Magical realism genre books (316)
131.
Mr. President by Miguel Ángel Asturias EN
Country: North America / 
Guatemala
Guatemala
Description:
“[A] brilliant translation . . . Electrifying vividness animates every page.” ―Claire Messud, Harper’s Magazine “A formidable new English translation.” ―The New Yorker “[A] masterful translation.” ―The Washington Post Nobel Prize–winning Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias’s masterpiece—the original Latin American dictator novel and pioneering work of magical realism—in its first new English translation in more than half a century, featuring a foreword by Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa Also available from Penguin Classics: Miguel Ángel Asturias’s visionary epic of ecological devastation... continue
132.
My Beijing : Four Stories of Everyday Wonder by Nie Jun EN
ChinaDescription:
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
133.
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci EN
KosovoDescription:
A love story set in two countries in two radically different moments in time, bringing together a young man, his mother, a boa constrictor, and one capricious cat. In 1980s Yugoslavia, a young Muslim girl is married off to a man she hardly knows, but what was meant to be a happy match goes quickly wrong. Soon thereafter her country is torn apart by war and she and her family flee. Years later, her son, Bekim, grows up a social outcast in present-day Finland, not just an immigrant in a country suspicious of foreigners, but a gay man in an unaccepting society. Aside from casual hookups, his only... continue
134.
Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim EN
Country: Asia / 
Philippines
Philippines
Description:
Lush and visual, chock-full of delicious recipes, Roselle Lim’s magical debut novel is about food, heritage, and finding family in the most unexpected places. At the news of her mother’s death, Natalie Tan returns home. The two women hadn’t spoken since Natalie left in anger seven years ago, when her mother refused to support her chosen career as a chef. Natalie is shocked to discover the vibrant neighborhood of San Francisco’s Chinatown that she remembers from her childhood is fading, with businesses failing and families moving out. She’s even more surprised to learn she has inherited her gra... continue
135.
Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar EN
IndiaDescription:
A surgeon must bring a dead family back to life in this fabulist debut novel set in rural India, called “otherworldly” and “a haunting contemplation of life, death, the liminal space in between, and the dogged search for resurrection” (Kirkus Reviews, starred). Fleeing scandal in the city, a surgeon accepts a job at a village clinic. He buys antibiotics out of pocket, squashes roaches, and chafes at the interventions of the corrupt officer who oversees his work. But his outlook on life changes one night when a teacher, his pregnant wife, and their young son appear. Killed in a violent robbery,... continue
136.
Nightbitch : A Novel by Rachel Yoder EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
In this blazingly smart and voracious debut novel, an artist turned stay-at-home mom becomes convinced she's turning into a dog. • "A must-read for anyone who can’t get enough of the ever-blurring line between the psychological and supernatural that Yellowjackets exemplifies." —Vulture One day, the mother was a mother, but then one night, she was quite suddenly something else... An ambitious mother puts her art career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler's deman... continue
137.
No Place to Bury the Dead by Karina Sainz Borgo EN
Country: South America / 
Venezuela
Venezuela
Description:
"[A] rich and lyrical tale of desperation and redemption . . . Throughout, Sainz Borgo applies stark poetry to the terrifying setting, where 'moans and cries attributed to ghosts sometimes masked executions and beatings.' It's a stunner." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[A] deeply felt meditation on migration, mourning and the simultaneous entanglement and estrangement of the living and the dead" --Los Angeles Times Winner of the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize, a searing novel of loss and resilience that illuminates the often-overlooked human dimension of the migrant crisis, re-imagining the b... continue
138.
No Windmills in Basra by Diaa Jubaili EN
IraqDescription:
A bold, imaginative collection of short stories set in Southern Iraq from prolific, award-winning novelist Diaa Jubaili. Influenced in turn by the long tradition of Arabic folktales and the magical realism of Latin America, the stories in No Windmills in Basra reflect a reality tinged by the city’s history with war. Yet the fantastic and playful peek through, offering an astounding breadth of images in only a few lines per story. In “Mubarak,” a security guard for a chicken plant discovers his own wings after a bomb explosion. In “The Taste of Death,” long-buried Iraqi and Iranian soldiers ris... continue
139.
Noches de Seda by Aicha Bassry ES
MoroccoDescription:
Aïcha Bassry nos sumerge en un relato misterioso –que, por otra parte, nunca pierde su conexión vivencial–, con elementos que nos evocan nociones subliminales del realismo mágico, entre la superstición y lo onírico, rayanas a la novela hispanoamericana (no es casualidad que Isabel Allende sea una de sus escritoras predilectas), teñida amargamente de un marcado carácter poético. […] Aïcha Bassry nos transmite con la intensidad de una fértil narradora, audaz y directa, cuidando la expresión al detalle pero sin renunciar al severo compromiso que exige el arte de escribir; convirtiendo el mero hec... continue
140.
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
A New York Times Bestseller - A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, People, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, TIME, The A.V. Club, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar "I can't believe how good this book is.... It's wholly original. It's also perfect.... Wilson writes with such a light touch.... The brilliance of the novel [is] that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didn't see coming. You're laughing so hard you don't even realize that you... continue