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Date
Fri, 06/06/2008

Literature in the Barrio, by Christina Marie Castro:

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A bookstore opening up in el barrio? Yeaup! And they're reading our Junot.

La Casa Azul Bookstore has launched its "Barrio Book Club" and its first pick is none other than Penguin's own The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The book club meeting date is fast approaching - Sunday, June 8th at 4pm - so if you're interested, visit La Casa Azul's Events Page for more information. The site asks that you send in an email to get the meeting location so act fast.

For those of you wondering, "What the heck's "el barrio?"...

In NYC, "el barrio" may refer to any neighborhood consisting primarily of Spanish-speaking residents, but the term is most often affectionately applied to the upper east side in Manhattan, especially between 103rd and about 116th streets. La Casa Azul Bookstore will not open its doors until the end of the year but if you have a chance to visit there's plenty of Latino culture to savor. You must FIRST have a cuchifrito - a deep fried food and not for the health conscious. My favorite is the "alcapurria" made of plantains and ground beef - SO yummy. Here's a pic so you know exactly what you're looking for.


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Fri, 06/06/2008

Meg Gardiner, author of The Dirty Secrets Club - our blogger for the week of 6/9:

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Meg Gardiner is our guest blogger during the week of June 9th. If you have any questions for her add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some brief information about The Dirty Secrets Club:

 

Introducing the writer Stephen King trumpets as "the next suspense superstar"

Recently Stephen King devoted an entire Entertainment Weekly column to Meg Gardiner, proclaiming her "as good as Michael Connelly and far better than Janet Evanovich." How is it possible, he wondered, that this Californian was published only in Britain? Starting now, suspense fans on this side of the pond can get their fix right here: Dutton is proud to introduce Gardiner's brand-new series heroine, Jo Beckett, in The Dirty Secrets Club.

An ongoing string of high-profile and very public murder-suicides has San Francisco even more rattled than a string of recent earthquakes: A flamboyant fashion designer burns to death, clutching the body of his murdered lover. A superstar 49er jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. And most shocking of all, a U.S. attorney launches her BMW off a highway overpass, killing herself and three others.

Enter forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, hired by the SFPD to cut open not the victim's body but the victim's life. Jo's job is to complete the psychological autopsy, shedding light on the circumstances of any equivocal death. Soon she makes a shocking discovery: All the suicides belonged to something called the Dirty Secrets Club, a group of A-listers with nothing but money and plenty to hide. As the deaths continue, Jo delves into the disturbing motives behind this shadowy group-until she receives a letter containing a dark secret Jo thought she'd left deep in her past, and ending with the most chilling words of all: "Welcome to the Dirty Secrets Club."


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