LibGuides: San Antonio Book Festival : Adult Reading Suggestions

For fans of Sarah Bird

The Pearl Diver by Jeff Talarigo
ISBN: 0385510519
Publication Date: 2004-04-20
Both novels offer psychologically intimate stories of young women facing grief and alienation in post-World War II Japan. Both stories also offer richly drawn worlds and Japanese mysticism.

In 1948 at only 19-years-old a girl is rejected by her family after discovering she has leprosy. Her expectations of becoming a pearl diver are shattered and she exiled to a leprosarium on the island of Nagashima.

If you enjoyed Above the East China Sea. . .

For fans of Whitley Strieber

Event Group thrillers by David L. Golemon
ISBN: 9780312370282
Publication Date: 2007-04-03
Both series offer dramatic, fast-paced, plot-driven stories involving aliens. Start with the first book in the "Event Group" series, Event.

When an unidentified craft crashes, leaving two survivors--one, a being sent to assist humankind, and the other, whose goal is the total extinction of life on Earth--Major Jack Collins and the top-secret Event Group must stop the "Destroyer of Worlds.".

If you enjoyed the Alien hunter series. . .

For fans of Douglas Brinkley

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
ISBN: 9781934781630
Publication Date: 2009-07-15
Capturing the same storm as Brinkley from different eyes, Eggers tells intensely personal stories of residents with a stronger focus on individual experiences than Brinkley.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, longtime New Orleans residents Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun are cast into an unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water ... [R]eaders will witness our country's worst natural disaster through new eyes, encountering all the hope and contradiction of a unique moment in American history.

If you enjoyed The Great Deluge: Hurrican Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, take a look at. . .

The Single Life

Spinster by Kate Bolick
ISBN: 9780385347136
Publication Date: 2015-04-21
More and more women choose to remain unmarried. Kate Bolick is one of them. In Spinster:Making a Life of One's Own, Bolick celebrates the single life and looks for inspiration from such writers as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Neith Boyce.
All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister
ISBN: 9781476716565
Publication Date: 2016-03-01
In 2009 the proportion of American women who where married dropped below 50 percent. Unmarried women, as a demographic group, have become a force to be reckoned with. Rebecca Traister discusses what this means in this ground breaking work.

Like fellow author and San Antonio Book Festival writer Rebecca Traister, Kate Bolick, explores the new power of single women,a group that is strong and growing.

For fans of Gregg Barrios

The Pain of the Macho by Rick Najera; William-Alan Landes (Editor)
ISBN: 1558851909
Publication Date: 1997-01-01
What is like to be macho? What is machismo? Can a macho man be an ordinary, everyday guy? Playwright Rick Najera looks at these and other questions in The Pain of the Macho.

If you enjoy the plays of Gregg Barrios such as I-DJ you might enjoy The Pain of the Macho.

Both plays explore identity, masculinity and the Mexican-American experience with a touch of humor.

If you like reading about San Antonio history.

Historic Photos of San Antonio by Frank S. Faulkner (Text by)
ISBN: 9781596523784
Publication Date: 2007-08-01
A must have for anyone who loves the River City, this book details 200 years of the history of San Antonio in over 200 photographs.

If you liked San Antonio: Our Story of 150 Years in the Alamo City by Express-News editors Terry Scott Bertling, Jamie Stockwell and Mike Leary, you might like ....

For fans of Stephen Harrigan

I Am Abraham by Jerome Charyn
ISBN: 9780871404275
Publication Date: 2014-02-03
Although bleaker in some ways than A friend of Mr. Lincoln, Charyn offers a richly drawn historical novel with a very human view of Lincoln’s life from his youth to his tragic death.

Traces the historic arc of Lincoln's life from his picaresque days as a gangly young lawyer in Sangamon County, Illinois, through his improbable marriage to Kentucky belle Mary Todd, to his 1865 visit to war-shattered Richmond only days before his assassination.

Gob's Grief by Chris Adrian
ISBN: 0767902815
Publication Date: 2001-01-16
Similar to The Gates of the Alamo Adrian offers a historical novel in a literary style.

Studying to become a doctor, Gob becomes obsessed with finding a way to bring his twin brother--and all the other Civil War dead--back to life.

If you enjoyed A friend of Mr. Lincoln or The gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan. . .

For Fans of Naomi Shihab Nye

The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber
ISBN: 0375423044
Publication Date: 2005-03-15
You will love this book by Jordanian- American novelist and memoir writer Diana Abu-Jaber. Abu-Jaber's style shows the same sense of humor, warmth and appreciation for her Arab-American roots.

In The Language of Baklava readers will find recipes for Middle Eastern dishes and learn what food has to teach us about, love, family and identity.

If you enjoy the works of Naomi Shihab Nye...

The Language of Life by Bill Moyers; David Grubin (Editor)
ISBN: 0385484100
Publication Date: 1996-03-01
Readers who enjoy Naomi Nye's lively and accessible poems will find much to treasure in this now classic anthology of American poets.

For fans of Robert Jackson Bennett

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9780857665577
Publication Date: 2014-08-26
Although The mirror empire is more violent, both stories offer complex, detailed and epic fantasies with strong and compelling characters. Both stories deal with similar issues of colonialism, politics and religion and history.

On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past—while a world goes to war with itself.

Stretching from desolate tundra to steamy, semi-tropical climes seething with sentient plant life, this is an epic tale of blood mages and mercenaries, emperors and priestly assassins who must unite to save a world on the brink of ruin.
As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war; a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family to save his skin; and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father's people or loyalty to her alien Empress.

Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself. In the end, one world will rise—and many will perish.

If you enjoy his Divine Cities series, take a look at. . .

For fans of Miles Arcenaux

Blackwater Sound by James W. Hall
ISBN: 0312203845
Publication Date: 2002-01-04
Both stories tell a fast-paced, atmospheric suspense story with a sardonic tone.

While pulling bodies from the water after an airliner crashes in the shallow waters off the Florida coast, P.I. Thorn becomes tangled in a conspiracy involving a high-tech weapon capable of destroying electrical systems.

If you enjoyed Thin slice of life, take a look at. . .

Marisa Abrajano discusses Immigration and Politics

Immigration and the Border by David L. Leal (Editor); José E. Limón (Editor)
ISBN: 9780268013356
Publication Date: 2013-06-30
In this anthology, many scholars address nativism, immigration and changes in the electorate.

Latino America by Matt Barreto; Gary M. Segura
ISBN: 9781610395014
Publication Date: 2014-09-30
In this book, Gary Segura discusses the dynamic growth of the Latino demographic in the United States and how this will influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

Marisa Abrajano's book White Backlash: Immigration, Race and American Politics explores how immigration and the response to immigration is influencing voting patterns. Authors in the following titles also examine how the"fourth wave" of immigration,which is primarily Latino, is changing the larger culture and re-shaping civic engagement. Learn more about immigration and politics by reading...

For Fans of Zach Anner

Moving Violations by John Hockenberry
ISBN: 0786860782
Publication Date: 1995-07-01
Like Zach Anner, this NPR correspondent uses offbeat humor to describe his life as someone who has a disability. Hockenberry shows readers what it is like to report from a non-ADA compliant war zone.

Agorafabulous! by Sara Benincasa
ISBN: 9780062024411
Publication Date: 2012-02-14
This comedian, who will also appear at the San Antonio Book Festival, talks about her struggles with agoraphobia in a style that she assures us is "freakin'hilarious."

For fans of Laura Tillman

Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
ISBN: 0743254430
Publication Date: 2004-02-10
Like Laura Tillman, prize-winning journalist, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc writes using a mixture of true crime narrative and sociology written in well-crafted prose. In Random Family she goes beyond sensationalism to paint a portrait of two young romances, that of Jessica and a young successful heroin dealer nicknamed"Boy George" and Jessica's brother Cesar and his girlfriend Coco as they survive the streets.

Journalist Laura Tillman writes in The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts of a terrible murder and how it affected the community of Brownsville.

For fans of Carmen Boullosa

The Nine Guardians by Rosario Castellanos; Irene Nicholson (Translator)
ISBN: 0930523903
Publication Date: 2003-09-01
Writer Rosario Castellano's work also explores feminism.
In her most accessible novel, the haunting Nine Guardians (an English translation of Balun-Canan),the story is largely told from the point of view of a seven-year old girl. This child observes her father, a wealthy landowner , her mother, his wife and a beloved care-taker Nana, during the turmoil of Mexico's agrarian reform of the 1930's.

Here's to You, Jesusa! by Elena Poniatowska; Deanna Heikkinen (Translator)
ISBN: 0374168199
Publication Date: 2001-02-12
Like her fellow Mexican writers, Castellanos and Boullosa, Elena Poniatowksa skillfully addresses issues of class and gender in a variety of genres,including the novel.
Her novel, Here's To You Jesusa! tells the life story of a restless, tough-sprited woman,who becomes part of the Mexican revolution and goes from one ordeal to another.

Mexican writer Carmen Boullosa has written Spanish language plays, novels,short stories, and essays that defy categorization. She writes literary fiction that deals with feminism and gender roles in a Latin American context.

For fans of Jamie Brickhouse

Running with Scissors by Augusten X. Burroughs
ISBN: 0312283709
Publication Date: 2002-07-10
Both Dangerous When Wet and Running with Scissors are for memoir lovers who enjoy a true coming of age story with compelling writing,black humor, outrageous behavior and complicated, yet loving, family relationships.

Bad Kid by David Crabb
ISBN: 9780062371287
Publication Date: 2015-05-19
San Antonio Book Festival Author David Crabb provides another coming of age memoir laced with dark humor. This one chronicles drug fueled excess and stories from the life of a gay,goth teen growing up in the wide expanses of Texas with his fellow misfits.

in Dangerous When Wet: A Memoir Jamie Brickhouse writes a darkly comic autobiography about substance abuse and a strong mother and son relationship.

For Fans of Ada Calhoun

Just Kids by Patti Smith
ISBN: 9780066211312
Publication Date: 2010-01-19
Smith's book reads like a love letter to her friend the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and captures a very particular time and place in the East Village and bohemian New York City. Famous landmarks such as the night club CBGB's and Max's Kansas City, The Chelsea Hotel, The Strand Book Store and St. Mark's Place figure prominently in this memoir.

Ada Calhoun chronicles life, as well as the many deaths and rebirths of America's hippest neighborhoods, the East Village and the surrounding areas, in St. Marks is Dead.

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