Tuesday September 15th begins the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.  Hispanic Culture will be celebrated here in America until October 15th.  Obviously, a month is never a long enough time to honor any ethnic group’s contribution to American society. I will leave that to others who are more qualified than me to write and discuss the wide ranging contributions of Hispanics in the Americas.

I’m a writer, reader, and book review blogger.  I want to use my platform to highlight the contributions of Hispanic Literature in celebration of this holiday.  I have read numerous authors from Brazil’s Jorge Amado to Colombia’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez to Peru’s Mario Vargas Llosa to Chile’s Isabel Allende to name a few.  Their influence on contemporary fiction can not be overstated.  Beyond the simplistic term of magical realism, the stories from North, Central, & South America as well as Spain and Portugal have brought a much needed freshness to World Literature.

In honor of this holiday, I have chosen to read three novels during the month.

1. Alburquerque by Rudolfo Anaya
2. Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera
3. Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older

I will post full reviews on this blog for each novel. Stay tuned.

Also, I want to acknowledge the three novels at the bottom of the image.  I have read these novels earlier in the year and thought they should be included in the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Actually, I re-read Eva Luna by Isabel Allende and Face of An Angel by Denise Chavez a few months ago.  Good books are worth re-reading.  I read Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibanez most recently and just loved the story.

If you have not read any of these novels, I would recommend that in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month will be a good time to give them a try.  Hispanic Literature has a long history here in America and their stories just as important to the American experience.