THE OTHER SIDE: Notes from the New...

THE OTHER SIDE: Notes from the New L.A., Mexico City and Beyond by Ruben Martinez (Vintage: $10.; 170 pp.). Martinez, the news editor of the LA Weekly and co-host of “Life & Times” (KCET), describes Latino life in the U.S., El Salvador and Mexico in these compelling essays. Surveying his cluttered desk, he reflects, “This jumble of objects is as close as I get to ‘home.’ As close as I get, because my home is L.A. and L.A. is an anti-home; that’s why I’ve left it so many times, and returned just as many.” He visits relatives in El Salvador and witnesses the effects of earthquakes and government repression on people he loves. He traces the lives of his Mexican forebears in Los Angeles, contrasting their lives and aspirations with the situation Latinos face today. In a telling vision of Southern California, Martinez discovers he remains a stranger in both strange and familiar lands.