What originally drove me to live in Latin America wasn’t the sex, sun and salsa. Rather, it was a fascination with the politics, culture and society in this part of the world.
My interest started in university with a socioeconomics course. Insufferable Marxist indoctrination aside, it was an engaging class and responsible for igniting my enthusiasm for Latin America. I probably never would have bothered to take the jump to live in LATAM if I hadn’t taken the class.
Credit where credit’s due.
Since then, I’ve probably read over 100 books covering almost every country in the region (aside from the more obscure ones, like Suriname, Guyana and French Guyana – I don’t know anything about these places…even though my grandfather lived in Suriname).
In no particular order, here are some of the more interesting titles that I remember, both fiction and non-fiction, from Latin American authors and non-Latin American authors.
50 Good Books About Mexico, Central and South America
***For more information about each book, click on the title link or the photo
The Missing Year Of Juan Salvatierra – Pedro Mairal
The Old Gringo – Carlos Fuentes
The President – Miguel Ángel Asturias
Down The Rabbit Hole – Juan Pablo Villalobos
Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
A History Of Violence – Oscar Martinez
America South – Jesse Myner
At The Devil’s Table – William C. Rempel
City Of God – Gil Cuadros
Wolf Boys – Dan Slater
El Sicario – Charles Bowden
Gangster Warlords – Ioan Grillo
Havana: A Subtropical Delirium – Mark Kurlansky
Killing Pablo – Mark Bowden
Narconomics: How To Run A Drug Cartel – Tom Wainwright
Send More Idiots – Tony Perez-Giese
Señor Vivo And The Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres
Shantytown – Cesar Aira
Sofrito – Phillippe Diederich
Tales From The Town Of Widows – James Cañón
Tequila Oil – Hugh Thomson
The Cocaine Diaries – Paul Keany w/ Jeff Farrell
Tropical Animal – Pedro Juan Gutierrez
The Dark Bride – Laura Restrepo
Marching Powder – Rusty Young
The Gringo Trail – Mark Mann
Brazillionaires – Alex Cuadros
Nemesis – Mischa Glenny
Rage – Sergio Bizzio
Mad Outta Me Head – Colin Post
Hopscotch – Julio Cortazar
Epitaph Of A Small Winter – Machado de Assis
The Argentina Reader: History, Culture, Politics – Gabriela Nouzeilles
Dancing With The Devil In The City Of God – Juliana Barbassa
The Politics Of Military Rule In Brazil, 1964-1985 – Thomas E. Skidmore
Short Walks From Bogota: Journeys In The New Colombia – Tom Feiling
Delirio – Laura Restrepo
The Fruit Palace – Charles Nicholl
The Feast Of The Goat – Mario Vargas Llosa
Senselessness – Horacio Castellanos Moya
El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency – Ioan Grillo
The Savage Detectives – Roberto Bolaño
God’s Middle Finger – Richard Grant
El Monstruo: Dread And Redemption In Mexico City – John Ross
Murder City – Charles Bowden
The Labyrinth Of Solitude – Octavio Paz
Blood Of Brothers: Life And War In Nicaragua – Stephen Kinzer
The History Of Panama – Robert C. Harding
At The Tomb Of The Inflatable Pig: Travels Through Paraguay – John Gimlette
The Conspiracy – Israel Centeno
Of course there are many more must-read books from Latin America; these are just a handful of the ones I liked.
Check a few out! And I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
Until next time,
Vance
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