She has taken select pieces that she's written in the past and brought them together under the theme of home. Fluid, intimate, poetic storytelling, especially if you listen to the book. Cisneros reads it to us herself!
They are 'occasional' pieces, written for specifi When she was reading in Portland, Sandra Cisneros talked about losing track of what she had written BC (before computers). Her reading was powerful and sweet, her advice wise and generous. I am a longtime Cisneros fan, and I wrote my review of her visit before I had even finished the book: These are essays Cisneros said she had to get in print before they were lost, written over the past thirty years or so. They are 'occasional' pieces, written for specific events since she published The House on Mango Street.
And Caramelo is like a Mexican candy that you suck slowly, savoring it under your tongue for hours; yet it is never sticky, never sugary nor sentimental. Cisneros posesses that most difficult ability— to allow us to imagine that which never existed. — Elena Poniatowska, author of Here's to You, Jesusa! 'Like Eduardo Galeano, John Dos Passos and John Steinbeck, Cisneros writes along the borders where the novel and social history intersect. In this lovingly told and poetic novel, she uses the storytelling art to give the voiceless ones a voice, and to find the border to the past, imbuing the struggles of her family and her countries with the richness of myth.' — Los Angeles Times 'Cisneros is a writer for all people.
Teresa de Avila.and so much more. I love this book and it's gorgeously put together, filled with lovely photos to boot. If you haven't read her novels or poems yet, I believe you can still find enjoyment of this book and it will certainly spark you to seek out more of her work. I feel kind of cheated by this book. I'm a long time Cisneros fan, and I'm used to waiting over a decade for her next book and then being blown away. I expected this to be a memoir told in stories; instead, it's a collection of introductions to books and essays she read at various speaking events.
SANDRA CISNEROS Born into a working. House on Mango Street. Career, I was asked to write my own contributor's note for an anthology I was part of.
I highly recommend it. Full disclosure: I am a huge Cisneros fan. When I finally got around to reading A House of My Own, I expected a collection of deep cuts for fans like me and random essays from other sources clipped together into a book. What I found there instead is something a lot more cohesive than expected—and a something easily accessible to anyone interested in how creative people keep the well from drying up.
Fluid, intimate, poetic storytelling, especially if you listen to the book. Cisneros reads it to us herself! I'd forgotten how kind yet feisty her voice is. Highly recommended to women, writers, Latinas, and anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of reading her yet. Sandra Cisneros is one of my favorite authors, and A House of My Own is one of her best books. It’s a collection of essays that she wrote over many years, all with the theme of owning a house.
Each is prefaced with current reflection, explanation, and updates—why she wrote the essay and how it fits into her life and what has changed since. I bought an extra copy to send to a friend. My only regret is that I did not buy four copies for four other friends.
A House of My Own Summary Esperanza envisions her own dream home. It is not an apartment or flat, or a home that looks like her father's or any man's. It will have a porch and petunias, and a place to put her books and stories. 'Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem' (Cisneros 132).
A trailblazer for Latina writers, Cisneros is someone who makes my heart palpitate every time she comes out with a new book, or even a new essay for that matter. A House of My Own is a collection of stories/essays that give a glimpse into her life, covering such topics as her periwinkle/pink house, her time in Greece, family - brothers, aunts, uncles, parents, friends, and pets, too. She has taken select pieces that she's written in the past and brought them together under the theme of home. Flu A trailblazer for Latina writers, Cisneros is someone who makes my heart palpitate every time she comes out with a new book, or even a new essay for that matter. A House of My Own is a collection of stories/essays that give a glimpse into her life, covering such topics as her periwinkle/pink house, her time in Greece, family - brothers, aunts, uncles, parents, friends, and pets, too.
She makes me want to write, and be heard. This collection of essays and articles are profound, and deserve to be read and shared time and time again. I am so glad to be able to read 'new' writing by her, that I had not encountered. Reading A House of My Own, made me want to go back and read Caramelo and House on Mango Street.
I bought an extra copy to send to a friend. My only regret is that I did not buy four copies for four other friends.
From the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up and set her groundbreaking The House on Mango Street to her abode in Mexico, in a region where 'my ancestors lived for centuries,' the places Sandra Cisneros has lived have provided inspiration for her now-classic works of fiction and poetry. But a house of her own, where she could truly take root, has eluded her. With this collection--spanning nearly three decades, and including never-before-published work--Cisneros has come home at last. Ranging From the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up and set her groundbreaking The House on Mango Street to her abode in Mexico, in a region where 'my ancestors lived for centuries,' the places Sandra Cisneros has lived have provided inspiration for her now-classic works of fiction and poetry. But a house of her own, where she could truly take root, has eluded her. With this collection--spanning nearly three decades, and including never-before-published work--Cisneros has come home at last.
My Goodreads' goal for 1st part of 2016: Reading ethnic writers, mostly fiction. So I have read -A House of My Own- as a taste of what is to come. In 1990s I read other Sandra Cisnero books: -House on Mango Street- and -Woman Hollering Creek- and identified with the feminist concerns and with the feminine divine. I got busy with other things and forgot about Sandra Cisneros. I saw this book at a local library and immediately borrowed it. I have been reading memior and a memior of a former favorit My Goodreads' goal for 1st part of 2016: Reading ethnic writers, mostly fiction.
Written with her trademark lyricism, in these signature pieces the acclaimed author of The House on Mango Street shares her transformative memories and reveals her artistic and intellectual influences. Poignant, honest, and deeply moving, A House of My Own is an exuberant celebration of a life lived to the fullest, from one of our most beloved writers. About A House of My Own From the author of The House on Mango Street, a richly illustrated compilation of true stories and nonfiction pieces that, taken together, form a jigsaw autobiography—an intimate album of a beloved literary legend. Robin thicke blurred lines explicit. From the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up and set her groundbreaking The House on Mango Street to her abode in Mexico in a region where “my ancestors lived for centuries,” the places Sandra Cisneros has lived have provided inspiration for her now-classic works of fiction and poetry. But a house of her own, where she could truly take root, has eluded her. With this collection—spanning three decades, and including never-before-published work—Cisneros has come home at last.
— San Francisco Chronicle 'A deeply moving novel. Delightful and poignant. Like the best of poetry, it opens the windows of the heart without a wasted word.' — Miami Herald. Bad Boys 1980 'Sandra Cisneros's 1980 chapbook Bad Boys (Mango Chicano Chapbook Series #8), for many readers, was their introduction to the great writer. Mango Publications was also in its infancy, being founded by Lorna Dee Cervantes, either one or two years before, publishing their first chapbook Speedway by Orlando Ramirez in 1979.
The title essay recounts her early days of living and writing in Bucktown, 'a down-at-the-heels' neighborhood of Chicago, where Nelson Algren once roamed and not far from Saul Bellow territory. She recalls an exhilarating time of learning and discovering how to be a writer, how to live alone, how to trust your own voice, how to teach students who 'have to defend themselves from someone beating them up' to write poetry. She goes to literary soirees, changes jobs, meets other writers and poets of color. She gets an agent. Her father finally understands she can provide for herself by writing. After leaving her hometown behind, she writes 'I no longer make Chicago my home, but Chicago will still makes its home in me.'
This quote describes where the reader will venture in this book: 'I roamed about the earth and borrowed typewriters in Greece, France, the former Yugoslavia, Mexico, and throughout the United States.' Stories of the places and people she met serve as an absorbing autobiography of this writer's life. The destinations of this writer's life dot the landscape of this book and are richly d Cisneros' 'Stories from My Life,' is an incredible and insightful voyage into the life of a contemporary writer. This quote describes where the reader will venture in this book: 'I roamed about the earth and borrowed typewriters in Greece, France, the former Yugoslavia, Mexico, and throughout the United States.' Stories of the places and people she met serve as an absorbing autobiography of this writer's life. The destinations of this writer's life dot the landscape of this book and are richly detailed with people, languages, food, music, and dance. Interspersed in the various stories are the relationships with her father and mother, her friends, and herself.
Ni de aqui, ni de alla. My criticisms are few: because the chapters were made up of already written pieces that were edited, there is some repetition.
I mention this because I think for someone who is multi-lingual, who has read a lot, and lived and traveled around the world; who graduated from a prestigious writing program, and has been lauded with the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship among other awards and honors it seems she could have easily gone in another direction - speaking a lot of academese, for instance - but instead s Sandra Cisneros’s writing is honest and poetic, and lacks the self-consciousness of someone aspiring to be erudite. I mention this because I think for someone who is multi-lingual, who has read a lot, and lived and traveled around the world; who graduated from a prestigious writing program, and has been lauded with the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship among other awards and honors it seems she could have easily gone in another direction - speaking a lot of academese, for instance - but instead she remains grounded, centered in her own voice and its tributaries as well as the aspiration to appeal to people from all walks of life and possibly people who don’t read many books. A House of My Own refreshed me from how we are often encouraged to think about writers and writing, where the focus is on stamina and discipline and the mechanics of the writing life.