My Favorite Latino/Hispanic Books
Discover the best Latino and Hispanic books with our curated list of favorites! Explore must-read novels, memoirs, and stories by celebrated Latinx authors.
Book
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
by Oscar Hijuelos
It's 1949. It's the era of the mambo, and two young Cuban musicians make their way up from Havana to the grand stage of New York. The Castillo brothers, workers by day, become by night stars of the dance halls, where their orchestra plays the lush, sensuous, pulsing music that earns them the title of the Mambo Kings. This is their moment of youth--a golden time that thirty years later will be remembered with nostalgia and deep afection. In The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love,Oscar Hijuelos has created a rich and enthralling novel about passion and loss, memory and desire.
Book
Almost a Woman
by Esmeralda Santiago
"Negi," as the author's family affectionately calls her, leaves rural Macun in 1961 to live in a three-bedroom tenement apartment with seven siblings, an inquisitive grandmother, & a strict mother who won't allow her to date. At thirteen, Negi yearns for her own bed, privacy, & her father, who remains in Puerto Rico. Translating for Mami at the welfare office in the morning, starring as Cleopatra at New York's Performing Arts High School in the afternoon, & dancing salsa all night, she also seeks to find balance between being American & Puerto Rican. When Negi defies her mother by going on a series of dates, she finds the independence brings challenges. At one a universally poignant coming-of-age tale & a heartfelt immigrant's story, this book is the author's journey into womanhood.
Book
Bodega Dreams
by Ernesto Quiñonez
In this "thriller with literary merit" (Time Out New York), a stunning narrative combines the gritty rhythms of Junot Diaz with the noir genius of Walter Mosley. Bodega Dreams pulls us into Spanish Harlem, where the word is out: Willie Bodega is king. Need college tuition for your daughter? Start-up funds for your fruit stand? Bodega can help. He gives everyone a leg up, in exchange only for loyalty—and a steady income from the drugs he pushes. Lyrical, inspired, and darkly funny, this powerful debut novel brilliantly evokes the trial of Chino, a smart, promising young man to whom Bodega turns for a favor. Chino is drawn to Bodega's street-smart idealism, but soon finds himself over his head, navigating an underworld of switchblade tempers, turncoat morality, and murder. "Bodega is a fascinating character. . . . The story [Quiñonez] tells has energy and verve." —The New York Times Book Review
Item Not Found
ID: 0743212037
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0060565640
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: B000HXDKFC
(Type: books)
Book
Yo!
by Julia Alvarez
At last A zesty, exuberant follow-up to the wildly popular How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, full of Julia Alvarez's keen observations and tender affection for her characters. The Garcia Girls are back, most notably Yolanda, or Yo, who has grown up to be a writer. In the process, she has managed to get kicked out of college, break more than a few hearts, have her own heart broken many times, return for extended visits to the Dominican Republic her family fled when she was a child, and marry three times. She has also infuriated her entire family by publishing the intimate details of their lives as fiction. The injured parties--her mother, her sisters, the Dominican cousins, the maid's daughter, her teachers, her lover, want to tell their side of the story, and Yo hands the microphone to them. Cousin Lucinda shrugs off Yo's characterization of her as a "Latin American Barbie" with "a size three soul," saying, "Looking at her in her late 30s, knocking around the world without a husband, house, or children, I think you are the haunted one who ended up living your life mostly on paper." This brilliant novel is a full and true exploration of a woman's soul, a meditation on the writing life, and a lyrical account of the immigrant's search for identity and a place in the world. Yo 's bright colors, zesty dialogue, warm feeling, and genuine insight could only come from the palette of Julia Alvarez.
Book
In the Name of Salomé
by Julia Alvarez
A novel based on the life of Profesora Camila HenrÃquez-Ureña, a teacher whose mother was Salomé Ureña, famous nineteenth-century political poet from the Dominican Republic.
Book
Like Water for Chocolate
by Laura Esquivel
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico blends poignant romance, bittersweet wit, and delicious recipes. This classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother's womb, her daughter to be weeps so violently she causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef, using cooking to express herself and sharing recipes with readers along the way.