Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo is another classic first published in 1955. It’s a ghost story about the history of Mexico that’s quite hard to follow but well worth investing effort. The novella opens with the protagonist traveling to Comala to satisfy his mother’s dying wish for him to seek out the father he’s never met. Things seem straightforward at first but the people he meets keep turning out to be long-dead, and over time the book descends almost entirely into conversations stripped from the town’s past, as the narrator stumbles through a world haunted by memories. I already know I need to reread this book to understand it with even a little confidence, but the writing is exceptional.