Latin America

[MLE]

Just to get this side of the world started, here is my list of books that cover everything from south of the US border to pre-Columbian Patagonia. (Actually, I don't know of any novels set in Pre-Columbian Patagonia, but maybe somebody out here does.)

Isabel Allende, Ines of my Soul (see review, already re-posted) and Daughter of Fortune (which also goes other places)
The Incas by Daniel Peters, review posted
Aztec by Gary Jennings (not a personal recommendation, could not get though it for sheer crudity, but others seem to like it)
Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger I recommend it, one of my all-time faves. Also set in Spain.
The King's Fifth, YA by Scott O'Dell

[annis]

Clare Bell's novel "Jaguar Princess" (http://www.amazon.com/Jaguar-Princess-Clare-Bell/dp/0812515161) makes a good alternative to Gary Jennings' series. One caveat, it does contain fantasy elements, so if you don't enjoy fantasy you'd perhaps skip it.

[Ariadne]

Here's my review (http://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2008/08/book-review-barbara-woods-woman-of.html) of Barbara Wood's Woman of a Thousand Secrets, set in early 14th-century Mesoamerica. The prequel of sorts is Daughter of the Sun. (They're loosely connected but you don't have to read them in order)

Another good one is Jaime Manriquez's Our Lives Are the Rivers.

[HF Enthusiast]

I am trying to educate myself on Latin America history and specifically with Mexico.
I have just finish reading Aztec by Gary Jennings. My next book will be Aztec Autumn and then the following books listed below:
Aztec Rage (Aztec), 1491: New Revelations of the America before Columbus by Charles C. Mann, Feathered Serpent of the Mexican Conquest by Colin Falconer, Tonatiuh's People of the Mexican Cataclysm by John Ross, Encounter With Destiny by Martha Melahn, The Texan Star - The Story of a Great Fight for Liberty by A. Altsheler Joseph a. Altsheler, The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes and all of Carlos Fuentes books and finally The Zigzag Way by Anita Desai.

Any recommendations and or comments would be appreciated.

[Andromeda_Organa]

Santa Evita by Tomas Eloy Martinez

[annis]

Then there's James Michener's sprawling multi-generational saga, "Mexico" (http://www.amazon.com/Mexico-James-Michener/dp/0449221873)

[Ash]

Isabel Allende's early books House of Spirits and Eva Luna take place during revolutionary upheavels in Chili, and are a good introduction to those events. I couldn't get into Aztec (which is weird because I loved his Journeyer). I'd like to try some Mesopotamia novels but I've found most of them to be overly romantic and short on history, or tend to over glorify the natives to unrealistic proportions. I'll have to check out the ones you listed HF, they sound interesting.

[donroc]

And there is a Michener-multi-generational type book titled Brazil, which was released decades ago by an author whose name I have forgotten.

[MLE]

And there is a Michener-multi-generational type book titled Brazil, which was released decades ago by an author whose name I have forgotten.
Errol Lincoln Uys wrote that. I have not read it.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude is said to be a good read. Another one on my TBR.

[Margaret]

City of Silver is about to be released on August 4, and I've just posted a review at HistoricalNovels.info (http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/City-of-Silver.html) (and also an interview with the author on my blog (http://www.historicalnovels.info/historical-novels-blog.html)). It's a mystery set in 1650 in the silver mining city of Potosí (then Peru, now Bolivia), as the mines are becoming less productive. This is one of those novels in which the setting is so strong it might be called a character in itself. While the mystery is pretty good, it was the setting that really had me riveted.

[Volgadon]

Sharpe's Devil is about Bolivar's war against the Spanish, but is a lousy novel.

Part of George MacDonald Frazer's Pyrates is set in South America.

[Jack]

For YA there's a great book called WELL OF SACRIFICE by Chris Eboch that's worth an adult's time as well. Scott O'Dell has a few on the area-KING'S FIFTH, THE CAPTIVE, etc.
There's also a really good book on Cortez and his mistress called THE GOLDEN PRINCESS, by Alexander Baron that dates from the 50's and is both sympathetic to La Malinche and portrrays the incredible difficulty (no matter what your position on the morality) of Cortez' achievement. This is definately NOT for younger readers though.