To honor Hispanic Heritage Month and our love of reading, we DM’d with some of our fave Latinx bookstagrammers — and asked about their top recs for reads by Hispanic authors. Give ’em a follow and check out their picks below...
“The Affairs of the Falcóns” by Melissa Rivero
Recommended by: Melissa from @bookrecsbymel, and CEO and founder of Steamy Lit
“I loved this book because it reflected part of my immigration story while also highlighting parts of our beautiful Peruvian culture,” she says. “This was a heart-wrenching story that does an outstanding job at portraying the extremes that love for your family will drive you to in order to keep it together when immigration (and the struggles that come with it) are destined to pull you apart. Every immigration story is different, but you will find yourself feeling the anguish and fear this family experiences while just trying to make it one more day.” (Amazon, Bookshop)
“A Cup of Water Under My Bed” by Daisy Hernández
Recommended by: Iris from @irisbooklist
“Everything about this book is perfect: the lyricism, the heartbreak, the sincerity…the Spanglish,” she says. “It’s a memoir that taps into colonialism, race, queerness, language, family, immigration, and redefining success in our own terms. This book truly feels like home.” (Amazon, Bookshop)
“Cantoras” by Carolina De Robertis
Recommended by: Iris from @irisbooklist
“How to put into words the beauty of this book?” she says. “A historical fiction with the most memorable, imperfect, badass queer characters. A novel about resilience, friendship, loss...but above all, this is a book about love. Be ready to hug this one after you are done reading it.” (Amazon, Bookshop)
“Gods of Jade and Shadow” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Recommended by: Carmen from @tomesandtextiles
“[It’s] a Jazz Age fairy-tale road trip steeped in Mexican folklore, featuring a small-town mortal girl and the God of Death as they race the clock to save his soul,” she says. “Lyrical prose injected with wit exploring themes of colonization and tokenization, combined with a quick pace and a truly unique setting (1920s Mexico), make this fantasy stand-alone a must-read in the contemporary fantasy canon.” (Amazon, Bookshop)
“Sabrina & Corina” by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Recommended by: Mariah from @thekneadtoread
“[It] has stayed with me since I read it, lingering almost hauntingly,” she says. “It is a collection of short stories centering on indigenous Latina women in the American West with heavy themes on women, sisterhood, identity, generational trauma, and belonging. I had to take multiple deep breaths after finishing each story. It's not a book to be binged, despite being on the shorter side, but to be really savored. Despite the violence and trauma, each story is also one about resilience and passion. I'm used to seeking out books that reflect my experience, and have found a lot of books about Latinx life on the East Coast, where I'm from, so it was nice to read about Latinas in a place like Denver, Colorado, where their stories are often put to the side, and the connection to the ancestral lands there. Despite being from a very different part of the US, a lot of the experiences resonated. The writing is beautiful, the characters are developed, and each story is like a gut punch.” (Amazon, Bookshop)
“Daughters of the Stone” by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Recommended by: Donna from @thisbrownegirlreads
“What I found of importance is a story written from the Afro–Puerto Rican experience, one detailing and weaving the island’s African roots into the storytelling,” she says. “Dahlma is a rarity — there aren’t many Afro–Puerto Rican authors telling stories connecting the island to its African roots. It is a well-told story that transcends time, it was essential upon its initial release, and it is an essential story all these years later.” (Amazon, Bookshop)
PS: These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
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