100 books like Guadalupe Mysteries

By Grzegorz Gorny, Janusz Rosikon,

Here are 100 books that Guadalupe Mysteries fans have personally recommended if you like Guadalupe Mysteries. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith

MaryAnn Shank Author Of Sor Juana, My Beloved

From my list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.

Why am I passionate about this?

I once saw a play at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Theatre. A play about Sor Juana. It was a good play, but it felt like something was missing like jalapenos left out of enchiladas. The play kept nudging me to look further to find Sor Juana, and so for the next five years, I did so. I read and read more. I listened for her voice, and that is where I heard her life come alive. This isn’t the only possibility for Sor Juana’s life; it is just the one I heard.

MaryAnn's book list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

MaryAnn Shank Why did MaryAnn love this book?

The colonial period of Mexico was a mystery to me, so I turned to the ultimate source, this book by Paz. Surprisingly, I found that I did not agree with all of Paz’s conclusions about Sor Juana and the time she lived. He wrote from a male perspective, a middle-aged scholarly male perspective. Sor Juana was a young woman, a distinguished scholar in her own right. Had she written such a history, it would be quite different.

Sadly, there is no such book written from a woman’s perspective, so I invite you to join me in discovering what nuggets of wisdom you can in this book, truly the ultimate deep dive into Sor Juana’s life and times. Yes, I relied a great deal on Paz’s research. You will find it fascinating too.

By Octavio Paz, Margaret Sayers Peden (translator),

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Sor Juana as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Mexico's leading poet, essayist, and cultural critic writes of a Mexican poet of another time and another world, the world of seventeenth-century New Spain. His subject is Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, the most striking figure in all of Spanish-American colonial literature and one of the great poets of her age.

Her life reads like a novel. A spirited and precocious girl, one of six illegitimate children, is sent to live with relatives in the capital city. She becomes known for her beauty, wit, and amazing erudition, and is taken into the court as the Vicereine's protegee. For five…


Book cover of Unmade Hearts: My Sor Juana

MaryAnn Shank Author Of Sor Juana, My Beloved

From my list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.

Why am I passionate about this?

I once saw a play at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Theatre. A play about Sor Juana. It was a good play, but it felt like something was missing like jalapenos left out of enchiladas. The play kept nudging me to look further to find Sor Juana, and so for the next five years, I did so. I read and read more. I listened for her voice, and that is where I heard her life come alive. This isn’t the only possibility for Sor Juana’s life; it is just the one I heard.

MaryAnn's book list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

MaryAnn Shank Why did MaryAnn love this book?

This is, simply put, a lyrical conversation between two gifted poets. Westlake, like I did, knew that translations of Sor Juana’s poetry just did not do her justice. When writing about Sor Juana, we need to travel a different path; we need to listen to the whispers from centuries ago.

I listened and wrote a biographical novel; Westlake listened and shared the conversation with us. All I can say is “Yes!”

By July Westhale,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Unmade Hearts as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The poems in Unmade Hearts: My Sor Juana are a call-and-response. Part translation, part conversation, and part footnote, this collection considers how desire and divinity are intimately acquainted. Tactically, the experience of it is akin to reading someone's private text messages; on one side July Westhale's translations of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz. On the other, Westhale's response to them. There is something about both the process of translation and the process of coming into wholeness within queer desire that is akin: the seams of both show. Meaning is made through iteration, then reiteration. Through intimacy with, and intimacy…


Book cover of The Tenth Muse: Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz

MaryAnn Shank Author Of Sor Juana, My Beloved

From my list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.

Why am I passionate about this?

I once saw a play at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Theatre. A play about Sor Juana. It was a good play, but it felt like something was missing like jalapenos left out of enchiladas. The play kept nudging me to look further to find Sor Juana, and so for the next five years, I did so. I read and read more. I listened for her voice, and that is where I heard her life come alive. This isn’t the only possibility for Sor Juana’s life; it is just the one I heard.

MaryAnn's book list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

MaryAnn Shank Why did MaryAnn love this book?

Royer adores Sor Juana, as do I. There are some wonderful surprises here, such as a long list of authors that Sor Juana likely read. The images that he presents, such as the church where la Vicereine Leonore was buried, are personal rather than scholarly. Yes, he does still speak from a purely male perspective, but it feels gentler than most.

Sor Juana was dubbed “The Tenth Muse” by an admiring priest in Spain upon publication of her poetry, and the sobriquet has remained with her throughout the centuries.

By Fanchon Royer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Tenth Muse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Tenth Muse: Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz is a biography written by Fanchon Royer about the life of Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz, a 17th-century Mexican nun, poet, and scholar. The book delves into the life of Sor Juana, who was known for her intelligence and passion for learning, and her struggles to reconcile her desire for knowledge with the expectations of her religious order. It explores her relationships with powerful figures of her time, including the viceroy of New Spain, and her eventual decision to renounce her studies and focus on her religious duties. The biography…


Book cover of Sor Juana's Love Poems

MaryAnn Shank Author Of Sor Juana, My Beloved

From my list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.

Why am I passionate about this?

I once saw a play at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Theatre. A play about Sor Juana. It was a good play, but it felt like something was missing like jalapenos left out of enchiladas. The play kept nudging me to look further to find Sor Juana, and so for the next five years, I did so. I read and read more. I listened for her voice, and that is where I heard her life come alive. This isn’t the only possibility for Sor Juana’s life; it is just the one I heard.

MaryAnn's book list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

MaryAnn Shank Why did MaryAnn love this book?

Sor Juana wrote hundreds and hundreds of poems in all manner of styles, from short, spiffy, and even humorous ones to elaborate villancicos performed in a cathedral. Here is a brief collection in both Spanish and English, a few of her shorter love poems. The poems may have been written for her lover, la Vicereine Maria Louisa, or as a commission for a gentleman’s wife or lover. In any event, they are magnificent, such as:

Oh, how I went up in flames

In your lovely Sun!

Hungry for the bait,

I forgot the danger.

Reading these poems, I could not doubt the depth of Sor Juana’s passion.

By Joan Larkin (translator), Jaime Manrique (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sor Juana's Love Poems as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and…


Book cover of The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's Huei tlamahuicoltica of 1649

Lisa M. Bitel Author Of Our Lady of the Rock: Vision and Pilgrimage in the Mojave Desert

From my list on illuminating books about visions of the Virgin Mary.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m fascinated by the religious supernatural, especially visions and apparitions. I once saw Mother Teresa levitate – believe me? How do I prove it to you? Religious apparitions have occurred across faith traditions and global regions to all sorts of people. One of the most frequently reported apparitions in history is of the Virgin Mary. Thousands of people have claimed personal visits from the Blessed Mother; since 1830, their numbers have rocketed in America. Only some Marian visions become famous, while others are forgotten. These five enlightening books suggest how and why the Mother of God chooses to be seen, how visionaries explain what they see, and why other people believe.

Lisa's book list on illuminating books about visions of the Virgin Mary

Lisa M. Bitel Why did Lisa love this book?

I live in southern California, where la Señora de Guadalupe appears all around us in bright murals on grocería walls, on t-shirts and jackets, as tattoos, even as dangling air fresheners. According to the earliest legend, included in this volume, she first appeared in 1531 to a peasant named Cuauh-tlahtoa—a.k.a. Juan Diego—on the hill of Tepeyac, at the edge of modern Mexico City.

The site was sacred to Tonantzin (the local name for a mother goddess), but Mary emerged there at dawn in her bright green and red gown amidst a flowerful garden that resembled the paradise of the Aztecs. It took a miracle for Juan Diego to persuade the Archbishop of Mexico City that the Virgin wanted a shrine built on the hill; he turned up at the episcopal palace one December day with his cloak full of out-of-season roses. When he spilled the flowers at the bishop’s feet,…

By Lisa Sousa, Stafford Poole, James Lockhart

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Story of Guadalupe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most important elements in the development of a specifically Mexican tradition of religion and nationality over the centuries. The picture of the Virgen morena (Dark Virgin) is to be found everywhere throughout Mexico, and her iconography is varied almost beyond telling. Though innumerable books, both historical and devotional, have been published on the Guadalupan legend in this century alone, it is only recently that its textual sources have been closely studied.

This volume makes available to the English-reading public an easily accessible translation from the original Nahuatl of the…


Book cover of Goddess of the Americas: Writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe

Charlene Spretnak Author Of Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths

From my list on goddess spirituality.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been interested in cultural history. In my early 30s, I realized that Greek mythology was a late, patriarchal revision of the earlier Goddess-centric myths. After much research, I reconstructed several pre-Olympian myths in my book Lost Goddesses of Early Greece. This was one of the first books of the Women’s Spirituality movement, which began in the 1970s and is still going strong. A few years later, I edited an anthology of 50 voices, The Politics of Women’s Spirituality. Thus I am a foremother of that movement, which is a bountiful exploration of authentic spiritual experience in women’s lives.

Charlene's book list on goddess spirituality

Charlene Spretnak Why did Charlene love this book?

Christianity is a syncretic religion, incorporating elements from earlier religious traditions, not only in the eastern Mediterranean basin but also in the lands where it spread. In each of the national shrines to the Virgin Mary in Europe, for instance, she is depicted with indigenous symbols or elements. Nowhere is the presence of the preChristian, indigenous sacred female stronger in such syncretic blendings than in Mexico with the Virgin of Guadalupe. The editor of this anthology refers to her as Guadalupe-Tonantzin, one of the variations of her name in the indigenous Nahautl language. These essays are scholarly, cultural, and engagingly personal. Don’t miss the brilliant essay by the late Gloria Anzaldua, as well as other memorable pieces by several well-known Mexican-American authors. This is lived religion.

By Ana Castillo (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Goddess of the Americas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In a series of original essays, historical writings, fiction, drama, and poetry, a variety of writers--including Octavio Paz, Sandra Cisneros, and others--examines the impact of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the history of Mexico and beyond.


Book cover of America del Norte

Brittany Means Author Of Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways: A Memoir

From my list on narrators who think and feel too fast and too much.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since I was a little guy, I've been told that I complicate things unnecessarily. I overthink and over-communicate, and often, my feelings are outsized to the situation. These are not things I do on purpose, but involuntary, like a sneeze or the way you reflexively clench with cuteness aggression when you see a grizzly bear’s little ears, even though you know it can hurt and eat and kill you. I love to find books with narrators who seemingly share this affliction. It makes me feel less alone, but more importantly, I love to see how other people's Rube Goldberg machines function.

Brittany's book list on narrators who think and feel too fast and too much

Brittany Means Why did Brittany love this book?

I didn't realize a book could get the zoomies. América del Norte has instilled in me such great wonder and vicious prose envy that I may never recover. Rambunctious, bombastic, and sprawling, this work of autofiction left me saying things like, “No way!” and “What the hell?!” out loud like a complete buffoon. Sometimes because of the story and sometimes because of the audacity of the sentence structures.

Medina Mora weaves history, literature, politics, translation, and much more into a grand chronicle. Amid devastating historical narratives and global tragedy, I still laughed out loud at some parts and startled my little cat, who then also got the zoomies.

By Nicolas Medina Mora,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked America del Norte as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Moving between New York City, Mexico City, and Iowa City, a young member of the Mexican elite sees his life splinter in a centuries-spanning debut that blends the Latin American traditions of Roberto Bolaño and Fernanda Melchor with the autofiction of US writers like Ben Lerner and Teju Cole.

Sebastián lived a childhood of privilege in Mexico City. Now in his twenties, he has a degree from Yale, an American girlfriend, and a slot in the University of Iowa’s MFA program.

But Sebastián’s life is shaken by the Trump administration’s restrictions on immigrants, his mother’s terminal cancer, the cracks in…


Book cover of The City of Palaces

Mario Acevedo Author Of The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

From my list on illuminating historical truths through fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love learning about history, and the more I learn, the more I appreciate my place in this world. While military history, particularly from pre-WW1 to the end of WW2, was what made me first plant my nose in a book, I can geek out on pretty much any historical period: the rise of human civilization, Rome, the conquest of the New World, the development of airplanes. But it’s the personal element that most draws me in, and the fact that we humans remain fundamentally the same in how we cope with another through the ages. It’s through fiction that we see the past in a way that makes sense.

Mario's book list on illuminating historical truths through fiction

Mario Acevedo Why did Mario love this book?

I’ve tried several times to understand the Mexican Revolution, with its cast of martyrs and rouges scrambling in a violent tornado of noble intentions and bloody treachery. Nava artfully demonstrates his chops as a writer by paring this seemingly incomprehensible sweep of Mexican history into an accessible and compelling narrative.

His characters are complicated and nuanced—Nava gives us no easy answers—and we watch them flail for salvation and fleeting promises even as society collapses around them.

By Michael Nava,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The City of Palaces as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the years before the Mexican Revolution, Mexico is ruled by a tiny elite that apes European culture, grows rich from foreign investment, and prizes racial purity. The vast majority of Mexicans, who are native or of mixed native and Spanish blood, are politically powerless and slowly starving to death. Presiding over this corrupt system is Don Porfirio Diaz, the ruthless and inscrutable president of the Republic.

Against this backdrop, The City of Palaces opens in a Mexico City jail with the meeting of Miguel Sarmiento and Alicia Gavilan. Miguel is a principled young doctor, only recently returned from Europe…


Book cover of Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Mexico City Earthquake

Charles F. Walker Author Of Shaky Colonialism: The 1746 Earthquake-Tsunami in Lima, Peru, and Its Long Aftermath

From my list on natural disasters in Latin America and Caribbean.

Why am I passionate about this?

Writing my history of the 1746 earthquake and tsunami that walloped much of Peru taught me that disasters serve as great entryways into society. They not only provide a snapshot (today's selfie) of where people were and what they were doing at a given moment (think Pompei) but also bring to light and even accentuate social and political tensions. I have lived my adult life between Peru and California and have experienced plenty of earthquakes. I continue to teach on "natural" disasters and have begun a project on the 1600 Huaynaputina volcano that affected the global climate. 

Charles' book list on natural disasters in Latin America and Caribbean

Charles F. Walker Why did Charles love this book?

This book showcases the extraordinary writing of the novelist and journalist Elena Poniatowska. She weaves together the voices of multiple journalists, her own reflections, and above all the testimonies of dozens of survivors of the two earthquakes that battered Mexico City and surrounding areas on September 19 and 20, 1985. It is both a moving report of people's suffering as well as a stirring portrait of how common people stepped in and created search and rescue teams and offered relief when government efforts failed. Poniatowska masterfully captures what many historians consider a key before and after moment in modern Mexican history.

By Elena Poniatowska,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Nothing, Nobody as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In September 19, 1985, a powerful earthquake hit Mexico City in the early morning hours. As the city collapses, the government fails to respond. Long a voice of social conscience, prominent Mexican journalist, Elena Poniatowska chronicles the disintegration of the city's physical and social structure, the widespread grassroots organizing against government corruption and incompetence, and the reliency of the human spirit. As a transformative moment in the life of Mexican society, the earthquake is as much a component of the country's current crisis as the 1982 debt crisis, the problematic economic of the last ten years, and the recent elections.…


Book cover of Sidewalks

Matthew Gavin Frank Author Of Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South Africa

From my list on nonfiction featuring amazing flying things.

Why am I passionate about this?

Like many who carry over childish curiosity into adulthood, I'm attracted to forbidden places. I trespass. When I heard that a portion of South Africa’s coast was owned by the De Beers conglomerate and closed to the public for nearly 80 years, plunging the local communities into mysterious isolation, I became obsessed with visiting the place. Afterward, I began studying carrier pigeons—the amazing flying things that folks use to smuggle diamonds out of the mines. I wrote a book about this, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers. I'm also the author of nonfiction books about the first-ever photograph of the giant squid, working on a medical marijuana farm, and American food culture.

Matthew's book list on nonfiction featuring amazing flying things

Matthew Gavin Frank Why did Matthew love this book?

Valeria Luiselli dissects the odd systems and networks of our world’s cities and reveals in their hidden corners and corridors strange and magical identities. Luiselli’s essays further interrogate a city’s relationship to the bodies, cultures, artifacts, and languages that inhabit its spaces. In the essay, “Flying Home,” Luiselli journeys to Mexico City, the place of her birth, and, staring out of her airplane window, considers the city’s layout from this great height. This act of “mapping” according to her extraordinary vantage (suspended in flight), allows for a greater, incantatory meditation on our various perceptions of “home,” and how said perceptions depend as much on the imagination and on ephemeral memories as they do on reality.   

By Valeria Luiselli, Christina Macsweeney (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sidewalks as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Luiselli's essays (originally published in Mexico) have been released to great acclaim abroad and has been translated for and published in the UK, Italy, Germany, and The Netherlands
Alma Guillermoprieto called Luiselli "one of the most important new voices in Mexican writing" at BEA and Luiselli is similarly known to and beloved by Latin American writers and venues including PEN America, the Americas Society, and the Mexican Cultural Institute
Luiselli's work is well known to bilingual Spanish language readers (including invitations to appear at Instituto Cervantes in Chicago and the Spanish language bookclub at McNally Jackson)
Luiselli is an engaging…


Book cover of Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith
Book cover of Unmade Hearts: My Sor Juana
Book cover of The Tenth Muse: Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz

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