What To Read

Gabriel García Márquez, born in Colombia in 1927, was a literary giant who reshaped modern literature through stories that weave fantastical elements into everyday life with his use of magical realism. Raised by his grandparents in a Caribbean town that would later inspire the settings of his novels, García Márquez developed a deep connection to the culture and folklore of his homeland. He studied law and then later became a journalist and earned his living working as a correspondent in Paris, Bogotá and New York before achieving literary fame.

He later moved to Mexico City, where he wrote his masterpiece, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," which catapulted him to international fame and solidified his legacy as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Almost all of Márquez's novels and story collections since then have been praised by critics and devoured by fans like me.

García Márquez wrote more than two dozen books, and I’ve been working on rereading some of my favorites in preparation for the posthumous release of his final book, which is sure to be another entry into his magical world that is at once dreamy and strained by the reality of Latin America's 20th-century political climate.

Like all fans of Gabo, I was thrilled to hear that his sons decided to posthumously publish his last unfinished novel, Until August which comes out on March 12. Whether you are new to Márquez, or if you’re thinking about re-reading some of his classics, this list of my nine favorites is a guide to his greatest hits and more.

First, the breaking news:

Until August

While there's some controversy surrounding his sons' decision to defy García Márquez's wishes for his last novel to remain unpublished, many fans are rejoicing that they will get another chance to lose themselves in one of his novels.

A most anticipated book of 2024 by all accounts, this rediscovery has been years in the making, with Márquez's sons finally deciding to publish his last novel ten years after the great author's death. Until August is a meditation on love, lamentation, and liberation, as one woman, happily married for 27 years, waits for every August to journey to the island of her mother's grave and take a new lover.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

An age-old classic and monumental epic following the rise and fall of a single Colombian town and the family that is inextricably connected to it.

I had to start with my personal - and probably most everyone's - favorite. Márquez's Nobel Prize-winning magnum opus is a must-read for anyone looking to dig into a true master of fiction as well as a dazzling illustration of the family lore and rich culture that the Colombian countryside - often magically - embodies. My top tip: make sure to keep the Buendía family tree handy!

"One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. . . . Mr. Garcia Marquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life." —New York Times Book Review

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

This riveting novella inspired by real-life events, is the perfect introduction to Márquez's blend of magical realism and social commentary.

If you're looking to start with something a little less sprawling and complex, take my Colombian mother's advice and read this gripping novella as your introduction to Gabo, as the author's fans call him. Márquez's journalism origins are on full display in his crafting of this pseudo-investigation that unfolds in a nonlinear narrative, tracing a murder that everyone knew was coming and yet still allowed to happen.

Love in the Time of Cholera

A love story for the ages, this is one of Márquez's finest and most moving novels.

Perhaps one of Márquez's most underrated aspects is the incredible strength of his titles, and I think this one perfectly captures the magic of this romance story for the ages. Two young lovers, Fermina and Florentino, drift apart after Fermina marries a wealthy doctor, while Florentino passes the time with 622 (!) affairs - always saving his heart for his beloved Fermina. After her husband dies, Florentino attends the funeral, intent on professing his eternal love.

"Only in your fifth decade will you have experienced enough heartbreak to truly grasp this great love story." —Abraham Verghese for The New York Times

Collected Stories

This collection of Márquez's short fiction showcases his beguiling talent for telling stories of humor, tragedy and irony with accessible prose.

Not only was Márquez a colossal figure for his mastery of the novel, but he also demonstrated a deft hand at crafting short stories. The star piece of this collection, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, is one of my favorite short stories from any author for its incredible world-building and colorful characters, all in the span of a couple pages. These shorter pieces manage to merge fantastical elements with realistic narratives typical of 20th-century Latin America.

No One Writes to the Colonel

Márquez famously said that he had to write One Hundred Years of Solitude so people would read this novella, which the author considered his best story.

Set during the years of the Colombian civil war period known as La Violencia, No One Writes to the Colonel follows an impoverished, retired colonel still seeking the pension he was promised fifteen years earlier. This collection also contains some of Márquez's finest short fiction.

The Autumn of the Patriarch

Márquez's ambitious 'dictator novel' was inspired by the flight of Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez.

This dreamlike novel, set in an unnamed Caribbean country, tells the story of an eternal tyrant with infinite power. The titular patriarch, a composite of real world leaders, demonstrates to readers how real-life dictators ravage societies through their powerful sway over entire populations, while they simultaneously become caught in the prison of their own minds.

Leaf Storm

This novella is celebrated as the first to introduce us to the magical town of Macondo, the setting later made widely famous by One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Critics have touted Leaf Storm as being a first foray into many of the themes and characters immortalized by Márquez later on in his career, and this work remains a fascinating look at the early seeds planted by Márquez towards writing his masterpiece. Leaf Storm shifts between three generations as a father, daughter, and grandson wrestle with the aftermath of the death of a man long hated by their village and yet still linked to the family patriarch.

The General in His Labyrinth

A fictionalized (and initially controversial) account of the Colombian and Latin American hero Simón Bólivar's final years journeying down the Magdalena River towards the Colombian coastline.

This novel initially caused outrage due to Márquez's insertion of fictional elements and his portrayal of Bólivar as an aging, disillusioned, and physically deteriorating man. Critics found it hard to classify The General in His Labyrinth, which has often been considered a historical novel, but which does not neatly fit into any one genre. The book has staying power as a powerful, extensively researched account of Bólivar's life and memories, all told through a masterful translation by the late, great Edith Grossman.

Márquez is beloved for his unparalleled ability to blend the realistic and the fantastical, creating rich, imaginative worlds that capture the complexities of human experience and Latin American culture through vivid prose and unforgettable characters. His enduring appeal is, in part, due to his questioning of what is actually real and imagined in our lives. “Poets and beggars, musicians and prophets, warriors and scoundrels, all creatures of that unbridled reality, we have had to ask but little of imagination," he said when accepting his Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. "For our crucial problem has been a lack of conventional means to render our lives believable.”