From the front lines, landing on the beach at Normandy, war brides, the aftermath and everything in between, Turkel gives firsthand accounts via in-depth interviews of people who lived through WWII. It’s not just about the war, it’s an honest view of humanity from every angle.

I haven’t read other Marquez (I know) and I can’t speak to the translation of this book, but I found it hilarious and so well-done in every way.

Had to include because it’s one of my all time favorites. The story of William Stoner’s life and his inability to escape the chosen and unchosen paths of his life, how the paths of least resistance can lead to dark places, and how the fights we choose are usually the wrong ones, the ones of little consequence in the end. This book shook me to my core.

Depression-era Los Angeles, a destitute writer named Arturo Bandini in pursuit of a Mexican waitress, and a narrative that is beautifully and naturally rambling, observations that are acute and breathtaking, and ultimately heartbreakingly honest.

A 1975 National Book Award winner, then somewhat lost, at least in my circles and never talked about. But the book is amazingly crafted and masterfully written. It’s a novel-within-a-novel. The narrator is a middle-aged professor who rides a motorcycle, holds together the delicate balance of his marriage and family and friendships all while writing a novel, the story of a young GI returned from WWII finding his way through college life with a hairpiece and fracturing friendship, and all of it is completely absorbing and depressingly true.