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A wonderful, eclectic collection of autobiographical essays.
A House of My Own: Stories From My Life is a charming memoir in the form of compilation – book reviews, forewards, epilogues, etc. – composed over her writing life and presented more or less in chronological order. Part search for home, part exploration of grief, family, and art, Sandra Cisneros writes with a language that is disarming and playful, communicating volumes in a few words. She talks, for example, about “trying to please [her] Chicago nemesis” (loc. 233). Her San Antonio partner, on
I decided to read Sandra Cisneros' A House of My Own: Stories from My Life after reading a review by avid reader and active GoodReads user Rowena. I've never read any of Cisneros' books and, to my surprise, never heard of her either. Thank you, Rowena, for introducing me to her! I believe there is the right book for the right time, and this was the book for me at this time. Cisneros writes about writing, about her lifetime of finding places to write, of finding her own space — it's no coincidenc...
"I have always been a daydreamer, and that's a lucky thing for a writer. Because what is a daydreamer if not another word for thinker, visionary, intuitive--all wonderful words synonymous with 'girl.'"It's official: I'm a Sandra Cisneros fan. This is the first book of hers that I've read and over the last few years I've found that reading a writer's non-fiction before reading their fiction has helped me better get into the writer's mind, understand their influences and what drives them. for a
I savored this book. Every page. I didn't want it to end. Sandra Cisneros' voice is incredible, strong and proud. 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. Her voice is so important to Chicanas, Latinas, y Mexicanas...
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 s...
This book is sublime, masterful, surprising, full of spirit and unabashed feminism. Composed of experimental vignettes and glimmers from the globe-trotting, empathic, socially conscious writer, teacher, poet, Sandra Cisneros. Some reviews here have expressed disappointment in the so-called lack of "juicy" details revealed, but I felt just the opposite. The stories of Cisneros' life are courageous in their sensitivity and revealing of the lifelong influence that her migratory childhood (as the so...
I met Sandra Cisneros on the page in college, like many young people do, having been assigned The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. At first I rejected it all, like I tended to do at that age because I was just that sort of person. As I grew up, though, I found a deeper appreciation for Cisneros and, I'll admit, she's part of the reason why I am now working on my graduate degree in Creative Writing. Yes, that's right.And it was just this past January, during my t...
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: http://janpriddyoregon.blogspot.com/2...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 specifi...
The lush, shiny pages, full of wonderful photographs, are good beds for Cisneros' memoir/jaggedy autobiography. Her voice is strong over three decades; this collection of non-fiction details her thoughts and movements well.The desire to find a home of your own; you can't go home again. The travels across country and abroad, especially the pre-PC periods, are deftly captured. Her family, friends, artist collaborators and nemeses, her awareness of flowers and animals and sites and food and color,
I’ve been a fan of Cisneros since middle school, when I read “Eleven,” like a lot of American middle schoolers. She perfectly conveyed what it felt like when you woke up on your eleventh birthday, the first time a momentous day doesn’t feel momentous. I didn’t actively pursue her until recently, when I read The House on Mango Street at the tail end of 2013, and now when I saw this in the new arrivals at my library. This book is gorgeously produced. It’s printed on thick white paper and has full