One book from every country in Latin America: my reading list
Fifteen books, one per country, from Brazil to the Dominican Republic: the novels, memoirs and short stories I chose to read while travelling through Latin America.
I wanted one book from every country I travel through in Latin America, but I didn’t just want to pick the biggest classics. I spent way too many hours researching to find books that are representative, engaging and that I’d actually be excited to read. Some are well-known, others are modern or a little more under the radar.
These aren’t the “number one” books from each country, or the most renowned literary works in most cases. They’re simply the ones that interested me most. The titles are listed in their original language, but every book has an English translation (and many have translations into other languages too).
The list
Brazil: Pedro and Marques Take Stock by José Falero
Two supermarket stock clerks in a Porto Alegre favela start a small weed side hustle to escape poverty, and it takes off fast.
Peru: Travesuras de la niña mala by Mario Vargas Llosa
A man’s decades-long obsession with one woman who keeps reappearing in his life under different names and identities, as their on-and-off relationship plays out.
Chile: La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende
A multigenerational story about a family in Chile, where everyday life gets tangled up with magic, politics and secrets passed down through the women in the family.
Costa Rica: Los Peor by Fernando Contreras Castro
Set in a Costa Rican brothel, the story follows Jerónimo Peor, a man raised for the priesthood who ends up living among the workers, misfits and outcasts of society.
Guatemala: Silenced Voices by Pablo Leon
Leon combines historical research on the Guatemalan civil war with his own experiences as an immigrant to tell a powerful story of family, sacrifice, survival and hope.
Bolivia: Ustedes brillan en lo oscuro by Liliana Colanzi
Short stories from a Bolivian writer that blend speculative fiction, sci-fi and strange, almost radioactive landscapes across Latin America.
Argentina: Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego by Mariana Enriquez
A collection of unsettling short stories from Argentina, where everyday moments quietly tip into horror and grief.
El Salvador: Solito by Javier Zamora
A memoir about a nine-year-old boy’s solo journey from El Salvador to the US to reunite with his parents, crossing three countries with a group of strangers who become his makeshift family.
Paraguay: Hijo de hombre by Augusto Roa Bastos
A Paraguayan classic that follows different families and characters over about a hundred years, from independence through the brutal Chaco War, mixing real history with local myth and legend.
Nicaragua: La mujer habitada by Gioconda Belli
Part love story, part political awakening: a young architect in Nicaragua gets swept into the resistance against dictatorship.
Colombia: Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez
One family’s story across generations in the made-up town of Macondo, where strange, magical things happen right alongside real life.
Ecuador: Mandíbula by Mónica Ojeda
Fernanda, an elite school student obsessed with horror stories, is kidnapped by her teacher.
Mexico: Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
A man travels to his late mother’s hometown looking for the father he never knew, only to find a village haunted, literally, by whispers and the ghosts of the dead.
Uruguay: Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis
Five queer women find each other under Uruguay’s military dictatorship in the late 1970s and carve out a secret sanctuary on a remote stretch of coast.
Dominican Republic: In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Based on a real family, the story follows four sisters in the Dominican Republic who become secret leaders of the resistance against a brutal dictatorship.
Reading along
I’m reading my way through the list, one country at a time, and sharing what I think on Instagram. If you have a book I should add, send it my way.
