Recommendations based on Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitudeby Michael Wood

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Chronicle of a Death Foretold

    by Gabriel García Márquez
    A murder mystery narrated by the townspeople and tracing the events leading up to the crime.

    The non-linear story, told by an anonymous narrator, begins with the morning of Santiago Nasar's death. The reader learns that Santiago lives with his mother, Placida Linero; the cook, Victoria ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Love in the Time of Cholera

    by Gabriel García Márquez
    An epic love story spanning decades, exploring the power of true love.

    The main characters of the novel are Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. Florentino and Fermina fall in love in their youth. A secret relationship blossoms between the two with the help of Fermina's ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Don Quixote

    by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
    An aging knight's adventures and misadventures, filled with chivalry, honor, and satire.

    Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in ... (Goodreads)

  4. Of Love and Other Demons

    by Gabriel García Márquez
    A young girl is thrown into a spiritual journey of faith and superstition as she faces a mysterious illness.

    Sierva Maria de Todos Los Angeles Sierra is the twelve-year-old daughter of the Marquis and his wife Bernarda. Her hair has never been cut, and was promised to the saints when she was born with the ... (Wikipedia)

  5. The Prophet

    by Kahlil Gibran
    Collection of poetic musings about life, spirituality, and love.

    Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Published in 1923, it has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Idiot

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    A man's struggle to find his place in society, and the moral dilemmas he faces.

    Prince Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to ... (Wikipedia)

  7. The Baron in the Trees

    by Italo Calvino
    A young boy's journey of self-discovery as he lives among the trees, away from society.

    A landmark new translation of a Calvino classic, a whimsical, spirited novel that imagines a life lived entirely on its own terms Cosimo di Rondó, a young Italian nobleman of the eighteenth century, ... (Barnes & Noble)

  8. The Trial

    by Franz Kafka
    A man is arrested and put on trial for a crime that remains unclear throughout the novel.

    On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, Josef K., the chief cashier of a bank, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents from an unspecified agency for an unspecified crime. Josef is not ... (Wikipedia)

  9. The Three Sisters

    by Anton Chekhov
    Three sisters longing for a life beyond their small provincial town, exploring themes of family and love.

    First performed at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1901, The Three Sisters probes the lives and dreams of Olga, Masha, and Irina, former Muscovites now living in a provincial town from which they long to ... (Goodreads)

  10. The House of the Spirits

    by Isabel Allende
    Epic family saga spanning generations, exploring the power of love and the impact of politics.

    The story starts with the del Valle family, focusing upon the youngest and the oldest daughters of the family, Clara and Rosa. The youngest daughter, Clara del Valle, has paranormal powers and keeps ... (Wikipedia)

  11. The Castle

    by Franz Kafka
    Townspeople's surreal struggle against a mysterious ruling power.

    The protagonist, K., arrives in a village governed by a mysterious bureaucracy operating in a nearby castle. When seeking shelter at the town inn, he claims to be a land surveyor summoned by the ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Nose

    by Catherine Cowan
    A young girl's journey of self-discovery and acceptance, learning to love her unique nose.

    After disappearing from the Deputy Inspector's face, his nose shows up around town before returning to its proper place. ... (Goodreads)

  13. For Whom the Bell Tolls

    by Ernest Hemingway
    A soldier's story of courage and survival in the Spanish Civil War.

    The novel graphically describes the brutality of the Spanish Civil War. It is told primarily through the thoughts and experiences of the protagonist, Robert Jordan. It draws on Hemingway's own ... (Wikipedia)

  14. The French Lieutenant's Woman

    by John Fowles
    A love story set in Victorian England, exploring the complexities of class, gender, and social norms.

    Set in the mid-nineteenth century, the narrator identifies the novel's protagonist as Sarah Woodruff, the Woman of the title, also known as "Tragedy" and as "The French Lieutenant's Whore". She lives ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Of Love and Shadows

    by Isabel Allende
    A young woman's journey of courage, fighting for justice in a repressive and dangerous society.

    Irene is a magazine editor living under the shadow of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Francisco is a handsome photographer and he comes to Irene for a job. As a sympathizer with the underground ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Blindness

    by José Saramago
    A society is plunged into chaos when everyone suddenly loses their sight.

    Blindness is the story of an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city, and the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The novel follows the misfortune of a ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Life is Elsewhere

    by Milan Kundera
    A young poet's journey through life, love, and politics in communist Czechoslovakia.

    Kundera initially intended to call this novel The Lyrical Age . The lyrical age, according to Kundera, is youth, and this novel, above all, is an epic of adolescence; an ironic epic that tenderly ... (Goodreads)

  18. Samarkand

    by Amin Maalouf
    Epic tale of a man's journey to discover his identity and the truths of his ancestry.

    The first half of the story is set in Persia (present day Iran ) and Central Asia in the 11th century, and revolves around the scientist, philosopher, and poet Omar Khayyám . It recounts the creation ... (Wikipedia)

  19. The Golden Notebook

    by Doris Lessing
    A woman's journey of self-discovery and reflection, exploring freedom, identity and relationships.

    The Golden Notebook is the story of writer Anna Wulf, the four notebooks in which she records her life, and her attempt to tie them together in a fifth, gold-coloured notebook. The book intersperses ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family

    by Thomas Mann
    A story of a family's decline, tracing four generations of a wealthy German family.

    In 1835, the wealthy and respected Buddenbrooks, a family of grain merchants, invite their friends and relatives to dinner in their new home in Lübeck , Germany . The family consists of patriarch ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Name of the Rose

    by Umberto Eco
    A Franciscan friar investigates a series of murders in a medieval monastery, uncovering a sinister plot.

    In 1327, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk , a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Steppenwolf

    by Hermann Hesse
    The inner struggles of a tortured soul as he searches for redemption.

    The book is presented as a manuscript written by its protagonist , a middle-aged man named Harry Haller, who leaves it to a chance acquaintance, the nephew of his landlady. The acquaintance adds a ... (Wikipedia)

  23. The Slave Dancer

    by Paula Fox
    A young boy is kidnapped and forced to work on a slave ship, where he witnesses the horrors of the slave trade.

    It is the beginning of 1840 in New Orleans. In the rain, drunken riverboat workers and slaves alike are celebrating. Jessie Bollier lives in the area with his mother and sister. One evening while he ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Cry, the Beloved Country

    by Alan Paton
    A journey of faith in a divided land, seeking justice and reconciliation.

    In the remote village of Ndotsheni, in the Natal province of eastern South Africa , the Reverend Stephen Kumalo receives a letter from a fellow minister summoning him to Johannesburg . He is needed ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

    by John le Carré
    A British agent's mission to infiltrate East Germany during the Cold War, full of suspense and intrigue.

    In this classic, John le Carre's third novel and the first to earn him international acclaim, he created a world unlike any previously experienced in suspense fiction. With unsurpassed knowledge ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Art of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire

    by Patricia Meredith
    A visual exploration of the world of Westeros, featuring concept art, sketches, and paintings from the popular book series.

    Some of the greatest talents in fantastic art invite you to explore the lands of Westeros and beyond as never before. From the frozen wilderness beyond the Wall to sun-kissed Dorne, and from the ... (Goodreads)

  27. The Great Dune Trilogy

    by Frank Herbert
    Epic saga of a desert planet, where a powerful family must save the universe from destruction.

    Duke Leto Atreides of the House Atreides , ruler of the ocean planet Caladan, is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to serve as fief ruler of the planet Arrakis . Arrakis is a harsh and ... (Wikipedia)

  28. American Psycho

    by Bret Easton Ellis
    A corporate psychopath's descent into homicidal madness, exposing the dark side of 1980s New York.

    Set in Manhattan during the Wall Street boom of the late 1980s, American Psycho follows the life of wealthy young investment banker Patrick Bateman. Bateman, in his mid-20s when the story begins, ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Oryx and Crake

    by Margaret Atwood
    An exploration of a post-apocalyptic world, and the power of human nature.

    The novel focuses on a post-apocalyptic character called "Snowman", living near a group of primitive human-like creatures whom he calls Crakers . Flashbacks reveal that Snowman was once a boy named ... (Wikipedia)

  30. The Green Mile: The Screenplay

    by Frank Darabont
    A death row supervisor in the 1930s South discovers a miraculous inmate with supernatural powers.

    At a Louisiana assisted-living home in 1999, elderly retiree Paul Edgecomb becomes emotional while viewing the film, Top Hat, . His companion Elaine becomes concerned, and Paul explains to her that ... (Wikipedia)