The Summer Reading Lists complement the monthly Las Comadres & Friends Book Club meetings and teleconferences.  Join us in our endeavor to share our culture and promote the work of Latino authors.

 2023 SUMMER READING LIST  

The Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club is celebrating its Sweet Sixteen, and they have selected 16 books in commemoration.  Its 9^th Annual Summer Reading List includes a new Pulitzer Prize Winner; a celebrity memoir; a self-help book from the Boogie Down Bronx and a career guide for Latino Leadership; two wonderful children’s books; a poetry collection; two short stories collections; mysteries and thrillers; and a classic novel with a “masterful translation.”

1. ALBORADA (DAWN): A Cross-Cultural Memoir in Poetry by Nylda Dieppa (Orange Blossom Publishing) – poetry
2. CALL ME CASSANDRA by Marcial Gala (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) – LGBTQ+ fiction
3. *CHITA: A MEMOIR by Chita Rivera (HarperOne) – biography
4. DULCINEA by Ana Veciana-Suarez (Blackstone Publishing) – historical fiction
5. *FRIZZY by Claribel A. Ortega (First Second) – children’s fiction
6. GOOD NIGHT, IRENE by Luis Alberto Urrea (Little, Brown & Co.) – historical fiction
7. HOLLOW BEASTS by Alisa Lynn Valdés (Thomas & Mercer) – thriller
8. LOTERÍA by Cynthia Pelayo (Agora Books) – short stories
9. THE LUIS ORTEGA SURVIVAL CLUB by Sonora Reyes (Balzer & Bray) – young adult fiction
10. MR. PRESIDENT by Miguel Ángel Asturias, translated by David Unger (Penguin Classics) – fiction
11. NINE STRAY SHOTS by Jesús Miguel Soto (Disaster Books) – short stories
12. OUR OTHERNESS IS OUR STRENGTH: Wisdom from the Boogie Down Bronx by Andrea Navedo (Broadleaf Books) – motivational self-help
13. PLÁTANOS ARE LOVE by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) – bilingual, children’s fiction
14. THE POWER OF LATINO LEADERSHIP: Culture, Inclusion, and Contribution by Juana Bordas (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2^nd edition) – career guide
15. RED QUEEN by Juan Gómez-Jurado (Minotaur Books) – mystery
16. *TRUST by Hernan Diaz (Riverhead Books) – fiction, 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winner

*Book also available in Spanish.

Every writer can tell you that a book is only truly alive
when it finds passionate readers who bring it alive in their imaginations.
Julia Alvarez