Magical realism books from China
Recommended magical realism books (7)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into magical realism here are some magical realism books from China for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
Bliss Montage : Stories by Ling Ma EN
Description:
A National Indie Bestseller Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Story Prize, and a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize A Best Book of the Year at The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, Houston Chronicle, Roxane Gay’s The Audacity, Mashable, Polygon, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice “Uncanny and haunting . . . Genius.” —Michele Filgate, The Washington Post “Dazzling.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air What happens when fantasy tears the screen of the everyday to wake us up? Could that waking be our end? In Bliss Montage, Ling ... continue
2.
Braised Pork by An Yu EN
Description:
A Chinese woman embarks on a dream-like journey through Beijing, Tibet, and mysterious worlds beyond in this novel of “startlingly original imagination” (Guardian, UK). One autumn morning, Jia Jia walks into the bathroom of her lavish Beijing apartment to find her husband dead in their half-full bathtub. Like something out of a dream, Jia Jia discovers a pencil sketch of a strange watery figure next to the tub. The mysterious drawing launches Jia Jia on an odyssey across contemporary Beijing, from its high-rise apartments to its hidden bars, as her path crosses some of the people who call the ... continue
3.
Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin EN
Description:
The Chia family experiences a decline in fortune during the Ch'ing dynasty.
4.
Ghost Music by An Yu EN
Description:
From the author of the "original and electric" Braised Pork (Time), An Yu's enchanting and contemplative novel of music and mushrooms follows a former concert pianist searching for the truth about a vanished musician For three years, Song Yan has filled the emptiness of her Beijing apartment with the tentative notes of her young piano students. She gave up on her own career as a concert pianist many years ago, but her husband Bowen, an executive at a car company, has long rebuffed her pleas to have a child. He resists even when his mother arrives from the southwestern Chinese region of Yunnan ... continue
5.
My Beijing : Four Stories of Everyday Wonder by Nie Jun EN
Description:
A 2019 Batchelder Honor Book Yu'er and her grandpa live in a small neighborhood in Beijing—and it's full of big personalities. There's a story around every corner, and each day has a hint of magic. In one tale, Yu'er wants to swim in the Special Olympics, a sports competition for people with disabilities. But she and her grandpa don't have a pool! Their trick to help Yu'er practice wows the whole neighborhood. In another story, a friend takes Yu'er to a wild place full of musical insects. Later, Yu'er hears a special story about her grandparents. And in the final story, Yu'er and her grandpa s... continue
6.
Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge EN
Description:
A New York Times Editors' Choice and Notable Book of 2021 "Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror of 2021"—The Washington Post From one of the most exciting voices in contemporary Chinese literature, an uncanny and playful novel that blurs the line between human and beast… In the fictional Chinese city of Yong’an, an amateur cryptozoologist is commissioned to uncover the stories of its fabled beasts. These creatures live alongside humans in near-inconspicuousness—save their greenish skin, serrated earlobes, and strange birthmarks. Aided by her elusive former professor and his enigmatic assis... continue
7.
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu EN
Description:
Ken Liu is one of the most original, thought-provoking and award-winning short-story writers of his generation. This is the first collection of his work – sixteen stories that invoke the magical within the mundane, by turns profound, beguiling and heartbreaking. Included here are: The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary (Finalist for Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon Awards), Mono No Aware (Hugo Award winner), The Waves (Nebula Award finalist), The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species (Nebula and Sturgeon award finalists), All the Flavors (Nebula Award finalist), The Litigation Master and the Monkey ... continue