Riffling through the pages of a book can transport you to far away places – or back to the place you call home.
Books can enlighten, educate, empower.
El Paso Matters last year launched its book club to do all those things and more: Encourage casual readers to discover books, stories and authors that just might turn them into avid readers and help avid readers expand their collection of favorites.
The El Paso Matters Book Club hosts bi-monthly book club gatherings at El Paso Public Library branches across the city, and brings you exclusive author interviews and book reviews.
Here’s a roundup of our inaugural year book club selections in 2023. And stay tuned for the first selection of 2024, which will be announced later this week.
Borderland author Alessandra Narváez Varela signs copies of her book, “Thirty Talks Weird Love,” at Literarity Book Shop. The young adult novel is the first selection of the El Paso Matters Book Club. (Photo courtesy Literarity Book Shop)
“Thirty Talks Weird Love” by Alessandra Narváez Varela
The young adult novel talks openly about the risks girls face while growing up in Juárez through the story of 13-year-old Anamaria, who is visited by her 30-year-old self in the future. Written in verse, the novel is about understanding depression and accepting yourself.
El Paso Matters Book Club members listen to author Jonna Perrillo talk about writing “Educating the Enemy: Teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands.” (Angela Saavedra/El Paso Matters)
“Educating the Enemy: Teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands” by Jonna Perrillo
The book tells of the Cold War educational policy by looking at the children of Nazi scientists who moved to El Paso as part of Operation Paperclip after the war in the 1940s. The book compares the privileged educational experience of the German children to the educational disadvantages faced by Mexican American students – both in El Paso schools.
El Paso Matters Book Club members listen to author Sergio Troncoso talk about writing “Nobody’s Pilgrims.” (Angela Saavedra/El Paso Matters)
“Nobody’s Pilgrims” by Sergio Troncoso
The coming-of-age novel tells of three runaway teenagers on a road trip who end up being chased by a drug cartel. The lead characters include a teen who escapes his abusive family, an undocumented teen boy and a lonely girl looking for a better life. Their story begins at a chicken farm in Ysleta in El Paso’s Lower Valley.
Author Tim Z. Hernandez signs a copy of his book, “All They Will Call You,” during a meeting of the El Paso Matters Book Club on Wednesday, Sept. 20. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
“All They Will Call You” by Tim Z. Hernandez
The book recounts the harrowing story of a plane crash in California where 32 passengers died – including 28 Mexican citizens who were being deported by the U.S. government. The Mexican farmworkers were buried in an unmarked grave and later became the topic of a poem and protest song. The book paints intimate portraits of the farmworkers who died and whose names were omitted from news reports after the crash.
Author Yasmín Ramírez signs a copy of her book for a reader at a El Paso Matters’ Book Club event on Nov. 28. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
“¡Ándale, Prieta!” by Yasmin Ramirez
The memoir tells of the author’s late grandmother who raised her, taught her to stand firm and throw a hard punch.What started as a way to grieve her abuelita turned into a book that paints a portrait of the family’s resilient matriarch and the stories of what made them both so strong.
Our book news doesn’t stop with our club selections.
Last year, we brought you a story about El Paso author Ron Stallworth’s new book scheduled for publication in September. “The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country,” follows his New York Times best seller “Black Klansman,” which was turned into a Spike Lee movie in 2018.
We also told you about a local Lyft driver who offers his rideshare customers books – including selections he used to read and practice his English skills – and how the El Paso Public Library and the YWCA Paso del Norte Region installed a banned books section at city library branches.
We put together a list of Black History Month books with El Paso connections, and covered a Texas Book Festival event in El Paso, which featured Pulitzer Prize-winning broadcaster and author of “Once I Was You” Maria Hinojosa.
Poet, novelist, and writer Benjamin Alire Sáenz at his home office, (Ivan Pierre Aguirre for El Paso Matters)
El Paso Matters also sat down with celebrated author Benjamin Alire Sáenz, whose young adult novel “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” was turned into a movie released in September.
We invite you to follow our book news by clicking on the books tab under our culture topic or join our book club here. You can also shop for book club selections locally at Literarity Book Shop, 5411 N. Mesa in Pepper Tree Square and 100% of the profits will be donated to El Paso Matters.
The post Good reads: Books featured by El Paso Matters Book Club in 2023 appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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