Magical Realism

Dive into a world where the extraordinary blends into the everyday with this week's Midweek Reads selection of magical realism!

Updated March 5, 2025
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One hundred years of solitude
García Márquez, Gabriel
Paper Book
Now a Netflix original series! "One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. . . . García Márquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound,...
Violeta : a novel
Allende, Isabel
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * This sweeping novel from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century. "An immersive saga...
Vampires in the lemon grove : stories
Russell, Karen
Paper Book
From the author of the New York Times best seller Swamplandia!--a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize--a magical new collection of stories that showcases Karen Russell's gifts at their inimitable best. A dejected teenager discovers that the universe is communicating with...
Get in trouble : stories
Link, Kelly
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A bewitching story collection from a writer hailed as "the most darkly playful voice in American fiction" (Michael Chabon) and "a national treasure" (Neil Gaiman). NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ...
Quichotte : a novel
Rushdie, Salman
CD
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An epic Don Quixote for the modern age, "a brilliant, funny, world-encompassing wonder" (Time) from internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie   SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE * "Lovely,...
A tale for the time being
Ozeki, Ruth L.
Paper Book
A brilliant, unforgettable novel from bestselling author Ruth Ozeki--shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award "A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be."
The wind knows my name : a novel
Allende, Isabel
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "The lives of a Jewish boy escaping Nazi-occupied Europe and a mother and daughter fleeing twenty-first-century El Salvador intersect in this ambitious, intricate novel about war and immigration" (People), from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea and...
The golden house : a novel
Rushdie, Salman
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A modern American epic set against the panorama of contemporary politics and culture--a hurtling, page-turning mystery that is equal parts The Great Gatsby and The Bonfire of the Vanities NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR...
St. Lucy's home for girls raised by wolves
Russell, Karen
Paper Book
A dazzling debut, a blazingly original voice: the ten stories in St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves introduce a radiant new talent. In the collection’s title story, a pack of girls raised by wolves are painstakingly reeducated by nuns. In “Haunting...
The book of form and emptiness
Ozeki, Ruth
Paper Book
Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction "No one writes like Ruth Ozeki--a triumph." --Matt Haig, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library "Inventive, vivid, and propelled by a sense of wonder." --TIME "If you've lost your...
The bear and the nightingale : a novel
Arden, Katherine
Paper Book
Katherine Arden's bestselling debut novel spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice.   "A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up."--Naomi Novik, bestselling...
The midnight library
Haig, Matt
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestsellerA GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had...
When we were birds : a novel
Banwo, Ayanna Lloyd
Paper Book
A mythic love story set in Trinidad, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's radiant debut is a masterwork of lush imagination and exuberant storytelling--a spellbinding and hopeful novel about inheritance, loss, and love's seismic power to heal. "Roots the reader in [Trinidad's] traditions...
Garden spells
Allen, Sarah Addison.
Paper Book
In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who...
Vanessa Yu's magical Paris tea shop
Lim, Roselle
Paper Book
From the critically acclaimed author of Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune comes a new delightful novel about exploring all the magical possibilities of life in the most extraordinary city of all: Paris.   Vanessa Yu never wanted to see people's fortunes-...
Klara and the sun
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes our view of the world. This magnificent novel from the Nobel laureate and author of Never Let Me Go is "an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures ... a...
Peaces
Oyeyemi, Helen
Paper Book
"Enchanting . . . the most surprising, confounding, and oddly insightful couple's trip in recent literary history." --Entertainment Weekly The prize-winning, bestselling author of Gingerbread; Boy, Snow, Bird; and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours...
A long petal of the sea : a novel
Allende, Isabel
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of The House of the Spirits, this epic novel spanning decades and crossing continents follows two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home. "One of the most...
The ocean at the end of the lane
Gaiman, Neil
Paper Book
A brilliantly imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first new novel for adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys. This bewitching and harrowing tale of mystery and survival,...
The invisible life of Addie LaRue
Schwab, Victoria
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER USA TODAY BESTSELLER NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER THE WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER Recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, NPR, Slate, and Oprah...
Novelist as a vocation
Murakami, Haruki
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * An insightful look into the mind of a master storyteller--and a unique look at the craft of writing from the beloved and best-selling author of 1Q84, Norwegian Wood, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running....
Life of Pi : a novel
Martel, Yann.
Paper Book
NOW ON BROADWAY The international bestseller and modern classic of adventure, survival, and the power of storytelling is now an award-winning play.  After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the...
The snow child : a novel
Ivey, Eowyn.
Paper Book
In this magical debut, a couple's lives are changed forever by the arrival of a little girl, wild and secretive, on their snowy doorstep. Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he...
Pan's labyrinth
Toro, Guillermo del
The alchemist
Coelho, Paulo
Paper Book
An international bestseller Over 80 million copies sold worldwide A PBS Great American Read Top 100 pick A special 25th anniversary edition of the extraordinary international bestseller, including a new Foreword by Paulo Coelho. Combining magic, mysticism...
The house in the Cerulean Sea
Klune, Tj
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, INDIE and WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER! A 2021 Alex Award winner! The 2021 RUSA Reading List: Fantasy Winner! An Indie Next Pick! One of Publishers Weekly's "Most Anticipated Books of...
The ten thousand doors of January
Harrow, Alix E.
Paper Book
"A gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers, and the doors they lead us through...absolutely enchanting."--Christina Henry, bestselling author of Alice and Lost Boys LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER! Finalist for the 2020 Hugo, Nebula,...
Book Club 2 Go. The time traveler's wife
Niffenegger, Audrey
Other
A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair...
Big fish
Burton, Tim
Paper Book
A father who loves to tell tales of his many adventures in life is trying to reconnect with his estranged son. Slowly, through the fascinating tales, the two begin to understand each other, and form a family again.
The shape of water
Toro, Guillermo del
Paper Book
The 2018 Academy Award's Best Picture of the Year and New York Times-bestselling novel, The Shape of Water. From visionary storyteller Guillermo del Toro and celebrated author Daniel Kraus comes this haunting, heartbreaking love story. "[A]...

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