Book List: Magical Realism

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Magical Realism
Wikipedia describes magical realism as "an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of thought." I'm a big fan of this genre (Sarah Addison Allen is my favorite) and I wanted to find more books (and movies) in this style. Many of these authors wrote more in this style than the book listed, but the titles below are a good starting place.

Books:
Sarah Addison Allen – Garden Spells
Alice Hoffman – Practical Magic
Isabel Allende – The House of Spirits
Jonathan Safran Foer – Everything is Illuminated
Laura Esquivel – Like Water for Chocolate
Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years of Solitude
Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow of the Wind
Italo Calvino – Invisible Cities
Kathryn Davis – Labrador
Melissa Senate – The Love Goddess Cooking School
Lauren Groff – The Monsters of Templeton
Karen Russell – Swamplandia!
Peter Grandbois – The Gravedigger
Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist
Tabitha King and Michael McDowell – Candles Burning
Toni Morrison – Beloved
Steven King – The Green Mile
Franz Kafka – The Metamorposis

Movies and TV Shows:
Death Takes a Holiday (1934) / Meet Joe Black (1998)
Big (1988)
Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Lawn Dogs (1997)
Pleasantville (1998)
Practical Magic (1998)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Whale Rider (2002)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
The Lake House (2006)
Pushing Daisies (2007-2009) TV show - Thanks to Steven Gravatte for the recommendation!

For More Information:

http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/non-fiction/top-ten-magical-realism-films/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_realism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Magic_realism_novels
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/143.Favorite_Magical_Realism_Novels

Book List: Fairy Tales, Retellings, and Reimaginings

Fairy Tales, Retellings and, Reimaginings

We all know that vampires and werewolves were (and still are) majorly popular. Then there were fairies and angels and distopian futures (Hunger Games anyone?). What appears to be a new big trend, at least according to the TV networks and movie makers, is reimagining and retelling the stories of fairy tales. I love this: fairy tales have meat to them, moral codes in a let-me-put-the-fear-of-God-into-you-so-you-don't-do-this-stuff style, and they can be tailored to be light and happy (see Tangled) or dark and moody (see Beastly). You know it's a growing area when they have not one, but two Snow White movies coming out in the next year, both with all-star casts (Julia Roberts plays the evil queen in one of them! Gasp!).
Below is a list of movies, TV shows, and books for anyone intrigued by this sub-genre (oh, and I tossed in some Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland retellings, too). If you have any thoughts or additional items to add, please do so in the comments section!

Movies and TV Shows
Beastly (2011)
Red Riding Hood (2011)
Tangled (2010)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Hoodwinked! (2005)

The 10^th Kingdom (2000)

Ever After (1998)
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (coming 3/2/2012)

Snow White and the Huntsman (coming 6/1/2012)

The Brothers Grimm: Snow White (coming 2012)
Grimm (coming this fall to NBC)
Once Upon a Time (coming this fall to ABC)

Tween/Young Adult
Beastly, Alex Flinn
Cloaked, Alex Flinn
Briar Rose, Jane Ylen
Impossible, Nancy Werlin
Sisters Red, Jackson Pearce
Red Riding Hood, Sarah Blakley-Cartwright and Catherine Hardwicke (movie tie-in)
Crazy Beautiful, Lauren Baratz-Logsted
A Tale Dark and Grimm, Adam Gidwitz
The Grimm Legacy, Polly Shulman
The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor

Classics
The Complete Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Anderson
Aesop’s Fables, Aesop
The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights, Anonymous

Fiction
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, Angela Carter (short stories, horror)
The Fairy Godmother, Mercedes Lackey (fantasy/romance)
Mirror Mirror, Gregory Maguire (historical fiction)
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman (fantasy)
The Child Thief, Brom (fantasy/horror)
King Rat, China Mieville (fantasy/horror)
The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye, A.S. Byatt (short stories, fantasy)
The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood (literary fiction)
The Stolen Child, Keith Donohue (fantasy)
Stardust, Neil Gaiman (fantasy)

Anime/Graphic Novels/Comics

Fables: Legends in Exile, Bill Willingham, et al
Peter and Max: A Fables Novel, Bill Willingham, et al

Teaser Tuesday: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was."
— Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children)

Review: Magic Slays

Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, #5), by Ilona Andrews (*****)

Magic Slays is the 5th title of an action packed, ofttimes gory, urban fantasy series. The story is set in a near-future Atlanta where magic and technology battle for supremacy. Kate is a woman possessed of a great deal of magic and mad sword skills, plus a mysterious past that causes her to keep everyone at bay. Through the course of the books, though, she has allowed herself to make personal connections, including a best friend, an adopted daughter, and a love interest. Only in this series, tall, dark and handsome is more likely to end up furry, fangy, and dangerous. Kate's beau is the Beast Lord, a guy who turns into a lion and rules the furry roost in Atlanta. In Magic Slays, Kate and Curran (said Beast Lord) have to figure out why a vampire has lost control and eventually save Atlanta...again.

My only issue with this book series is that the books come out too far apart! By the time a new one comes along, I've forgotten a lot of what happened in the previous books. I guess it's just time I started over and refreshed my memory - and this series is worth a second read.

Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset

The Girl in the Steel Corset (Steampunk Chronicles, #1), by Kady Cross (*****)

From Goodreads:
In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one except the "thing" inside her.

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch...

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits. Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.

Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help-and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.

But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on, even if it seems no one believes her.

From Me:
I REALLY wanted to like this book. I loved the cover art and I was intrigued by the book description - I love a good tough-chick story. I even really enjoyed the characters and the world Cross created. I just couldn't get into the story. It felt like the author was trying to shove all the cool stuff she thought of into this one book rather than saving some of it for the next one (this is the first in a series). It wasn't that what was in the story was bad, there was just too much of it.

That being said, I'll still read the follow-up novel. I loved the Steampunk world and I want to see how the characters develop, particularly Finley Jayne (the girl in the steel corset). I would recommend this book for someone looking to test the waters of Steampunk, but who may not be ready to go into the full blown, hardcore Steampunk world. Though I would suggest Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate first, unless they really just wanted a YA read.

Question for those who have read the book: what in the world is "ropey hair"?

Teaser Tuesday: Garden Spells

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:





•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"She was so Southern that she cried tears that came straight from the Mississippi, and she always smelled faintly of cottonwood and peaches."  Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors I'd DIE To Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's Top Ten asks, "Who are the Top Ten authors you'd DIE to meet?"

10. Stephenie Meyer - The Twilight series is so polarizing; either you love it or you hate it - there's practically no middle ground. I happen to be on the Love It side of that equation; the books (and even the movies) are my guilty pleasure. However, I'd love a chance to sit down with Ms. Meyer and ask her what in the name of naming was she thinking when she selected Renesme for the vampirelette?

9. Sarah Addison Allen - Ms. Allen writes truly lovely books. They make me feel like there really is a little magic in the world, I just have to find it. Someone who can create such beautiful stories is someone I'd love to have 'round to tea.

8. Sarah MacLean - I read Ms. MacLean's Nine, Ten, and Eleven books in quick succession and I want a chance to ask, beg, plead for a new book asfastasshecan!

7. JK Rowling - The first of the initialled authors on my list (and the only one still living...). Not only am I a major fan of the Harry Potter books (I'm still sad I never got my own Hogwarts letter), as a girl who'd someday like to write books and is looking for a job in a library, I find JK to be an inspiration. First, she got a whole generation of kids excited to read, and that's amazing in and of itself, but she was also incredibly successful in the process. I want to be JK when I grow up...

6. CS Lewis - My favorite books as a kid were the Chronicles of Narnia. I would read them over and over, and if I could, I'd shake the hand of the man who made reading such a delight.

5. JRR Tolkien - I want to live in Middle Earth. Tolkien's intricate descriptions, with everything thought out in minute detail, makes it feel like I could close my eyes and enter that world. Reading his books is a truly magical experience.

4. Jasper Fforde - Mr. Fforde's alternate reality/book world Thursday Next series is beyond amazing. He's a brilliant author, but I truly appreciate how clever a wordsmith he is. Utterly fantastic.

3. Dawn French - Whilst she's an actress and comedienne first, Ms. French is also an author. She's the kind of woman you wish you could invite out to drinks and just listen to stories about her life. Did you know she snogged Johnny Depp?

2. Charlaine Harris - I'm hooked on the Sookie Stackhouse series, particularly any scene involving Eric (book 4 is my favorite). If I met Ms. Harris, maybe she could introduce me to Alexander Skarsgard...

1. Gail Carriger - I adore her Parasol Protectorate books and I'm excited to say that she follows me on Twitter and actually responded to me a couple of times! It made my bookish heart go all aflutter! It's a major step to really meeting someone on this list. Maybe one day we can talk Steampunk over a cuppa.

WWW Wednesdays (July 6)

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?






What are you currently reading?

Girl in the Steel Corset (Steampunk Chronicles #1) by Kady Cross
I just started this book last night, so I haven't gotten very far yet, but I am digging the Steampunk and this YA title looks like it's going to be a winner.

What did you recently finish reading?
Magic Slays (Kate Daniels #5) by Ilona Andrews
This is such a cool, intense urban fantasy series. I'll have a full review up soon...

What do you think you’ll read next?
I'm not sure, I just brought in a major haul from a massive book sale, plus my library stack is as tall as a toddler. I do have a couple of books I need to read for book groups: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (love her!) and Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen. Then there's Julia Quinn's Just Like Heaven, which I won't be able to wait too long to read (and hoping it's as good as her Bridgerton series). Then there's Spoiled by the fabulous Go Fug Yourself girls (love that site).

Quot libros, quom breve tempus.

Waiting on Wednesday: Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Title:  Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children
Author:  Ransom Riggs
Publication Date:  available now

From Goodreads:
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

Ok, yes, this book is technically available now, rather than a pre-publication title, but I'm waiting on a copy from the library, so it's not available to me yet. So I'm going to count it :) If you're not convinced that this is a must read, just check out this AWESOME book trailer:

Teaser Tuesday: The Girl in the Steel Corset

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Finley didn't court trouble, but part of her--that part that was going to keep her safe, yet get her fired--hoped he'd try something. It was horribly delighted as the prospect of the violence to come."

The Girl in the Steel Corset (The Steampunk Chronicles), by Kady Cross

I am growing to love Steampunk. I'm still new to it; most of what I know is from Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, but it's so cool! And it has such a wonderful aesthetic. I can't wait to dig in to this book!