The Guadalajara Reporter

Bibliophile savors literature and upcoming book festival

There can’t be many people in Guadalajara who relish the annual arrival of the International Book Fair (FIL) like Noemi Mejia does. Since she arrived in Guadalajara from Veracruz several years ago, she has attended every day of the festival each year.

Mejia is not professionally involved with the FIL. Neither is she an academic. No, her devotion to the FIL, as well as her devotion to reading, comes straight from the heart. As she recently told the weekly readers group she leads, “We love books because of the ideas that they give us, ideas that remain in our hearts. It’s not that we are interested in discussing the details of Chekhov’s or any author’s career.”

In her readers group, Mejia focuses on authors from a variety of countries — “first Mexico, then Latin America, then Europe,” she said. But she naturally gravitates toward her home country, just as the FIL, although it is clearly an international event (the 2011 invited country is Germany), is primarily a festival of books in Spanish.

So when Mejia was asked to provide a list of her five favorite books, she was happy to mention all Mexican authors and their books that are available in English translation.

“I like Juan Rulfo the most. He’s from Guadalajara.” She showed his famed book of short stories, “Llano en llamas” (Burning Plain).

“He fills you. Some people don’t like him because he writes about country people. But his stories often make me cry.”

Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.