately. As a somewhat closet nerd myself, I saw myself at his age falling in love with all the classic sci-fi, the first time I discovered Roleplaying games, spending hours lost in your imagination."
"This book is excellent, there is so many layers to it."
"I was really excited to read a book about modern day people with similar interests to me - science fiction, superheroes, fantasy."
"Really acquired an appreciation for life of Dominicans and their culture, mentality, and temperament."

Isabel Allende parte de la célebre cita de Albert Camus -«en medio del invierno aprendí por fin que había en mí un verano invencible»- para urdir una trama que presenta la geografía humana de unos personajes propios de la América de hoy que se hallan «en el más profundo invierno de sus vidas»: una chilena, una joven guatemalteca ilegal y un maduro norteamericano. Más allá del invierno es una de las historias más personales de Isabel Allende: una obra absolutamente actual que aborda la realidad de la emigración y la identidad de la América de hoy a través de unos personajes que encuentran la esperanza en el amor y en las segundas oportunidades. «Los amantes del best seller están de enhorabuena: ha vuelto Isabel Allende con una novela de las suyas, repleta de emoción y amor.» El Cultural. «Como siempre, me ha gustado mucho leer a Isabel Allende, reconocer su estilo sencillo, cercano, con ese toque de humor, siempre aprovechando la realidad que la rodea para construir un nuevo libro con el que hacernos disfrutar.». Blog Bitácoras de mis lecturas. En 2010, fue galardonada con el Premio Nacional de Literatura de Chile, y en 2012, con el Premio Hans Christian Andersen de Literatura por su trilogía El Águila y el Jaguar.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"es un buen libro con el ameno estilo de Isabel Alle nde, Yo lo califico 4 estrellas creo que es bastante justo tomando en cuenta el tema y la trama."
"Me encanto el libro."
"Al inicio bueno pero entre el desenlace y el final se desinflo."
"Demasiada tragedia acumulada solo puede neutralizarse con abundancia de generosidad."
"Personajes bien estructurados y una historia graciosa hasta cierto punto."
"I loved the story, highly recomended."
"I bought this book for my mom for Christmas, and she is very happy loved it."

The best-selling coming-of-age classic, acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world. Esperanza Cordero, a girl coming of age in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, uses poems and stories to express thoughts and emotions about her oppressive environment. and seduces with precise, spare prose, creat[ing] unforgettable characters we want to lift off the page. She is not only a gifted writer, but an absolutely essential one.” —Bebe Moore Campbell, The New York Times Book Review “Marvelous . She communicates all the rapture and rage of growing up in a modern world.” — San Francisco Cronicle “A deeply moving novel...delightful and poignant. Like the best of poetry, it opens the windows of the heart without a wasted word.” — Miami Herald “Sandra Cisneros is one of the most brillant of today’s young writers.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My teenager at first thought the book didn't make sense."
"I read this in English and Spanish to improve my Spanish."
"I couldn't put it down in the end and I'm extremely glad I got to not only read this but Analyze it for a class .. this helped me understand this book so much more in depth."
"I enjoyed all the little stories in this book."
"My daughter actually ordered this book because they were reading it in her English class."
"I read this book in Spanish first and I really loved it."
Best Asian American Literature

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: NPR · San Francisco Chronicle · Entertainment Weekly · The Huffington Post · Buzzfeed · Amazon · Grantland · Booklist · St. Louis Post Dispatch · Shelf Awareness · Book Riot · School Library Journal · Bustle · Time Out New York · Mashable · Cleveland Plain Dealer “Lydia is dead. What follows is a novel that explores alienation, achievement, race, gender, family, and identity--as the police must unravel what has happened to Lydia, the Lee family must uncover the sister and daughter that they hardly knew. There isn’t a false note in this book, and my only concern in describing my profound admiration for Everything I Never Told You is that it might raise unachievable expectations in the reader. *Starred Review* A teenage girl goes missing and is later found to have drowned in a nearby lake, and suddenly a once tight-knit family unravels in unexpected ways.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"On its surface, the story is a mystery: What led to the death of Lydia Lee, a sixteen-year-old honor student with (supposedly) everything to live for? The author delves into the lives of each family member: James, the father, who never felt really at home in any situation; Marilyn, the mother, whose dreams were shelved by the demands of marriage, family, and the times; Nathan, the older brother, whose brilliance is overlooked; Lydia, the golden child burdened with all the frustrated aspirations of her parents; and Hannah, the overlooked afterthought of a child, a silent but keen observer of everyone in her family. In addition, issues of race in America and women's roles are explored through the parents, James and Marilyn, who came of age in the 60s and early 70s at the height of the sexual and civil rights revolutions. Both psychologically astute and poetic, it draws the reader into the story and evokes sympathy and awe. I also loved the way the author treated memory, that old deceiver, who smoothes out that which we cannot bear to recall."
"It is so exquisite, so marvelously perfect, so regally quiet and elegant that surely, it must come from the hands of a old soul author. The story begins with the death of Lydia, daughter of Marilyn and James, which is told in the first sentence and slowly revealed through the book. Nathan, oldest son on his way to Harvard, Lydia, the middle sister and favorite one, and Hannah, truly growing up invisible. Her prose is lyrical and light, allowing you to float in the scenes, often between characters, as if you are a literary ghost spying on these people. By the time you read the final page, you realize Ng has managed to create such a reality, and that when it ends, there is a sense of loss."
"Her family is the only Asian town in their midwest community; her mother has put her own lapsed dreams onto Lydia; and her father has done the same - hoping Lydia will be popular. We see the dynamics between the mother and father, the three siblings, and the neighbor, Jack. It's fun reading two novels from the same author back-to-back - even though I read them in reverse order of their publication."
Best Native American Literature

The thirteenth novel in Craig Johnson's beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series, the basis for the hit Netflix series Longmire Sheriff Walt Longmire is enjoying a celebratory beer after a weapons certification at the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy when a younger sheriff confronts him with a photograph of twenty-five armed men standing in front of a Challenger steam locomotive. Praise for Craig Johnson: "It's the scenery—and the big guy standing in front of the scenery—that keeps us coming back to Craig Johnson's lean and leathery mysteries." "A Walt Longmire novel is like going on a ride-along with an old friend, watching him ferret out the bad guys with wit and humanity (and more than a few bullets), while we swap stories and catch up on old times...it's An Obvious Fact—it's good to have Walt back on the scene." More Praise for Craig Johnson and the Walt Longmire Mystery Series: Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The first story, let’s call this one A, takes place in the early 1970s when Marine Walt Longmire comes home from Vietnam to Wyoming’s Absaroka County and takes a job as undersheriff to Lucian Connolly Walt is on a train full of sheriffs from other Wyoming counties, heading from one end of the state to the other and then back again. We meet all kinds of interesting characters, one being Sheriff Marv Leeland, another Marine, who lost part of his right arm in WWII on Peliliu. The main part of this story involves the potential parole of a criminal who Walt arrested long ago and was responsible for a number of murders."
"Also, sometimes seems that since the TV series started, the book plots have taken on a pace much different than the earlier books."
"All the parts are here for a great Longmire mystery—the familiar cast of characters, the western locale, even intrigue on a train, with a thematic nod to Agatha Christie’s "Murder on the Orient Express.""
"The story unfolds over two different time periods (1972 and "modern day") and that limits much of the Walt/Vic/Henry banter I've grown attached to in the series."
"I love the Longmire series....Johnson tried a different format this writing and it took a while into the story for me to get used to the jumps. back and forth in time."
"I hate it when authors or TV shows engage in this tawdry practice to get you to follow along at your expense instead of giving you a satisfying stand alone product. Sometimes writers just lose the spark of what made their series a hit and just start pumping out sub standard work to keep the bucks rolling in. The great ones, Michael Connelly, John Sandford, Robert Crais, just manage to keep them coming with no lapse in quality, nurturing the spark."
Best Jewish American Fiction

The New York Times bestseller "A beautiful and elegant account of an ordinary man's unexpected and reluctant descent into heroism during the second world war." All he has to do is design a secret hiding place for a wealthy Jewish man, a space so invisible that even the most determined German officer won't find it. Lucien Bernard—who, like the book's author, is an architect—is offered a large sum of money to outsmart the Gestapo by devising unique hiding places for Jews, though he knows that anyone caught helping them will be tortured and killed by the Germans. Offered a juicy German factory commission that involves working with a Nazi officer who admires architecture and art, Lucien's web weaves more complexly. And when he falls in love with Adele's assistant, rescues a child, and contacts some of the individuals he's saved, the stakes grow higher and Lucien's thoughts turn from money to vengeance. Despite the dangers, Lucien likes fooling the occupying Germans, the money is excellent, and it comes with a lucrative opportunity to design a new factory for the Reich.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Anyone who follows me, knows that I HATE writing reviews and have the highest praise for those of you that are so good."
"Enjoyed the focus on the hiding of important Jews for limited times prior to moving them to other countries."
"a good book--showing good ways for architects to create hiding places 'almost in plain sight."
"because of the french inflection I chose to listen vs read this book..I was not disappointed."
"I'd love to research this more."
"Really enjoyed this book."
"Wonderfully written and engrossing story of a struggling French architect who tries to find work during WWII occupation of Paris."
"A terrific story."