Críticas Magazine

Adriana V. Lopez

Books about Mexico City
July 8, 2008

Since there’s a new book in town about the great metropolis of Mexico City, I thought I’d list some more books with cameos in D.F. that I've liked, too.

 
David Lida’s new book, First Stop in the New World (Riverhead, June 2008), has got blurb support from Latin American writing hot shots such as Dagoberto Gilb, Francisco Goldman and Jon Lee Anderson giving it thumbs up. Anderson: “If Burroughs were alive and planning a return visit to Mexico today, he’d want to take this book with him." Lida , who has lived and worked as a writer and editor in Mexico City for over fifteen years, has chapters from his new book entitled, Mexican Lexicon Part I , Jesus of Itzapalapa, and Sex Captial, to give you an idea of its road map. On his website, Lida describes the book as a “street-level panorama of contemporary Mexico City, that covers not only the richest man in the world but a 13-year-old girl who sniffs glue and lives on the street.”

Another book I like about this same city but from a very different, if dated, perspective is:

 Richard Rodriguez’ Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father. Rodriguez’s personal essays about being a Mexican-American traveling within Mexico are unforgettable. Painful, though satisfying in its drama: "I lower my eyes. I say to Mexico . . . I cannot understand you. " Rodriguez offers tripped out descriptions of the city while searching out his own soul within it.

And finally there's:

Sam Quiñones’s True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino and the Bronx. His honed reporter’s eye for human nuance provide true stories about contemporary Mexico that are nuttier than fiction.

Feel free to add to this list, por favor. Always looking for something new to read and recommend.

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on July 8, 2008 | Comments (0)