Family History: Cenizas by Cynthia Guardado
A book review on Inglewood native Cynthia Guardado’s recent poetry collection “Cenizas.” Continue reading Family History: Cenizas by Cynthia Guardado
Category: Book Reviews
Robin Coste Lewis’s Family Album
“‘To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness’ assembles a hundred and seventy-nine photographs,” from Robin Coste Lewis’s grandmother’s photo collection of family and “of worlds that had vanished.” Continue reading Robin Coste Lewis’s Family Album
Trumpets in the Sky by Jerry Garcia
“Trumpets in the Sky” is poet Jerry Garcia’s latest poetry collection. “[H]e is able to focus on the magic of the world in the way that Kerouac, Snider, or Whitman were so often able to do.” Continue reading Trumpets in the Sky by Jerry Garcia
The Naked City
“South Central Noir” focuses on one of Los Angeles’s most recognized neighborhoods. As Gary Phillips says in the introduction “The settings herein reflect South Central today or chronicle its colorful past, such as the days of the jazz joints along Central Avenue…From South Park to East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, from the borderlands of Watts to the one-time Southern Pacific railroad tracks paralleling Slauson Avenue, take a tour of a section of Los Angeles that may be unfamiliar to you but you will get to know, at least a little, by the time you finish reading this entertaining and engaging anthology.” Continue reading The Naked City
Nothing Doings
Author and USC Professor Percival Everett’s new novel, “Dr. No,” is a parody of 007 movies in the screwball comedy mode. The premise: an inverted Goldfinger. Continue reading Nothing Doings
Cenizas
A book review of Inglewood native, Cynthia Guradado’s, second book of poetry, Cenizas. Continue reading Cenizas
A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande
Reyna Grande’s new book, a historical novel, “takes place in 1846. After Texas has been annexed,” and “the US army begins to head south to start a war with Mexico over the Río Grande border.” Continue reading A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande
Amy Uyematsu’s Power Verses
“Uyematsu has flown below the radar for decades, despite the fact that she’s published since the 1970s, winning awards like the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize.” “That Blue Trickster Time” is her sixth collection of poetry. Continue reading Amy Uyematsu’s Power Verses
A.K. Toney as a Sorcerer of Sound: Neo Griot and the Afrocentric Prince
“Perhaps more than any other poet in Los Angeles, Toney bridges jazz and hip hop…His lyrical dexterity can be heard on his debut spoken word recording, Neo Griot and the Afrocentric Prince.” Continue reading A.K. Toney as a Sorcerer of Sound: Neo Griot and the Afrocentric Prince
ladybug: We Can Inherit Experiences
“ladybug” is the new memoir written by San Bernardino native Nikia Chaney, about how her mother and daughter are afflicted by schizophrenia. It opens with a child speaking in second person “as she observes her mother dissociate.” Continue reading ladybug: We Can Inherit Experiences
Los Angeles Literature 