Hi! My mom is looking for a new book to read. The last book that she read and enjoyed was In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende (although romance novels aren’t usually her thing). Other books that she has liked include In the Name of Salome by Julia Alvarez and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. She would like the next book she reads to not be too heavy and for the story to maybe take some unexpected turns. She’s not really a big fan of science fiction or fantasy, but she does like magical realism. She’s already tried books from Haruki Murakami (didn’t really like him) and Paulo Coelho (liked The Alchemist). Thanks!
by thats-embjornassing
4 Comments
she might like a fine and private place by peter s beagle. it’s very *New York* magical realism.
edit: another thought: Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler. it’s magical realism too, but not in a very standard way. best I could work out, it blends the Jewish figure of the dybbuk, with the raven/trickster themes of Inuit legend, into one character.
it’s pretty brash and ballsy. our mystery guy Forrest gumps his way through Canada’s history, and tells a not-so-disguised story about a dynasty of “fictional” Canadian bootleggers along the way. I’m kind of surprised the Bronfman family didn’t sue Richler, but maybe they thought it would be more dignified to just ignore him 😋
I would recommend looking into Banana Yoshimoto’s books!
The Rosie Project
It’s a light, humorous romcom.
Although most of her work is sci-fi, _Bellwether_ by Connie Willis is modern social/corporate satire, and relatively light comedy.