I value apolitical bookish spaces, magazines and communities online.
Where people endeavor to prioritise the discussion of art and literature outside the context of geopolitics.
When we talk about books, we can talk about what matters to us without venturing into geopolitical territories (like left, and right, and centre—and the whole spectrum around and between).
And, in those conversations, I want to include ALL the books. One long TBR, one long literary conversation.
In various parts of the world right now, the current geopolitical climate is shifting towards what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warns of in “The Danger of a Single Story”.
This narrowing of the public conversation affects us all, across the geo-political landscape.
Multiplicity—many stories, all different voices, all literatures—and the freedom to access them—matters.
The Spanish-language site for the American government was taken offline the day after 47’s inauguration with the 404-error page containing a button that read “Go Home.” The button text has since been changed to read “Go to Home Page”. (Verify this change by using the Wayback Machine. We all need to practice confirming whether the “facts” we read are verifiable.)
As Adichie says in her TEDTalk, “Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower, to humanize.”
We, the Bookish, are not powerless. Perhaps we do not possess the kind of power we believe would most quickly adjust the trajectory of current events—to halt the book bans, to shore up democratic principles and equitable access to information—but we are not powerless.
I have renamed my Shelf of America; it’s now my Shelf of Mexico. When I mentioned this in January (my decision to read more Mexican-American writers, more Latin-American writers, more Spanish-language writers), there were so many terrific recommendations that I decided to organise them and share them here, with thanks.
I’m not a scholar, not a historian, not a public figure—just one quiet, mostly solitary, bookish person. Remembering what Thomas King says about stories: “Stories are wondrous things. And they are dangerous.”
If you believe that stories are powerful, and if you were as excited as I was by all the enthusiasm for my reading project in 2025, you’ll love this list. (So grateful because personal recommendations, reader-to-reader, are the best: I know they all will be good!)
If you haven’t yet shared some recommendations (or TBRs of your own), feel free to add them below. And please share if YOU have added some books to your #ShelfofMexico this year, whether they’re in your reading log or on your TBR. Thanks to Andrew, Anne, Bill, Jacqui, Rachel, Rebecca, Reese, Sandy, Simon, and Stefanie for recommending and musing on possibilities. And thanks to everyone who expressed enthusiasm for and interest in the project, in comments and emails and conversations, too.
- Selva Almada’s Not a River (Argentina)
- Julia Alverez’s The Cemetery of Untold Stories (Dominican Republic)
- Austin Araujo’s At the Park on the Edge of the Country (Mexican-American)
- Jazmina Barrera’s Lighthouses and Cross Stitch (Mexico)
- Augusto Roa Bastos’ I, The Supreme
- Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 and The Savage Detectives (Chile)
- Jorge Luis Borges’ Fictions (Argentina)
- Bernardo Esquinca (Mexico)
- Héctor Abad Faciolince’s Oblivion: A Memoir (Colombia)
- Rosario Ferré Sweet Diamond Dust (Puerto-Rican)
- Marcelo Figueras’ Kamchatka (Argentina)
- Yuri Herrera’s Signs Preceding the End of the World (Mexico)
- Clarice Lispector’s Hour of the Star (Brazil)
- J. Estanislao Lopez’s We Borrowed Gentleness (Mexican-American)
- Valeria Luiselli’s Faces in the Crowd, Lost Children Archive, Sidewalks, Tell Me How It Ends, The Story of My Teeth (Mexico)
- Gabriela Mistral (Chile)
- Claudia Pineiro’s Elena Knows and A Little Luck (Argentina)
- Andrés N. Ordorica (Mexican-American)
- Natalia Borges Polesso’s Amora (Brazil)
- Esteban Rodriguez’s Loteria
- Juan Pablo Villalobos’ Quesadillas and Down the Rabbit Hole (Mexico)
In the photo at the top of the page, you can see what’s on my #ShelfofMexico today—with Mexican, Brazilian, Argentinian and Catalan authors.
When I post about this 2025Project next, you’ll see some of the above recommendations on the shelf.
PS For those following along with the George Saunders’ A Swim in A Pond in the Rain reading project, this month’s story page was updated earlier today.
Thanks for sharing all these recommendations, Marcie. It’s such an interesting list, and I’m sure you’ll find it a very rewarding project. I’ll be very interested to hear your thoughts as we go through the year!
Such an interesting list, I’ll look forward to hearing how you find these. I have Claudia Pineiro in the TBR, I’m hoping to get to her soon.
I share the spirit of this post and as I said in my comment in your previous post about this project, I wonde about a Shelf of Canada project. I’ll see what Canadian books I have on the shelf.
Many thanks for putting this list together, it’s a great way to promote other literatures.
Have fun reading all these stories and discovering new writers.
Feeling somewhat poleaxed by everything spewing out of this new administration so your post is very welcome, Marcie. The ‘Go Home’ page is so petty, so malicious, so pernicious, and you’re quite right about the need for verifying facts. As for books, I see you have Almada’s Not a River. I’d also recommend The Wind Lays Waste.
Thanks for this! It’s a great list of books to work through, but thanks more importantly for the reminder of the power of books and reading, and the power of names. That Adichie talk is an excellent one—I remember watching it at the time, and it’s only become more relevant since then. Here’s to multiplicity and the Shelf of Mexico!