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In Reading Color

Lit Latinx

Welcome to the second In Reading Color newsletter! This is a space to focus on literature by and about people of color.

September 15- October 15 marks Latinx heritage month. While we obviously celebrate Latinx authors all year round, cultural awareness months are sorely needed as there is still a fight waging to erase certain narratives. Because the history of some nonwhite groups in the Western world is inherently tied to racial animus, many conflate the teaching of that history as being anti-white or anti-American. You can read about an instance of this in this article by Rioter Sarah Hannah Gómez about Florida’s ban on Critical Race Theory.

Below are some books from different genres by Latinx authors for you to get into.


image of in the dream house book cover

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

Machado speaks of the female perpetrator and queer abusers as ghosts that have “always been here, haunting the ruler’s house” in this unique memoir that details the author’s experiences being in an abusive, queer relationship. The narrative takes different forms– among them an erotica, an academic analysis of female queerness, a haunted house– in detailing the many aspects of what it’s like to be abused by an intimate partner, showing just how complex and layered the experience is. With the use of second person, Machado snatches all hopes you might have had in staying distant from the abuse. You’re inserted front-and-center and made to live out her experiences.

image of Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora edited by Saraciea J. Fennell

Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed edited by Saraciea J. Fennell

This anthology features some of the most poppin’ Latinx writers. The poems and personal essays featured here cover everything from immigration, sexuality, music, and more, showing glimpses of the rich tapestry that is the Latinx community. Editor Fennell centered the collection on “letting our truths run wild, and pushing against whatever it is you think is the ideal Latinx individual.” Let ’em know!

image of the worst best man cover image

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

Lina Santos is a wedding planner that was left at the altar. I’ve got one word for sis: Tragic. Since then, she’s continued to run her wedding planning business with a fair amount of success in D.C. until one day she’s offered a big opportunity by someone important. The catch is that it’ll mean working with the man who convinced her former fiancé to leave her high and dry– his brother, Max. This is a fun romp through the hate-to-love romance trope, and has been described as giving serious 90s teas.

cover image of Indivisible by Daniel Aleman

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman 

Mateo is a 16-year-old queer kid with dreams of becoming an actor when the one thing he’s always feared happens: His parents are detained by I.C.E. His father goes to jail, and his mother a detention center. Suddenly, he has the weight of the world on his shoulders in the form of his 7-year-old sister and the family bodega. While he tries to maintain his dream of going to Tisch School of the Arts, he keeps his struggles from his two friends (one of whom is a possible love interest) in this heartbreaking novel about the effects of separating families.

cover image of Sabrina & Corina- Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine 

“Ever feel like the land is swallowing you whole, Sierra?”

The eleven stories here speak of heritage and land and how the two things relate to Indigenous Latinx women based in Colorado and Denver. The stories span from following a child abandoned by a woman who was made a mother too young, a sex worker and her daughter who make a big move into hostile territory, how a family struggles with a breast cancer diagnosis, and more.

cover image The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata 

Dominican born Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel in 1929 New Orleans with her son Maxwell at her side. Before she can finish its sequel, she falls ill and she and her son burn the manuscript.

Eighty years later, Saul Drower sets out for New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina prepares to hit the city in order to fulfill his dead grandfather’s request of returning a mysterious manuscript to a man named Maxwell Moreau, a physicist who speaks of parallel universes. Zapata pays homage to the power of storytelling in this imaginative historical fantasy.

A Little Sumn Extra

Exciting news! We’re looking for an Ad Ops Associate at Book Riot. If you or anyone you know may be interested, please click here to apply by September 30, 2021.

Karen Tei Yamashita to receive honorary National Book Award

Fellow Rioter Laura Sackton gives us a list of Indigenous bookstagram accounts to follow


Thanks for hanging with me! If you want to reach out and connect, email me at erica@riotnewmedia.com or tweet at me @erica_eze_. You can find me on the Hey YA podcast with reigning Queen of YA, Kelly Jensen, as well in the In The Club newsletter.

Until next week!