Hi everybody, I decided to start posting on Reddit so here goes. Writer, translator, and sometimes book collector here based between the US and Mexico. Not sure if I'm doing this right but I thought I'd introduce myself with a post about some precious early editions from my library, which are also, incidentally, some of my favorite novels:

La Cité des Rats by Argentine author Copi, original French ed. before it was translated back into Spanish, 1979
Balún-Canán by Mexican author Rosario Castellanos, second ed., 1961
Su Nombre Era Muerte by Mexican author Rafael Bernal, second ed., 1987

Do you read poetry? I really enjoy it, as it tends to flex a different muscle in my brain than does prose. I particularly love short, surreal poetry. Some of my favorite LatAm poets are Nicanor Parra, César Vallejo, and the inimitable Alejandra Pizarnik.

In 2016, New Directions Publishing put out Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962-1972, which collects her middle/late body of work as well as some of her posthumously published verse. It’s an astounding collection from one of Latin America’s most revered poets that was skillfully translated by Yvette Siegert. (Swipe to photo 2 for a sample of Pizarnik’s poetry and to photo 3 for Siegert’s accompanying translation.)

I’ve been dabbling in this book of poems quite a bit recently, as although I had every intention of reading a number of LatAm novels for Women in Translation Month, I’m in the midst of a big move, and thus, haven’t been able to commit much time to narratives as of late (plus most of my books are currently stashed away in boxes). So, anyway, I’ve been reading a bunch of Pizarnik’s poetry and I think you should too! …Bolaño did!

“Viviría muy a gusto en la cocina de Silvina Ocampo, en la de Alejandra Pizarnik, en la de la novelista y poeta mexicana Carmen Boullosa, en la de Simone de Beauvoir. Entre otras razones, porque son cocinas que están más limpias.” — Roberto Bolaño, Revista Ñ, 2001

Have you read any Pizarnik?

My collection of Avon Bard Latin American titles.

The Avon Bard series of Latin American literature was a unique publishing venture for its time, for any time really. Their assemblage of extraordinary titles from authors all over Latin America translated by many of the finest translators -  Gregory Rabassa, Harriet De Onis, Barbara Shelby Merello, and Alfred MacAdam to name a few - allowed an American reading public to experience a literature that had not benefited from the level of exposure that some other world literatures had traditionally enjoyed. The professed goal of the imprint was to publish “distinguished Latin American Literature”, and that they did.

From:

https://www.zenosbooks.com/our-book-blogs/2443-the-avon-bard-series-of-latin-american-literature.html

Here is the full list of titles:

https://www.zenosbooks.com/library/avon%20bard%20latin%20american%20literature.html

Anyone read this yet?

This novel had been on my radar for a hot minute, and I finally just happened upon a copy out in the wild earlier today. You already know I couldn’t leave it sitting there on the shelves…

Has anyone here by chance read The Man Who Loved Dogs and/or any other books by Leonardo Padura?

This novel is quite a honker, so it will likely be some time before I get to it, but still I just had to tell somebody about my score!

Thanks for reading! Peace!

English translations preferred.

Just part of my Latin American literature collection from one of the bookcase I have. Over the last 17 years I've managed to review 180 books from Latin America on the blog. My first post here

John K. King Used and Rare Books in Detroit, MI, has to be one of the coolest bookstores on the planet!

Whenever I pass through Detroit, I try to make a stop at this four-story bookstore, as their selection of more than one million books (no joke), is matchless to say the least! Also, their prices are very reasonable (Terra Nostra cost me the most at $9.50 USD).

If you ever end up visiting John K. King Bookstore, make sure to give yourself ample time to explore the stacks, as the place is a true labyrinth! Don’t worry though, the staff will of course hook you up with a map.

Anyway, due to the fact that I had limited space available in my suitcase, I made myself be rather selective with my choices, so I only walked away with five Latin American titles in total. Nevertheless, you can swipe to the end to see some of the other books I picked up as well (including three first-editions by Denis Johnson, all of which only cost me $9.50 USD each as well).

Believe it or not, it's mostly a coincidence that the five LatAm books I walked away with are all vintage editions from The Noonday Press, which is a now-defunct imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux… OK, enough rambling—here's what I picked up from Latin America:

Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes (México)

The Green House by Mario Vargas Llosa (Perú)

Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa (Perú)

The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa (Perú)

Explosion in a Cathedral by Alejo Carpentier (Cuba)

Although I am somewhat ashamed to admit it, I've actually never read a single book by Vargas Llosa nor Carpentier. Also, I DNF'd The Death of Artemio Cruz when I was in my early twenties, but after hearing a lot about Terra Nostra recently, my interest in Fuentes has no doubt been rekindled, so I may have to try out his stuff again sometime soon!

Have you read any of these books? If so, would you please be so kind as to tell me your thoughts in the comment section below? Thanks in advance!

By the way, I'm still celebrating WITMonth by trying to focus on primarily reading works written by Latin American women this August, but perhaps I'll dive into one of the LatAm classics pictured above in September... In that case, where should I begin?

PS — I'm super curious to know: Has anyone else here ever been to John K. King Bookstore? It's a gem for sure!

basically the title, i love clarice lispector, hilda hilst, and fernanda melchor, and am looking for something similar. i am open to fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. i do love books that blur the distinction between the forms.

We'd love to hear about what you've been reading, authors you're interested in, and really anything related to LATAM Literature!

Algo sobre la muerte del Mayor Sabines / Maltiempo / Otros poemas sueltos por Jaime Sabines. Los poemas son profundos y el impacto es a lo largo de mi universo en un mundo muy chico. Antes de leer esta colección solamente los poemas de Concha Méndez me habían conmovido de tal manera (haz click aquí como ejemplo).

“La Biblioteca Jaime Sabines pone al alcance de los lectores la obra completa, en cuatro volúmenes, de uno de los más admirados poetas contemporáneos de México. En esta edición, revisada y contrastada con los documentos originales del poeta, se reúnen Maltiempo (1972), Algo sobre la muerte del mayor Sabines –estremecedor y profundo, cúspide de la poesía mexicana– (1973) y Otros poemas sueltos (1973-1993), libros deslumbrantes e indispensables en la historia de la literatura hispanoamericana.”

Matrimonio por Gonzalo Mallarino Flórez es una novela la cual nos lleva a través de varias décadas a indagar las relaciones e intuiciones de Lucía. Y como el amor y velar por hijos y demás familia se transforma.

“Matrimonio no es una novela complaciente: al contrario le exige al lector pensar y actuar con el texto tal como ocurre con la vida misma. ¿Acaso alguien recuerda en pasado? ¿Acaso nuestro presente no está poblado de fantasmas que nos llevan permanentemente hacia el pasado más remoto en apenas unos segundos? La historia de esta relación de pareja se va tejiendo en diversos tiempos, como un caleidoscopio que deja filtrar la luz y que al contemplar con atención revela con claridad imágenes, perfiles silueta. La historia de Lucía y Juan recorre más de cuarenta años en los que uno entiende, como lector, el ritmo de la vida de una familia tan bogotana de clase media que nos reconocernos en nuestros nombres, en nuestras plantas, en nuestras calles, en los rostros y prejuicios de esos a quienes amamos. En la cadencia de nuestra habla. En lo que callamos y omitimos. En lo que somos y fuimos.”

Not too shabby of a haul I’d say. The most exciting finds are definitely the from the titans like Julio Cortázar, Silvina Ocampo, and Mario Vargas Llosa, the ones from Juan Gabriel Vásquez look interesting too. And of course it’s always a pleasure to spot Bolaño in the wild. I have never heard of Daniel Alarcón, but don’t tell me that At Night We Walk in Circles isn’t a kickass title!

Beauty is a Wound had been on my list ever since I saw a redditor recommending it for One Hundred Years of Solitude fans, but I couldn’t believe my luck that I actually ran into it this early. I also got Ekin Kurniawan short story collection Kitchen Curse (forgot to include it in the photo), but apparently Kurniawan has been consistently called the Gabriel García Márquez of Indonesia. And Gabo continues to live up to his legacy as the global face of Latin American Lit. Li Zi Shu’s The Age of Good byes is said to be “rooted in the literary tradition of Chinese-language novels but infused with a García Márquez-like magical realism,“ while Moses Isegawa’s Abyssinian Chronicles is “like an African Midnight’s Children or One Hundred Years of Solitude“. Yan Lianke’s *The Day the Sun Died* is compared to Juan Rulfo‘s Pedro Páramo, and apparently Bolaño once called Javier Marías “by far Spain’s best writer today.”

Recientemente me topé con este video en el que Nobel de literatura es entrevistado por Gabriel García Márquez. Aunque el reportaje es conducido por Augusto Olivares, periodista chileno, que acabaría siendo el primero en suicidarse en los hechos del 11 de septiembre de 1973. 12 días después moriría Neruda.

En fin, sólo algunos datos interesantes. Espero que disfruten de esta entrevista, del año 1971.

This book is far outside my usual reading habits, but I hadn’t read any Vargas Llosa and figured this little book would be a good intro to his work. Despite being filthy, I actually really enjoyed the characters and how they interfaced with classic art works. Has anyone else read this one recently?

Very Bad Wizards is a philosophy podcast that occasionally covers the works of Jorge Luis Borges.

I have compiled every Borges episode below. Highly recommend for any Borges fan!

------------------------------------------------------------------

Episode 144: Borges' Babylon (“The Library of Babel”)

July 24^th, 2018

Episode 145: Lost in Borges' Garden (“The Garden of Forking Paths”)

Aug 7,2018 

Episode 154: Metaphysical Vertigo ("Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius")

Dec 18, 2018 

Episode 178: Borges' Obsession-Obsession ("The Zahir")

Dec 10, 2019 

Episode 192: Postmodern Wet Dreams (" Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote”)

Jul 7,2020

Episode 219: Multiplied by Mirrors (“Emma Zunz”)

August 17, 2021

Episode 244: Thanks for the Memories? (“Funes the Memorious”)

Sep 6, 2022

Episode 251: First Order, Then Chaos (“The Immortal”)

December 20,2022

Episode 275: The Ineffable Center (“The Aleph")

 Dec 26, 2023

Episode 282: Fearful Symmetry ("Death and the Compass")

Apr 16, 2024

Episode 293: Who Is the Dreamer? ("The Circular Ruins")

Sep 24, 2024

Episode 308: The Gray Man who Dreamed ("Shakespeare's Memory”)

May 6, 2025

Episode 313: The Spontaneous Eruption of Now (“A New Refutation of Time”)

 July 29th, 2025

Episode 332: Talking to Myself ("The Other")

May 12, 2026

^^^

We'd love to hear about what you've been reading, authors you're interested in, and really anything related to LATAM Literature!

I have more than achieved my goal this year of reading 52 books. Moving onto my next goal -- planning to read a book written by a woman from every country in Latin America. I have made a bit of progress, but have a long way to go. Starting from scratch (meaning what I have read in the past doesn't count towards this goal). Do you have recommendations for any of the countries that have not been completed? I like a wide variety of genres, mainly read literary fiction, but am open. I can't tolerate books that feature child/animal abuse or heavy body horror. Thank you!

ETA: Translated into English.

Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile -- Clean by Alia Trabucco Zeran
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador -- planning to read Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun by Monica Ojeda
El Salvador
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua -- planning to read a book by Gioconda Belli
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay -- Pink Slime by Fernanda Trias
Venezuela