Reading Old Books

Now that I've been working so diligently on finishing this book besides promising that I won't blog until I've written something, I'm also not reading. I love to read so much that I get addicted and can't put the book down. So instead of reading a novel I'm reading a collection of essays. That way I'll only read an essay here and there. It's called Border-Line Personalities- A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass, & Cultural Shifting.

I've had this book for over a year. In fact, the copy I have is signed by the two editors. I went to hear them read from the book at Barnes and Noble for a Nuestra Palabra event. I decided to look at the book to read a few essays that caught my eye. It surprised me that I hadn't made the time to read the book because I found a few authors that I know. Well I've only met one personally, e-mailed another, and I listen to the other on the radio but still, three authors to whom I felt a connection.

One was Cecilia Bali who writes for Texas Monthly magazine. She wrote the great article on my cousin Oscar Casares a couple of years ago and I met her at his Nuestra Palabra reading here in Houston. The second is the actress Jackie Guerra who played Selena's sister in the movie and I e-mailed her a random comment on her website once and she replied. The third is Maria Hinojosa from Latino USA who I don't know at all but I feel like I do because I've listened to her radio show so many times.

I've read two already. The one by Cecilia Bali entitled, "I Get Up to Work" is really touching. She deals with the challenge of writing about your family, especially your parents, and how hard that can be. Jackie Guerra's "J's True Hollywood Story" is very inspiring! I love something she says in the last paragraph, "I've learned that hard work does not always ensure success, but not working hard almost always ensures failure."

It's funny how a book can sit on your shelf for so long and you don't know what treasures lie inside if you don't pick it up and read it. I'm sure I have a lot like those on my bookshelf.