LITERANISTA Dialogue on Multicultural Books, Tech & Life

Literanista June 20, 2008

I saw Pulitzer Prize-winning, Dominican author Junot Diaz on the Colbert Report on Wednesday night, and I just felt so thrilled for him and oddly proud. I remember when my friend James De La Vega told me about Drown several years ago and mentioned Junot was a good friend and paisano.

You can view it here: www.comedycentral.com

I read some great news today about one of my favorite authors, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and on googling him discovered an great article about bookish books. The article mentions a few other books, in addition to The Shadow of the Wind, which are now on my to-read list.

Speaking of lists, I saw a couple of top book lists this week that caught my eye. I love to go over these, see which ones I’ve read or haven’t and ponder the different additions and why they’ve been added or left off. Like EW.com’s The New Classics: Books, The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008 and Telegraph.co.uk’s 110 best books: The perfect library. Peruse and have fun.

I also came across this: Readatwork.com It’s a site geared toward New Zealanders that allows you to read books while at work and not look like you’re doing any pleasure reading. Funny and perhaps useful to those barred from ‘reading’ while on duty. God forbid! I will never forget that one time one of my previous coworkers took her lunch time break and read at her desk, the COO happened to walk by and made a really snotty comment about her ‘reading.’ Those type of comments were par for the course at that place, which led me to leave a copy of The No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton blatantly out on my desk. I’m not the type to indulge in petty, passive aggressive stuff like that but that place and those comments really dug into my soul like thorns. I’ve luckily moved on to better and brighter places.

On to other things, I’ve been hearing a lot about The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and I want to read it for myself.

Marcela Landres, editorial consultant, will be interviewed by PowerfulLatinas.com. They will be doing one interview per week, on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. PST, 8 p.m. EST. The interviews will be about an hour in length and will be FREE for the first 200 callers and those who join us via webcast. You can register for our next call by clicking here: http://powerfullatinas.com/interviews.

They also have a great blog!

I spotted this on Marcela’s site: “INFIDELITY SURVEY
Dr. Ana Nogales, author of “Latina Power,” is conducting a study to evaluate the effects of parental infidelity on adult children. If either (or both) of your parents was ever unfaithful, you are invited you to participate in this study by clicking on this link.

The results of this survey will be published in a book about parental infidelity. For more information about Dr. Nogales, please visit Drnogales.com.”