100 Love Sonnets Reviewed by James Tipton

"Well," you might be asking, "just what does a book titled 100 Love Sonnets have to do with Mexico?" "A lot," I might answer, "because this is a collection 100 sonnets, the first 50 of which were written after the break-up of a fifteen-year marriage" and include fantasies of a future relationship.

The final 50 were written after the author meets Gioia in San Miguel de Allende. They become lovers and "The second half of the sonnets, from 51 on, were inspired by and written for her."

Both halves, though, are about extraordinary women. read more

Driving Baja: A Guide for First Timers Reviewed by James Tipton

This short book tries to answer questions that first-time Snowbirds who are thinking about driving (perhaps with RVs) down the Baja are likely to ask: "…could we really do it? Is it safe to drive there? Are the roads OK? What if the car breaks down? How do we buy food? Can we take the dog? What if we get sick? Can we drink the water?" Baja California is a peninsula, over 1,000 miles long. read more

Crossing with the Virgin: Stories from the Migrant Trail Reviewed by James Tipton

This is a powerful book! Four thousand people — men, women, and children — over the past ten years have died trying to cross the Arizona desert in search of better lives.

This is the story of some of those courageous people from Mexico and Central America, and it is also the story of some equally courageous people from the United States... read more

Modern Mexico: Through the Eyes of Modern Mexicans Reviewed by James Tipton

"Most Mexicans don't live on dirt farms, wear sombreros and eat only beans and tortillas. Most Mexicans stay in Mexico because they think the quality of life is better than in the United States. … These are their stories." To write Modern Mexico, "Mexico" Mike Nelson talked with lots of people... read more

Paradise Valley Reviewed by James Tipton

"Paradise Valley — five thousand acres of prime, flat, fertile farmland nestled in the Sierra Madre of northeastern Mexico, only a hundred miles from the American border."
Inspired by actual events, several Amish families — finding new state laws impossible to live under because they undermined their faith and way of life — set off in 1922 to begin a new life in Mexico. read more

Revolutionary Days: A Chronology of the Mexican Revolution Reviewed by James Tipton

Ray Acosta is a second generation Mexican-American His grandparents came from four different parts of Mexico… having fled during the height of the Mexican Revolution. After watching Ken Burns' TV epic on the U.S. Civil War, Acosta was struck by Burns' concluding with "something to the effect that the Civil War still has a profound impact on our lives." read more

The Through Line: A Journey from Darkness into Life Reviewed by James Tipton

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in poetry — Shooting Script: Door of Fire Reviewed by James Tipton

Shooting Script: Door of Fire is a sequence of poems about several "heroes:" Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Leon Trotsky, with bit parts from Trotsky's wife Natalia, actress Paulette Goddard, surrealist Andre Breton and others.We see them — Diego, Frida, Leon — as if we are watching them through a camera lens. Three people driven by obsessions. read more

Temples of the Mist: Mayan 6th Sun Reviewed by James Tipton

Seventeen-year-old Caleana's parents go to Mexico to camp out in the jungle near the Palenque ruins, but in the jungle mist the pilot of their small plane loses control and crashes. The father — a gifted archaeologist — is killed and possibly the mother, although because the mother's body had not been found, no one is sure.
Uncle Aiden, Aunt Bette, Caleana and her brother fly back to identify the body of their father, and while there Aunt Bette takes the children to the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. Aunt Bette places in Caleana's hand "a beautiful amulet of green jade and crystals around a circle. In the middle of the circle was an ancient Mayan woman with a serpent on her head, and jaguar ears and claws." It had been found at the crash site and it was believed to be Caleana's mother's. read more

The Lacuna: A Novel Reviewed by James Tipton

"Mexico admits you through an arched stone orifice into the tree-filled courtyard of its heart, where a dog pisses against a wall and a waiter hustles through a curtain of jasmine to bring a bowl of tortilla soup, steaming with cilantro and lime...."

Barbara Kingsolver seduces us once again into a tale well told, a tale of passion and intrigue, of politics and despair, of conspiracy and love. Much of her latest novel, The Lacuna, is set in Mexico, during the still turbulent decades that followed the Mexican Revolution. read more

Sweet Spot: A novel about Mazatlan Carnival, Dirty Politics, and Baseball Reviewed by James Tipton

I've read a lot of novels in the first ten years of this new century, and I must say that Sweet Spot is one of the three or four I like the best.
The story is set during seven spectacular days of Carnival in Mazatlán, the second largest Carnival in the world. A lot happens during those seven days, including scandal, murder, amoral politics, drug lords searching for our protagonist "Mundo," and bed time with a desirable young revolutionary, the amoral Mijares.
Sweet Spot is incredible. Linton Robinson should be catapulted to the top of the pile of contemporary authors. Why didn't this novel win the National Book Award or the Pulitzer Prize? read more

Traveler's Guide to Camping Mexico's Baja by Mike and Terry Church James Tipton

Drums in the Hills: a personal story of the Mexican Revolution Reviewed by James Tipton

Frank Dolezal, fighting for Pancho Villa during the Mexican revolution, was captured by some of Venustiano Carranza's troops, taken before a mockery of a trial, and was charged with "Treason against the legitimate government of Mexico." With fifteen other prisoners he was taken to a clearing, offered a final cigarette, and then shot.

Miraculously he survived, rescued by Yaqui Indians who saw his leg sticking through the pile of dead bodies…the leg was slowly moving. A Yaqui medicine man cleaned Frank's wounds and, even after gangrene had set in, restored him to health.

Frank's son, Frank O. Dolezal, and his son's daughter, Kathryn Dolezal Tyler, wrote this interesting adventure filled with intrigue, love, loyalty, deceit, suffering and survival, set for the most part in the early days of the Mexican revolution, much of it in and around Alamos. read more

Drink One to Me, Christian Bennett by Vicki Allen James Tipton

Gods, Gachupines and Gringos: A People's History of Mexico by Richard Grabman Reviewed by James Tipton

The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by C. M. Mayo Reviewed by James Tipton

 

In 1864 the Archduke Maximilian von Habsburg, accompanied by his ambitious and beautiful wife Charlotte, arrives in Mexico City. Louis Napoleon had previously sent thousands of French troops to the financially and politically unstable country. Even though Mexico is ruled by a democratically elected president, Benito Juárez, Maximilian is installed as Emperor of Mexico. Juárez must go into hiding. read more

Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village / Lavando platos en el antiguo pueblo: A Few Comments Reviewed by James Tipton

A little over a year ago, I was searching for a title to pull these short poems together. Enedina stepped out to wash dishes in the cold water of the worn concrete tank immediately behind the house. She greeted that first morning of the new year in her short white dress and white high heeled shoes. read more

Lake Chapala through the ages, an anthology of travellers' tales Reviewed by James Tipton

Ghosts of the Palace of Blue Tiles: Los fantasmas del Palacio de los Azulejos by Jorge Fernández Granados Reviewed by James Tipton

 

Many readers of Mexico Connect have discovered these illuminating words by Octavio Paz: "In the United States the word death burns the lips, but the Mexican lives close to it, jokes about it, caresses it, celebrates it, sleeps with it, it is his favorite toy." read more

Sacred Lake Poems by Bill Frayer Reviewed by James Tipton

Loving Pedro Infante by Denise Chavez Reviewed by James Tipton

The Pearl: a novella by John Steinbeck Reviewed by James Tipton

The Line/La Línea Reviewed by James Tipton

The Four Agreements And The Mastery Of Love Reviewed by James Tipton

Frida - A Novel By Barbara Mujica Reviewed by James Tipton

James Tipton

James Tipton lives in Ajijic, Mexico, on the shores of Lake Chapala, where he writes poetry and enjoys village life. His work is widely published, including credits in The Nation, South Dakota Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Greensboro Review, Esquire, Field, and American Literary Review. He is also included in various anthologies and other works, most recently Aphrodite, by Isabel Allende (1998), Bleeding Hearts, edited by Michelle Lovric (1998), The Geography of Hope, edited by David J. Rothman (1998), and The Intimate Kiss, edited by Wendy Maltz (2001), Charity, edited by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer (Red Rock Press, 2002), Hope, edited by Sophie Elise Lalazarian (Red Rock Press, 2003), Haiku: A Poets Guide, edited by Lee Gurga (Modern Haiku Press, 2003), Readings for Weddings, edited by Mark Oakley, Vicar of St. Pauls (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), and Erotic Haiku, edited by Hiroaki Sato (IBC, 2004).

A collection of poems, Letters from a Stranger, with a Foreword by Isabel Allende (Conundrum Press, 1998), won the 1999 Colorado Book Award in Poetry. His most recent collections of poems are Proposing to the Woman in the Rear View Mirror (www.themetpress.com, 2008), Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village/Lavando platos en el antiguo pueblo (Ediciones del Lago, 2009), and All the Horses of Heaven/Todos los Caballos del Paraíso (www.themetpress.com, 2009)

He is currently working on a new collection of poetry in the ecstatic tradition titled To Love for a Thousand Years and a collection of short stories about expatriates in Mexico titled Three Tamales for the Señor.

Mr. Tipton is a popular speaker and reader at conferences and workshops. In addition to workshops on writing, he also offers workshops on a variety of spiritual topics.

See all articles by James