In addition to being Pride month, June is also a great time to Read Caribbean! This initiative started in 2019, coined by Cindy at Book of Cinz. The goal is to read books about or set in the Caribbean, or written by authors who are Caribbean or of Caribbean heritage. If you’re like me and have a huge pile of unread Caribbean books, now is the perfect time to get through some of them!
Need some ideas to get started? Here is a list of numerous books – mostly fiction, but also some nonfiction – that are set in the Caribbean or were written by Caribbean authors. The first section features books I have personally read; you can click each of them to read my full review. After that, I list out the recent Caribbean novels on my radar that came out in the last year or so. Next are three slightly older Caribbean books on my own shelf that I need to read. Finally, in case nonfiction is more your thing, there are a couple of recent nonfiction books by Caribbean authors.
Let me know what you’ll be reading this month and if there are any great books this list is missing!
Novels I’ve read by Caribbean authors or set in Caribbean countries:
The Lost Book of Adana Moreau
About one year ago, The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata was just about to come out when I discovered it. I was immediately interested in reading this debut, especially when I saw comparisons to Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind. I do love books about books! Although I did buy The…
Black Buck
There’s been a lot of buzz about a new book that just came out in early January, Black Buck, the the debut novel by Mateo Askaripour. I wasn’t surprised to see it was a pick on Book of the Month, but I was excited to add it to my box. I’m not sure why I…
Next Year in Havana
A couple of years ago, I picked up Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton. She’s released two more books in this series since then, and has already announced another due next spring, and I knew it was time to finally settle in and give this novel my attention. That this month (from September 15…
With the Fire on High
I have a confession: In the first few years after I finished college, I thought I was too old for YA books. I thought I could only read about characters who were my age or older, and that reading YA books would make me look immature. This nonsense went on for several years before I…
You Had Me at Hola
This summer, I started hearing great things about a new contemporary romance, You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria. I was instantly interested, in part because it highlights Latinx characters. My husband is Latino – Peruvian, specifically – and while it wasn’t quite love at first sight, we at least became friends at “hola.”…
Felix Ever After
A few weeks ago, I fell into a vortex of finding books to recommend to my younger sister. One of those was Felix Ever After, a YA book by Kacen Callender. But though I originally wanted to get the novel for my sister, the story looked too good for me to pass up. I ordered…
Queenie
Late last year, I picked up Candice Carty-Williams’s debut novel, Queenie, from Book of the Month. I held off on reading it, waiting for the right time, and with all that’s been happening these last few weeks, that time officially arrived. Queenie was more relevant than I’d even anticipated, and I encourage all of you…
The Golden Hour
It was almost exactly one year ago that I picked up the Book of the Month edition of The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams. I’d been wanting to read something by Beatriz Williams for a few months – all of her books look intriguing – and when it was a June pick on BOTM, I…
Dominicana
I discovered Dominicana by Angie Cruz thanks to Book of the Month featuring it as one of their August 2019 picks. Although I hadn’t heard of it before, reading its description made it an instant impulse buy, and I was eager to read it. Fast forward a few months, and after finishing Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods…
Recent fiction I want to read that is set in the Caribbean and/or was written by Caribbean authors:
Earlier Caribbean fiction on my TBR:
Recent nonfiction from Caribbean authors:
What books do you plan to include when you Read Caribbean this year? Are there any books this list is missing? Let me know in the comments!
Amanda's Book Corner 
Footnotes