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Latinx Reads for Adults

By Doug J. & Isaac R.
September 15, 2022

Here are some recommended titles selected to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Latinx lives.

Click on any book cover to go to the catalog to find the books and to place holds.

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Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer 

A Professor of History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University provides an epic history of Cuba from before Columbus arrived to modern times and discusses its complex relationship with the United States.

Illegally Yours by Rafael Agustin 

This heartwarming and comical memoir looks at how a successful TV writer accidentally discovered that he was an undocumented immigrant in his teenage years and how it turned his entire world upside down.

Crude: A Memoir by Pablo Fajardo 

A graphic novel exploring Texaco’s involvement in the Amazon, as well as the ensuing legal battles between the oil company, the Ecuadorian government, and the region’s inhabitants. 

Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America’s Stolen Land by Noé Álvarez 

A debut memoir by the son of working-class Mexican immigrants describes his upbringing in Washington State, membership in the Peace and Dignity Journeys movement and competition in the Native American cultural marathon from Canada to Guatemala.

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The Girls in Queens by Christine Kandic Torres

Reunited when their beloved Mets are on a historic run for the playoffs, two Latinx women, Kelly and Brisma, must decide if the fierce loyalty of their past is enough to sustain the future when their friend, Brian, Brisma’s first love, is accused of sexual assault.

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña 

Kamilah, a Puerto Rican chef and Liam, an Irish American whiskey distiller are blackmailed by their grandfathers, best friends since boyhood, into getting married or risk losing the building that houses both their businesses.

Gordo: Stories by Jaime Cortez 

Shedding profound natural light on the inner lives of migrant workers, Jaime Cortez’s debut collection ushers in a new era of American literature that gives voice to a marginalized generation of migrant workers in the West. 

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas 

In the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence and the execution of her father, Beatriz accepts Don Rodolfo Solórzano’s proposal of marriage and is whisked away to his remote country estate where she is faced with a malevolent presence linked to his first wife’s death.

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia 

A haunting meditation on the choices of mothers, the legacy of the memories they carry, and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their stories despite those who wish to silence them, this is more than a diaspora story; it is a story of America’s most tangled, honest, human roots.

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez 

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Olga, the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers, must confront the effects of long-held family secrets when she falls in love with Matteo, while other family members must weather their own storms.

The Devil Takes You Home: Barrio Noir by Gabino Iglesias 

Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.

Songs for the Flames: Stories by Juan Gabriel Vásquez 

An award-winning, best-selling author returns to stories in this collection of nine morally complex tales of men and women touched by violence and whose lives are changed forever by unexpected encounters and unyielding forces.