The U.S. Hispanic population reached 62.1 million in 2020, up from 50.5 million in 2010, making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority. In 2020, Hispanics made up nearly one-in-five people in the U.S. (19%), up from 16% in 2010 and just 5% in 1970. What’s more, between 2010 and 2020, a little over half of the U.S. population growth stemmed from the increase in the Hispanic or Latino population.
September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to pay tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans tracing their roots to Spain, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Spanish-speaking nations of the Caribbean who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society. September 15 is a historically significant day that marks the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The designated period is also a nod to those from Mexico and Chile, which celebrate their independence on Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, respectively.
In celebration of their special histories, cultures and contributions here are some contemporary adult fiction titles by Hispanic authors and/or about Hispanic characters, followed by nonfiction titles and memoirs, all available with your Livingston Public Library card.
Fiction
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Catalina is trying to work out her own life as she leaves her undocumented family behind to enter Harvard. Suffering from bouts of PTSD, she struggles to connect to her new world just as she struggled to make sense of her old one. She infiltrates the subcultures of elite undergrads–internships and college newspapers, parties and secret societies–and observes them like an anthropologist, but then falls in love, or something like love, with a fellow student, an actual anthropology scholar who wants to teach her about the Andean world she was born in but never knew. They are drawn to each other by the strange attraction of exocticized fascination–she, a real live Latin American, becomes a subject of academic interest; he, in turns, draws her fascination as a white legacy admit born into the strange world she now navigates.
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
The story of one Dominican American family told through the voices of its women. Spanning the three days prior to the wake, it traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Acevedo’s inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces–one family’s journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that is to come.
A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens by Raul Palma
Hugo Contreras’s world in Miami has shrunk. Since his wife died, Hugo’s debt from her medical bills has become insurmountable. He shuffles between his efficiency apartment, La Carreta (his favorite place for a cafecito), and a botanica in a strip mall where he works as the resident babaláwo. One day, Hugo’s nemesis calls. Alexi Ramirez is a debt collector who has been hounding Hugo for years, and Hugo assumes this call is just more of the same. Except this time Alexi is calling because he needs spiritual help. His house is haunted. Alexi proposes a deal: If Hugo can successfully cleanse his home before Noche Buena, Alexi will forgive Hugo’s debt. Hugo reluctantly accepts, but there’s one issue: Despite being a babaláwo, he doesn’t believe in spirits. Hugo plans to do what he’s done with dozens of clients before: use sleight of hand and amateur psychology to convince Alexi the spirits have departed. But when the job turns out to be more than Hugo bargained for, Hugo’s old tricks don’t work. Memories of his past–his childhood in the Bolivian silver mines and a fraught crossing into the United States as a boy–collide with Alexi’s demons in an explosive climax.
A Night of Screams : Latino Horror Stories
This riveting collection of horror stories-and four poems-contains a wide range of styles, themes and authors. Creepy creatures roam the pages, including La Llorona and the Chupacabras in fresh takes on Latin American lore, as well as ghosts, zombies and shadow selves. Migrants continue to pass through Rancho Altamira where Esteban’s family has lived for generations, but now there are two types: the living and the dead. A young man returns repeatedly to the scary portal down which his buddy disappeared. A woman is relieved to receive multiple calls from her cousin following Hurricane María in Puerto Rico, but she is stunned to later learn her prima died the first night of the storm! There’s plenty of blood and gore in some stories, while others are mysterious and suspenseful.
Say Hello To My Little Friend by Jennine Capo Crucet
Failed Pitbull impersonator Ismael Reyes, you can call him Izzy, might not be the Scarface type, but why should that keep him from trying? Growing up in Miami has shaped him into someone who dreams of being the King of the 305, with the money, power, and respect he assumes comes with it. After finding himself at the mercy of a cease-and-desist letter from Pitbull’s legal team and living in his aunt’s garage-turned-efficiency, Izzy embarks on an absurd quest to turn himself into a modern-day Tony Montana. When Izzy’s efforts lead him to the tank that houses Lolita, a captive orca at the Miami Seaquarium, she proves just how powerful she and the water surrounding her really are, permeating everything from Miami’s sinking streets to Izzy’s memories to the very heart of the novel itself. What begins as Izzy’s story turns into a super-saturated fever dream as sprawling and surreal as the Magic City, one as sharp as an iguana’s claws, and as menacing as a killer whale’s teeth.
The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
In 1950s Hollywood, when an unknown Mexican ingenue is cast as Salome, a star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary heroine, she becomes the object of envy of Nancy Hartley, a bit player who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.
The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza
Ernesto and Elena Vega arrive in Mexico City where Ernesto works on a construction site until he is discovered by a local lucha libre trainer. At a time when luchadores-Mexican wrestlers donning flamboyant masks and capes-were treated as daredevils or rockstars, Ernesto finds fame as El Rey Coyote, rapidly gaining name recognition across Mexico. Years later, in East Los Angeles Freddy Vega is struggling to save his father’s gym while Freddy’s own son Julian is searching for professional and romantic fulfillment as a Mexican American gay man refusing to be defined by stereotypes. The once larger-than-life Ernesto Vega is now dying, leading Freddy and Julian to find their own passions and discover what really happened back in Mexico. Told from alternating perspectives, Ernesto takes you from the ranches of Michoacán to the makeshift colonias and crowded sports arenas of Mexico City.
Until August by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Sitting alone beside the languorous blue waters of the lagoon, Ana Magdalena Bach contemplates the men at the hotel bar. She has been happily married for twenty-seven years and has no reason to escape the life she has made with her husband and children. And yet, every August, she travels by ferry here to the island where her mother is buried, and for one night takes a new lover. Across sultry Caribbean evenings full of salsa and boleros, lotharios and conmen, Ana journeys further each year into the hinterland of her desire and the fear hidden in her heart. Constantly surprising, joyously sensual, this rediscovered novel is a profound meditation on freedom, regret, self-transformation, and the mysteries of love–an unexpected gift from one of the greatest writers the world has ever known..
Vanishing Maps by Cristina Garcia
From the acclaimed author of Dreaming in Cuban, a follow-up novel that tracks four generations of the del Pino family against the tumultuous backdrops of Cuba, the U.S., Germany, and Russia in the new millennium.
Nonfiction/Memoirs
Accordion Eulogies : A Memoir of Music, Migration, and Mexico by Noe Alvarez
Growing up in Yakima, Washington, Noé Álvarez never knew his grandfather. Stories swirled around this mythologized, larger-than-life figure: that he had abandoned his family, and had possibly done something awful that put a curse on his descendants. About his grandfather, young Noé was sure of only one thing: That he had played the accordion. Now an adult, reckoning with the legacy of silence surrounding his family’s migration from Mexico, Álvarez resolves both to take up the instrument and to journey into Mexico to discover the grandfather he never knew.
Harvest of Empire : A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez
A sweeping history of the Latinx experience in the United States. spans five centuries–from the European colonization of the Americas to the 2020 election. Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States, and their impact on American culture and politics is greater than ever. With family portraits of real-life immigrant Latino pioneers, as well as accounts of the events and conditions that compelled them to leave their homelands, Gonzalez highlights the complexity of a segment of the American population that is often discussed but frequently misrepresented.
The Latino Century : How America’s Largest Minority is Transforming Democracy by Mike Madrid
In 2020, Latinos became the second largest ethnic voting group in the country. They make up the largest plurality of residents in the most populous states in the union, as well as the fastest segment of the most important swing states in the US Electoral College. Fitting neither the stereotype of the aggrieved minority voter nor the traditional assimilating immigrant group, Latinos are challenging both political parties’ notions of race, religious beliefs, economic success, and the American dream. Veteran political consultant Mike Madrid uses thirty years of research and campaign experience at some of the highest levels on both sides of the aisle to address what might be the most critical questions of our time: Will the rise of Latino voters continue to foment the hyper-partisan and explosive tribalism of our age or will they usher in a new pluralism that advances the arc of social progress? How and why are both political parties so uniquely unprepared for the coming wave of Latino votes? And what must each party do to win those votes?
Latinoland : A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority by Marie Arana
This wide-ranging overview of the turbulent and little-known history of the diverse Latino experience in America is based on hundreds of interviews and research about the fastest-growing minority in America.
My Side of the River: A Memoir by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
Gutierrez reveals her experience as the U.S. born daughter of immigrants and what happened when, at fifteen, her parents were forced back to Mexico in this captivating and tender memoir. Born to Mexican immigrants south of the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth had the world at her fingertips. She was preparing to enter her freshman year of high school as the number one student when suddenly, her own country took away the most important right a child has: the right to have a family. When her parents’ visas expired and they were forced to return to Mexico, Elizabeth was left responsible for her younger brother, as well as her education. Determined to break the cycle of being a “statistic,” she knew that even though her parents couldn’t stay, there was no way she could let go of the opportunities the U.S. could provide. Armed with only her passport and sheer teenage determination, Elizabeth became what her school would eventually describe as an unaccompanied homeless youth, one of thousands of underage victims affected by family separation due to broken immigration laws.
Our Migrant Souls : A Meditation On Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” by Hector Tobar
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tobar delivers a definitive and personal exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States right now. Tobar translates his experience as not only a journalist and novelist but also a mentor, a leader, and an educator. He interweaves his own story, and that of his parents’ migration to the United States from Guatemala, into his account of his journey across the country to uncover something expansive, inspiring, true, and alive about the meaning of “Latino” in the twenty-first century.
Viva Hollywood : The Legacy of Latin and Hispanic Artists in American Film by Luis I. Reyes
This is an in-depth history of the stars, films, achievements, and influence of the Hispanic and Latino community in Hollywood history from the silent era to the present day. Overcoming obstacles of prejudice, ignorance, and stereotyping, this group has given the world some of its most beloved stars and told some of its most indelible stories. It examines the stars in front of the screen as well as the people behind-the-scenes who have created a rich legacy across more than 100 years. The role of Latin women on screen is explored through the professional lives of Dolores Del Rio, Rita Hayworth, Raquel Welch, Salma Hayek, Penélope Cruz, and many more. The book covers the films and careers of actors ranging from silent screen idol Antonio Moreno, to international Oscar-winning star Anthony Quinn, to Andy Garcia and Antonio Banderas. A spotlight is also given to craftspeople who elevated the medium with their artistry–visionaries like cinematographer John Alonzo, Citizen Kane scenic artist Mario Larrinaga, and Oscar-winning makeup artist Beatrice de Alba.
—Archana Chiplunkar, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian