In September, I read books by Hispanic authors for Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15. I intended to read a couple books in both English and their original Spanish, but quickly realized that my Spanish reading ability is not high enough to attempt classics yet and I should just stick with Harry Potter.
I had two favorite books this month: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende and Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin. Both were theme reads, originally written in Spanish. The House of the Spirits is magical realism, a genre with a strong tradition in Latin America, and it follows three generations of a family through triumphs and tragedies in their personal lives as well as in their country. It is Allende’s debut and one of her most well-known books, and it is considered a modern classic of Latin America for a reason.
I also enjoyed Little Eyes, but I truly could not give it five stars because it freaked me out too much. Imagine Furbies crossed with Chatroulette: small animal toys controlled by strangers. A person chooses to be a “keeper” (the one who buys the toy, interacts with it, and keeps it charged) or a “dweller” (the one who watches through the toy’s eyes and moves the toy around its environment). Dwellers and keepers are randomly assigned, so a keeper does not know whom they have invited into their home and a dweller does not know to what they may bear witness. Schweblin brings out the horror and the ethical questions that naturally arise from such an arrangement. Little Eyes is an excellent book but very, very creepy.
September’s reads and ratings (out of five stars)
Theme reads
- Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia: four and a half stars
- Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez: three and a half stars
- The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende: five stars
- Little Eyes, Samanta Schweblin: four stars
Others
- What Souls Are Made Of, Tasha Suri: four stars
- Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, Jessica Bruder: four stars
- Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break, Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall: five stars
- Daisy Darker, Alice Feeney: four stars
- The Truth About Ben and June, Alex Kiester: four stars
- The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave: four stars
- Downton Shabby: One American’s Ultimate DIY Adventure Restoring His Family’s English Castle, Hopwood DePree: four and a half stars
- The Most Likely Club, Elyssa Friedland: four stars
- The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, Bianca Marais: three stars
- The Roughest Draft, Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka: three stars
- Path Lit By Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe, David Maraniss: four stars
- Tokyo Ever After, Emiko Jean: four stars
- Animal Farm, George Orwell: five stars
- Bad at Love, Gabriela Martins: four stars
- The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, Isaac Blum: four stars
Moriah Sharpe 