Favorite Books and Movies

Cuba & Colombia

Cuba

We have compiled a list of our favorite books and movies that paint a picture of Cuba's past or present.  Indulge yourself in some of our favorites!  There are many more on the market than what are listed below, we don't add in the ones we didn't enjoy or that didn't fit with the Cuba we know.

You can also watch our Curious About Cuba classes on YouTube to learn more about history, music, art, dance, economy, education, food, and more!

Books

• Out of Havana by Araceli Alonso (history of Cuban revolution told in fictional format-EXCELLENT perspective)

• DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Cuba (awesome guidebook)

• I Will Die Free by Noble Alexander (Religious persecution)

• The Red Umbrella by Cristina Gonzalez (Young Adult, Operation Peter Pan)

• The German Girl by Armando Lucas Corea (Historical Fiction about Jews escaping the Holocaust and USS St. Louis)

• Monkey Hunting by Cristina Garcia (Chinese immigration)

• Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba by Tom Gjelten (history of the Bacardi family business starting in 1850s)

• Boxing for Cuba: An Immigrant’s Story by Guillermo Vicente Vidal (Former Mayor of Denver-Operation Peter Pan)

• Cuban Color in Tourism and La Lucha: An Ethnography of Racial Meanings by L. Kaifa Rowland (Racism)

• Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton (romance novel, flashes between Revolution times & modern day)

• Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia (fiction story of Cuban women in the US & Cuba, great descriptions of santeria)

• Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner (story of American businessmen in Cuba during the revolution)

• Havana: A Subtropical Delirium by Mark Kurlansky  (journalist-style book on the history of Cuba)

• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (essential for a visit to Cojimar!)

Movies

• The Lost City-casino owner who flees after the Revolution

• Havana-Robert Redford, Havana during the Revolution

• Viva Cuba-story of a boy and girl struggling with life in Havana

• Mambo Kings-Musician brothers leave Cuba for America in the 1950s, hoping to hit the top of the Latin music scene

• The Motorcycle Diaries-about Che Guevarra; an Oscar winner

• 638 Ways to Kill Castro-documentary on how the US was going to eliminate Castro in the 1960s (Available free on YouTube)

• The Buena Vista Social Club-Oscar-nominated documentary on how the pre-revolutionary musicians were brought together in the ‘90’s

• The Cuba Libre Story- 8 hour-long episodes that tell of Cuba’s history in documentary style. Also available on Netflix.

Colombia

Gabriel Gárcia Márquez is a Nobel-prize-winning Colombian author, and much of his work was inspired in Cartagena! His books are prolific and many movies have been made from them.

You can find these and more on our private Amazon Shopping list.

Books

• Magdalena: River of Dreams: A Story of Colombia by Wade Davis, a journal of how people and nature have shaped each other over hundreds of years in Colombia.

• National Geographic Traveler: Colombia, 2nd Edition by Christopher P. Baker

• Permission to Slurp: The Insider's Guide to Tasting Specialty Coffee in Colombia by Karen Attman. This handy book tells you all about single-sourced coffee, grinding, freshness, and different ways to brew coffee. It’s a great read for beginning coffee connoisseurs visiting coffee plantations in Colombia.

Videos

• Street Food: Latin America, Bogotá, Colombia episode on Netflix

• Wild Colombia Revealed, Amazon Prime. Highlights 38 different species from 20 different ecosystems. The habitats of Colombia are wildly underestimated!

• Aluna- An Ecological Warning by the Kogi People on YouTube. Indigenous Colombians (from the Tayrona region) educating Westerners about their view of the world.

Want more resources?

Check out the Cultural Reads blog for even more books and movies from writers around the world. Their Colombian page is a great resource!