The General in His Labyrinth explores the labyrinth of Bolívar's life through the narrative of his memories, in which "despair, sickness, and death inevitably win out over love, health, and life". Following the success of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera", García Márquez decided to write about the "Great Liberator" after reading an unfinished novel by his friend Álvaro Mutis. He borrowed the setting—Bolívar's voyage down the Magdalena River in 1830—from Mutis. García Márquez spent two years researching the subject, encompassing the extensive memoirs of Bolívar's Irish aide-de-camp, Daniel Florencio O'Leary, as well as numerous other historical documents and
The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon best American writing in 1993. By 2001, the novel had reached "cult" status. One journalist called the work "an acknowledged minor classic". The book made two "best of" lists since it was published. In 1999, the "Boston Phoenix" announced it was the 88th best LGBTQ novel of the 20th century. An organizer for the United Kingdom's Big Gay Read, a follow-up to The Big Read, noted that "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon" was the one book that should be added to the first-cut list. "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon" was a finalist