Here's a Colombian novelist who's considered to be among the greatest of South American writers. Any book you pick up by Márquez will teach you a whole lot about Colombia's—and South America's—postcolonial identity. The book that made him super famous was none other than One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Ever heard of magical realism? Well, Márquez is the writer most closely associated with this style of writing. He developed and used the magical realist style to express the "surreal" aspects of postcolonial reality in South America. He found a whole new way of expressing the unique nature of postcolonial reality, with its unique jumble of cultures, identities, and discourses. Did we mention he won the Nobel Prize for his work?

One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967)

If there is one book not to miss by Márquez, this is it. His most famous novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of a several generations of a family living in the fictional town of Macondo in Colombia. This is a novel on epic scale—and it has people who fly when they drink hot chocolate, clouds that rain yellow flowers, and an ageless gypsy. How can you not read it?

The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975)

This novel explores the corrupting effects of power. It focuses on a dictator who pretty much stands in for all of the horrible dictators who came to power all over the world after the end of colonialism. Lots of big postcolonial themes here, including nationhood, history and oppression.