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So far, I enjoyed all the books of South American writers that I read, and so I created a stereotype that if an author is from there, the book must be good.

Have you read any books of South American writers? What do you think about them?

No, not yet but I'll try to read some of their works one of this days because of your good feed backs.

Lets see, Jennette Walls, I imagine most have heard of her from Glass Castle, a captivating and moving book. I don't know if you could call her a Southern author, she was raised all over the country but spent a huge chunk of her childhood in Welsh, West Virginia. Although when she wrote Glass Castle she was living in New York. Her second book, Half Broke Horses, as you can guess from the title is a Southern/Midwestern Novel. Its supposed to be a biography of Walls' grandmother, Lily Casy Smith.

After reading Glass Castle I was so hyped to read Half Broke Horses, I stole it from a Krogers lol

I think she thinks South America as in Latin America. Not the south of the US.

Or does she ?

I liked most of the South American authors that i've managed to read, i just simply hate one : Paulo Coelho. His works are just overly simplistic quasy philosophical *ish. Srsly, the dude acts like he's Tolstoy, like nothing existed before him and he primitively tries to evolve philosophical ideas.

I loved everything by Gabriel García Márquez that I read, especially 100 years of solitude and Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
I also tried to books by Isabel Allende. I liked her book about Haiti, The Island Beneath the Sea, but wasn't too impressed by The House of Spirits, so I didn't go on to other books by her.
I think that's all the south American writers I read that I can remember. I've head a lot about Mario Vargas Llosa. Maybe I'll try him one day.

El_greco wrote:I think she thinks South America as in Latin America. Not the south of the US.

Or does she ?

I liked most of the South American authors that i've managed to read, i just simply hate one : Paulo Coelho. His works are just overly simplistic quasy philosophical *ish. Srsly, the dude acts like he's Tolstoy, like nothing existed before him and he primitively tries to evolve philosophical ideas.

Yes, I meant Latin American

I actually enjoyed two of Paulo Coelho's books (let's call it my guilty pleasure) but even though I totally agree with you about him. He just throws same 'philosofical' phrases every now and then, and acts like a celebrity He's overrated.

@ Elphaba Do try Mario Vargas Llosa He's one of my favourites writers, he has a great style and his books are witty. And he is this years Noblist in literature

GotThatSwing, If you are still in your Latin American phase, I recommend:

Like Water for Chocolate - by Laura Esquivel
The Lonesome Dove Series - by Larry McMurtry (mostly about the old west, but they do slip into Mexico a few times)
Daughter of Fortune - by Isabelle Allende
The House on Mango Street - by Sandra Cisneros (it is set in America, but it is about a Latin American neighborhood)
House on the Lagoon - by Rosario Ferre (a story about a budding novelist)

I am with Alphaba. Love in the Time of Cholera is magnificent ( the movie is good too_ but in a different way)

If you're into short stories (especially those in the vein of Edgar Allan Poe), I recommend Borges, Quiroga, and Cortazar. They write what are often called "fantastic" short stories, because of elements of the supernatural. But they are also just fantastic reads. Also Christina Perri Rossi. And "The Third Bank of the River" by Joao Guimaraes Rosa is so, so good.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Till date, I have read only Marquez and loved him! When I heard of his recent demise I was shattered! In mourning for almost 3 days. I have read 3 by Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Chronicles of a Death Foretold, and Of love and Other Demons and loved each of them! Marquez is one of the greatest writers of this generation and of all time! I plan to start Borges soon.

I lived and traveled in Mexico for 30 years, but have not been back in 10 years.
During the first ten years of that window(1974-1984), I read books by Latin American
authors about 75% of the time. Octavio Paz, Pablo Neruda, Carlos Fuentes, Marquez,
and Carlos Casteneda come to mind. There were a lot more than that(I was voracious
and I had lots of time). I read a lot of autographical literature on Mexican leaders like
Juarez, Emiliano Zapata("The land belongs to the man who works it" ), Carranza, Huerta, Montezuma,Hidalgo and Diego Rivera. Latins who write fiction, especially fiction about their country, are very compassionate. Whenever Paz described Mexico,
it was a tough kid who sometimes learned from his mistakes, but most of the time didn't. Mexico was reckless and when the leadership made the mistakes, it went further in debt, a condition that only a few actually addressed. Que pasa?
Un aeroplano paso. Pero no se paro.

As far as novels, I thought Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude was hypnotic... but Allende is better if you want a faster-moving plot.

But don't forget about the poets! My favorite Latin American writing is the work of Alejandra Pizarnik, an Argentine poet--very dark and inward-turning poems and books--or that of Marjorie Agosín (especially Starry Night, where she writes from the perspective of Van Gogh as he slips into madness).

I don't know any, but I would love to read some, especially if it is descriptive of the South American surroundings.

I'll end up echoing quite a few people here, but definitely Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude for my AP Lit class and loved every page. I still have a copy somewhere. Isabel Allende is also wonderful, and I really ought to read more of her work.