Eventually I caved in and mentioned the skin color of my MC after a bunch of betas pointed out it's misleading and everyone will think she's white. I can live with it 'cause the chapter is from the POV of a white, small-town Swede, so she might just pay attention to it. The American MC doesn't think about it. Her love interest pays attention to the color, of course, but also to her eyes, hair, tits, legs, ass... As for the topic: I'm not terribly well-read when it comes to AA, so I can't say anything about glamorization... Back in senior high we had to read Jazz by Toni Morrison, and that just blew me away. Nowadays she's one of my favorite authors. Still, I don't read her books because of the race aspect alone. She's just a really good writer.
If you haven't read her other work, check that out as well. Parable of the Sower, Fledgling, Xenogenesis, Wild Seed...all good.
Both great writers. Good picks, @Wreybies. For a Latin American writer, check out Roberto Bolano, if you haven't already. 2666 and The Savage Detectives are both good (not SF/F, sorry for derail but the recommendations came to mind).
