San Miguel de Allende: A Place in the Heart - Expatriates Find Themselves Living in Mexico
The idea of the book originated when Scherber, after living in San Miguel for only eight months, began asking himself questions like: "What had I given up to come here, and what had I gained? What was my new role in the community? Was I an exile? An expatriate? Would I ever live in the States again? How did I react to Americans I saw here visiting? What had I done?" read more
Moving to Mexico's Lake Chapala: Checklists, How-To's, and Practical Information and Advice for Expats and Retirees
Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez, Editor-in-Chief of El Ojo del Lago, has this to say: "I found it highly readable, most comprehensive, and flawlessly organized. I think it's the best book of its kind that I have read, and I have been down here for 25 years."
Is the information current? You bet! Why? Because Lisa Jorgensen only moved here this past spring. read more
Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya
The Best How-To Book on Moving to Mexico
Boomers in Paradise: Living in Puerto Vallarta
Robert Nelson's Boomers in Paradise: Living in Puerto Vallarta, profiles fourteen "baby boomers" who now reside in Puerto Vallarta, The book, though, will be of interest to any expatriate (or would-be ...
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Viva La Baja! Relocation and Real Estate Guide to the Baja California Peninsula by Molly McHugh
Molly McHugh's recently published Viva La Baja! Relocation and Real Estate Guide to the Baja California Peninsula provides concise, easy to use information for anyone interested in north or south Baja. It is obvious that McHugh's objective is to provide an excellent product that will be useful for people of all ages and from all walks of life.
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Teaching English Overseas: A Job Guide for Americans and Canadians
Latin America is a really enormous TEFL market, with tens of thousands of jobs available every year in language schools, binational centers and universities….
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Spanish at Your Fingertips By Clark M. Zlotchew, Ph.D.
For this old brain of mine -- that threatens to retire before I do -- a book that makes simple what has always been somewhat complicated to me is a book that I will cherish.
Clark M. Zlotchew, Ph.D., has taught Spanish language at SUNY College at Fredonia in New York State since 1975. He has published more than a dozen books including translations of Spanish poetry and fiction as well as Alpha Teach Yourself Spanish in 24 Hours.
read moreGringos In Paradise
If you live in the states and are thinking about living in Mexico, read this book. If you are thinking about building a house in Mexico, read this book. If you are thinking about retiring, read this book. If you already live in Mexico, read this book.
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Juan Quezada
As told to Shelley Dale by Juan Quezada
Illustrated by Shelley Dale
Norman Books (Santa Monica, CA 90403)
Juan Quezada with
his wife Gu...
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Speaking Spanish like a Native by Brad Kim and Erika Dominguez
Here's a rather unusual approach to learning Spanish. It's not intended for beginners but rather for people who have already spent some time studying the language and want to go further, especially in the direction of becoming more adept at conversation. What Brad Kim has done here is to give us a collection of everyday expressions, exactly like the expressions we use when we speak English, which will enhance conversational skills. Start using a few and you'll sound more down-to-earth and impressive to your listeners.
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The Dark Side of the Dream by Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez
The story begins in 1941, at the time America went to war with Japan and Germany. It concerns the Salazar family, poor farmers in Chihuahua. The grandfather, Sebastian, knows he is dying and he advises the family to move to the United States. He reasons that because of the war the Americans will want lots of people to work in their country as their men go off to fight. Their farm is a ruin. Only expensive fertilizer could bring it back to life. And they don't have any money.
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Travel Advisory: Stories of Mexico by David Lida
Lida's writing and his choice of material cast a powerful spell.
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Midlife Mavericks: Women Reinventing Their Lives In Mexico
In her first non-fiction book, Midlife Mavericks, author Karen Blue presents the stories of nineteen American and Canadian women who left their countries, families, and cultural roles to begin new lives in Mexico.
read moreOnly Once In A Lifetime - A Novel by Alejandro Grattan
During the late 1970s, the first major Hispanic motion picture, Only Once in a Lifetime, premiered in Texas at the San Antonio Film Festival. The reaction was, according to the city s largest newspaper...
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The Stuff Of Dreams By Alejandro Grattan
Alejandro Grattan's latest novel is a rip-roaring adventure tale which swiftly takes the reader from the bright lights of Hollywood to the mysterious jungles of the Yucatan. The book is filled with int...
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Only Once in a Lifetime by Alejandro Grattan
Here's a story that takes in a complete life, from childhood well into adulthood, and from rags to riches. It's a story that is of interest to we residents in the Lake Chapala area as it starts out in Ajijic and covers a fair number of years there - or should I say here. On page one we encounter ten-year-old Francisco Obregón, a homeless barefoot orphan outside the Old Posada on the Ajijic waterfront. It's 1940 and Francisco is hustling for odd jobs and tips. It's the only way he can manage to survive.
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The Insider's Guide: Mexico's Lake Chapala and Ajijic
I'm filled with admiration and respect for The Insider's Guide. Its 368 pages are so complete and comprehensive and so well thought out and so well organized. Teresa Kendrick and her colleagues have done a wonderful job of providing and packaging a full authoritative range of information, not only for long and short-term residents of the Lake Chapala area but also for those many people who seem to be contemplating coming here either to live as permanent retiree-residents or as snowbirds.
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Head for Mexico: The Renegade Guide by Don Adams
Don Adams and his collaborators have produced a guide that's aimed directly at those people up north who are contemplating coming here, either permanently or for lengthy annual visits. The resulting volume is, in my opinion, a real winner. The various chapters are divided into topics such as putting your financial affairs in order and arranging for transfers of money....
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Mexico Magic by Dru Pearson
.Dru Pearson begins her account of her first four seasons in Ajijic starting in the summer of 2000 when she loaded or, rather, overloaded her VW van with as many belongings as it would hold, and she and her dog, Bailey, drove (slowly, she emphasizes) to Laredo. However, before she even reached the U.S./ Mexico border, the vehicle broke down and she found herself by the roadside in 110 degree temperatures, unloading twelve boxes of belongings, plus a TV, a computer complete with monitor and printer and other sundry items. However, a mechanic answered her call and the car was repaired and she made it across the border at Laredo, starting the 750 mile stretch to Ajijic on the shores of Lake Chapala.
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Breaking Even by Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez
"What Val saw as his long period of involuntary servitude was about to come to an end. In the prison movie parlance he liked to affect, he had done his 'hard time.' He had finally reached his eighteenth birthday, and Texas law entitled him to make his own decisions now." The time is 1955. Val has just graduated from high school - although barely. He's finally free to escape the tiny Texas town of Big Bend, which he detests, and go off to California. Val's mother, Guadalupe, is Mexican and his father, who has long since flown the coop, is Anglo, which at least makes Val part Mexican.
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Brain Surgeon by William Wallace and Memoirs of the Future by Eduard Prugovecki
This month's column is a little bit different as I'm not reviewing one particular book on or about Mexico. Rather, I'd like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to some local writers here in the Guadalajara/Lake Chapala area. I recently had the experience of reading and enjoying four books, all within a very brief time span, and then realized that all four were written by local writers.
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The New Oxford Spanish Picture Dictionary by E. C. Parnwell
The Dictionary is based on a rather neat and simple idea to help us learn new words in Spanish and for providing us with the names of hundreds of everyday products and articles.
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Retire in Mexico: Live Better for Less by Dru Pearson
Author Dru Pearson has done an excellent job of researching and compiling almost everything anyone needs to know about adopting this country as a place to spend one's leisure years, either part-time or full-time. I can't think of any important topic that isn't covered here. Also, while it isn't the first book of this type to become available, I think it's the first - to my knowledge, at least, to be strictly computer accessible.
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A Mexican Odyssey: Escape to Paradise by William Reed with Sylvia Garces de Reed
William Reed tells us his own personal story and what a tale it is. Most of the action takes place in Puerto Vallarta where Reed has lived since his move to the beach in '72. He seems to have met everyone who ever went there - including some very well-known ones, such as actor Richard and Elizabeth Burton, Peter O'Toole, Xaviera Hollander and many, many others. Two people who figure most prominently in the story are movie director John Huston and Johnny Weissmueller (Tarzan himself). In the struggle for Huston's affections, William Reed was the loser. It all adds up to quite a story.
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