magical realism Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch

Catherine — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 08:53:02 +0000

If you’ve read the Jane Austen novel Pride & Prejudice or seen the movie you know that Lydia Bennet was one of the most annoying little sisters in the fictional world, nearly bringing down her family’s reputation with her foolish behavior and hasty decisions. But what if there was more to her than that? Melinda […]

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July Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 07:51:26 +0000

Goodbye, July. It was a busy month of travel, family reunion, and not-so-fun adulting, but overall there was some great reading to be had amongst the gorgeous weather here in Seattle. I’m sorry for you lovelies who struggled with sweltering. One week in Colorado in the 90s was enough to make me overjoyed to return […]

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Parakeet: A Novel

Catherine — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 04:52:36 +0000

It’s the week before her wedding when the Bride sees her grandmother. Not unusual except her grandmother has been dead for over ten years and what she sees is a parakeet who talks to her. Grandma parakeet is worried about the impending wedding, but more importantly she wants the Bride to find her older brother, […]

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Nothing to See Here

Catherine — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 05:09:52 +0000

Friday’s book review was a little dark so I’m starting the week with something much lighter. Not only did I never think I’d read a novel where children spontaneously combust, I definitely didn’t think I would chew through it one night and fall in love with it on page four. Which is to say, don’t […]

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Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

Catherine — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 07:26:44 +0000

Sam DuChamp is a so-so spy novelist when he gets the idea to write a novel based on Don Quixote. Quichotte is born. He’s a 70-year-old former pharmaceutical sales rep whose life has been reduced to watching lots of television. In doing so he has fallen in love with the beautiful young star, Miss Salma […]

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February Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 08:25:35 +0000

February—what a month! On the personal side there was what was known in Seattle as Snowmageddon: 10 days when we were slammed with 3 different storms that left us with 15” inches of snow, unplowed roads, and empty grocery stores. I realize all you readers in places where snow is the norm are laughing right […]

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Virgil Wander: A Novel by Leif Enger

Catherine — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 07:18:31 +0000

Greenstone, Minnesota is a hard luck little town. Once known for its taconite mines it has settled into a slow decline when Virgil Wander’s car goes over a cliff and into the lake one night in the midst of an unexpected snowstorm. He’s only alive because the local junkman was on the shore, dove in […]

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She Would Be King

Catherine — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 07:54:06 +0000

An unlikely trio comes together in the fight for a new nation in She Would Be King, Wayétu Moore’s debut novel about Liberia. There is 18-year-old Gbessa, exiled from her small West African village as a witch, who survives the bite of a poisonous snake. June Dey is a 15-year-old Virginian slave, who kills two […]

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The Pasha of Cuisine

Catherine — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 07:36:14 +0000

The light radiating from the Pasha of Cuisine spread across fields, gardens, orchards, and farms, and from there penetrated kitchens, the hands of cooks, and palates, beginning a new era of opulence, prosperity, joy, and health. In short, a new golden age of taste. Set in the time of Aghas and Sultans, in Constantinople, the […]

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It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews

Catherine — Fri, 18 May 2018 07:34:50 +0000

I’m back, with two spring releases that I didn’t care for, but that I recognize could very well work for someone else. The family of women in What Should Be Wild are cursed. They are the Blakelys and they go back generations to 400 A.D. when the first, the young Alys, is slain by […]

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