Shelfology Book Pairing

(Penguin Orange Collection)

by Leslie Marmon Silko

The great Native American Novel of a battered veteran returning home to heal his mind and spirit, from celebrated author Leslie Marmon Silko Decades after its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature—a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing. Tayo, a World War II veteran of mixed ancestry, returns to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. He is deeply scarred by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese and further wounded by the rejection he encounters from his people. Only by immersing himself in the Indian past can he begin to regain the peace that was taken from him. Masterfully written, filled with the somber majesty of Pueblo myth, Ceremony is a work of enduring power. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition contains a new preface by the author and an introduction by Larry McMurtry. Part of the Penguin Orange Collection, a limited-run series of twelve influential and beloved American classics in a bold series design offering a modern take on the iconic Penguin paperback. Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition

(book Discussion Kit)

by Yuri Herrera

Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there's no going back. Traversing this lonely territory is Makina, a young woman who knows only too well how to survive in a violent, macho world. Leaving behind her life in Mexico to search for her brother, she is smuggled into the USA carrying a pair of secret messages -- one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld.