Do you think it loses a lot in translation? I've only read El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (in Spanish), but it didn't seem very hard to translate, since the language used was not complex or flowery.
You can certainly enjoy the stories, but I think interesting books add something to they way a particular language is used. That's what I like about Saramago and Rushdie, for instance. These are the types of authors I like to read out loud.
No doubt, some authors certainly use the language to its fullest, rendering their works essentially untranslatable. But I was referring specifically to García Marquez's works, since my recollection is that the language used was mostly plain (which I don't mean as a criticism!).
