Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
Sign in with Facebook
Ficton and Non-fiction describing the experience of immigrants.
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 1 |
|
The Joy Luck Club
by
Amy Tan (Goodreads Author)
3.97 avg rating — 706,211 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 2 |
|
The Kite Runner
by
Khaled Hosseini (Goodreads Author)
4.35 avg rating — 3,440,929 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 3 |
|
The Namesake
by
4.02 avg rating — 281,826 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 4 |
|
The House on Mango Street
by
3.69 avg rating — 227,452 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 5 |
|
Interpreter of Maladies
by
4.18 avg rating — 204,549 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 6 |
|
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)
by
4.15 avg rating — 654,242 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 7 |
|
My Ántonia
by
3.84 avg rating — 146,111 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 8 |
|
An Ishmael of Syria
by
3.81 avg rating — 631 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 9 |
|
Americanah
by
4.31 avg rating — 406,904 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 10 |
|
Middlesex
by
4.04 avg rating — 660,097 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 11 |
|
White Teeth
by
3.79 avg rating — 172,756 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 12 |
|
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by
3.89 avg rating — 276,726 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 13 |
|
Shanghai Girls (Shanghai Girls, #1)
by
Lisa See (Goodreads Author)
3.92 avg rating — 161,725 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 14 |
|
Unaccustomed Earth
by
4.14 avg rating — 96,172 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 15 |
|
Cutting for Stone
by
Abraham Verghese (Goodreads Author)
4.33 avg rating — 421,838 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 16 |
|
Girl in Translation
by
Jean Kwok (Goodreads Author)
3.99 avg rating — 58,431 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 17 |
|
The Bonesetter's Daughter
by
Amy Tan (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 132,401 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 18 |
|
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
by
4.20 avg rating — 88,253 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 19 |
|
The Kitchen God's Wife
by
Amy Tan (Goodreads Author)
4.04 avg rating — 87,567 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 20 |
|
The Jungle
by
3.78 avg rating — 153,373 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 21 |
|
The Hundred Secret Senses
by
Amy Tan (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 46,417 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 22 |
|
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by
Jamie Ford (Goodreads Author)
4.05 avg rating — 313,334 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 23 |
|
Brick Lane
by
3.46 avg rating — 35,465 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 24 |
|
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by
Jonathan Safran Foer (Goodreads Author)
3.97 avg rating — 433,394 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 25 |
|
The Arrival
by
4.35 avg rating — 59,460 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 26 |
|
Little Bee
by
Chris Cleave (Goodreads Author)
3.72 avg rating — 247,784 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 27 |
|
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by
4.45 avg rating — 164,167 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 28 |
|
O Pioneers!
by
3.90 avg rating — 57,918 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 29 |
|
Esperanza Rising
by
4.05 avg rating — 112,584 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 30 |
|
The Thorn Birds
by
4.25 avg rating — 362,852 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 31 |
|
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
by
Julia Alvarez (Goodreads Author)
3.62 avg rating — 32,463 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 32 |
|
Daughter of Fortune
by
Isabel Allende (Goodreads Author)
3.94 avg rating — 139,197 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 33 |
|
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
by
3.73 avg rating — 33,563 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 34 |
|
The Tortilla Curtain
by
T. Coraghessan Boyle (Goodreads Author)
3.66 avg rating — 34,270 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 35 |
|
The Buddha in the Attic
by
3.70 avg rating — 63,128 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 36 |
|
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis, #1)
by
4.27 avg rating — 227,342 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 37 |
|
Pachinko
by
4.34 avg rating — 601,672 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 38 |
|
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by
3.73 avg rating — 83,415 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 39 |
|
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by
4.30 avg rating — 505,398 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 40 |
|
Infidel
by
4.20 avg rating — 92,299 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 41 |
|
The Godfather (The Godfather, #1)
by
4.40 avg rating — 457,963 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 42 |
|
Breath, Eyes, Memory
by
3.90 avg rating — 31,052 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 43 |
|
The Inheritance of Loss
by
3.46 avg rating — 54,931 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 44 |
|
'Tis
by
3.74 avg rating — 65,816 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 45 |
|
Digging to America
by
Anne Tyler (Goodreads Author)
3.59 avg rating — 23,363 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 46 |
|
Lolita
by
3.87 avg rating — 930,838 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 47 |
|
Starting Over
by
Laura Rittenhouse (Goodreads Author)
3.95 avg rating — 19 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 48 |
|
Exodus
by
4.34 avg rating — 101,119 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 49 |
|
How to Be an American Housewife
by
Margaret Dilloway (Goodreads Author)
3.65 avg rating — 13,610 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 50 |
|
The Book of Unknown Americans
by
Cristina Henríquez (Goodreads Author)
3.89 avg rating — 45,895 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 51 |
|
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
by
3.84 avg rating — 27,275 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 52 |
|
Managing Bubbie
by
Russel Lazega (Goodreads Author)
4.33 avg rating — 506 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 53 |
|
When I Was Puerto Rican
by
Esmeralda Santiago (Goodreads Author)
4.07 avg rating — 13,635 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 54 |
|
Small Island
by
4.01 avg rating — 37,530 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 55 |
|
The Thing Around Your Neck
by
4.23 avg rating — 49,122 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 56 |
|
Bless Me, Ultima
by
3.82 avg rating — 36,978 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 57 |
|
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
by
3.45 avg rating — 36,584 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 58 |
|
The Quiet American
by
3.98 avg rating — 69,930 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 59 |
|
Those Who Save Us
by
Jenna Blum (Goodreads Author)
4.11 avg rating — 103,201 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 60 |
|
Drown
by
4.01 avg rating — 37,146 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 61 |
|
A Pale View of Hills
by
Kazuo Ishiguro (Goodreads Author)
3.79 avg rating — 42,140 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 62 |
|
The Chosen (Reuven Malter, #1)
by
4.07 avg rating — 96,717 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 63 |
|
And the Mountains Echoed
by
Khaled Hosseini (Goodreads Author)
4.08 avg rating — 399,496 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 64 |
|
Let the Great World Spin
by
Colum McCann (Goodreads Author)
3.96 avg rating — 109,289 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 65 |
|
Teacher Man: A Memoir
by
3.76 avg rating — 39,864 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 66 |
|
Zeitoun
by
4.05 avg rating — 79,898 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 67 |
|
Milena: & Other Social Reforms
by
4.06 avg rating — 83 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 68 |
|
The Mistress of Spices
by
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Goodreads Author)
3.48 avg rating — 14,795 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 69 |
|
American Born Chinese
by
Gene Luen Yang (Goodreads Author)
3.88 avg rating — 100,811 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 70 |
|
The Road Home
by
3.88 avg rating — 10,530 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 71 |
|
Mama's Bank Account
by
4.25 avg rating — 3,367 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 72 |
|
The Covert Buccaneer
by
S. Lucia Kanter St. Amour (Goodreads Author)
4.94 avg rating — 35 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 73 |
|
The Golem and the Jinni (The Golem and the Jinni, #1)
by
Helene Wecker (Goodreads Author)
4.13 avg rating — 130,340 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 74 |
|
Honolulu
by
Alan Brennert (Goodreads Author)
4.09 avg rating — 25,311 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 75 |
|
Behold the Dreamers
by
Imbolo Mbue (Goodreads Author)
3.95 avg rating — 85,148 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 76 |
|
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
by
4.05 avg rating — 11,207 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 77 |
|
We Need New Names
by
3.75 avg rating — 23,199 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 78 |
|
Exit West
by
3.74 avg rating — 149,444 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 79 |
|
Caramelo
by
3.93 avg rating — 13,051 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 80 |
|
The Book Thief
by
Markus Zusak (Goodreads Author)
4.39 avg rating — 2,833,758 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 81 |
|
Lucy
by
3.83 avg rating — 14,345 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 82 |
|
Annie’s Stories (Ellis Island, #2)
by
Cindy Thomson (Goodreads Author)
4.03 avg rating — 196 ratings
score: 898,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 83 |
|
Angle of Repose
by
4.24 avg rating — 61,673 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 84 |
|
The Emigrants (The Emigrants, #1)
by
4.21 avg rating — 9,652 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 85 |
|
Ignorance
by
3.81 avg rating — 27,400 ratings
score: 857,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 86 |
|
When the Emperor Was Divine
by
3.81 avg rating — 30,115 ratings
score: 856,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 87 |
|
On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
by
Lisa See (Goodreads Author)
3.95 avg rating — 11,107 ratings
score: 853,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 88 |
|
The Feast of the Goat
by
4.35 avg rating — 41,762 ratings
score: 850,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 89 |
|
Molly's Pilgrim
by
4.11 avg rating — 1,271 ratings
score: 838,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 89 |
|
Anil's Ghost
by
3.59 avg rating — 18,744 ratings
score: 838,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 91 |
|
On Beauty
by
3.78 avg rating — 89,986 ratings
score: 823,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 92 |
|
The Light of Eternal Spring
by
Angel Di Zhang (Goodreads Author)
3.91 avg rating — 519 ratings
score: 800,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 93 |
|
Grace's Pictures (Ellis Island #1)
by
Cindy Thomson (Goodreads Author)
3.68 avg rating — 543 ratings
score: 794,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 94 |
|
Out of Place
by
3.99 avg rating — 3,492 ratings
score: 790,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 95 |
|
Giants in the Earth
by
4.04 avg rating — 6,247 ratings
score: 782,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 96 |
|
Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam
by
Andrew X. Pham (Goodreads Author)
3.99 avg rating — 6,654 ratings
score: 765,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 97 |
|
Homegoing
by
Yaa Gyasi (Goodreads Author)
4.47 avg rating — 394,087 ratings
score: 759,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 98 |
|
Oscar and Lucinda
by
3.73 avg rating — 21,733 ratings
score: 733,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 99 |
|
The Master Butchers Singing Club
by
4.07 avg rating — 26,143 ratings
score: 720,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 100 |
|
The Buddha of Suburbia
by
3.75 avg rating — 20,809 ratings
score: 717,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
1,001 books ·
1,431 voters ·
list created July 19th, 2008
by Jessica Haider (votes) .
Tags:
african-american-fiction, african-american-literature, african-literature, anthropology, arab, asian-american, asian-american-fiction, caribbean-fiction, diaspora, ethnic, ethnicity, fiction, geography, hispanic, historical-fiction, immigrant, immigration, indian-fiction, latin-american, latin-american-fiction, latino, literary-fiction, migration, non-fiction, short-stories, sociology, south-asian-literature
Comments Showing 1-9 of 9 (9 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
mlady_rebecca
(new)
Apr 15, 2011 10:03PM
Just an FYI. Since you've tagged this list with aliens, it's showing up under the Science Fiction > Aliens genre.
reply
|
flag
My vote is for Tortilla Curtain. Here's a post about Tortilla Curtain's relevance to the current immigration reform debate: http://newsworthynovels.blogspot.com/...
How are we defining "immigrant" here? I was surprised to see Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, since the protagonists were Japanese-Americans, born in the USA. It's an awesome book, but I am concerned about the political point of labeling the main characters exactly the way the US government did back then.Another one: Chinua Achebe's No Longer At Ease is NOT an immigrant story. I don't want to mess with the contributions if Jessica is still here and active, since she started it. But it should be recognized that not everyone who comes to the USA, UK, or other western countries prefers to live in the USA or other parts of the West, and in the case of Achebe's protagonist, he goes to England, gets his education, leaves to go back to Nigeria. Thousands if not more do this very thing every year. A person who lives in the UK,US or elsewhere for a limited time, and with a limited purpose, is not an immigrant, they are a visitor. This touches a personal chord for me, because I am married to a citizen of another country who lives in the USA, and well-intended people are constantly trying to hyphenate my spouse with "-American", and repeatedly we have to say, "Actually, no." There is a bias to the assumption that whoever sets foot on these golden shores must SURELY want to stay here forever.
Removed for not being about the immigrant experience/author spamming:The Girls on Rose Hill
Unsavory Elements: Stories of Foreigners on the Loose in China
The Farther I Walk, the Closer I Get to Me b. Hong Mei
Hm. Bless Me, Ultima is on here, but it's most certainly not about immigrants or even immigration. Do people just assume that because it's about Spanish-speakers in New Mexico they immigrated there? They were there before it became part of the US...
Wow, there are sooo many books on this list that just do not belong by any stretch of the imagination. O.o
I understand why there are so many votes for Roots, but "immigrant" isn't the right descriptor there.
Related News
Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we sort through a lot of books each month. Our monthly Readers' Most Anticipated Books feature is exactly...
Anyone can add books to this list.
How to Vote
To vote on existing books from the list, beside each book there is a link vote for this book clicking it will add that book to your votes.
To vote on books not in the list or books you couldn't find in the list, you can click on the tab add books to this list and then choose from your books, or simply search.
