Cultural celebrations, a snowy stamp of approval, chocolate thinks pink
Contemporary reads for Hispanic Heritage Month
It's mid-September, which means it's time to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month. Why does this monthlong celebration start on September 15, you ask? Because that happens to be the day Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua all celebrate their independence. (Mexico celebrates a day later, on September 16, and Chile on September 18.) While now is a great time to dust off your Pablo Neruda poems or dive back into Gabriel García Marquez, it's also an opportunity to pick up some contemporary writers of Hispanic and Latin American heritage. Here are a few to get you started:
Drown
Before he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Critics Circle Award for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz made a literary splash with this short-story collection about Dominican immigrants coming to the United States. The stories are evocative slices of lives familiar and not, building to a narrative that speaks a universal language.
Ten Women
Nine Chilean women all see the same therapist — the tenth woman. That, presumably, is where their similarities end. But when they come together to talk about their disparate experiences, they find themselves in each other’s stories. Author Marcela Serrano speaks to the female experience using many voices but makes them harmonize beautifully.
Juliet Takes a Breath
Gabby Rivera blends coming-of-age with coming out in her funny, provocative novel about Puerto Rican lesbian Juliet, who moves from the Bronx to Portland, Ore., after telling her family she’s gay. The writing is lively, and Juliet makes a keen and compelling observer.
'The Snowy Day,' a children's classic, gets stamp of approval
Author-illustrator Ezra Jack Keats made history in 1963 when The Snowy Day became the first Caldecott Award winner to feature an African-American boy. Now his work is being honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a set of four stamps based on the book's boldly colorful pictures. The book, which celebrates the joy of discovering new-fallen snow in the city, joins classics like Little Women, The Cat in the Hat, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in moving the mail along. (Be sure to check out the Amazon Original video version of The Snowy Day, available free for Prime members.)
Another Stephen King adaptation for your nightmares
With It scaring up $123 million at the box office in its opening weekend, one of two things is likely to happen: Either we're about to see screens full of scary clowns (shudder), or we're going to see more Stephen King adaptations. Bet on the latter with news that "Suffer the Little Children," a King short story from 1972, is next up for film treatment. Published in the book Nightmares & Dreamscapes, the story centers on an elementary school teacher who's convinced that her students are not what they appear to be. If you like that one, the book has 22 other terrifying tales to destroy your sleep.
Latest data attack: Equifax hack
With 143 million Americans affected by a data breach at the credit-reporting agency Equifax, chances are good you may be a victim. It's a huge liability for consumers who had their personal data stolen, including Social Security numbers, addresses, and, in some cases, credit card numbers. Sadly, these digital attacks are part of living in an interconnected world. But they don't have to be, says Marc Goodman, author of Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable, and What We Can Do About It. Goodman takes readers through the dark recesses of online crime and lays out ways to stop it.
Newest thing in chocolate? Think pink
Given that white chocolate was invented in the 1930s, and milk chocolate in the nineteenth century, chocolate innovations seem to come around about as often as Halley's Comet. But lucky us, we're here to witness a new confectionary wonder — ruby chocolate. Developed over the past decade by Belgian chocolatier Barry Callebaut, the sweet is naturally pink, with a hint of fruitiness. But don't get your hopes up for a Valentine's Day sample — Callebaut says the pink stuff could take 18 months to hit stores. Until then, revisit Laura Esquivel's rich, romantic classic Like Water for Chocolate. With recipes for food, life, and love, it'll tide you over.
Share bed with a partner, not your Pomeranian
Great news, dog owners: According to the Mayo Clinic, it's fine for Rex, Porkchop, or Mr. Fluffyrump to snooze in your bedroom — just not on the bed. A recent study found that people sleep best with a human partner in the bed, and it makes no difference if a dog is in the room. But allow that mutt on the mattress, and sleep efficiency drops from 83 percent to 80 percent. If you want to know what your pet thinks of this, grab Gregory Berns' How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain. But be forewarned that Berns may be partisan: He sleeps with the pooches.
Scientist turns sleuth in murder mystery
Scientists help solve crimes all the time, but that doesn't usually turn them into suspects. Yet Professor Theo Cray finds himself in that precarious position in Andrew Mayne's The Naturalist, landing at No. 8 this week on Amazon Charts' Most Sold Fiction list. A computational biologist by training, Cray sees clues that investigators miss in a grisly Montana murder. But he'd better solve the crime fast, because the police are closing in — on him. The Naturalist is a twisty thriller that shows off its smarts but never stints on the chills. Prime members can download the book free this month as part of Kindle First.
