Recently one of my brother-laws, an avid and wide-ranging reader, read Alburquerque by Rudolfo Anaya and really enjoyed it. A review excerpt from Publisher's Weekly at Amazon. com says:
Chicano novelist Anaya's explosive study of political patronage and the search forethnic roots takes its title from a New Mexican legend. In 1880, an Anglo stationmaster reportedly took the first R out of Albuquerque's name, a move that symbolized the emasculation of the Mexican way of life. Set in the present, this absorbing novel focuses on a young boxer, fair-skinned Abran Gonzales, who is shattered by the revelation that his parents adopted him. He meets his real Anglo mother, dying of cancer, on her deathbed, then sets out on a quest for his Mexican father--who, the reader quickly learns, is Abran's acquaintance, the writer/professor Ben Chavez. Unscrupulous, rich lawyer Frank Dominic becomes Abran's manager, promising that he will hire a detective to locate Abran's father and reveal his identity to the slugger during the big comeback fight of his career. Dominic, a con artist who wants to turn Albuquerque into a Venice-like tourist trap, complete with casino-lined canals, is running for mayor against Marisa Martinez, an independent maverick. Dominic acquires nude photos of Martinez in compromising positions, which threatens to derail Abran's true romance and the city's future. Anaya ( Tortuga ) spins a touching love story woven into a tale of treachery, a microcosm of the social and economic dislocations squeezing the American Southwest. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
At the same Amazon.com site, the Library Journal chips in with:
In his fifth novel, the best-selling author of Bless Me, Ultima ( LJ 2/1/73) sets an archetypal quest for the father in the city of "Alburquerque" (according to Anaya, the legendary spelling of the name), in which various characters vie for political power. Abran Gonzalez, a former Golden Gloves champion unaware that he was adopted, learns this secret from his biological mother on the night she dies. The revelation triggers a search for his father's identity that involves New Mexican politicos, a Rocky -like boxing match, and a man who believes his ancestors were bears. Other main characters also have murky ancestry; one Italian American even tries to prove that he was descended from the Duke of Albu(r)querque. At times melodramatic, the work has an intense spirituality that ultimately makes it mesmerizing. Highly recommended. - Harold Augenbraum, Mercantile Lib., New York Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Rodolfo Alfonso Anaya (born October 30, 1937, Pastura, New Mexico) is one of the best-known American authors to write in the Spanish language. He has written seven novels, the first and most famous of which is Bless Me, Ultima, written in 1972 and considered the best-known and most-respected example of contemporary Chicano fiction.Anaya is professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico.He has written several children's stories and plays. Recent works include the Sonny Baca novel Jemez Spring in 2005, and Roadrunner's Dance, a children's book, in 2000.Rudolfo Anaya married in 1974 and he and his wife have four children. Anaya currently lives in San Francisco, California.
This article excerpt above is from Wikipedia RA on Wikipedia appears on the Rudolfo Anaya page at RA on Answers.com
Rudolfo Anaya Bibliography is from Wikipedia.org and appears on RA on Answers.com
- Bless Me, Ultima (1972), ISBN 0-89229-002-1
- Heart of Aztlan (1976), ISBN 0-915808-17-X
- Tortuga (1979), ISBN 0-915808-34-X
- Cuentos: Tales from the Hispanic Southwest (1980), ISBN 0-89013-111-2
- The Silence of Llano (1982), ISBN 0-89229-009-9
- Cuentos Chicanos (1984), ISBN 0-8263-0771-X
- The Legend of La Llorona (1984), ISBN 0-89229-015-3
- The Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas (1985), ISBN 0-934770-45-X
- Lord of the Dawn: The Legend of Quetzalcóatl (1987), ISBN 0-8263-1001-X
- Alburquerque (1992), ISBN 0-8263-1359-0
- Zia Summer (1995), ISBN 0-446-51843-3
- Rio Grande Fall (1996), ISBN 0-446-51844-1
- Shaman Winter (1999), ISBN 0-446-52374-7
- Jemez Spring (2005), ISBN 0-8263-3684-1
- The Anaya Reader (1995), ISBN 0-446-67077-4
- Jalamanta: A Message from the Desert (1996), ISBN 0-446-52024-1
- Serafina's Stories (2004), ISBN 0-8263-3569-1
- The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories (2006), ISBN 0-8061-3738-X
- Christmas Story (1987), ISBN 0-937206-05-9
- Maya's Children: The Story of La Llorana (1996), illustrated by Maria Baca, ISBN 0-7868-0152-2
- Farolitos for Abuelo (1998), illustrated by Edward Gonzalez, ISBN 0-7868-0237-5
- My Land Sings: Stories from the Rio Grande (1999), illustrated by Amy Córdova, ISBN 0-688-15078-0
- Roadrunner's Dance (2000), illustrated by David Diaz, ISBN 0-7868-0254-5
- The Santero's Miracle: A Bilingual Story (2004), illustrated by Amy Córdova, Spanish translation by Enrique Lamadrid, ISBN 0-8263-2847-4
- A Ceremony of Brotherhood, 1680-1980 (1981), edited with Simon J. Ortiz
- Cuentos Chicanos: A Short Story Anthology (rev. ed. 1984), edited with Antonio Márquez, ISBN 0-8263-0772-8
- A Chicano in China (1986), ISBN 0-8263-0888-0
- Voices: An Anthology of Nuevo Mexicano Writers (1987, 1988), editor, ISBN 0-8263-1040-0
- Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland (1989), edited with Francisco A. Lamelí, ISBN 0-929820-01-0
- Tierra: Contemporary Short Fiction of New Mexico (1989), editor, ISBN 0-938317-09-1
- Flow of the River (2nd ed. 1992), ISBN 0-944725-00-7
- Descansos: An Interrupted Journey (1995), with Denise Chávez and Juan Estevan Arellano, ISBN 0-929820-06-1
- Chicano/a Studies: Writing into the Future (1999), edited with Robert Con Davis-Undiano
- Elegy on the Death of César Chávez (2000), ISBN 0-938317-51-2
Fiction
The Sonny Baca mysteries:
Books for childrenThe Farolitos of Christmas: A New Mexico
Non-fiction
The Carlsbad Public Library has 32 items Rudolfo Anaya items. He is a well-respected and popular 
New Mexican author who just might engage your interest with some of his books. He has done so for many other readers.
Did you notice the name Denise Chávez about three lines up in the list immediately above. Born in Las Cruces in 1948, she 
received among other degrees, a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from New Mexico State--Las Cruces, (my wife knew her at NMSU) and has written a number of books; the CPL has two of her novels--Face of an Angel and Loving Pedro Infante: A Novel.
Publisher Weekly's Review of "Loving Pedro Infante_posted on Amazon.com follows:
Chavez's latest book offering (after Face of an Angel) "Loving Pedro Infante" is a terrific novel full of abuelita wisdom and raunchy cantina wit. Trapped in Cabritoville, N.Mex., and in love with Lucio, a married man who refuses to commit, 30-something Tere Avila is a teacher's aide by day, a regular at local bar La Tempestad and a 24/7 member of the Pedro Infante Club #256. Mid-century movie star Infante is Elvis Presley and Cary Grant rolled into one. Though a womanizer, Infante's passion for life captured the souls of the Mexican people, and in death he reigns supreme as the ultimate male icon. When they're not at La Tempestad, or eating at Sophia's Mighty Taco, Tere and her best friend, Irma, indulge in weekly Pedro-athons. Matching his movies to their emotional state, the two use the films as an escape but also as a hilarious, poignant vehicle for their desires and anger. The movies highlight Tere's misguided love for Lucio while cleverly exposing the Mexican psyche. Ch vez's voice is at once zany and knowing. She is la gran mitotera a big troublemaker, stirring up rollicking mischief with wacky humor delivered in the lyrical tempo of Chicano slang. The language is bawdy, sometimes downright sucio, but expressive in a way that pure Spanish or English couldn't be. A liberating Chicana coming-of-a-certain-age tale, rooted in a profound love for la gente, the book gives us heroines we didn't know we had and makes us understand that love means embracing flaws our own as well as those of others. Forecast: Chavez, a spirited reader, will embark on a 12-city author tour, with Pedro-athons planned for Chicago and L.A. Sales in the Southwest should be particularly strong, but this rollicking novel could easily be Chavez's biggest yet nationwide.
For more information on what Denis Chavez has written, please see Denise Chavez at Amazon
or do something worth writing."
Benjamin Franklin
© Bob Hoff, 2006
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