my favourite magical realism books! ☁️📖

Hello everyone! In today's video, I'm bringing you my favourite magical realism books~

This is a genre I really quite love--full of books set in our own realistic world, but with fantastical / magical elements. This is a really good video if you're into specifically Japanese magical realism, bc there's a few of those on here hahah. I hope you enjoy the video! Please let me know your favourite magical realism books are and what magical realism books you tend to recommend 💛

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0:00 what is magical realism?
2:02 magical realism recommendations~

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[AlineAimee]

Magical realism is a great tradition for us here in latin america, usually exploring folk elements and political questions. What you call magical realism we use to call fantastic literature, specially due to the Todorov essay about that matter.
In magical realism I just love One hundred years of solitude, The house of the spirits and Pedro Paramo. I definetly recommend them. :-)

[MissMahaxo]

Agree, when I think of Magical Realism, the Latin American authors define the genre.

[thefallstrokes]

Really good recommendations!
Christy I really encourage you to read magical realism from latin america, it is really good, there are authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Julio Cortázar And Jorge Luis Borges that have written some of the best magical realism books out there.

[inesalegria]

When I think about magical realism all I can think about is the amazing Gabriel García Márquez. Please go and read it!!!

[Samreen]

Christy you are such a blessingt o this youtube community🌼...people like you are rare!🌸😊

[RajdeepDhareed]

Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel is a very good book

[Johanna_reads]

I just read Before the Coffee Gets Cold based on your recommendation, and it made me more emotional than I was expecting! Great list! 💕

[jennymesas]

I didnt know magical realism existed outside latinoamerican literature, it's different here though, because the magic aspects to the story are not like the focus of the story, there's usually no magic system building, there's no rules, because magic just exists, and it can obviously have a lot of impact in the story, but it's not the main focus, that's why the books you recommend (maybe excluding Murakami) would be fantastic literature for me, because there's magic building, there's rules, and the focus is the fantastic aspect to the story. I used to hate magical realism in school tho, not gonna lie lol

[louisev.]

I would love if you could include the books you mention in your videos in the description! It makes it easier for those of us who are interested and want to check them out later.

[Kelli.Hicks.]

I recommend any of the books by Sarah Addison Allen. The magical realism in them involve "powers" that the main characters have. The stories themselves tend to be a bit more lighthearted and breezy, so they're quick reads as well.

[RajdeepDhareed]

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Midnight's Children are great books.

[Jay-odif]

Is really cool seeing so many latinos here recommending our wonderful literature 🖤🖤🖤

[Reymei]

Really intriguing recommendations, I would definitely add some of them on my reading list.

I understand One Hundred Years of Solitude not being here because it'll be an obvious recommendation when it comes to this genre, after all, is the piece of work that defines what magical realism is. Juan Rulfo's "Pedro Páramo" is probably the second most defining and important novel in the genre so I would recommend that one which is not as well known as Márquez masterpiece.

On the other hand, I find really interesting how common this genre is in Latin America and Japan, which are very (very!) different cultures.

But one thing those parts of the world have in common are a very rich folklore, and magical realism was born in part I think from the mixing of that folklore with our modern world.

My grandmother for example (A venezuelan woman born in a rural area of the country in the early 40s) talked to me about spirits, witches that turned into lobsters and crosses in the sky, as mundane, day to day occurrences. Never questioned, just facts of her world, of nature, like any other thing.

I imagine in Japan something similar happens.

[morganinwanderland]

I recommend The Ten Thousand Doors of January. Maybe more portal fantasy but whatever it is, it was good!

[twimkie]

100 years of solitude need to be in this list!

[Laf]

Seconding the recommendation for Ocean at the End of the Lane! This makes me want to re-read it. My own recommendation is The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore; it's about two traveling circuses that have been locked into competition for generations. One of the circuses is themed around mermaids and the other around birds. Really lovely visual flair.

[Undetected]

Magical realism is my favorite genre. I cant wait to read The Ocean at the End of the Lane

[JuliaFerreira-zrpq]

After reading "The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavander" and "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" this year and falling head over heels in love with both, this might just be the perfect recommendation video, thank you!

[feicai]

The color of your video is always so lovely <3

[abrilvonbunny]

I found your channel yesterday and I'm so happy, you read the same things I like, and every video is so calming and lovely, thank you so much