I love novels where you learn about another culture in a natural way as a part of the setting of the book. So not a travel guide or a history book, but fiction or memoir that has great characters and story and the cultural parts (like food, holidays, customs, etc) are just baked in. I know this is true of every book, to a certain extent, but some books it feels more intentional. Also please only suggestions of books where the author is from the culture they’re writing about.
For example, here are a few books I enjoyed that also taught me a lot about the protagonist’s culture:
Crying in H Mart
Born a Crime
Krik? Krak!
Unmarriageable
The Leavers
Funny in Farsi
I also prefer character-driver books to plot-driven, but that’s a secondary criteria for this post.
TIA for your suggestions!
by akreun1