I’ve unintentionally been on a magical realism kick here lately and mostly with books that Kaycie has suggested to me, the latest of which is Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link. This lady has got one amazing imagination.
A handbag that contains an entire village if opened in a certain way.
Zombies who live in a chasm and spit up pajamas.
A witch’s son who wears a suit made of cat skins.
Living people who can be married to the dead and have children.
What? Yes, these short stories are amazing.
Now let’s throw into the mix Karen Russell whose latest book, Swamplandia, was picked for our first editions club last month. This is pulled from an article written by Karen Russell on NPR’s website :
“Pity the poor librarians who have to slap a sticker on Kelly Link’s genre-bending, mind-blowing masterpiece of the imagination, Stranger Things Happen. Are these stories horror or fantasy? Science-fictional romances? Travelogues to nonexistent countries: a nightmarish North America and a very weird New Zealand? Some read like detective manuals for solving crimes in the afterlife; others could be topographical maps of the unconscious. At least one has a naked ghost. This is a book that would probably cause the old wooden card catalog to catch fire.”
You can take my word or Karen Russell’s that Kelly Link is incredible or find out for yourself.
by Zita
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