The Best Books with Magical Realism

Magical realism is an elusive genre. Books in this genre are wise to the lessons and ways of the world, and are comfortable in slipping very realistic lessons between doses of whimsy. Writers of magical realism seem to me to be those who have peeked between the pages of life and seen that there is mystery in the mundane.

Here are some of my favourite books in this genre.

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Staub

Sarah is a teenage girl, who discovers that she can travel back in time to her 16th birthday whenever she wants to. As an adult, she is in the process of saying goodbye to her father, who is dying. As a teenager, she is able to spend time getting to know her father as he was. This is a sweet book that asks the question of “what if?” What if we could go back and make changes? What would it be like to be a teenager again?

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when thousands of women sprouted wings, turned to dragons, and took to the skies, leaving behind a trail of fiery destruction, is not talked about by proper young ladies. Or, indeed, anyone of any moral caliber. Except Alex Green has questions about where her aunt went and why no one speaks of her anymore. And why her cousin is now her sister. This book was unexpectedly wonderful and reminded me of all the ways in which the world makes us feel small.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Linus Baker is Case Worker with the Department in Charge of Magical Youth and has been given a most curious assignment. His job is to see if a small group of orphaned children might possibly be about to create the end of the world. While on this Very Important and Top Secret Assignment, he meets Arthur Parnassus, the charming and protective caretaker of the orphanage. This book is what one reads on a rainy weekend when you need the textual incarnation of a hug. So good.

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Full disclosure: I think everything N.K. Jemisin has done is gold. At least what I’ve read has been amazing. But this novel was such a cool take on urban mythology. Personifying cities and their ability to come alive was a very interesting take on this type of story. The characters are interesting and there are a lot of twists and turns. I really enjoyed this one. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, too.

Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

In a house and family of many secrets, Noemi is trying to save her sister. Full of vivid descriptions and a chilly atmosphere, I really enjoyed how this book kept me guessing. Sometimes it was difficult to know what was real and what was imagined, which added to the sense of supernatural mystery threaded through this story. I gave it a decent 4 stars on Goodreads.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

I read this book some time ago and my recollection is that it is extremely well-told, often surreal, and ties together beautifully. I really enjoyed this. It could be best described as stories nested within one another, experienced or read by the main character. It has historical elements, science fiction elements, and post-apocalyptic elements, and jumps around in history freely. It might sound daunting, but it’s actually extremely good. I strongly recommend this one!

The Grimoire of Kensington Market by Lauren B. Davis

Imagine a bookstore that could expand or contract as stories are born and die. Imagine working in such a bookstore, which can only be found by those destined to do so. Maggie is a guardian of The Grimoire bookstore and finds herself leaving to rescue her brother, who has become addicted to a mysterious drug that drags its users further and further out of our world and into another, before destroying them. This is a retelling of the old folktale “The Snow Queen” and was wonderfully and simultaneously urban and full of magic.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

An absolute delight. I recall the reading of this book to have been more like binging on good chocolate. It was delicious and comfortingly immersive, all at the same time (I suppose you can’t describe chocolate as immersive. That sounds worrying). The Night Circus arrives without warning, sets up, and provides amazements to its visitors, but only at night. Within the circus, there is a magical duel about to take place, one in which the combatants have trained their entire lives for. Between the combatants, a love has bloomed, in spite of which they still must do battle. So, so good.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Nora Seed finds herself faced with her dream of living a different life than the one she has – a life that allows her to follow her dream of becoming a glaciologist, a life that mends old fractures in relationships, in the search for understanding what makes a life worth living. This book was a thinker. The premise of a library filled with the life stories that never happened, but might have, is a wonderful image that I found very satisfying. The story itself really made me think and felt, for lack of a better word, oddly soothing.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Full disclosure, I love Neil Gaiman’s writing. So I was already set up to love this one, and of course I did. With a finely tuned grasp of the heart-wrenching, creepy, and kind, he created a beautiful ghost story, which reminds me of the peculiar loneliness of being a child. Just a lovely and haunting book.

IQ84 by Haruki Murakami

This was a peculiar novel that I really enjoyed, though I think it was the flights of whimsy in it that appealed the most. Aomame, a young woman in 1984, begins to notice that the world is not quite the same as it once was. There are that slowly become clear to her. At the same time, a young writer who takes on a ghostwriting projects finds his settled and steady life slowly becoming unraveled as their paths become intertwined. I found this puzzling and really good at the same time.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Another one of Neil Gaiman’s books for my list, this one an utter favourite. I enjoy all of Neil Gaiman’s work, but this one was a great story that grabbed my imagination, shook it, and let me see what fell out. This is the story of Shadow, whose wife has died in a car crash days before he is released from prison. On the plane, he meets Mr. Wednesday, a mysterious traveller who claims to both be escaping from a war and that he is the King of America. It’s hard to explain this one, so you’ll have to just read it. You won’t be sorry.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

This is such a “what if” type of story. What if two people met but one was temporally handicapped? What if one lives a normal timeline and the other experiences period time-resets? What if they fell in love? This is that story and it is very well done. It has romance, along with its magical realism, and I recall being both deeply satisfied and like all the feelings got stirred up by the end. This is more an experience, than a novel.

Final Thoughts

This list is not exhaustive. However, these are some of the best books that I have read, regardless of genre. So, if you’re into magical realism, these are all fantastic examples of the genre, and, if you’re just looking for a good book, any one of these will pull you into a journey on just the other side of reality.