The most recommended books about Mexico City

Who picked these books? Meet our 26 experts.

26 authors created a book list connected to Mexico City, and here are their favorite Mexico City books.
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Book cover of The Most Honoured Profession

Raymond Keene Author Of Chess in the Year of the King

From Raymond's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Who am I?

Author Chess Grandmaster Memorypower Journalist

Raymond's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Plus, Raymond's 2-year-old's favorite books.

Why did Raymond love this book?

Julian Simpole is an experienced teacher who worked in a Brighton school which blended talented individual pupils with some who seemed psychopathic contenders for mass murder.

The bigoted and tyrannical  Headmaster himself seems hardly more civilised than his more psychotic pupils, and the novice practitioner of the pedagogic arts is buffeted from all sides as he falls in love with a girl he is convinced is a pre-ordained legacy from a previous existence.

Is this book an exposé of early 1980s Stakhanovite teaching, or a nostalgic reminder of comparatively idyllic school life before the current metropolitan street plague of knife-wielding child killers?

By Julian Simpole,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Most Honoured Profession as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Most Honoured Profession by Julian Simpole. The trials besetting novice teacher Bob Waley are a distillation of possible events illustrating the problems likely to arise in a large educational establishment such as a comprehensive school, especially one whose hierarchy is dominated by an insecure bigot, as here, but the novel is actually a love story.

Difficulties at work are ameliorated by the young couple's coup de foudre rapport and mutual sense of having co-existed in previous lives, Waley strongly believing their meeting in this lifetime to be inevitable, an ordained continuance of past evolving joy. The thematic strands of…


The Gashlycrumb Tinies

By Edward Gorey,

Book cover of The Gashlycrumb Tinies

Cecilia Ruiz Author Of The Book of Extraordinary Deaths: True Accounts of Ill-Fated Lives

From the list on pictures about death.

Who am I?

My name is Cecilia Ruiz and I am a Mexican author and illustrator living in Brooklyn. Apart from desperately trying to make more books, I teach design and illustration at Queens College and the School of Visual Arts. I’m fascinated by visual storytelling and its evocative power. One of my idols, the French filmmaker Robert Bresson, says that art lies in suggestion. Bresson believed that things should be shown from one single angle that evokes all the other angles without showing them. All the books in this list do that—they show us death but they make us think about the mysterious and poetic ways in which life operates. 

Cecilia's book list on pictures about death

Why did Cecilia love this book?

Edward Gorey is one of my biggest influences as an author/illustrator and perhaps the biggest source of inspiration behind my book.

The Gashlycrumb Tinies was my very first encounter with Edward Gorey and with the adult picture book genre. I can confidently say that I wouldn’t be writing and illustrating picture books if I hadn’t encountered this tiny book, in a gallery in Mexico City around 2006.

The Gashlycrumb Tinies is an alphabet book that tells the stories of 26 children and how each tragically dies.“ A is for Amy who fell down the stairs, B is for Basil assaulted by bears, C is for Clara who wasted away…”

What blew me away is how, with a few words and the simplest of illustrations, so many dissonant qualities and contradictions could exist on the same page—lightness and darkness; music and silence; tragedy and humor; life and death.

By Edward Gorey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Gashlycrumb Tinies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A new, small-format edition of one of Edward Gorey’s “dark masterpieces of surreal morality” (Vanity Fair): a witty, disquieting journey through the alphabet.


City of Suspects

By Pablo Piccato,

Book cover of City of Suspects: Crime in Mexico City, 1900–1931

Andrew Konove Author Of Black Market Capital: Urban Politics and the Shadow Economy in Mexico City

From the list on everyday life in Mexico City.

Who am I?

I grew up hearing stories about Mexico City from my grandmother, who spent her childhood in the 1930s there after emigrating from the Soviet Union. I fell in love with the city’s neighborhoods during my first visit in 2006, and I am still mesmerized by its scale and its extremes. I am especially interested in the city’s public spaces and the ways people have used them for work and pleasure over the centuries. Those activities often take place in the gray areas of the law, a dynamic I explored in the research for my Ph.D. in History and in my book, Black Market Capital

Andrew's book list on everyday life in Mexico City

Why did Andrew love this book?

Few scholars have done more to demystify the nature of crime in Mexico than Pablo Piccato. His book City of Suspects is a nuanced history that reveals that the very meaning of crime was contested in early twentieth-century Mexico City. While Mexican elites tried to define criminals as a social class, the urban poor, who experienced crime as a part of their everyday lives, saw crime as an individual phenomenon. This book, like the others on this list, is also a story about the ways people used and thought about public space. At a time when Mexico’s government sought to transform the capital into a modern metropolis along the lines of Paris or New York, the poor resisted efforts to exclude them from that future.

By Pablo Piccato,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked City of Suspects as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In City of Suspects Pablo Piccato explores the multiple dimensions of crime in early-twentieth-century Mexico City. Basing his research on previously untapped judicial sources, prisoners' letters, criminological studies, quantitative data, newspapers, and political archives, Piccato examines the paradoxes of repressive policies toward crime, the impact of social rebellion on patterns of common crime, and the role of urban communities in dealing with transgression on the margins of the judical system.
By investigating postrevolutionary examples of corruption and organized crime, Piccato shines light on the historical foundations of a social problem that remains the main concern of Mexico City today. Emphasizing…


This Strange Way of Dying

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia,

Book cover of This Strange Way of Dying: Stories of Magic, Desire & the Fantastic

David Lee Summers Author Of Dragon's Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order Vampires

From David's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Who am I?

Author Author Sky Watcher Gourmand History buff Reader

David's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Why did David love this book?

One of the things I love about reading short story collections is that I can read a story, enjoy it, and then put the collection aside and then read another story later.

This was a short story collection I literally could not put down. As soon as I finished one story, I needed to turn the page and see what the next story had to offer. This collection explores the supernatural lore of Mexico while spanning its history and peering into its near future.

My favorite stories were “Bed of Scorpions” about a brother and sister running a con and “Cemetery Man” about a mad scientist during the Mexican Revolution resurrecting soldiers.

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked This Strange Way of Dying as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Spanning a variety of genres-fantasy, science fiction, horror-and time periods, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's exceptional debut collection features short stories infused with Mexican folklore yet firmly rooted in a reality that transforms as the fantastic erodes the rational. This speculative fiction compilation, lyrical and tender, quirky and cutting, weaves the fantastic and the horrific alongside the touchingly human. Perplexing and absorbing, the stories lift the veil of reality to expose the realms of what lies beyond with creatures that shed their skin and roam the night, vampires in Mexico City that struggle with disenchantment, an apocalypse with giant penguins, legends of magic…


Certain Dark Things

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia,

Book cover of Certain Dark Things

Barbara Cottrell Author Of Darkness Below

From the list on character-driven horror with a heart.

Who am I?

I’ve always been attracted to strange things. When I was a kid, I loved to picnic in graveyards and make up stories about the people buried there. I think I gravitate toward the strange because it’s an escape from the gray every day. The best horror writing fills readers with wonder, opens the door to that magical question, ‘what if?’ But being truly engaged depends on caring about what happens to the characters in a book. That’s why I chose Horror with A Heart as my theme. I like horror with well-developed characters, people that matter to me. People who I could imagine as my friends.

Barbara's book list on character-driven horror with a heart

Why did Barbara love this book?

Just when I thought I was done with vampires, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things came along.

I was burned out on the genre. Most of the characters in vampire stories are rich, privileged, and frankly, not that interesting. Atl, the main character in Certain Dark Things, is the exception.

A descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, she finds herself caught between the rival vampire clans that dominate Mexico City. When she develops an unexpected attachment to a street kid named Domingo, her life gets even more complicated. 

Domingo could have been nothing but a Renfield, a plaything for her vampire lead. But Moreno-Garcia explores the tender bond that develops between them, a connection that puts both in jeopardy. An engrossing new spin on the vampire tale.

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Certain Dark Things as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood-drinkers, is smart and beautiful - and very dangerous. Domingo is mesmerised.

Atl needs to escape the city quickly, to get far away from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn't include Domingo, but little by little, she finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of…


McSweeney's Issue 58

By Claire Boyle (editor), Dave Eggers (editor), Wesley Allsbrook (illustrator)

Book cover of McSweeney's Issue 58: 2040 Ad

Todd Dufresne Author Of The Democracy of Suffering: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe, Philosophy in the Anthropocene

From the list on how bad climate change is for life on Earth.

Who am I?

Climate Studies is a massive, cross-disciplinary field that exceeds the grasp of everyone involved, myself included. I start from my home discipline, philosophy, and follow the leads wherever they take me—a practice I learned from decades as a Freud scholar. The climate books I admire most are those that take this vast literature and synthesize the issues. This means I admire and respect the work being done by smart journalists like McKibben, Klein, and Wallace-Wells, who are perfect jumping-off points to thinking carefully about the future of life today. They are the ‘journalist-philosophers’ who are attempting these essential first drafts of history. Start with them and see where it all leads. 

Todd's book list on how bad climate change is for life on Earth

Why did Todd love this book?

McSweeney’s is a singular publisher of beautifully designed, smart, and unusual books. This one is a collection of writers devoted to imagining the effects of climate change in the near future. Sad, wistful, compelling stories, written from myriad global perspectives and based on climate science. One that has stuck with me is a story called “1740” by Asja Bakic, a Croatian writer. But if you prefer a big, classic novel in the “cli fi” literature, look to the works of Kim Stanley Robinson. 

By Claire Boyle (editor), Dave Eggers (editor), Wesley Allsbrook (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked McSweeney's Issue 58 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Spanning six continents and nine countries―from metropolitan Mexico City to the crumbling ancient aqueducts of Turkey, the receding coastline of Singapore to the coral shores of northern Australia―McSweeney’s 58 is wholly focused on climate change, with speculative fiction from ten contributors, made in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Global in scope, each story is set in the year 2040 and imagines what the world might look like if the dire warnings issued by the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C were to come true. Using fiction―informed here and there by realism and climate science―this issue…


A New Home

By Tania de Regil,

Book cover of A New Home

Flavia Z. Drago Author Of Leila, the Perfect Witch

From the list on picture books only Mexican authors could have made.

Who am I?

Hello! My name is Flavia Z. Drago and I'm a Mexican picturebook maker currently living with my partner and my cat in the UK. As a child, most of the books that I read came from foreign countries, particularly Europe and the US, and these have had a huge influence on my work as an author and illustrator. However, now that I'm in charge of making the books that I would have liked as a child, I enjoy adding details of my Mexican culture whenever possible. To some extent, the books that I've shared with you collect some of the stories, experiences, and emotions that as a Mexican have impacted my life.

Flavia's book list on picture books only Mexican authors could have made

Why did Flavia love this book?

As a Mexican living in the UK, this story deeply speaks to me, as I truly identify with the characters in Tania’s book. This story reminded me of all of the complicated emotions of migrating, the things that I miss when I am not in Mexico, while reminding me of appreciating the present even more, as there are always things to appreciate, enjoy, and love wherever you are.

The illustrations of Tania are full of life, delicate, and convey in amazing detail the lively atmospheres of Mexico City and New York; the city where she was born, and the city where she currently lives.

By Tania de Regil,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A New Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As a girl in Mexico City and a boy in New York City ponder moving to each other’s locale, it becomes clear that the two cities — and the two children — are more alike than they might think.

But I’m not sure I want to leave my home.
I’m going to miss so much.

Moving to a new city can be exciting. But what if your new home isn’t anything like your old home? Will you make friends? What will you eat? Where will you play? In a cleverly combined voice — accompanied by wonderfully detailed illustrations depicting parallel…


Sidewalks

By Valeria Luiselli, Christina Macsweeney (translator),

Book cover of Sidewalks

Matthew Gavin Frank Author Of Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South Africa

From the list on nonfiction featuring amazing flying things.

Who am I?

Like many who carry over childish curiosity into adulthood, I'm attracted to forbidden places. I trespass. When I heard that a portion of South Africa’s coast was owned by the De Beers conglomerate and closed to the public for nearly 80 years, plunging the local communities into mysterious isolation, I became obsessed with visiting the place. Afterward, I began studying carrier pigeons—the amazing flying things that folks use to smuggle diamonds out of the mines. I wrote a book about this, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers. I'm also the author of nonfiction books about the first-ever photograph of the giant squid, working on a medical marijuana farm, and American food culture.

Matthew's book list on nonfiction featuring amazing flying things

Why did Matthew love this book?

Valeria Luiselli dissects the odd systems and networks of our world’s cities and reveals in their hidden corners and corridors strange and magical identities. Luiselli’s essays further interrogate a city’s relationship to the bodies, cultures, artifacts, and languages that inhabit its spaces. In the essay, “Flying Home,” Luiselli journeys to Mexico City, the place of her birth, and, staring out of her airplane window, considers the city’s layout from this great height. This act of “mapping” according to her extraordinary vantage (suspended in flight), allows for a greater, incantatory meditation on our various perceptions of “home,” and how said perceptions depend as much on the imagination and on ephemeral memories as they do on reality.   

By Valeria Luiselli, Christina Macsweeney (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sidewalks as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Luiselli's essays (originally published in Mexico) have been released to great acclaim abroad and has been translated for and published in the UK, Italy, Germany, and The Netherlands
Alma Guillermoprieto called Luiselli "one of the most important new voices in Mexican writing" at BEA and Luiselli is similarly known to and beloved by Latin American writers and venues including PEN America, the Americas Society, and the Mexican Cultural Institute
Luiselli's work is well known to bilingual Spanish language readers (including invitations to appear at Instituto Cervantes in Chicago and the Spanish language bookclub at McNally Jackson)
Luiselli is an engaging…


MEXICA, Aztec Princess

By Kayden Phoenix,

Book cover of MEXICA, Aztec Princess

Carolyn Watson Dubisch Author Of The Dragon in The Closet, Book One

From the list on graphics and comics for kids learning to read.

Who am I?

I've been writing and drawing children’s books and comic books for kids for over 23 years. I've always loved the comic book format and visual storytelling. Reading pictures is actually very stimulating for kids and adults alike. I’m also a parent to three daughters and teach art at an elementary school locally, so I work with children and see what captures their imaginations and inspires them. As someone who’s written and illustrated numerous graphic novels for kids, moderates a children’s book review group, and reads so many of the newest books available, I selected these graphic novels as some of the best I’ve read in the different genres that have been released recently.

Carolyn's book list on graphics and comics for kids learning to read

Why did Carolyn love this book?

Mexica is an Aztec Princess faced with her greatest challenge. She must pass her initiation test to be crowned the ruler of her people.

Set in the time of the Aztecs in what is now Mexico City, Mexica sets off to solve the three riddles with her (huge) cat, Elote, when unbeknownst to her the enemy of her people, the Tlaxcala, have launched an attack. Quickly they team up with a helpful Axolotl salamander who helps them find food and confuse the enemy… though not on purpose and make great strides in the initiation.

The twists and turns in this really wonderful story are quite a ride for the reader. The art is excellent and adds to the story and the atmosphere and is easy to follow for the young audience. What I particularly like about this book and this whole series, is that it features a princess character from…

By Kayden Phoenix,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked MEXICA, Aztec Princess as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Mexica's princess initiation has begun. She's given three riddles by the Royal Council and must return with the respective prizes in order to be crowned.


Mexica ventures out of Aztlán with her pet ocelot, Elote, to find the prizes. Unbeknownst to her, the neighboring tribe, the Tlaxcala, is on the warpath. Mexica innocently thinks they're apart of the princess initiation and foils their plans amongst every turn; unknowingly saving the kingdom and ultimately returning as Aztlán's crowned princess.


The Aviator's Wife

By Melanie Benjamin,

Book cover of The Aviator's Wife

Susan Sage Author Of Dancing in the Ring

From the list on the ‘herstory’ of women of the 1920s.

Who am I?

I have always been intrigued by the Roaring 20s, and specifically in how the lives of women truly began to change during this time. My grandmother loved to boast about how she had been a flapper as a young woman. Her sister-in-law was one of the first female attorneys in Detroit in the mid-20s. The era brought about opportunities and freedoms previously unknown to women. Many women suddenly had options, both in terms of careers and lifestyles. Goals of first wave feminists were beginning to be reached. The research I did for my book furthered my understanding of society at the time, particularly in America. 

Susan's book list on the ‘herstory’ of women of the 1920s

Why did Susan love this book?

Read this fascinating historical fiction novel to find out how it was possible for Lindbergh’s wife to wind up intact and capable of love, despite the tragedies that beset her.

Few people realize that she was the first female glider pilot! She became not only his co-pilot, but the pilot of her own life as she got older and pursued her own interests. Anne Morrow proved herself to be—in many ways—more heroic than her husband.

By Melanie Benjamin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Aviator's Wife as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the spirit of Loving Frank and The Paris Wife, acclaimed novelist Melanie Benjamin pulls back the curtain on the marriage of one of America’s most extraordinary couples: Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
 
“The history [is] exhilarating. . . . The Aviator’s Wife soars.”—USA Today
 
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

For much of her life, Anne Morrow, the shy daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, has stood in the shadows of those around her, including her millionaire father and vibrant older sister, who often steals the spotlight. Then Anne, a college senior with hidden literary aspirations, travels to Mexico…


Nothing, Nobody

By Elena Poniatowska,

Book cover of Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Mexico City Earthquake

Charles F. Walker Author Of Shaky Colonialism: The 1746 Earthquake-Tsunami in Lima, Peru, and Its Long Aftermath

From the list on natural disasters in Latin America and Caribbean.

Who am I?

Writing my history of the 1746 earthquake and tsunami that walloped much of Peru taught me that disasters serve as great entryways into society. They not only provide a snapshot (today's selfie) of where people were and what they were doing at a given moment (think Pompei) but also bring to light and even accentuate social and political tensions. I have lived my adult life between Peru and California and have experienced plenty of earthquakes. I continue to teach on "natural" disasters and have begun a project on the 1600 Huaynaputina volcano that affected the global climate. 

Charles' book list on natural disasters in Latin America and Caribbean

Why did Charles love this book?

This book showcases the extraordinary writing of the novelist and journalist Elena Poniatowska. She weaves together the voices of multiple journalists, her own reflections, and above all the testimonies of dozens of survivors of the two earthquakes that battered Mexico City and surrounding areas on September 19 and 20, 1985. It is both a moving report of people's suffering as well as a stirring portrait of how common people stepped in and created search and rescue teams and offered relief when government efforts failed. Poniatowska masterfully captures what many historians consider a key before and after moment in modern Mexican history.

By Elena Poniatowska,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Nothing, Nobody as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In September 19, 1985, a powerful earthquake hit Mexico City in the early morning hours. As the city collapses, the government fails to respond. Long a voice of social conscience, prominent Mexican journalist, Elena Poniatowska chronicles the disintegration of the city's physical and social structure, the widespread grassroots organizing against government corruption and incompetence, and the reliency of the human spirit. As a transformative moment in the life of Mexican society, the earthquake is as much a component of the country's current crisis as the 1982 debt crisis, the problematic economic of the last ten years, and the recent elections.…


Horizontal Vertigo

By Juan Villoro, Alfred MacAdam (translator),

Book cover of Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico

Andrew Konove Author Of Black Market Capital: Urban Politics and the Shadow Economy in Mexico City

From the list on everyday life in Mexico City.

Who am I?

I grew up hearing stories about Mexico City from my grandmother, who spent her childhood in the 1930s there after emigrating from the Soviet Union. I fell in love with the city’s neighborhoods during my first visit in 2006, and I am still mesmerized by its scale and its extremes. I am especially interested in the city’s public spaces and the ways people have used them for work and pleasure over the centuries. Those activities often take place in the gray areas of the law, a dynamic I explored in the research for my Ph.D. in History and in my book, Black Market Capital

Andrew's book list on everyday life in Mexico City

Why did Andrew love this book?

Juan Villoro’s memoir takes readers on a tour of contemporary Mexico City that is also a meditation on chilangos’ (Mexico City residents) relationship with the past. The book bounces between the author’s childhood in the neighborhoods of Mixcoac and Del Valle and the present day, traversing the sprawling metropolis and giving readers a sense of its scale and complexity. Through Villoro, we meet the sewer cleaners and tire repairmen who keep the city humming. We visit monuments like the Angel of Independence and Chapultepec Castle and the bustling spaces of Santo Domingo Plaza and Tepito—places that seem to hover between past and present and myth and reality. At once spry and erudite, the book is an immensely satisfying rumination on the city and its people. 

By Juan Villoro, Alfred MacAdam (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Horizontal Vertigo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At once intimate and wide-ranging, and as enthralling, surprising, and vivid as the place itself, this is a uniquely eye-opening tour of one of the great metropolises of the world, and its largest Spanish-speaking city.
 
Horizontal Vertigo: The title refers to the fear of ever-impending earthquakes that led Mexicans to build their capital city outward rather than upward. With the perspicacity of a keenly observant flaneur, Juan Villoro wanders through Mexico City seemingly without a plan, describing people, places, and things while brilliantly drawing connections among them. In so doing he reveals, in all its multitudinous glory, the vicissitudes and…


The Night Ocean

By Paul La Farge,

Book cover of The Night Ocean

Christopher Conlon Author Of Savaging the Dark

From Christopher's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why did Christopher love this book?

This wonderful dark novel about H.P. Lovecraft’s relationship with a young fan, R.H. Barlow, implicitly makes the case for Lovecraft’s continuing relevance in popular culture—even as he is widely condemned for his undoubted racism.

I found one of the most human and multi-dimensional portraits of Lovecraft I’ve ever read in this book. Barlow himself is no less compelling in these pages. The prose is vivid and immaculate. If you love language and are interested in Lovecraft, The Night Ocean is a fantastic read.

By Paul La Farge,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Night Ocean as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the award-winning author and New Yorker contributor, a riveting novel about secrets and scandals,  psychiatry and pulp fiction, inspired by the lives of H.P. Lovecraft and his circle.

Marina Willett, M.D., has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has become obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, in particular with one episode in the legendary horror writer's life: In the summer of 1934, the "old gent" lived for two months with a gay teenage fan named Robert Barlow, at Barlow's family home in central Florida. What were the two of them up to? Were they friends--or something more? Just when Charlie thinks he's…


Monstrilio

By Gerardo Samano Cordova,

Book cover of Monstrilio

Akil Kumarasamy Author Of Meet Us by the Roaring Sea

From the list on weird sci-fi to reimagine the world around you.

Who am I?

Ursula K. Le Guin said science fiction is a metaphor of the now. It allows us to defamiliarize ourselves with the issues around us, so we can see everything from a new lens. As someone who worked in tech spaces and once wrote a poetry-generating program, I am interested in how people use language to write about technology, at all levels. I appreciate the blend of older forms of technology like phonographs along with newer forms like ChatGPT. Languages interest me: how we translate to speak to machinery or people, and how translation itself can feel like a kind of wormhole into another world. 

Akil's book list on weird sci-fi to reimagine the world around you

Why did Akil love this book?

This novel explores the ferociousness of grief when a couple loses their child.

The mother places a sliver of her dead son’s lung into a jar and it grows into a monster. A tender and horrific book that explores the limits of love. I loved the different perspectives in the book and found it quite moving to see how each character processes grief in their own individual ways.  

By Gerardo Samano Cordova,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Monstrilio as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A "genuinely scary" horror debut written in "prose so beautiful you won't want to rush" about a boy who transforms into a monster, a monster who tries to be a man, and the people who love him in every form he takes (Ana Reyes)

Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago's lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family's decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio…


The Closed Hand

By Rebecca Riger Tsurumi,

Book cover of The Closed Hand: Images of the Japanese in Modern Peruvian Literature

Ignacio López-Calvo Author Of The Mexican Transpacific: Nikkei Writing, Visual Arts, and Performance

From the list on Asian-Latin American exchanges.

Who am I?

Extensive research on cultural production by Latin American authors of Asian ancestry has given me a comprehensive understanding of the development of Transpacific studies. For the last decade, my research has focused, for the most part, on South-South intercultural exchanges and cultural production by and about Latin American authors of Asian descent. I have written five books dealing with these topics: 2008 Imaging the Chinese in Cuban Literature and Culture (2009), The Affinity of the Eye: Writing Nikkei in Peru (2013), Dragons in the Land of the Condor: Writing Tusán in Peru (2014), Japanese Brazilian Saudades: Diasporic Identities and Cultural Production (2019), and The Mexican Transpacific: Nikkei Writing, Visual Arts, Performance (forthcoming).  

Ignacio's book list on Asian-Latin American exchanges

Why did Ignacio love this book?

This was the first book on the literary representation of the Japanese and Nikkeijin in Peruvian fiction. It analyzes literature published by both Nikkei (the Nisei authors José Watanabe and Doris Moromisato) and non-Nikkei Peruvian authors (Mario Vargas Llosa, Mario Bellatin, etc) from 1996 to 2005. The book closes with interviews with six authors whose works are examined in the book: Miguel Francisco Gutiérrez Correa, Carmen Ollé Nava, Pilar Dughi Martínez, Mario Bellatin, José Watanabe, and Doris Moromisato. This important study opened the way for many other recent explorations of the traces of Japaneseness in Peruvian literature as well as the relevance of Japanese-Peruvian writing. 

By Rebecca Riger Tsurumi,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Closed Hand as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In her book, The Closed Hand: Images of the Japanese in Modern Peruvian Literature, Rebecca Riger Tsurumi captures the remarkable story behind the changing human landscape in Peru at the end of the nineteenth century when Japanese immigrants established what would become the second largest Japanese community in South America. She analyzes how non-Japanese Peruvian narrators unlock the unspoken attitudes and beliefs about the Japanese held by mainstream Peruvian society, as reflected in works written between l966 and 2006. Tsurumi explores how these Peruvian literary giants, including Mario Vargas Llosa, Miguel Gutierrez, Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Carmen Olle, Pilar Dughi, and…


The Savage Detectives

By Roberto Bolaño, Natasha Wimmer (translator),

Book cover of The Savage Detectives

John Biscello Author Of Raking the Dust

From John's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Who am I?

Author Passionate Fool-hearty Flaneur Dreams and imagination disciple Romantic

John's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Why did John love this book?

I had long meant to read Bolano’s seminal novel and was not disappointed.

With a revolving cast of characters, generating cross-currents of intersecting subplots and drama, The Savage Detectives takes you on a kaleidoscopic spin through the fringes, lore, and shadowlands of Mexico, covering different time periods.

Part offbeat odyssey, part crime story, part derelict dissertation on tropes and archetypes, Bolano’s multi-form narrative comprises an adventure that is wary of its own movements.

By Roberto Bolaño, Natasha Wimmer (translator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Savage Detectives as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With an afterword by Natasha Wimmer.

Winner of the Herralde Prize and the Romulo Gallegos Prize. Natasha Wimmer's translation of The Savage Detectives was chosen as one of the ten best books of 2007 by the Washington Post and the New York Times.

New Year's Eve 1975, Mexico City. Two hunted men leave town in a hurry, on the desert-bound trail of a vanished poet.

Spanning two decades and crossing continents, theirs is a remarkable quest through a darkening universe - our own. It is a journey told and shared by a generation of lovers, rebels and readers, whose testimonies…


When Montezuma Met Cortés

By Matthew Restall,

Book cover of When Montezuma Met Cortés: The True Story of the Meeting that Changed History

David Carballo Author Of Collision of Worlds: A Deep History of the Fall of Aztec Mexico and the Forging of New Spain

From the list on the Aztec-Spanish War.

Who am I?

I’m an archaeologist at Boston University with a transatlantic family that spans Spain and Latin America.  My research has primarily focused on Mesoamerica, and prehispanic central Mexico more specifically, but the deep roots of these transatlantic entanglements have always fascinated me personally and as a historically minded scholar.

David's book list on the Aztec-Spanish War

Why did David love this book?

For a couple of decades, Restall has been at the vanguard of a group of historians developing what is known as the New Conquest History, an effort to balance the Eurocentrism of earlier histories of the Aztec-Spanish War and its aftermath. I’ve used an earlier book of his, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, in my teaching, as it is succinctly argued and provokes students to think critically about the early history of Latin America. This book builds on that and narrows the focus to how the historic encounter between Moctezuma, the Great Speaker of Tenochtitlan and the most powerful individual in Mesoamerica, and Cortés (on November 8, 1519) has been reinterpreted in the years since.  It ranges across five centuries of history, art, and aesthetics, and pop culture to poke holes in narratives that center Cortés’ presumed military brilliance and problematize notions that Moctezuma considered the Spaniards gods…

By Matthew Restall,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked When Montezuma Met Cortés as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A dramatic rethinking of the encounter between Montezuma and Hernando Cortes that completely overturns what we know about the Spanish conquest of the Americas

On November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introduction-the prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americas-has long been the symbol of Cortes's bold and brilliant military genius. Montezuma, on the other hand, is remembered as a coward who gave away a vast empire and touched off a wave…


The Red Earl

By Selina Hastings,

Book cover of The Red Earl: The Extraordinary Life of the 16th Earl of Huntingdon

Graham Rust Author Of By Faith and Love: A Memoir

From the list on the artist and the art of living.

Who am I?

I have been an avid reader from an early age and painting has been my life's work since attending art school from the age of sixteen. Having painted the largest mural in a private house in the 20th century, over a period of fourteen years since 1968, it has been a great privilege to live as part of the families in so many diverse and beautiful houses in Britain, Europe, The Middle East, and The Americas. Many of the interesting people that I have met along the way have greatly enriched my being and I am particularly intrigued by the way that chance encounter shapes one's life. Serendipity is all!

Graham's book list on the artist and the art of living

Why did Graham love this book?

The best of biography and a passionate and enthralling account by Selina Hastings of the life of her bohemian father Jack, who escaped his ultra-conservative family to pursue a career as a painter.

With his beautiful Italian wife Cristina, the daughter of the legendary Marchesa Casati famed for her outrageously ornate masked balls, he left Europe for the New World.

They firstly settled in Australia then on the Island of Moorea in the South Pacific, eventually reaching California where Hastings met the great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo.

After persuading Rivera to take him on as his painting assistant, he and Cristina spent four years in Mexico City before returning to England. He later taught fresco painting at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in the 1950s - just a few years before I became a student at the Southampton Row establishment and in due…

By Selina Hastings,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Red Earl as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In The Red Earl Selina Hastings tells the extraordinary story of her father, Jack Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon. In 1925, Hastings infuriated his ultra-conservative parents by turning his back on centuries of tradition to make a scandalous run-away marriage. With his beautiful Italian wife he then left England for the other side of the world, further enraging his family by determining on a career as a painter. The couple settled first in Australia, then on the island of Moorea in the South Pacific. Here, they led an idyllic existence until a bizarre accident forced them to leave the tropics…


The Mexicans

By Patrick Oster,

Book cover of The Mexicans: A Personal Portrait of a People

Odie Hawkins Author Of Shackles Across Time

From the list on understanding the human condition.

Who am I?

I am a great African-American writer because I have not spent eons in jail (taught writing classes there), never been shot by the police (yet), and I have a number of interesting books for sale ranging from Urban, Erotic, Science-Fiction, Fiction and Pan-African Occult. My books have been used in writing classes in colleges, universities, and prisons. I was one of the panelists for Professor Justin Gifford's presentation at the Modern Language Association Conference at the Hilton, LA Live. Also, I participated in a California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) event, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the “Watts Rebellion”. I have agreed to let this university archive my works.

Odie's book list on understanding the human condition

Why did Odie love this book?

I think that we should all make an effort to understand people who are not from our cultural stew; people who seem different, but wind up being like us; once we get to know them.

Patrick Oster is not a sociologist, a psychologist, or an ugly American. He could be Joe Blow from down the block who decides to go to Mexico, to get to know the Mexican people. He does not make an effort to know all the people, he simply makes friends with those who are friendly, and leaves the others alone; just the way he would do in America.

I feel that this book is a wonderful example of what can come from an honest exploration and a warm writing style.

By Patrick Oster,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mexicans as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Mexicans is a multifaceted portrait of the complex, increasingly turbulent neighbor to our south. It is the story of a country in crisis -- poverty, class tensions, political corruption -- as told through stories of individuals.
From Augustín, an honest cop, we learn that many in the Mexican police force use torture as their number-one-crime-solving technique; from Julio Scherer Garcia, a leading newspaper editor, we learn how kidnapping and intimidating phone calls stifle a free press; we hear from a homosexual teacher wary of bigotry in a land of machismo; and many others.
Moving from Mexico City discos to…


The Seduction of Place

By Joseph Rykwert,

Book cover of The Seduction of Place: The History and Future of Cities

Joan DeJean Author Of How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City

From the list on what makes a city great, especially Paris.

Who am I?

I’ve lived in cities all my adult life and currently divide my time between Paris and Philadelphia. And while those two cities are strikingly different places, they have in common the fact that they are both great walking cities –- urban centers that can be explored on foot and easily enjoyed by pedestrians. Walking cities, I believe, provide not only an ideal context for today’s tourists but also a model for a future in which urban dwellers become less reliant on automobiles and urban centers more open to foot traffic than to vehicular pollution and congestion. The books I’ll recommend deal in various ways with the building and rebuilding of visionary cities, and of Paris in particular.

Joan's book list on what makes a city great, especially Paris

Why did Joan love this book?

I recommend Joseph Rykwert’s The Seduction of Place for Rykwert’s wonderful reflections on the relation between people and their cities, and on the essential questions of why cities succeed – or why they fail to work successfully for their inhabitants.

By Joseph Rykwert,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Seduction of Place as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Eminent architectural historian, Jospeh Rykwert looks at the complex story of the city since the industrial revolution. He draws on sociology, social, economic and political history and their complex interactions with the history of architecture. Rykwert's knowledge of world cities is remarkable, and the book will draw on Shanghai as much as Los Angeles, Rio as well as London, Melbourne as well as Paris, both in looking at past developments and for models for the future. His book is also a timely celebration of metropolitan values that have recently been denigrated: tolerance, liberalism, cultural vitality, pluralism. It is an important…