(C) El Paso Matters.org
This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Holiday Reads: 2024 El Paso Matters Book Club featured books [1]

['Cindy Ramirez', 'More Cindy Ramirez', 'El Paso Matters', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width']

Date: 2024-12-26

Looking for something to read over the winter break and into the new year? Think beyond the Hallmark-style holiday titles and instead cuddle up with a good read from any (or all) of the El Paso Matters Book Club picks of 2024.

The club, launched in 2022, encourages readers to discover books, stories and authors with ties to the Borderland and expand their collection of favorites.

The El Paso Matters Book Club hosts bi-monthly gatherings with selected authors, and brings you exclusive author interviews, and news and features about new releases and more.

Here’s a roundup of our book club selections from 2024.

Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny is the author of El Paso Matters Book Club selection “Trash,” which explores themes of abandonment, power and who is “disposable” through the story of three women connected by a municipal dump. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) ‘Trash’ by Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny “Trash” explores who society regards as disposable and interweaves the voices of three women with lived connections to the municipal garbage dump of Ciudad Juárez. It tells the stories of a teenager who was abandoned there; a researcher studying the people who live at the dump; and a trans woman and sex worker who lives nearby. This is bilingual author’s Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny’s first book to be written first in Spanish, then translated to English.

Tim Hagerty, El Paso Chihuahuas broadcaster and author of El Paso Matters Book Club pick, ‘Tales from the Dugout,’ at Southwest University Park on Feb. 26. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

‘Tales from the Dugout’ by Tim Hagerty

Author Tim Hagerty, the radio voice of the El Paso Chihuahuas Minor League Baseball team, collected more than 1,000 baseball anecdotes – OK, 1,001 to be exact – for his book, “Tales from the Dugout.” Among them are some from El Paso, which has long had an affection for baseball. Here’s one of the stories: In 1938, an umpire at Dudley Field got tired of being heckled by fans so he put down his equipment in the middle of the El Paso Texans’ game, walked off the field and never returned.

Daniel Chacón, a writer, professor and radio show host, is the author of El Paso Matters Book Club pick “The Last Philosopher in Texas.” (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) ‘The Last Philosopher in Texas’ by Daniel Chacón Daniel Chacón’s collection of short stories in “The Last Philosopher in Texas: Fictions and Superstitions,” center around the theme of “nepantla” or “in between” in Nahuatl, the Aztec language. Mostly set in the Texas-Mexico border region, the stories explore events in our everyday lives that are often inexplicable: In one, a girl desperately wants to know more about her mother, who died when she was 4 years old. Her “crazy aunt” shows her how to “time travel” to connect with her.

Native El Pasoan author and playwright Octavio Solis served as cultural consultant and voiced the role of “Arrivals Agent” in the film “Coco.” (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

El Paso native Octavio Solis, a playwright and director, captures his childhood experiences of living in a border town and growing up brown in “Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border.”

Tim Z. Hernandez pages through “Retablos,” a book by playwright and director Octavio Solis. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

The memoir captures the essence of life steeped in religious tradition – often depicted in retablos, or devotional paintings. He tells stories about coming of age, how his parents migrated to the United States from Mexico, his first encounter with racism and finding a Mexican migrant girl hiding in the cotton fields, among others.

Ron Stallworth, a retired police officer and author of “Black Klansman” and “Gangs of Zion,” raps some of the songs that were popular among gang members during his work in Salt Lake City, Oct. 29, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

‘The Gangs of Zion‘ by Ron Stallworth

In his second book, former cop Ron Stallworth explores his efforts as a member of the Utah Department of Public Safety to respond to growing gang problems in the state.

“The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country,” by El Paso author Ron Stallworth is both a police procedural and a memoir.

“The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country” largely deals with the political and religious denial that Stallworth faced as he tried to raise awareness that the Crips and Bloods street gangs had infiltrated Utah. The emerging popularity of gangsta rap music in the 1980s and ’90s features prominently in the book. His first book, “Black Klansman” became a New York Times best seller and a hit movie produced by Spike Lee.

Eugenie Montague is a local author who recently published her first book, “Swallow the Ghost.” (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

‘Swallow the Ghost’ by Eugenie Montague

“Swallow the Ghost” is a three-part story that follows intertwined characters dealing with uncertainty, fear and grief. Jane, a marketer who’s helping her friend and author Jeremy put together a story about a fictional girl’s disappearance. Jane is murdered, and the story turns to Jesse, a journalist who investigates her death as he deals with caring for his ailing mother. In the third section, Jeremy describes his life after Jane’s death and dealing with rumors that he killed her. Author Eugenie Montague says the stories explore whether meaning is essential to human life – and whether meaning is found or created.

El Paso Matters Book Club Extras

Here are a few book club extras we brought you the past year:

Want to join our book club? It’s easy – and it’s free. Sign up here and get a first look at the books we’ll be reading together.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://elpasomatters.org/2024/12/26/el-paso-matters-book-club-selections-book-picks-2024/

Published and (C) by El Paso Matters.org
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/elpasomatters/