Cuba Bookshelf
February 14, 2012 at 2:15 am Leave a comment
Here is a list of books I’ve used in my “Cuba: A Literary Adventure” class, plus a whole lot more–for my students who would like to read more about Cuba, and for anyone else interested in learning about this fascinating and wonderful place, and its people, through literature.
Most of the works on my list are by (North) American, many by Cuban American, writers. But you can click here for a list of novels about Cuba by Cuban writers recommended by Cuban novelist Leonard Padura Fuentes. And of course, new things are being written all the time. Feel free to recommend books, films, other kinds of reading that you think should be added to this list.
You can get all these books at you-know-where, of course. But why not consider supporting your local independent bookseller instead? They need you, and we need them! 🙂
Disfruten!
LITERARY ANTHOLOGIES
Bridges to Cuba, edited by Ruth Behar
Cuba: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, edited by Anna Louise Bardach
Cuba in Mind edited by Maria Finn Dominguez
Cuba in Splinters: 11 Stories from the New Cuba, edited by Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo
Cubanissmo! edited by Cristina Garcia
New Short Fiction from Cuba , edited by Jacqueline Loss and Esther Whitfeld
The Reader’s Companion to Cuba, edited by Alan Ryan
Selected Writings of Jose Marti translated and edited by Esther Allen
HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, MEMOIR, AND OTHER NON-FICTION
An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba by Ruth Behar
The Closest of Enemies by Wayne Smith
The Cuba Reader edited by Aviva Chomsky
Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know by Julia E. Sweig
Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana by Isadora Tattlin
Dancing with Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution by Alma Guillermoprieto
Days of Awe by Achy Obejas
Finding Manana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus by Mirta Ojito
Havana: A Cultural and Literary Companion by Claudia Lightfoot
Havana Real by Yoani Sanchez
Hemingway in Cuba by Norberto Fuentes
The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood by Richard Blanco
Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire
FICTION
Adios, Happy Homeland!, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd and Loving Ché by Ana Menendez
Adios Hemingway (and other novels in his series of detective novels featuring Mario Condo) by Leonardo Padura Fuentes
Cuba and the Night by Pico Iyer
Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban by Lisa Wixon
Dreaming in Cuban and King of Cuba by Cristina Garcia
Los Gusanos by John Sayles
Telex from Cuba by Rita Kushner
The Autobiography of Fidel Castro by Norberto Fuentes
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Oscar Hijuelos
POETRY
Island of My Hunger: Cuban Poetry Today (ed. by Francisco Moran)
José Marti
Nancy Morejon
ESSAYS
“My Parents Are Cuban Exiles. Here’s What Obama’s Decision Means to Us” Ruth Behar, Washington Post December 18, 2014.
“Cuba’s New Now,” Cynthia Gorney National Geographic, November 2012
“Don’t Tell Dad, I’m Going to Cuba,” Anna Hebra Flaster, New York Times, October 21, 2012
“The Fantasy of a Cuba Where Time Stood Still,” Ruth Behar, Washington Post, Jan. 15, 2015
“Where is Cuba Going?” by John Jeremiah Sullivan, New York Times Magazine September 23, 2012
“Why Are So Many Celebrities Going to Cuba?” Phineas James, Slant News, September 25, 2014.
FILMS
Buena Vista Social Club
Memorias del Desarrollo
Memorias del Subdesarrollo
Our Man in Havana
Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate)
Viva Cuba
BLOGS/INTERNET SITES
http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/
https://havanaspecialperiod.wordpress.com/
Entry filed under: About Cuba. Tags: books, Cuba, literature, reading, travel literature.
Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road 
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