Book cover of A Cup of Water Under My Bed

Book description

The PEN Literary Award–winning author “writes with honesty, intelligence, tenderness, and love” about her Colombian-Cuban heritage and queer identity in this poignant coming-of-age memoir (Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street).

In this lyrical, coming-of-age memoir, Daisy Hernández chronicles what the women in her Cuban-Colombian family taught her…

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Cup of Water Under My Bed as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

As someone who writes about discovering Santería as an adult, I was enchanted to read how Hernández stumbles upon its rituals through the eyes of a child. In her father’s workroom, a gray rock with cowrie shells for eyes and a mouth that sits on a clay plate filled with candies becomes the author’s enticing introduction to Santería’s gatekeeper deity, Eleggua. In the kitchen, women read cups of water that ferry messages between the living and the santos and the dead.

“There’s nothing odd about any of this, because it has always been this way,” Hernández tells us, illuminating the…

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The Rosewood Penny by J.S. Fields,

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The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.

On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…

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