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Book of the Month: Exploring the Latino literary world

04/04/2012 By 14 Comments

Book of the Month

The Witch of Portobello

For all you literary types, we offer a new series. Join us as we explore the work of Latino authors together, both old and new!

Mark your calendars: on the first Wednesday of every month, the Book of the Month will be reviewed, with commentary and questions for discussion, as well as the announcement of the next Book of the Month.

To start things off, we’ve chosen The Witch of Portobello by Brazilian author, Paolo Coelho. Since many of us have probably already enjoyed his most famous book, The Alchemist, we have chosen a different book by Coelho to delve into this month.

This book is the story of a woman named Athena. It is written in a very unique way. Instead of learning about her life through the voice of one narrator, we learn about her through the different people that knew her, or even just briefly met her. The central question in this book, according to the  blurb on the back cover, is intriguing: How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves – even if we are unsure of who we are?

Keep an eye out for the book review on Wednesday, May 2. Suggestions for subsequent Books of the Month are welcome and appreciated.  Click here to join our book club group on Facebook. Click here to submit your book suggestion. Happy reading!

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: ,
About Cindy Tovar

Born in Flushing, Queens to Colombian parents, Cindy has always loved reading and writing. For this reason, she entered Montclair State University to pursue an English degree, but instead fell in love with and graduated with a B.A. in Psychology. During her time at Montclair State, Cindy joined the Latin American Student Organization (LASO) on campus. She immediately felt comfortable surrounded by peers that shared both love and pride for the Latino culture, something she had never experienced before. She ultimately became president of LASO. Since then, Cindy has earned her M.S. Ed. in Early Childhood Special Education from Bank Street College, and works as a bilingual Special Education preschool teacher in Brooklyn. Despite feeling exhausted by the time she reaches her New Jersey home, she still uses her spare time to write. Joining the Being Latino family is one of the best things that has happened to Cindy because it fulfills her in two ways: She can write to her heart’s content while reaching an engaging audience, and it helps her stay connected to her Latino culture. You can find more of Cindy’s writing on her personal blogs: Dagny’s Dichotomy, and Cindy’s Chronicles.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

Comments

  1. Libby I. Juliá-Vázquez says:
    04/04/2012 at 9:08 pm

    Join the book club group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/131925263599392/

  2. Angel Rodriguez says:
    04/04/2012 at 9:25 pm

    Paulo is an amazing writer. I have all his books. My favorite has to be Brida. His concept of soul mates is beautiful.

  3. ????? ?????? ????? ???? says:
    04/04/2012 at 9:34 pm

    Amazing writer! His books are hard to put down….!!!….

  4. Angel Rodriguez says:
    04/04/2012 at 9:46 pm

    Paulo Coelho – Sir, you are being honored here. The latino community appreciates your work.

  5. Claudia Chavez says:
    04/04/2012 at 9:48 pm

    What an amazing idea, gracias!

  6. Connie Mel says:
    04/04/2012 at 10:14 pm

    Love this idea!

  7. Jancel Vázquez says:
    04/04/2012 at 10:25 pm

    chevere :)

  8. Mario Ramirez says:
    04/05/2012 at 12:03 am

    Coelho rocks!

  9. Will Arr says:
    04/14/2012 at 9:20 pm

    I love that you are considering Brazilians Latinos! :-)

  10. Jessica Abalos says:
    04/14/2012 at 9:41 pm

    Awesome!

  11. Totem Magic: Going MAD says:
    04/14/2012 at 11:15 pm

    sa-weet! good info. I will check it out.

  12. Nelly Mobley says:
    04/15/2012 at 1:26 am

    WOW!!!! I didn’t know!!!! cool discovery, thanks for sharing!

  13. Veronica Soltero Godinez says:
    04/15/2012 at 4:09 am

    Great book … And great author … The Alchemist is one of my favorite …

Trackbacks

  1. May's Book of the Month: exploring family curses says:
    05/02/2012 at 9:52 am

    [...] us as we explore the work of Latino authors together, both old and new! If you missed last month’s book, no need to worry. The Book of the Month for May is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by author [...]

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