It's magic

I used to be ashamed of reading mostly romance novels. Even when I worked in a bookstore, I'd sneak my stack up to the counter like a druggie with a secret stash. I'd cover the covers with the inserts from magazines. I'd avoid questions about what I was reading, mostly because my male friends would snatch the books and read the sex scenes aloud (ask D. about his horrifying experience with 'thickets').

It wasn't until I read One Hundred Years of Solitude that I really understood what I'd been missing and/or ignoring. The end was stunning, when the Buendias' journey ends and the whole fantastic scope of the novel is revealed. First published in 1967, it is still considered the preeminent example of Magical Realism, which, to steal some quotes from Wikipedia is "an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even 'normal' setting." For instance, one character, Remedios the Beauty, floats away to the heavens while folding the laundry. The blood of another, Jose Arcadio, winds its way out the door and around the corner to find his mother and tell her of his death. 

If you want to delve further into Magical Realism, Margin is an online magazine with a huge list of novels, poetry, and non-fiction resources on the subject. Some I've read and loved like Bel Canto by Anne Patchett, and The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint. Others I've read and enjoyed: The Little Prince and Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquival and then there were some surprising choices (neither of which I've read yet) such as Heart Of Darkness,  and As I Lay Dying.

Another exhaustive website, The Modern Word, is an amazing journey into the worlds created by Marquez, Borges, and Joyce, among others, each occupying their own 'corner' much like you might find in your favorite independent bookstore. It is a also a resource to discover new and experimental writers and small publishing houses. 

All this brings me to another book that I want to read, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, a modern day retelling of The Prince and the Pauper. It is the fictional autobiography of Saleem Sinai who is born on August 15, 1947, just as India declares its independence from Great Britain. As he grows, and witnesses the birth of modern India, he realizes that he and the other 1000 children born between 12 and 1 on the same night have been invested with supernatural powers. For Saleem, it is a 'wildly sensitive sense of smell' and the presence of inner voices that connect him to the other children. 

Is anyone up for a 450 page selection?