In this issue:

1.  The GBL crew's favorite books
2.  Ideas about how to keep things on track, but still have fun during book club
3.  A little Latin to spice up your reading group, including book group theme ideas with recipes, and wine recommendations!
4.  Suggestions for further reading about Latin authors

Send us feedback at: kira@goodbookslately.com.

  If you like Latelies, please send it along!

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1.  Books of Late
Since this is our first issue, we thought that we would take the opportunity to introduce ourselves and share some of our favorite books.

"You know the desires unleashed by urban nights. You are the memory of distant orgasms reduced to recording sessions." Now, how many people can you say that about? Well, Puerto Rican writer Mayra Santos-Febres can say that about her stunning character Sirena Selena, and get away with it, too. This astonishing little novel would make the perfect choice for any reader who yearns for something completely different. It's the story of an unbelievably sexy chanteuse, the breathtaking, barely-legal singer whose voice has the power to render an audience prostrate with longing. Only thing is, this overpoweringly exotic girl used to be just another dirty little homeless boy roaming the streets of San Juan, in search of a trick or a fix. But fortune, in the shape of drag-queen diva Martha Divine, smiles on fifteen-year-old Leocadio, transforming a scared young man into a dangerous young woman. Sirena Selena offers a surprisingly substantial mix of both giddy and serious pleasures. On the one hand, you meet a cast of gutsy transvestite performers who share the kind of black comedy insight you can only gain by shaving your back and stuffing it into a cocktail dress. But on the other hand, this is a deeply serious novel, which offers a startling look at the boundaries of gender that separate man from woman, and the boundaries of love that separate each of us from our heart's desire.

This little book is so wonderful and appealing, I gave it to everyone on my holiday gift list last year--and I mean everyone, from my hard-to-shop-for grandmother to my husband to my four-year-old niece. This is a modern fable with a very old lesson to teach. It is at once a children's book decorated with Smith's fanciful images and an adult story narrated with Saunders's characteristic cranky humanism. Saunders turns his satiric scalpel on various unsightly and unhealthy human characteristics and celebrates humanity at its best in a way that makes you smile. The Very Persistent Gappers Of Frip is a beautifully produced book and a great read, with a funny and haunting story that is easy to understand and hard to forget--perfectly told, provocatively illustrated, a joy to share with adults and children alike. The story is a bit hard to describe, but here it goes: ever had a burr in your sock? A gapper's like that, only bigger, about the size of a baseball, and bright orange, with eyes poking out all over like a potato left too long in the pantry. And gappers love goats. When a gapper gets near a goat it gives off a continual high-pitched happy shriek of pleasure that makes it impossible for the goats to sleep, then the goats get skinny and stop giving milk. And in towns that survive by selling goat milk, if there's no goat milk, there's no money, and if there's no money, there's no food or housing or clothing. So, in gapper-infested towns--since nobody likes the idea of starving naked outdoors--it is necessary at all costs to keep the gappers off the goats. Such a town was Frip. And in this strange town called Frip, there was a wonderfully brave and good-hearted little girl named Capable. George Saunders's scrupulously crafted moral tale and Lane Smith's provocative illustrations (he did the illustrations for The Stinky Cheese Man) describe the people of Frip, their goats, and the very persistent gappers on their goats.

I was immediately struck by the lyrical way in which Paul Hond tells the story of Mickey Lerner, a baker who struggles with his relationship with his wife, his son, and his neighborhood. Subtly dealing with issues of race, class, and religion, The Baker is a strikingly sophisticated novel from one of today's most talented writers.

This is a must-read for all managers. The editors, members of the Drucker Foundation, have compiled 31 essays on the future of leadership by organizational leaders, futurists, and authors. The authors were given free-reign to write about anything concerning leadership; the result is a variety of tones and styles, experiences and opinions. Plus, the book is well-written—- unfortunately rare among business books. And like most good business sense, these lesssons can be applied anywhere to help you become a better leader in your relationships, family and community.

One of my all-time favorite children's books is The Goat In The Rug by Charles L. Blood and Martin Link, illustrated by Nancy Winslow Parker. It is a charming story of a Navajo weaver named Glenmae and the story of the special rug she weaves – all told by the goat Geraldine. Geraldine's wool is sheared, cleaned, dyed, spun and woven into a spectacular rug which Geraldine inspects at every turn. A wonderful book for young Good Books Lately readers and the adults who share story time.

As I finished David Mitchell's Ghostwritten, I sat back, head reeling, and wondered exactly what kind of ghost guided the hand that brought together this profound work. Mitchell draws the reader into an apocalyptic world through nine radically different narrators. Whether it is the Hong Kong businessman careening towards death, the Tibetan woman who speaks with a mysterious tree, the London ghostwriter, the sentient machine, or the doomsday cult leader, the message is clear: the end of the world is nigh. Mitchell's chapters span the globe and yet each culture comes together when faced with worldwide destruction. The many interconnections in this novel are dizzying, sometimes even difficult to keep up with—but it is well worth the effort.

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2.  Tips

We often hear from book group members who feel that their group is too social, spending too much time gossiping and talking, and not enough focusing on the book. Well we think it's good that your group is social! Presumably, you wanted to join a book group so that you could have interesting conversations with people that you like.

One system that works well for most people is to divide the evening into social time and book discussion time--give yourselves the first thirty or forty minutes to enjoy each other's news and company. Then, turn the evening over to your discussion leader, and give the book a chance.

If you’re having trouble starting, have everyone share their opinion of the book, with their reasons. Did it surprise you, disappoint you? Why or why not?

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3.  Food for Thought

Looking for something different to spice up your book group? Next month try reading a Latin American book with a matching meal and movie!

Here are some of our favorite books by Latina authors:

This five-generation epic interconnects the very personal events in the lives of one Puerto Rican family with the tumultuous twentieth-century history of the island. While this last could be said about many Latin American novels, what sets this one apart is the competing histories offered by the two main narrators: the matriarch and patriarch of the family.  more

In the Time of the Butterflies tells the story of the four Mirabel sisters, privileged young women who trade in their easy lives for ones of terrible hardship and danger in order to resist Trujillo's bloody dictatorship. Alvarez imagines the winding paths that led the sisters from luxury to rebellion, from static security to the defining moment of their lives, a moment that made international press. Alvarez's fluid, often irreverent writing captures the Mirabel's defiant spirit of freedom, a spirit that still inspires a nation to exclaim, "¡Vivan Las Mariposas!" more

A spectacular work of Magical Realism, this is one of the most moving, most compelling novels in the Latin American tradition. Allende has delighted readers worldwide with her novels, but this, her first, is still our very favorite. It tells the story of the astonishing Trueba family, connecting their unique, fantastic history with a century of change in Chile. Although the terms "epic" and "saga" are too frequently bestowed on the undeserving, this is a romantic, magical, and important story which truly deserves these labels. When Esteban Trueba's breathtakingly gorgeous green-haired fiancé dies suddenly, he takes her clairvoyant one corrupt political regime replaces another, each member of the Trueba clan fights for his or her own distinctive place in history. more

If you're looking for help with these books, try a ReadSmartGuide.

Here are a few recipes that would go especially well with a discussion on any one of the above novels:

Black Bean Soup From The Dominican Republic
(for 10 people)

Ingredients:
2 lbs. washed Black Beans
1 lbs. diced white onions
1 oz. clean diced garlic
4 oz. chopped celery
1 lb. white rice
.5 lbs. Cuban or Anaheim Peppers
.5 bunch of fresh Cilantro

Directions:
1. Wash beans well & let soak overnight.
2. Lightly saute garlic, onions, celery and Cuban Peppers, This is referred to as a Sofrito.
3. Bring beans to boil, add "sofrito",
fresh cilantro and gently simmer for 4 hours.
4. To make a cream of Black bean soup puree until smooth.
5. This soup is traditionally accompanied with boiled white rice and diced onions.

Or, if you're more ambitious, here is a dish from Chile.

Escabeche De Gallina (Marinated Chicken)
(for 4 people)

Ingredients:
1 cup celery leaves
2 parsley sprigs
2 garlic cloves, whole
1/4 tsp thyme, dried
1/3 cup olive oil
2 1/2 lbs chicken pieces
1 cup white wine, dry
1/3 cup wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 cup water, hot
2 onions - cut in rings
1 carrot - sliced
1 leek - sliced
1 lemon - cut in 8 wedges

Directions:
1. Reserve a few celery leaves for garnish. Chop remaining celery leaves.
2. Tie chopped celery leaves, parsley, cloves and thyme in small piece of cheesecloth - set aside.
3. Heat oil in large saucepan - fry chicken in oil, a few pieces at a time, until golden brown. Discard oil after frying chicken - wipe pan with paper towels. Return chicken to saucepan.
4. In small bowl, combine wine, vinegar, salt and water. Pour over chicken; add onion rings, carrot, leek and bag of herbs. Cover and simmer 30 minutes - discard bag of herbs.
5. Place cooked chicken pieces in a large bowl. Spoon off fat from cooking liquid. Stir cooking liquid, vegetables, and lemon wedges into chicken.
6. Cover and refrigerate 6 hours. Serve cold, garnished with reserved celery leaves.

Chile also produces a number of good wines. Here are a few selections of good Chilean wines, compliments of our friends at Mondo Vino:

Casa Lapestolle - Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon
Veramonte - Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon
Los Vascos - Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon

For a nice Chilean Wine Punch, combine any red wine, sliced strawberries and sugar to taste.

Click here for a printable version of the recipes.

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4.  Etc.

Looking for more information on the Latina authors above? Check out Isabelle Allende’s website , or a BookSense interview with her. Or, for something different, rent The House of the Spirits, which was made into a movie in 1993 with Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, and Jeremy Irons.

There are also two fascinating interviews with Julie Alvarez, one that appeared in The Atlantic in July 2000 and one in www.fronteramag.com.

If you like Latina authors, check out Latina Self-Portraits: Interviews With Contemporary Women Writers, edited by Bridget Kevane and Juanita Heredia.

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For questions, suggestions or comments, please give us a call anytime at: 1 . 866 . 456 . 9416 (toll free), 303 . 744 . 8000 (in Colorado), or e-mail us at: kira@goodbookslately.com.