I love to read books set in the country I’m planning to visit as well delving into various travel guides about the region.
Below is an evolving list of books set in Cuba or written by Cuban authors. The links will take you to reviews on my book blog, Brona’s Books.
Novels and Short Stories about Cuba
Our Man in Havana (1958) by Graham Greene
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution (2009) by T J English
Novels and Short Stories by Cuban Writers
A Corner of the World (2014) by Mylene Fernández Pintado
Cuba and the Night (1995) by Pico Iyer
Everyone Leaves (2012) by Wendy Guerra
The Man Who Loved Dogs: A Novel (2008) by Leonardo Padura
Adios, Hemingway (2005) by Leonardo Padura
Havana Is a Really Big City: and Other Short Stories (2010) by Mirta Yanez
Disconnect by Nancy Alonso
Cubana: Contemporary Fiction by Cuban Women (1998) by Ruth Behar
Vital Signs (2014) by Pedro de Jesús
Cubanisimo!: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature (2003) by Cristina Garcia
Dreaming in Cuban (1993) by Cristina Garcia
Non-Fiction books & Memoirs about Cuba
Travelers’ Tales Cuba: True Stories (2004) by Tom Miller
Travelers’ Tales of Old Cuba (2010) by John Jenkins
The Reader’s Companion to Cuba (1997) by Alan Ryan
Cuba: A New History (2004) by Richard Gott
Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause (2009) by Tom Gjelten
The Mafia in Havana: A Caribbean Mob Story (2010) by Enrique Cirules
Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana (2002) by Ann Louise Bardach
Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington (2008) by Ann Louise Bardach
Cuba: A Traveler’s Literary Companion (2002) by Ann Louise Bardach & Katharine Silver
Cuba: A History (2010) by Hugh Thomas
My Seductive Cuba (2011) by Chen Lizra
The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba (2014) by Julia Cooke
Enduring Cuba (2202) by Zoe Bran
Slow Train to Guantanamo: A Rail Odyssey Through Cuba in the Last Days of the Castros (2013) by Peter Millar
Cuba Diaries (2002) by Isadora Tattlin
Cuban Revelations: Behind the Scenes in Havana (2015) by Marc French
The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade (2003) by Lynette Chiang
Inside Cuba: The History, Culture and Politics of an Outlaw Nation (2003) by John Miller & Aaron Kenedi
Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know (3rd edition – 2016) by Julia E Sweig
Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy (2004) by Carlos Eire
The History of Havana (2006) by Dick Cluster
Ay, Cuba! A Socio-Erotic Journey (1999) by Andrei Codrescu
Havana: A Subtropical Delirium (2017) by Mark Kurlansky
Travel Guides for Cuba
The Rough Guide to Cuba (2016) by Fiona McAuslan and Matt Norman
Cuba Lonely Planet (2015) by Brendan Sainsbury & Luke Waterson
Cuba (2015) DK Eyewitness
Havana (2014) Wallpaper City Guide
Cuba (2014) Insight Guide
Cuba Handbook (2010) Footprint
Cuban Bloggers
Generacion Y – Yoani Sanchez
Viva La Fiona: My Cuban Diary – An Australian in Cuba
Exploring the World 