Let the Water Hold Me Down
It is written with skill and with grace, and the old verities that are at the heart of being human are here: loss and grief, guilt and longing, loyalty and love.
Set in modern-day Mexico, it tells the story of Hank Singer and is also about his relationship with César Lobos de Madrid, whose "family was one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most politically connected in Chiapas, if not in all of Mexico."
Hank has arrived just a few weeks before the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, led by Subcomandante Marcos, who on January 1, 1994, declared war against the government and the military... read more
Migration
Migration is his third book in a little over three years. Now collecting belongings has been replaced by collecting experiences, and collecting memories of past experiences.
I am reminded a bit of one of my dad's favorite tee-shirts, which reads: "The less you own, the more you have." read more
Down and Delirious in Mexico City: Memoir by Daniel Hernandez digs deep into youth culture
Mexican-American author Daniel Hernandez has hit a fresh nail on an old head by exploring different youth cultures in Mexico City. Youth is a favored subject for a modern mass media obsessed with this ...
read more
Flirting in Spanish: What Mexico taught me about love, living and forgiveness
The story began in 1992 in San Miguel de Allende. Susan, in Mexico less than three months and having "decimated whatever savings I once had," supplemented her meagre but easy-earned modeling income by teaching English.
Carlos, the poor Mexican teenager, was indeed wise for his years; after her first class was over, he alone "remained, still seated at the second desk in the middle row, watching me." read more
Infernal Drums
"He found a cheap room at a dive called Hotel Milan in Old Town — the historic center of a coastal metropolis split into neatly demarcated districts of progress and poverty on a peninsula snaking up the coastline of Nayarit."
In Mazatlan he joins up with three New Zealanders, harmless jerks, introduces himself "and played at acting the chum." In San Blas — "on a spit of white land divided by estuaries, surrounded by jungle" — they buy some cheap dope, but the transaction turns out to be a set-up read more
The New World Mexican Women of Tecalpulco, Mexico
100 Love Sonnets
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
A Pillow Stuffed with Diamonds: Tanka on La Vida Mexicana
Margaret Van Every's bilingual lyric poetry, following the seventh century Japanese five-line Tanka format, affords the reader one pleasurable moment after another.
With well-honed sensibilities she unveils her day-by-day confrontation with Mexican culture and its people — a confrontation that soon became a love affair. read more
Driving Baja: A Guide for First Timers
Crossing with the Virgin: Stories from the Migrant Trail
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
Paradise Valley
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
The Through Line: A Journey from Darkness into Life
Popular Ajijic photographer Jay Koppelman has two things to celebrate this winter: one, the recent opening of Studio 18, on Colón 18 in Ajijic, which features exclusively his photographs; and two, the recent publication of the first collection of his Mexico photographs, in a handsome coffee-table format, The Through Line.
read more
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in poetry — Shooting Script: Door of Fire
Temples of the Mist: Mayan 6th Sun
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
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
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
Geo-Mexico: The Geography and Dynamics of Modern Mexico
Siqueiros: Biography of a Revolutionary Artist by D. Anthony White
Siqueiros: Biography of a Revolutionary Artist is a fascinating read for anyone looking for a great story with fascinating characters. It's also an enlightening read for anyone interested in Mexi...
read more
American novelist Charles Fleming Embree set his first novel at Lake Chapala
Strange, but true. Charles Embree's A dream of a throne, the story of a Mexican revolt, is based on the story of the Lake Chapala area during the 19th century.
read more
Mexican Folk Art from Oaxacan Artist Families by Arden Aibel and Anya Leah Rothstein
Aficionados of folk art of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico are already familiar with Arden Aibel Rothstein and Anya Leah Rothstein's Mexican Folk Art From Oaxacan Artist Families. It was surpris...
read more
Gods, Gachupines and Gringos: A People's History of Mexico by Richard Grabman
Gods, Gachupines and Gringos no more resembles the typical "history of Mexico" book than a rushing river resembles a dried-up arroyo. I was reading the book at the Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic this morning when a couple of buddies joined me. I told them about the book, and read them a few of the passages above as a little sampler. When I finished I looked up. They responded in unison, "Where can I buy a copy?"
read more
The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by C. M. Mayo
Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village / Lavando platos en el antiguo pueblo: A Few Comments
