bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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A book we should all read!
"Macho!" by Victor Villase?or
Although I am only about 3/4 way through this book, it is such a timely subject that I have to recommend it no matter what happens in the last 1/4.
It is about a young man's travels from his small village in Mexico to the USA in search of work, so he can support his family back home. The
characters are so real and although it was written in the 60's, the story could have been written last week.
If you can find a copy, I highly recommend this book. Especially with the political climate around the immigration issue. There are historical notes
at the end of each chapter that tell all about this problem that started many many years ago...like back in the 30's. And we all need a better
understanding of this issue, I believe.
I was thinking that maybe a book section would be a nice additional to the forum.
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Marie-Rose
Senior Nomad
Posts: 894
Registered: 10-2-2003
Location: Victoria, B.C. and Todos Santos
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Mood: Worried...
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Any ideas on where we might be able to find this little gem?
Remember, when in Mexico, yes may be no and no may be
maybe!
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Julie
Nomad
Posts: 111
Registered: 9-8-2003
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Victor Villasenor also wrote "Rain of Gold" about his motherand her families struggles to get to the states during the revolution. excellent.!!!
Also "Wild Steps of Heaven" about his father's trek to the states
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Bob and jane
Nomad
Posts: 272
Registered: 3-25-2004
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awesome books, all.
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Keri
Super Nomad
Posts: 1393
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: La Mision, Baja Norte
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Mood: muy contento
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Crazy Loco Love is his new book
Comes out the end of aug. You can buy it now on amazon.com at a great rate. These are my very favorite books ever. Everyone should read all his books
to get the real mexican experience. 
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Marie-Rose
Senior Nomad
Posts: 894
Registered: 10-2-2003
Location: Victoria, B.C. and Todos Santos
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Mood: Worried...
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Found all of them on Amazon. 
Remember, when in Mexico, yes may be no and no may be
maybe!
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3718
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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I just went to our library search page and found all of the above in English, several in Spanish (that will make my wife smile) and some audio books
as well....
Two pages of listings!
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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You are right Judy; thumbs up, VillaSenor is top of the line, I can imagine the fun you are having reading anything by this author. I hope to get my
hands on copies of "Macho" and "Crazy Loco Love" when they drift down Mexico way.
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deltabighat
Junior Nomad
Posts: 25
Registered: 10-31-2003
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Speaking of great baja books, "King of the Moon" by Gene Kira is absolutely marvelous. Supposed to be an almost true story of the developement of
baja fishing and Bahia de Los Angeles in particular. If you love baja as I do, don't miss it. Yes I thing a book section would be great, I have a
bunch of great books on baja.
DBH
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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DBH
Actually Gene says the "King of the Moon" is a compilation of several Mexican fishing villages, Agua Verde and San Evaristo being a couple more.
It is one of my favorite stories to recommend for people, who have never been here, to read to get the Baja feeling before they come for a visit.
[Edited on 6-30-2006 by bajajudy]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64845
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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A few of my favorite (non-guidebook) books about Baja...
The Forgotten Peninsula (by Krutch)
There It Is: Baja!/ My Adventures in Baja (by Mike McMahan)
The Baja Feeling (by Ben Hunter)
Into a Desert Place (by Graham Mackintosh)
Camp and Camino in Lower California (by Arthur North)
Off the Beaten Track in Baja (by Erle Stanley Gardner)
The Kings Highway in Baja California (by Harry Crosby)
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bajawife
Junior Nomad
Posts: 27
Registered: 4-4-2006
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I'M reading Rain of Gold right now! It was my pick for my book club and this is the 2nd time I've read it...amazing!
Macho is also very good, I think I'll read that one next (again)!
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Julie
Nomad
Posts: 111
Registered: 9-8-2003
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I re -read Rain of Gold every couple of years (along with several others). Lent my copy some years back and the $$##!!! never returned it. Have a
new/used one now that doesn't leave the house. Wild Steps of Heaven is a bit more brutal but still a good read.
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
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Mood: Just dancing through life
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Judy
Macho is a wonderful book but probably his least good book.
I have read them all at least twice and for my money Rain of Gold (about his family) is his greatest closely followed by the Wild Steps of Heaven.
Women should especially enjoy the Wild Steps because it features them and how they hold the world together.
All of his books are wonderful reads and he puts you right in the skin of the folks he talks about.
Victor lives in Oceanside California. Keri know some of his relatives who live in La Mision.
If I could write like him I would be in Heaven myself.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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Great online book store www.bestbookbuys.com
Mean people suck!
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Keri
Super Nomad
Posts: 1393
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: La Mision, Baja Norte
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Mood: muy contento
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I'm sitting here laughing
I thought I was the only one that no longer lends out my Rain of Gold. Same thing happened to me, lent it ,and the @#$*&%$ person didn't return
it. I now have 2 copies on my shelf. Won't lend either one . I feel insecure if they aren't there. Their are like family. They live with me. I
re-read every couple of years also. Strange isn't it that the books have given alot of us the same feeling. Now that's a good writer, k
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LaTijereta
Super Nomad
Posts: 1192
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Loreto
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Rain of Gold is > Great
I have also made the mistake of lending out my copy, I know is is floating around Loreto somewhere
Two other books not mentiond above are "out of print"
"Land Where time stands Still" : Max Miller
"Enchanted Vagabonds" Dana Lamb
Enchanted Vagabonds takes place in the 1930's, and is a kayak trip down the Baja, and over to the mainland..Great story
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dean miller
Nomad
Posts: 456
Registered: 1-28-2004
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BIBLIOPHILE THREAD?
BIBLIOPHILE?
MAGOPHILE (SP) ?
EPHERMA ?
The posts on this thread provide tacit justification for the need to establish a section devoted to the written word relating soley to Baja.
To borrow and paraphrase a bumper sticker " So many books and so little time."
The thread could be titled simply "Baja Books." However, when one enters the world of "Bibliophilia" an entirely new world emerges. Perhaps the
thread would require sub categories, as in the title indicates; Bibliophile ( books) Magophile (magazines) Epherma ( pamplets.)
This proposed thread also could possibly include sources for out of print books, new releases, author signings, and even short consise book reports (
which can be exciting or borrrring.)
I tend to collect and read both modern and historical books; modern for what is occuring or will occur in Baja, historical for what Baja once was
until rediscovered and changed forever by the completion of the "road" and the subsquent onslought of the Nortameos since the 1970s.
Last week I read for the first time "Yesterdays land" by Leonard Wibberley, 1961, LCCC ( prior to isbn) 61-10269. Leonard, as some may recall wrote
many books, one, the "Mouse that roared' was made in to a very funny Peter Sellars movie of the same name. For the diving bibliophiles, and how I
happened to met Lenard, he was the author of the rare "Ventures into the deep." (Yes, I have an inscribed copy)
Currently re- reading "Cruising the sea of cortez," by Spencer Murray, private printing no LCCC or ISBN, 1963. Spence was a Long Beach local when he
departed on this journey which many thought he would never return, but he did and created a very interesting document of his journey.
Both books provide insight as to Baja travel only four decades ago--to some four decades ago was years before their first breath of air, others it was
only yesterday in their journey through life- Never the less, these books and others like them are great historical documents of a time and place
that is no more and will never be again.
DM
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pacificobob
Super Nomad
Posts: 2306
Registered: 4-23-2006
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there's a word for it in mexico
this is a great book im sure many of you have read. its a guide to mexican thought and culture by boye lafayette de mente.....i recomend it...a great
read.
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