Every year, I read as many novels by Latino authors as I can, so long as I’m interested in the particular titles, and so long as the characters are also Latinos. It’s important to me to read novels with characters that I can relate to, because we share a cultural background.

Here are the novels by Latino authors that I have read so far this year (in the order read):

All They Will Call You, by Tim Z. Hernandez, is actually a fictionalization of a real event that occurred in the 1940s, the crash of an airplane in central California that killed the crew and passengers, who were undocumented workers. This is a heartbreaking, beautiful telling of a not well-publicized tragic event.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life, by Benjamin Alire Saenz, who is a popular YA author. I didn’t care for the story’s meandering style, but its characters are well-written.

Haters, by Alisa Valdes, is another YA title and one I quite enjoyed. Valdes is a good writer, and her books, including this one, are page-turners.

Eulogy for a Brown Angel, by Lucha Corpi, is a mystery set in 1970s’ Los Angeles  and San Francisco, with the Chicano Moratorium march serving as a background for the murder of a child. It’s a slow-moving but interesting read.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, by Erika Sanchez, is another YA page-turner that focuses on the topics of teen suicide, Mexican culture, and the search for self-identity.