Welcome to Litsy!

This is such an important book.

Cantú worked as a Border Patrol Agent for 4 years from 2008-2012. He talks about his other agents, the people comes across in the desert. It‘s very well written. He talks about his conscience and the guilt, the moral injury he starts to suffer from as a result of the job. Most of all I think he does the best job of showing you how people who try to cross the border are humans. He un-others them. Pick!

It was an okay read just really not my type of book. Abit of an anti climax to such a great reading challenge 🤔
#ReadtheUSA2020 #NewMexico (50th state)

I own the Garcia Marquez, Esquivel & Allende, meaning that they can be added to the TBR, the rest are going on my wishlist if they're not there already!

#latinxheritagemonth #integrateyourshelf @ChasingOm @Emilymdxn

‘Violence does not grow organically in our deserts or at our borders. It has arrived there through policy.‘

This was an exceptionally moving read. I was absorbed from the first page until the last. I wanted a better epilogue but sometimes real life doesn‘t deliver a satisfying ending. This book sheds light on the current boarder issues from all sides and it‘s humanity at its best & worst. For an unfiltered true story this is a perfect alternative to American Dirt. Thank you @TrishB for sharing this with me. #ReadingUSA #NewMexico #OwnVoices

The truth is that I‘m conflicted about this book. An engrossing read, but I am lost/confused about the author‘s moral compass. I suppose that‘s the point — that he shares his struggle as a border patrol agent and internal conflicts as a civilian in an effort to provide an empathetic and compassionate perspective on what it means to navigate the physical landscape, geopolitics, the political and the personal.

I was excited for this monthly #bookclub pick, but it ended up only being a 3⭐️ read. I didn‘t think it was very cohesive. The topic is interesting and timely, but the choppy sections, lack of quoted dialogue and sections quoting other authors that felt like college papers made it fall mostly flat for me. I definitely liked the third section best though, probably because it was more focused.

I think perhaps Francisco Cantu' has an interesting story to tell about why he chose to join the border patrol, and why he later chose to leave it. Unfortunately for me, this book wasn't it. It felt a bit like a rough draft - like an author just starting to organize his thoughts, waiting for an editor to help shape it into a cohesive narrative. I wish I could have read THAT book. Interesting moments, but it never came fully together. #nonficnov

This month I really zeroed in on getting through some of my eARC backlog from Edelweiss and NetGalley, and it really worked with 16 of the books I read coming from that list (and a few more that I started or didn't review publicly.)

It was also a good month for five star reads, with seven! And even stranger, four of them were non-fiction and one was poetry.

http://readingenvy.blogspot.com/2019/10/books-read-september-2019-206-229.html

I finished the book for tomorrow's book club. The Line Becomes a River portrays the realities of the border, and the trouble of separating the border patrol from the end results. The dehumanization of migrants and refugees is real.

#MonthofMemoirs

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2019/07/15/the-line-becomes-a-river-francisco...

We must learn more about life #downinmexico and other countries in the Central and Southern America‘s. I went to the authors excellent talk at the National Book Festival in DC. #wanderingjune

Cantú shares a complicated and compelling story of living among the borderlands. Of Mexican ancestry himself, Cantú opts to work as a border patrol agent for 4 years before he can no longer handle the “moral injury” of such work. He later befriends an immigrant who experiences the horrors of deportation. This is not an easy story. It‘s written in a literary style to impart maximum emotional impact. Cantú humanizes the border, not an easy task.

Cantú delves here into his complicated relationship with the US/Mexico border as a 1/4 Mexican American who worked for a time as a Border Agent. He reveals the reality of illegal border crossings and discusses some of the border‘s history. But most importantly, he does that vital thing for immigrants: turns “them” into human beings. A marvelous book.

Compelling and a bit emotional read about the border. The first part is a series of stories from when the author was la migra. They just flow into one another. The second part dives into why people leave. The third is an account of illegal status and what happen when caught crossing over. Nothing is as simple as it seems.

Compelling memoir about the U.S. southern border. Made me want to read more about our imigration policy.

Definitely recommend!

Finished my first semester of Grad School with a 4.0! Time to start doing some holiday break reading!

You spent nearly four years on the border, she said. You weren‘t just observing a reality, you were participating in it. You can‘t exist within a system for that long without being implicated, without absorbing its poison. And let me tell you, it isn‘t something that‘s just going to slowly go away. It‘s part of who you‘ve become. So what will you do? All you can do is try to find a place to hold it, a way to not lose some purpose for it all.

When Francisco Cantu became a Border Patrol agent, he had no idea how the job would change him. He didn‘t see the entire deportation process until a friend was caught crossing the border. This was sad but important.

So sad that this one is over! Slow start but loved the ending. Hope he continues to write more about this very relevant and timely topic.

So, 👆🏽 that was not at all what I was expecting when I hit the ‘About the Author‘ page. I thought this book was an interesting look at the border and found it very eye opening. Although I know it‘s not a comprehensive look, it is not something I know a whole lot about, so I feel like I learned quite a bit from his experiences.

I don‘t know why I bothered to read this. And now, the children being taken away from families, misplaced, housed in cages...

This book isn't an easy read. If you watch the news some of the information you will have heard before: ransom demands from the coyotes to family members, bodies left in the desert. There's more that we don't hear about: the mass graves in Mexico, the accounts of ranches being purchased by people to hunt those coming from Mexico. If you want to know more issues surrounding the boarder this book is one you should read now.

#unpopularopinion - I was disappointed in this. Writing was disjointed and hard to follow at times. It succeeded as neither a memoir nor a critique of border history or policy. It was simply not in depth enough to provide a satisfactory example of either.

Starting this today.

So behind with my #NetGalley ARCs so have started this one today. Heard nothing but good things so hope it lives up to the hype.

We mostly arrested the little people—smugglers, scouts, mules, coyotes. I watched as a knowing look spread across his face. His eyes met mine and held them until I turned to look away. But mostly I arrested migrants, I confessed. People looking for a better life.

#river #keepmovin
Looking forward to getting to this one on my tbr- initially attracted to the cover!!

After Cantu finished his degree in International Relations, he took a job as a border patrol agent so he could see how the concepts and policies he studied played out in real life. Excellent look.at the complicated issues of immigration policies -- both at the conceptual level as well as the very personal. He is a talented writer and did an excellent job with the nuances. #readathon

1. Association for Rural and Small Libraries!
2. Only recently...
3. Absolutely (thanks, Litsy, lol), and not just personally but for my library, too, haha.
4. Still slowly working my way through the tagged book. I didn't realize there was controversy until after I started it, so I'm analyzing more as I read, and it's a busy time in my life. Plus, I don't get as far reading an actual book compared to an e-book.

@Chellebearss

Time for some non-fiction and thoughts on the insanity of walls from the beloved RFK: “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” ☮️

1. Female, probably. I honestly hadn't thought about it until this question.
2. 8
3. Orange
4. Blue
5. James Patterson, though I suppose I will break down and read one soon. ;)
6. Same

@kaye

Today‘s Foyle‘s purchases 😁 Another copy of Gatsby for my daughter!

Took Francisco Cantú to blues Monday at Hal and Mal‘s after his signing tonight! It was super!

This isn‘t a book about border policy, yet it‘s the best book on border policy that I‘ve ever read. The author‘s interactions con la frontera give him a unique perspective from which it is made clear that when addressing immigration between the US and Mexico, there must be a distinction between people seeking work opportunities and polleros or narcos. Lives rest on being able to recognize the difference.

When it gets too heavy, remember that the whole world needs coffee. ☕️ #immigration #inmigración #cafe #coffee

I usually try to read something geographically relevant on road trips. I read this one on a trip between Phoenix and SanDiego. It's so hard to imagine crossing this terrain with nothing. This book should be required reading for Americans.

March reads, & I only bought one!

Just remembering the days near the border. It‘s both home and a different world. #frontera #border

A three part book: first part written as a border patrol agent , second part as intelligence agent (with some PTSD), and third as a friend of someone trying to cross the MX-US border. The third part was the strongest and elevated my overall feeling and rating of the book. Reading about the violence of the border was difficult. No solutions presented, but definitely an education of the deeper issues that lie there.

Jose‘s story was my favorite part of the book. This page was the most memorable to me. #dreamers

Despite the controversy and protests surrounding him, author Francisco Cantu opens up a dialogue concerning the immigration issue. It's not always black and white but rather gray and the fact he is shares his perspective of his former profession as a border patrol agent with disdain and hardship gives a different opinion that is bound to ruffle feathers on both sides. Still, it's an important book to read and form your own ideas.

Cantú was a border patrol agent for four years. The book is told in three parts: his early days as a field agent; his later days as an intelligence agent; and after he leaves the patrol his co-worker and friend goes through a deportation legal process. Well-written and eye opening.

Cantu was a border patrol agent for four years. In this book he discusses what he saw and did during those 4 years: the migrants, his fellow agents, the heat, the desert, the drudgery of so much of the job, and the dehumanizing nature of the job. After he moves on, he learns one of his work friends is an illegal immigrant, after he goes home for his mother‘s funeral and can‘t get back to his wife and kids. Thoughtful. #192019 #2018 #nonfiction