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Rigoberto González recommends his two favorite books of 2017

Rigoberto González
(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times )
By Rigoberto González
Critic at Large

My two favorite books of 2017: Achy Obejas’s superb story collection “The Tower of Antilles” (Akashic Books) deals with the conflicted relationships Cubans, exiles and Cuban Americans have with their homeland, with the U.S., and, more poignantly, with each other; Vanessa Angélica Villarreal’s stunning poetry debut “Beast Meridian” (Noemi Press) charts the emotional journey of a first-generation Chicana as she navigates her troubled family, cultural displacement and an “American dream” that excludes women of color.

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Rigoberto González

Gonzalez’s four collections of poetry include “Unpeopled Eden,” which won the Lambda Literary Award and the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets. He has penned 10 works of prose, including novels, memoir, and bilingual childrens books. He has been awarded Guggenheim and NEA fellowships. Born in Bakersfield and raised by farmworkers who migrated between Mexico and the US, he now lives in New York and is a professor of English at Rutgers-Newark.

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