readers advisory for all discussion

well, since i am on a recommending donald harington kick, i will once again recommend donald harington.

Donald Harington

definitely not for kids, definitely playful with MR elements throughout. they are part of a cycle, but they don't necessarily have to be read in order. if you are interested in him, i can give you more details about any of his books that might strike your fancy.

My favorite magical realism is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but a lot of people don't enjoy him. I think Love in the Time of Cholera is a good way to start out with him. I think it does a good job of orienting you to his writing. I love One Hundred Years of Solitude more, and I think it's objectively a better book, but I think a lot of people who go in cold to the experience don't like it.

I also love the way Sheri Reynolds does magical realism in A Gracious Plenty, but others of hers are not as good, I think.

Sheri Reynolds is lighter than Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but I think still beautiful.

Garcia Marquez tops the charts for me in this category. In addition to his novels,I have also enjoyed his short stories. There are other writers of magical realism I have loved as well:

Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate
The Youngest Doll(short stories)by Rosario Ferre and Jean Franco
Murakami's Kafka On the Shore (adult's only)
Nikolai Gogol's short stories
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
..and,of course, Franz Kafka's works.

Mark Halpern's Winter's Tale is great for
'putting a little magic in your life" as well.

i don't know if this makes a difference, but harington only has one "r" in his name. so maybe? although i guess it is unlikely - i love him, but he isn't a household name or anything.

have you tried any jonathan carroll? i love him - The Land of Laughs is a good starting point. there is also Bloodroot which was recommended to me for my request, and i read, and it read the way i have always imagined sarah addison allen to read, although i have never read her.

phew. come back and let us know!

karen wrote: "i don't know if this makes a difference, but harington only has one "r" in his name. so maybe? although i guess it is unlikely - i love him, but he isn't a household name or anything.

have you tri..."

I thought of Jonathan Carroll also but wasn't sure how to classify his writing. I have always thought that his writing was more fantasy than magical realism.

for me, because his stuff is so grounded in real, recognizable settings like towns and cities, where the magic just keeps trying to creep in, i always think of him as MR. but it's one of those blurry distinctions. but if you like neil gaiman, you will probably like jonathan carroll, is my assessment.

Outside the Dog Museum is probably the closest to fantasy. but Kissing the Beehive is MR.

karen wrote: "for me, because his stuff is so grounded in real, recognizable settings like towns and cities, where the magic just keeps trying to creep in, i always think of him as MR. but it's one of those blur..."

I see your point. I love Jonathan Carroll's novels regardless how they are classified.

Nicole wrote: "So far I've discovered that my library doesn't carry a single Donald Harrington. They have Sheri Reynolds, but not A Gracious Plenty. They don't carry The Youngest Doll and no Winter's Tale. Geez..."

Can your library order the books for you? There have been times when my library obtained rare books for me from other libraries.

Magical Realism is my favorite!

I agree with Karen's recommendation Bloodroot

Also try:

The Red Garden
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
The Girl With Glass Feet

oh my god, i so wanted to read touch but haven't gotten to it yet. let me know if you write a review for it, yeah?

The trilogy is sort of magic realism. It's not the best trilogy I've ever read, but it's not bad, either. The ideas kept me interested enough.

If you're up for an extremely well written book and an exciting trip to India, read Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie. It's a fairly long book and Rushdie's prose is at times complicated and full of digressions, but he weaves the story of Saleem Sinai, a child born at the moment of India's independence and the creation of Pakistan. National affairs have great impact on the life of Saleem and his family. Likewise, the course of the nation is steered by events that take place in Saleem's own life. And of course, there is magic.

I also second Winter's Tale. I believe they are in the process of making a movie out of this one.

SENOR VIVO AND THE COCA LORD by
Bernières, Louis de

Nicole wrote: "Hey Karen, I haven't followed all of the 'badass Appalachia' thread so maybe this is there or maybe you're already aware, but did you know that Bloodroot (one of your MR recs to me) is set there? I..."

man, i missed this comment entirely and only noticed it when i was here poring over all the threads for paper-writing. yes! i only read it because it was recommended to me in that thread. this is a real cross-pollination thing we have going on!

Maybe something by polish writers : Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk
or The Cinnamon Shops by Bruno Schulz.

I hope you don't find it in poor taste for me to recommend this one.

I'm not really sure if this is right because I don't think of magical realism so much as glitter but my favorite recent magical realism book was:
The History of History
but if you are looking for whimsy, it's not a good choice it's pretty morbid heavily obsessed with WW2

Like Water for Chocolate
I hate this book but I feel like it's the classic example of magical realism and everyone else seems to like it.

What would you guys say is a good definition of magical realism? I use the term a lot and think I might be stretching it a bit.
Does Haruki Murakami count?

yes, most of his books are. or many of them.

well I was taught (which doesn't mean it's right people get taught so many things) that magical realism is a book that is set in the real world but that uses magic as a metaphor for various real world experiences so whereas in a fantasy novel if a catches on fire by eating matches it is assumed that actually happened, in a magical realism book it is assumed that is standing in for a real event that's emotional content is better expressed by that description.

wiki says: Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction [1] in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of thought. [...]On the surface the story has no clear magical attributes and everything is conveyed in a real setting, but such a character breaks the rules of our real world.

That's very interesting, thanks! "in a magical realism book it is assumed that is standing in for a real event that's emotional content is better expressed by that description." Would you think that this assumed understanding would be some kind of understanding from the characters? the author? the reader?

probably depends, as someone who tends to hate magical realism I'd give the credit to the author, because the eating matches scene (real example from a book I suggested earlier) just made me roll my eyes. but I guess it depends on reader too. the wiki thing honestly sounds like it would include bizarro so I'm not really sure.

Thomas wrote: "You said you don't mind YA . . . I really liked The Cardturner: A Novel about a King, a Queen, and a Joker."

I totally almost bought this the other day because I remember liking holes as a kid.

Have you tried Charles de Lint? His books are set in a fictional Ontario, Canada (I think) and have recurring characters, although most of the books are stand alone. I really liked Someplace to Be Flying - it's similar in tone to Alice Hoffman's Second Nature.

Sorry for the truncated earlier reply! Tiny keyboard.

Agnieszka wrote: "Maybe something by polish writers : Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk
or The Cinnamon Shops by Bruno Schulz."

I love Bruno Schulz's work. "Street of Crocodiles" is another great read.

I would recommend the book that started It all. It is one of my favorites Recuerdos del Porvenir written by Elena Garro.

So magical and so powerful It still lingers in my memory after 20 years. I love Garro, but this is the first example in Latin American Literature of Magical Realism.

Read It,

I will second the recommendation of Murakami's Kafka on the Shore alongside pretty much any of his other work! Kafka just happens to be my favourite, though Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is a close second. Murakami is one of those authors that leaves you with something new after every reread.

Has anyone read Murakami's newest novel,IQ84?
It sounds like it might be another great piece of MR.

okay so I just read Don't Tell Me the Truth About Love and there is a lot of subtle magical realism throughout the stories, BUT in the second story there is some great magical realism... I can't explain it cause it's spoilers but I recommend it highly.

Okay, I just HAVE to recommend Ready Player One. It is young adult, and it's the whole dystopian thing that young adult seems to be all about nowadays... but it's virtual reality. It's all basically in a giant video game. It doesn't seem too far off to be honest, which makes aspects of it seem very plausible.

There's a LOT of pop culture references, especially 80's stuff.

It's action packed - I read it in a day, couldn't put it down.

I'm surprised about how much I HAVEN'T heard about this book, but it's very good.

It might be a little too sci-fi for you, but I just had to recommend it.

Nicole wrote: "Mona: I've heard Jonathan Strange is a difficult one to follow because of all the footnotes? How did you find that aspect of it?"

I've heard that the audio on that one is really great.

Nicole wrote: "Mona: I've heard Jonathan Strange is a difficult one to follow because of all the footnotes? How did you find that aspect of it?"

I don't remember that aspect of it and I'm usually pretty annoyed with footnotes, so I don't think it was that bad.

(i just went back and looked at my review, and based on my one comment about footnotes I'd say you can probably skip them if you don't want to read them).