blog tag - reading material!

i've been tagged (i believe this means i'm a real "blogger" now, yikes!) by luiza, and the idea is to recommend a book in one paragraph. this is possibly the most daunting task i've ever had to do (pick one book? be succinct? gaaah!), but here we go:

so what can i say that hasn't been said before about solid state physics by ashcroft and mermin?!...

just kidding.

one of my favorite books of all time (perhaps even the top one among them because no other straddles categories - theory, philosophy, fiction, storytelling, poetry, autobiography - like it) is borderlands/la frontera: the new mestiza by gloria anzaldua. it's this incredible work about negotiating and inhabiting (as opposed to constantly crossing over) a space of one's own between different/opposite cultures and identities, whether they be racial, ethnic, cultural, sexual, etc.. basically, it's a text about breaking down those binary systems that the dominant culture tells us we're supposed to stick to - about the potential inherent in marginalized people and positions to accomplish that feat. borderlands is so beautiful, so useful, and so subversive at the same time! when i say "subversive" that extends to the style, too, which i can't really describe because i have no terms of comparison: anzaldua doesn't even write in a conformist way, she seamlessly moves from prose to poetry, from english to spanish (and various sub-dialects)... and there's anything from aztec mythology, mexican/north american history, philosophy, queer theory to personal stories in this book. as for the author, i heard her speak and met her briefly several years ago... and to me it's amazing how in that extremely short exchange (one of the few instances in my life i was truly in awe) she proved to be exactly what she projects through borderlands/la frontera: a bridge-maker with healthy disregard for conventions and a wise incisiveness - gloria anzaldua was one awesome woman, honest and fearless! so if you haven't had a chance yet, you must read this book of hers, and that's all i really have to say.

Because I, a mestiza,
continually walk out of one culture
and into another.
because I am in all cultures at the same time,
alma entre dos mundos, tres, cuatro,
me zumba la cabeza con lo contradictorio.
Estoy norteada por todos las voces que me hablan
Simultáneamente.

The actual physical borderland that I'm dealing with in this book is the Texas-U.S. Southwest/Mexican border. The psychological borderlands, the sexual borderlands and the spiritual borderlands are not particular to the Southwest. In fact, the Borderlands are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other, where people of different races occupy the same territory, where under, lower, middle and upper classes touch, where the space between two individuals shrinks with intimacy.
...Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one's shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an "alien" element. There is an exhilaration in being a participant in the further evolution of humankind, in being "worked" on. I have the sense that certain "faculties"-not just in me but in every border resident, colored or non-colored-and dormant areas of consciousness are being activated, awakened. Strange, huh? And yes, the "alien" element has become familiar-never comfortable, not with society's clamor to uphold the old, to rejoin the flock, to go with the herd. No, not comfortable but home...

(for an in depth analysis of some of the book's themes, you can check out "metaphors of a mestiza consciousness: anzaldua's borderlands/la frontera" by erika aigner-varoz. also, this summary of points and this lesson plan.)

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i'm tagging brooke (and lian), jenn and nita - what's a book you'd recommend?

ps: a while ago, i started a project that i intended to develop but never got to: a list of friends' favorite books... it's basically the same idea as this tag.
---> anyone interested, send me your list and i'll add it!