2023 - 02 - magical-realism - What's on your TBR?

[PAS, Moderator AC]

February Shelf is magical-realism

"...how we can define the book genre magical realism: A reminder of both the enchantment and ominousness of the every day, nestled inside a delicious novel." ~ https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainm...

The article also note 8 best magical realism books - have you read any of these? recommend any of them? Hate or love and why?

[Tien]

I feel terrible that I didn't even try this month (Jan) though I still have a week and a bit :p

I'm not a huge fan of magical realism - I guess some works for me but others I just do not like!

Feb possibilities:
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida (I just borrowed this from the library a couple of days ago! What great timing!)
The Bedlam Stacks
Cloud Cuckoo Land -anyone keen on buddy read for this?
The Magician's Elephant
The Clockmaker's Daughter
Fly on The Wall

[Meg]

I think I've read a lot of magical realism, but I've never even heard of some of those in your link!
I will read The Sentence and maybe something else if I have time.

Tien, I read Cloud Cuckoo Land last year and loved it!

[Marina]

I'm like you, Tien – not a huge fan of magical realism, although some books work for me. From the article you posted, I've read the first three books (One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Metamorphosis, and The House of the Spirits) and loved them all, but I've never even heard of the other books listed.

I'm in a huge reading slump and tend to favor comfort reads, but browsing the shelf I seem to have lots of possibilities. Here are the most likely ones:

Vita Nostra (this is actually lined up for another challenge and I'm really intrigued by it, so I might get to reading this after all)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (owned)
The Thirteenth Tale (owned)
The City & the City (owned)
The Song of Achilles (which I'll probably be reading with my group)
A Deadly Education

[Bea]

Oh, this is the genre that I approach with caution. For most of the South and Central American books that I have come across, this is the preferred genre...and most of the time I hate it. Yet, there are an awful lot on this list by writers from other countries and continents who employ this technique in their stories, and some of those have gotten the rare 5* that I give! I really do not understand why the difference.

Of the 8 listed by Oprah in the article, I have read:
One Hundred Years of Solitude - 3*
The House of the Spirits - 2*
Love Medicine - 3*

Books to be considered from pages 1-2:
The Starless Sea
Once Upon a River
Chocolat
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Ficciones
Midnight at the Blackbird Café
The Cartographers - will finish Found
All the Birds in the Sky

[Bea]

Tien, I really liked The Clockmaker's Daughter. I gave it 4*.

Marina, Something Wicked This Way Comes is a book that I will also probably read soon. I love Ray Bradbury's writing.

[Tien]

I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea, Bea!!

[Susan]

Tien wrote: "Cloud Cuckoo Land -anyone keen on buddy read for this?"

I just read this early this month. Too bad about the timing. A word of warning - It took me a long time to get the hang of it because of so many switches among time and people. I found it satisfying at the end, but it took me a lot of work to get there. And less than a month later, it's hard for me to remember much about the details.

Even though I do have a magical realism shelf, it never occurred to me to list it there.

[Susan]

Marina wrote: "I'm like you, Tien – not a huge fan of magical realism, although some books work for me. From the article you posted, I've read the first three books (One Hundred Years of Solitude, ...

From your list, I really recommend these

The Thirteenth Tale - 5*
A Deadly Education - 4*

[Susan]

It's very clear to me that other people who have shelves for magical realism have a very different idea from me about what that means. I guess I came across it first in Latin American works, many of which I love, and a lot of other people are shelving books I would just call fantasy (lacking the realism). To me, magic realism is primarily realistic, except that some fantastical things happen (e.g., a tear from the cook dropping into the soup as she makes it, which has a miraculous effect on those who eat the soup) and are taken in stride as part of the story.

Personally, I wouldn't classify a book that's totally set in a fantastical world (like A Deadly Education, for example), as magical realism, because the entire world in which it takes place is magical not realistic. (But someone has put it on the shelf, and it's a great book - part of a great series, in fact - so don't pass it up.)

For people who are wary of getting into this genre, I highly recommend the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being or Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death for those who want to try something from different continents (Japan and Africa, respectively).

[Susan]

Clay's Ark (Patternmaster #3), by the amazing Octavia Butler, has been languishing on my TBR since February many years back, and I gave 5* to the two previous books in the serious, so that's definitely my first choice for now, for this and for By-The-Month.

[Kristina Simon]

I have a love/hate relationship with magical realism. Some of the classic works, like those of Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende, I really don't like at all. But I adore Laura Esquivel and Sarah Addison Allen.

Like Susan, I also struggle to find what I'd consider to be true magical realism vs. pure fantasy using Goodreads shelves. To me, they're completely different genres. I love it when I find a book that is mostly about real life with just one little magical twist to it. These are a few I've tried and liked over the years:

Like Susan, I'd highly recommend any and all of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books
Like Water for Chocolate
Garden Spells
The Sugar Queen
Chocolat

Hmmmm.... I'm sensing a theme... now I'm hungry!

Keeping with that theme, I might try Midnight at the Blackbird Café. Or maybe I'll finally get around to reading A Tale for the Time Being. It's been on my TBR shelf for a while now.

[Susan]

Kristina Simon wrote: "I might try Midnight at the Blackbird Café. Or maybe I'll finally get around to reading A Tale for the Time Being. It's been on my TBR shelf for a while now."

Kristina, I also gave A Tale for the Time Being 4 stars. I hadn't heard of Midnight at the Blackbird Café. It sounds good. Adding it to my list.

[♞ Pat]

I like sci-fi when it has a touch of magical realism added.

I've got Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine queued up for another challenge, so I'll see if I can't get to it this month!

I also shelved this one for another challenge, so I have a couple of options.
A Tiny Upward Shove by Melissa Chadburn

[Beverly]

I have quite a few on my TBR, but some will not be available in time. Here is a few I will pick from:

When You Trap a Tiger
Where the Forest Meets the Stars
The Last of the Moon Girls

[Joyce]

I am a fan of magical realism but I have not read any of the 8 books listed in that article.

These are the ones on my list that intrigue me most. I have to see what I can get at the library or already have on audible. Especially the longer ones.

1Q84 I have been wanting to read this for quite a while but it is a honker.
Beneath the Sugar Sky
Nothing to See Here
The Sentence
How to Stop Time
The City We Became
This Time Tomorrow
The Hidden Palace the first book in this series was so good.
The Ex Hex
Dreams Underfoot
The Vine Witch
Middlegame
City of Ghosts
The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs
Elsewhere
Library of Souls
Whispers Underground
Matchmaking for Beginners
Days of Blood & Starlight
The City of Brass
A Conjuring of Light