7 Books to Diversify Your Reading List

There are myriad ways to diversify your reading. Some people concentrate on books written by people of color; others diversify by topic, looking for stories that offer a perspective different from their own. Still others look for books in translation, which expand their horizons beyond the English-speaking world. No matter how you define diversity, you’ll find a book or two from the seven novels featured today to add to your reading list. Note too that most of these books were published by small presses, which generally champion diverse voices.

• As Lie Is to Grin by Simeon Marsalis (Catapult, Oct. 10): A young black man tries to find his place at a predominately white New England university and in America in general, while hiding his true story from his girlfriend back in his native New York City. Diversity themes: author of color, the African American experience
• A Duplicate Daughter by Randy Nelson (Harvard Square Editions, Oct. 31): A baby is rescued by a poor man after a 1936 earthquake in Mexico only to be re-rescued 12 years later by a wealthy family, leading everyone to question the girl’s true place. Diversity themes: Latin America, social justice
• The Floating World by C. Morgan Bast (Algonquin, Oct. 17): This much-praised novel follows a mixed-race New Orleans family from preparations for and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Diversity themes: race, mental health.
• The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha (Oneworld Publications, Oct. 10): In the 1940s, a young Rio de Janeiro woman marries under family pressure, putting her dreams aside until her estranged sister reenters her life and changes everything. Diversity themes: translated from Portuguese, set in Brazil
• This Is How It Begins by Joan Dempsey (She Writes Press, Oct. 3): Contemporary discrimination against gay teachers, rekindles an elderly art professor’s strong feelings of social justice, exposing her secret past as a member of the Nazi resistance. Diversity themes: LGBTQ, Jewish
• Three Floors Up by Eshkol Nevo (Other Press, Oct. 10): The daily lives of three families residing in the same Tel Aviv apartment building provide a cross-sectional look at contemporary middle-class Israel, while exploring the more universal theme of how little we know the people around us. Diversity themes: translated from Hebrew, set in Israel
• The Vineyard by María Dueñas (Atria, Oct. 3):This saga, set in the mid-1800s, takes readers from Mexico to Cuba, to Spain, as the Larrea family tries to rebuild their fortune and escape scandal. Diversity themes: Spanish-speaking world, slavery