Some Brief Descriptions of Magic Realism Books

Over the last year I have reviewed fifty-five magic realism books. As part of the Magic Realism Blog Hop, here is a summary of each book. Click on the title to go to the full review.

Winter's Tale by Mark Halprin  - North American modern, alternative history
The Story Sister's by Alice Hoffman - modern women's magic realism tackling difficult subjects
The Enchantress Of Florence by Salman Rushdie  - post-colonial magic realism, historical fiction
The Knife Thrower by Steven Millhauser - North American short stories
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter - feminist British magic realism
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - Alaskan modern fairytale
Life of Pi by Yann Martel - post modernist tale
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling - North American mythic fiction
Beloved by Toni Morrison - magic realism tackling the psychological legacy of slavery
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke - British retelling of fairytales
Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw - British magic realism
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill - North American very realistic mythic fiction
Fludd by Hilary Mantel - quirky magic realism by Booker prize winning author
The Silver Cloud Cafe by Alfredo Vea - magic realist mystery focused on the lives of immigrant workers
Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - Mexican magic realism, food as magic
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht - Orange prize winning book set in the Balkans
The Scholar of Moab by Stephen Peck - surreal and amusing American magic realism
Chocolat by Joanne Harris - more food as magic
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - hugely popular fable from Brazilian writer
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - surreal story that inspired Garcia Marquez
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender - American surreal food-as-magic novel
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami - Japanse post-modernism
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - several generations of a family from the Dominican Republic
The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea - Mexican, historical fiction around the life of a traditional woman healer
One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - classic South American magic realism,
The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz - magic realism set in British Columbia influenced by native American myth
The Inner City by Karen Heuler - short story collection from science fiction
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya - Chicano magic realism set in New Mexico
The Threads of the Heart by Carole Martinez - French magic realism following strong female characters
Orlando by Virginia Woolf - British early magic realism set across the centuries
The Tragedy of Fidel Castro by Joao Cerqueira - Portuguese satirical magic realism,
This Magnificent Desolation by Thomas O'Malley - dark novel with touches of magic realism
Black Juice by Margo Lanagan - collection of short stories from Australian fantasy writer
Tracks by Louise Erdrich - native American magic realism
The Man Who Walked Through Walls by Marcel Aymé - collection of short stories by French magic realist
The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington - surrealist, feminist, British magic realism
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - African gods meet modern London in this fun magic realist book
Sexing The Cherry by Jeanette Winterson - post modernist, historical magic realism
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - British literary magic realism, what if you had life after life
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko - Native American magic realism
Last Summer At Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand - collection of short stories by
The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud - collection of Jewish American short stories (not all magic realism)
Forged In Grace by Jordan E Rosenfeld - indie writer's realistic portrayal of faith healer, psychological magic realism
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende - family saga from leading South American magic realist
Goldenland Past Dark by Chandler Klang Smith - a freak circus tale
Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill - a mystery for Laotian coroner and shaman
The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce - psychological magic realism set in 1960's Britain
Missing in Machu Picchu by Cecilia Velastegui - popular women's fiction meets Peruvian native beliefs
The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi - a child with Nigerian/British heritage meets a strange friend
Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo - massively influential magic realism novel, set in dream-like Mexico
A Floating Life by Tad Crawford - surreal magic realism
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - food as magic, India meets US culture
The Blue Fox by Sjon - Icelandic magic realist novella, historical setting
Dona Flor and her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado - epic magic realism tale by Brazilian writer
Spirits of the Ordinary by Kathleen Alcala - Jewish/Mexican magic realism.

The Magic Realism Blog Hop
Yesterday I wrote a post about what I have learned from my year of reading magic realism books and gave my attempt at a definition of magic realism. And tomorrow I will be reviewing my fifty-sixth magic realism book, the wonderful Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.

Below are the other blogs on the Magic Realism Blog Hop. Please take time to visit them: you'll find some fascinating posts. Oh and while you're about it, do take part in the Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom of the post. You could win a collection of magic realism ebooks. You get free entries by commenting on this or other posts, by joining the Magic Realism Facebook page (see right), by following this blog, and in lots of other ways.


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