When I Was Puerto Rican: A Memoir | 
pickOverall I enjoyed this—learning about her childhood in impoverished circumstances in Puerto Rico, w/a big family, a lot of both good & tough times, watching her grow into adolescence. Reads more like a novel, which I generally like, but also meant there was a LOT of dialogue & it‘s pretty hard to believe she‘d have such clear memories of every sentence everyone said for years. Also some problematic stuff that wasn‘t addressed in present. 3/5 ⭐️
“What do they call a man who never marries?” I asked as we settled ourselves in the front of the público.
“Lucky,” the driver said, and the rest of the passengers laughed, which made me mad, because it felt as if he were insulting me in the worst possible way.
I‘ve read a novel from the author, Conquistadora, and loved it. Very interested to read her memoir, and it comes highly recommended by The Novel Sanctuary, one of my fave Booktubers! #nowreading
pickA new favorite author. This is her memoir on her Puerto Rican childhood. I know children are resilient, but it amazes me what they do to survive. Esmeralda's mother was at times abusive, but she tried her best to give the children their best shot in life. I loved the end. Esmeralda showed she had a bit of her mom's backbone to the principal who wanted to hold her back a year to learn English.
pickSo important to get an understanding of other‘s way of life. Great description of a very hard life in Puerto Rico but how the author appreciated her rural life over the city living in Puerto Rico. Inspirational as the author was able to overcome many hardships to get the eduction that she wanted.
pickThis was definitely a wonderful book. Santiago has a way with words and a unique life experience. Definitely a must for the woc perspective.
Don‘t worry @WanderingBookaneer my helper won‘t let me forget Los Naranjos either. Here she is testing the box for structural soundness aka banging on it because FUN. Outgoing on Monday. #LitsyAmaPR
A modern-day classic. Santiago‘s first memoir is all about her childhood in Santurce and the cultural clash that occurred during her transition to life in the continental US. #FallBookExchange #HalloweenGoesPostal
I know this isn't book related, but I have family that still lives in #puertorico and many #littens are also from the island, so please if you have a few minutes call/email/write to your representatives and ask them to #fundprnow
Anyone interested in helping me make less of a fool of myself when attempting to speak Spanish and not look like a total asshole mainlander in PR? Duolingo has "clubs" now, and while I have no idea how they work, you should join mine so we can find out. Brand new learners encouraged! Code 8TXWM4
If you didn't get the chance to vote for @LitsyFeministBookClub's March read, our survey is out! 🔗https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6TYMWVV
We'll be reading women's memoirs, and these are the finalists. All great choices. Vote by 3/11 and we'll announce our next read by 3/12. 😀
PS: for those frustrated with discussing the book on litsy, I just set up a Goodreads page for us too. It's under our new handle Books That Shook Us. Link below 👇🏼
It's Friday and @bkshelvesofdoom and @Kelly have 2 more classrooms to help fund: "Classroom one wants to help those kids learn to read through listening (yay aural literacy!) while classroom two wants to help kids have supplies for creative writing."
Let's do this! You can help by donating or signal boosting! http://bookriot.com/2017/02/17/action-item-future-readers-writers-tx-nj/
Littens!! @bookriot is doing this awesome thing that Rioters @Kelly and @bkshelvesofdoom started of helping to fund classrooms that need books! You can donate or signal boost so we can get these classrooms in need their books! 💙📚 http://bookriot.com/2017/02/10/action-item-bilingual-books-in-ny-and-wa/
My father gave me When I Was Puerto Rican when I was a kid, but I never read it & never saw the point of it. As an adult, I not only loved it, but devoured Santiago's other 2 memoirs (Almost a Woman & The Turkish Lover) as well. I was blessed enough to meet Santiago at the National Book Festival a few years ago, & could not find the words to explain how meaningful her story was to me. Love her books! #meaningfulmemoirs #Booktober @RealLifeReading
On a peer observation visit to a colleague's classroom. We both teach #AmLit
On the beach in San Juan -- love reading books in the places they're set!
I keep thinking of more books to talk about for DiversityFriday. I read this in college for my American Studies class, which was focused largely on the immigrant experience in the US. I'd be interested to see a reading list for a current class with the same theme today.
