Popular North American Cultural Books
Find cultural books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (58)
12.
Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips EN
Country: North America / 
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Description:
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction Caryl Phillips' ambitious and powerful novel spans two hundred and fifty years of the African diaspora. It tracks two brothers and a sister on their separate journeys through different epochs and continents- one as a missionary to Liberia in the 1830s, one a pioneer on a wagon trail to the American West later that century, and one a GI posted to a Yorkshire village in the Second World War. 'Epic and frequently astonishing' The Times 'Its resonance continues to deepen' New York Times
13.
Dream on Monkey Mountain : And Other Plays by Derek Walcott EN
Country: North America / 
St. Lucia
St. Lucia
Description:
On a Caribbean island, the morning after a full moon, Felix Hobain tears through the market in a drunken rage. Taken away to sober up in jail, all that night he is gripped by hallucinations: the impoverished hermit believes he has become a healer, walking from village to village, tending to the sick, waiting for a sign from God. In this dream, his one companion, Moustique, wants to exploit his power. Moustique decides to impersonate a prophet himself, ignoring a coffin-maker who warns him he will die and enraging the people of the island. Hobain, half-awake in his desolate jail cell, terrorize... continue
14.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The biblical account of Cain and Abel is echoed in the history of two generations of the Trask family in California.
15.
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin EN
Country: North America / 
Canada
Canada
Description:
Fans of Exciting Times and Convenience Store Woman will devour this funny and original literary debut about the unintentional consequences of anxiety and the relentless pressures of modern life, starring the most unforgettable literary creation since Eleanor Oliphant and Fleabag.
16.
Faith Among Shadows by Malcolm Leal EN
Country: North America / 
Cuba
Cuba
Description:
Lying face down on the muddy jungle floor, with the taste of his own blood in his mouth, all Malcolm Leal could do was call upon the God of his great-grandmother. Florencia Martinez Hernandez raised Malcolm as her own son in a small fishing village on the northern coast of Cuba. Teaching Malcolm wisdom gleaned from the worn pages of her century-old Bible, Florencia spoke of a temple "promised to all people" and that there were men on earth who "walked with God." Most importantly, she taught him to rely on "her" God for everything. While on assignment for the Cuban Special Forces in the dense r... continue
17.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
This book answers the most obvious, the most important, yet the most difficult question about human history: why history unfolded so differently on different continents. Geography and biography, not race, moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans, Asians
18.
Home Home by Lisa Allen-Agostini EN
Country: North America / 
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Description:
Fans of Monday's Not Coming and Girl in Pieces will love this award-winning novel about a girl on the verge of losing herself and the unlikely journey to recovery after she is removed from anything and everyone she knows to be home. Moving from Trinidad to Canada wasn't her idea. But after being hospitalized for depression, her mother sees it as the only option. Now, living with an estranged aunt she barely remembers and dealing with her "troubles" in a foreign country, she feels more lost than ever. Everything in Canada is cold and confusing. No one says hello, no one walks anywhere, and bus ... continue
19.
How the Word Is Passed : A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, III EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Poet and contributor to The Atlantic Clint Smith's revealing, contemporary portrait of America as a slave owning nation Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks-those that are honest about the past and those that are not-that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves. It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving... continue
20.
Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein EN
Country: North America / Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Description:
_____________________________ * A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK FOR 2023 * 'A shimmering slice of Trinidadian gothic . . . Sumptuous, brilliantly written' THE TIMES 'An astonishing novel – linguistically gorgeous, narratively propulsive and psychologically profound' BERNARDINE EVARISTO 'Deeply impressive . . . Energy and inventiveness distinguish every page' HILARY MANTEL 'The biggest, most frightening, beautiful and alive novel I've read in as long as I can remember' EVIE WYLD _____________________________ A 2023 highlight for: Financial Times * Guardian * Evening Standard * Daily... continue