3.45 avg rating — 1,449 ratings

"I will read any book that includes old gods walking the earth. It's a conceit I love, and learning about new mythologies was a plus. It's set in Nigeria and New York City."

3.79 avg rating — 174,641 ratings

"People call it the modern Ulysses, and yes it is, but it’s also so much more than that. First of all, there are multiple timelines, which as a sci-fi fan I love to see in literature. Second, it’s set in London, which makes everything better. And third, Smith’s London is one that is criminally underrepresented in media. Read it, y’all."

3.74 avg rating — 2,080 ratings

"I read this book for a postcolonial Pacific literature class in college, then promptly read it again, then wrote a thirty-page paper on it and loved every second. Wright is an Indigenous Australian and a land rights activist, and her book describes the lives of the Waanyi people, their traditions, their gods, and their fight against big mining corporations. It is honestly one of my desert island books—so rich, and so layered, and so vibrant. "

3.87 avg rating — 46 ratings

"This is truly an epic, a book you have to read three or four times for it to really sink in. It’s a kind of fictionalized family history; Castro was born in Hong Kong and is of mixed Portuguese, Chinese, and English descent. He has lived in Australia for many decades but the book is primarily set in Hong Kong, with diversions all over the world, so I’m categorizing it here in Asia. It is really complicated—the class I read it with drew a family tree on the whiteboard to get everything straight—but even if you disregard all the family relationships and foreshadowing and just read it as a series of family snapshots, it’s worth your time. "

3.98 avg rating — 14,235 ratings

"Set in the Spokane Indian Reservastion in Washington State, where Alexie grew up. Since I did not yet know how to read when this book first came out, my first exposure to Alexie was 'The Absolutely true Diary of a Part-Time Indian,' a YA book he published in 2007. That is absolutely worth a read, but Reservation Blues is new to me. I’ve only just begun, but the voice is outstanding and the mythology, like Foreign Gods Inc, is new to me. The premise is basically “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” set on a reservation—Robert Johnson is a musician who signed a deal with the devil to become the best blues guitarist in exchange for his soul. He comes to the reservation seeking help, and leaves his guitar to new adventures in the hands of Thomas Builds-the-fire. I can’t wait to see what happens next."

3.71 avg rating — 10,379 ratings

"I picked this up at BookExpo America in 2013 on a whim, and it turned out to be one of the best queer YA novels I’ve read in years. Sahar is in love with her best friend Nasrin, but when Nasrin gets engaged to a man her parents chose for her, Sahar is devastated. What I loved even more than the romantic story, though, is the glimpse into gay life in Tehran. Sahar’s cousin Ali is her gay shepherd into this world, and her journey from shock and revulsion to curiosity to tentative acceptance is real and raw and, I suspect, very close to what the author experienced in her youth. Absolutely recommended. "

3.95 avg rating — 599 ratings

"Absolutely beautiful short stories, gifted to me by my good friend Catherine. “Abel Sanchez” is Unamuno’s take on Cain and Abel, and while it’s the titular story, my favorite was San Manuel Bueno, Mártir. Father Manuel is a priest who reveals to a parishioner that he no longer believes in God. The story is a perfect little world, one that makes you feel and dream and hope and weep along with the characters, all in a handful of pages. It’s like the distillation of a craft. It’s incredible and I highly recommend it."

4.34 avg rating — 27,100 ratings

"I went on a short story-reading binge this fall, and Butler is one of my standout favorites. She was one of the first African-American women to make a career as a science fiction writer. Not only do I admire her everything, I love her rich, inventive, twisted, perfect stories and novels. This collection of short stories was my first introduction to her and I think it’s a good route for you, too, if you haven’t encountered Butler yet. "

4.11 avg rating — 615 ratings

"I just checked this out from the library yesterday, so I have not had a chance to read it. I don’t want to be dismissive and describe this as a Brazilian 1984, but that’s what it is: Brandão writes speculative fiction about a Brazil under totalitarian rule and suffering from environmental destruction. I can’t speak to the translation yet, but I will let you know!"

4.12 avg rating — 1,101,952 ratings

"Probably the most famous book on this list, but with good reason. There are so many ways to get into it: as a history of Colombia, as a literary masterpiece, as a meditation on family and tradition and identity. Read it in Spanish if you’re able—I did, haltingly, and with a dictionary at my side. Still, I got a lot out of it and I hope you do too. "

3.56 avg rating — 129 ratings

"Written by a Puerto Rican poet and writer who is a) an amazing spoken-word poet, and b) the author of the first ever Spanglish novel, Yo-Yo Boing. Check it."

3.88 avg rating — 2,485 ratings

"Potiki is similar to Carpentaria in that it chronicles a group of indigenous people fighting the destruction of their home by a corporation. However, the politics of development and the place of Maori culture in modern New Zealand are much more central to the story. It’s a quick read, but packs a lot of Maori culture, mythology, and traditions into its pages. I’ve read a lot of political books disguised as fiction but this isn’t one of them—it’s a story about a family, and the particular joys and challenges they face. I learned a lot of awesome Maori vocabulary too! "

4.23 avg rating — 3,765 ratings

"I first heard of Ngũgĩ through his literary criticism. His manifesto “Decolonising the Mind,” announcing his intention not to write in English in order to elevate and promote his native tongue, Gikuyu. It’s a masterful critique of modern literary criticism, colonialism, and its insidious lingering effects on Africans. In addition to one of the most important figures in postcolonial studies, Ngũgĩ is also a really really good writer. Wizard of the Crow is set in a fictional country in Africa, but it feels real and the stakes feel urgent. It’s sad, it’s beautiful, it’s funny, and it does a wonderful job of translating oral storytelling into a written medium. Go for it. "