People who took four years of high school Spanish will tell you that you can't really appreciate Gabriel Garcia Marquez in English translation. These people probably heard this from their Spanish teacher and now whip it out at parties as a kind of intellectual gauntlet-throw-slash-conversation-ender. Gently remind these assholes that Gabriel Garcia Marquez read many of his favorite authors via translation, including those whose influence is most strongly felt in his work, like Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner. And to say this about Gabo and not every other author who doesn't write in English is truly insulting.

Read One Hundred Years of Solitude, please, in whatever language you prefer. Besides being one of the greatest family epics ever written, it is also the quintessential magical-realism novel. It is beautiful and it is very affecting and despite what the wannabe Spanish snobs might tell you, it is a worthwhile endeavor even in English.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.