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Mac12

Feb 8, 2004, 8:31 PM

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Any Books to Recommend?

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I'm interested in books, primarily fiction, written in English with the Spanish-speaking culture as a back drop/setting. I've recently read a number of such books and have found that I really enjoy them. So if you have a recommendation, let me know. I have some Spanish language skills so books that incorporate a little Spanish are not a problem. I'd appreciate you suggestions. Muchas Gacias Amigos, Mac (mac12@opusnet.com)

Carol Schmidt

Feb 8, 2004, 10:17 PM

Post #2 of 8 (826 views)

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Re: [Mac12] Any Books to Recommend?

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The book reviews on MexConnect are excellent for broadening your insights into Mexican culture. Off the top I'd recommend Aztec, by Gary Jennings, some 1000 pages in paperback, but a thoroughly researched and enjoyable story about Mexico just before and during the arrival of Cortez. You will totally FEEL how the Aztecs lived.

Pedro Peramo by Juan Rulfo is considered the primo novel of Mexico by most Mexicans, and you'll find a whole different feeling to his two books than anything else you've experienced in U.S. reading. Consider it your introduction to magical realism.

And for plenty of information on everything related to moving to Mexico, Don Adams' Head for Mexico, a Renegade's Guide, is absolutely hilarious and will tell you more than what you thought you needed to know, with delightful anecdotes of daily living to illustrate his points.

Those are my top three that come immediately to mind.

Carol Schmidt

Rolly

Feb 9, 2004, 6:54 AM

Post #3 of 8 (803 views)

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Re: [Mac12] Any Books to Recommend?

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Rain of Gold by Victor Villaseñor is a true story of his family's flight from the Mexican revolution and their migration to California. An excellent read.

Carlos Fuentes and Harriet Doerr each have written several books set in Mexico.

Rolly Pirate

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On Facebook as Rolly Brook

dumois

Feb 9, 2004, 12:12 PM

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Re: [Mac12] Any Books to Recommend?

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Anything by Bruno Traven. Macario, first of all.

Saludos desde Guadalajara,

Dumois

jennifer rose

Feb 9, 2004, 12:20 PM

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Re: [dumois] Any Books to Recommend?

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Anything by Guadalupe Loaeza.

Carmelo, by Sandra Cisneros.

Fire and Blood.

mjr234

Feb 9, 2004, 2:35 PM

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Re: [Mac12] Any Books to Recommend?

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Jack Kerouac looses the road in Mexico. More sensitivity to things Hispanic is found in Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 45. I saw the DH Lawrence house in Oaxaca once - The Winged Serpent [?] - was the book he produced from/of/while there. Canada's Malcolm Lowrey wrote Under the Volcano in a fleeting moment of sobriety. Finally, some of my favourite books, though tehse tend to be expensive are the Mexican muralists. Michael in Ottawa

Poncho32

Feb 14, 2004, 11:11 AM

Post #7 of 8 (625 views)

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Re: [Mac12] Any Books to Recommend?

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I picked up an excellent book recently called There's a Word for it in Mexico the complete guide to Mexican Thought and Culture by Lafayette De Mente.

You might look for it I have found it most interesting.

Bud Crest

Carol Schmidt

Feb 14, 2004, 1:10 PM

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Re: [Bud Crest] Any Books to Recommend?

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DeMenthe also wrote Mexican Ethics and Etiquette, which was a supplementary textbook for one of my Spanish language classes.

DeMenthe started out writing books for US business travelers who needed to know how to adjust US business practices to various Asian cultures, and he believes that Mexican culture is much closer to Asian culture than to European culture with which we are more familiar.

He credits that influence to the original explorers who crosses the Bering Straits from Asia and settled throughout the US west coast and Latin America, including Mexico, becoming the Indians thousands of years ago.

The concepts of saving face, of it being far more important to protect the image of yourself, your family and friends than anything else, is also found in Asian cultures. The hidden personality versus the self-effacing, agreeable one you present is a part of this, he believes.

This trait was reinforced by the enslavement enforced by the Spaniards who made it clear that if you told the truth and accepted responsibility for anything you would be killed, and so it was better to be agreeable and not recognize your personal responsibility for anything that goes wrong.

And so today, reinforced by thousands of years of innate culture and reinforced cultural responses, a Mexican might give you false directions rather than admit he or she doesn't know, and the entire language is full of wording that denies responsibility: the shelf just fell down, not, I overloaded it, I had anything to do with it, God willed it. God makes good weather, bad weather just happens.

I'm simplifying and distorting in my memory, of course, but DeMenthe's theories are worth reading. Some think they are racist, and maybe in some interpretations they could be seen that way. And of course any theory is a generalization that does not allow for the many exceptions. But the books are worth reading anyway.

Carol Schmidt