Welcome & Introductions!

[Austin]

Let me take this opportunity to welcome everyone to the Immigration Book Club. This is Austin Kocher, and I'm thrilled to see all of you.

I put together a bi-annual (twice a year) post with new immigration books and the most recent one was just released on Tuesday of this week.

As part of community building, this Good Reads group is *your* place to discuss immigration books you're reading, whether they are on my list or not, and add immigration books to our collective bookshelf.

Once again, welcome, and please do introduce yourself and make yourselves at home.

[Christine]

Hello! Thanks for suggesting these books. I enjoy reading your substack posts and look forward to your insights with all of the uncertainty to come. Can I suggest a book to add to your list? Sarah Towle's Crossing the Line, Finding America in the Borderlands is a gripping, very readable insight into the situation along the border, to include stories of those on the US side trying to make a positive difference. https://sarahtowle.com.

[Tim]

I don't know my way around GoodReads, so I apologize if I step over a line. I have a promotion starting June 15, 2025 for "Escape from Cuba", a book I edited with author Michel Mir Jorge. The book is fiction but it is based on or inspired by the writer's experience under communist rule. The book is translated from the original Spanish and the book itself had to be smuggled out of the country. A second book revolving around a CIA undercover operation in Suriname is in development.
I met the author online in a group designed to help people learn other languages: I am learning Spanish and Michel is mostly fluent in English. We learned we have a common interest in writing. I asked for a sample of his writing, and after passing it through Google Translate, I discovered he is a really good writer.
I interviewd him on my YouTube podcast channel, @AuthorToAuthor. In view of current politics, the book is very topical, and parallels can be drawn betwen the experiences of Cuban people and the current American political climate.
Or as I describe the book, "A harrowing odyssey of defiance against Castro’s dictatorship, Michel Jorge’s Escape from Cuba intertwines Cold-War era tyranny with sharp, unsettling echoes of today’s global struggles for democracy."
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F5RVB8T1