[jason_t]

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Italo Calvino
Albert Camus
Jose Luis Borges
Guenter Grass
Herman Hesse
Thomas Mann
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
V.S. Naipaul
Jose Saramago
George Bernard Shaw

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[...]
Having read all but Sarmango on that list, I'd pick Calvino for the truly astonishing breadth and inventiveness.

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Please read Saramago; given what you wrote I think you'd love him.