Books like 'Flying Leap'
Readers who enjoyed Flying Leap by Judy Budnitz also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy magical-realism humor literary-fiction low-fantasy
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The Houseplant by Jeremy Ray
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsGeorge, a fern, doesn’t appreciate being bought by Brenda at Garden Palace.And he certainly doesn’t appreciate being trapped in her house of humans. He yearns to be with the plants outside in the garden. With time, George learns to trust Brenda and think of her as his human. Then one day, tragedy strikes and George’s life will never be the same...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction -
Cronopios and Famas by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 25 ratings"The Instruction Manual," the first chapter, is an absurd assortment of tasks and items dissected in an instruction-manual format. "Unusual Occupations," the second chapter, describes the obsessions and predilections of the narrator's family, including the lodging of a tiger-just one tiger- "for the sole purpose of seeing the mechanism at work in all its complexity...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies classics -
The Oversoul Seven Trilogy: The Education of Oversoul Seven, The Further Education of Oversoul Seven, Oversoul Seven and the Museum of Time by Jane Roberts, Robert F. Butts
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJane Roberts has contributed to The Oversoul Seven Trilogy as an author.Roberts was considered one of the most important psychics of the twentieth century...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary fiction philosophy -
Joe Nuthin's Guide to Life by Helen Fisher
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA thoroughly uplifting novel about a neurodivergent young man who unexpectedly builds a community and saves a friend in need by following—in a way only he can—his mother’s words of wisdom.Joe-Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe-Nuthin. But Joe is far from nothing...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism low-fantasy fiction contemporary audiobook fantasy friendship -
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Storms Of Magic Boxed Set: by P.T. Hylton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn a time when magic rules the sea, she only trusts her sword. Buy the complete four-book Storms of Magic Series at a discounted box set price. Storm Raiders Abbey has always been an outsider in Holdgate. While the people of her adopted city dominate the seas with their weather-controlling storm magic, she prefers the work in her father’s blacksmith shop...Categorized as:
humor magical-realism low-fantasy fiction fantasy contemporary sword-sorcery witches-wizards -
Отдай мое сердце by Max Frei
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsКогда тебя просят отдать чье-то сердце, предполагается, что ты его перед этим похитил. Похитить сердце – величайшее одолжение, которое может сделать один человек другому. Потому что любовь – источник самой сладкой разновидности силы, и одновременно – мост, соединяющий нас с жизнью, смертью, иными Мирами и временами, со всем свершившимся и несбывшимся. И, в конечном итоге, с самими собой...Categorized as:
magical-realism humor low-fantasy fantasy fiction audiobook action-adventure time-travel -
Мастер ветров и закатов by Max Frei
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsСамый популярный автор начала ХХI века Макс Фрай дарит своим поклонникам новую серию книг! Таким образом, МАСТЕР ВЕТРОВ И ЗАКАТОВ - первая книга новой серии Макса Фрая "Сновидения ЕХО", которая раскроет ранее неизвестные стороны жизни сэра Макса из Тайного Сыска города Ехо... -
Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA spellbinding saga about the inhabitants and inheritors of one rural community, by one of Iceland's most beloved novelists. A man comes to awareness in a church in rural Iceland, not knowing why he’s there or how he arrived... -
Fishing for the Little Pike by Juhani Karila
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWinner of the Jarkko Laine Literature Prize In the utterly original, genre-defying, English-language debut of Finnish author Juhani Karila, a young woman’s annual pilgrimage to her home in Lapland to catch an elusive pike in three days is complicated by a host of mythical creatures, a murder detective hot on her trail, and a deadly curse hanging over her head...Categorized as:
magical-realism humor literary-fiction low-fantasy fantasy fiction audiobook contemporary -
Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"A lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake. The Starlings live in Everton, an ordinary enough New Hampshire town... -
Three Scenarios In Which Hana Sasaki Grows A Tail by Kelly Luce
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThree Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail is a debut collection of stories from Kelly Luce. Hana Sasaki will introduce you to many things—among them, an oracular toaster, a woman who grows a tail, and an extraordinary sex-change operation. Set in Japan, these stories tip into the fantastical, plumb the power of memory, and measure the human capacity to love...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary dark fiction -
Imagine a Place by Sarah L. Thomson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIf you can imagine a place, you can go there. Imagine a place that makes you feel as free as a bird. Imagine a place where getting there is worth whatever it takes. Imagine a place that makes you feel like it's always been your destination. Imagine a place made out of pure imagination...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism book children children-books contemporary fiction fantasy -
Слишком много кошмаров by Max Frei
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsВ этой книге слишком много не только кошмаров, а вообще всего. Страшных тайн и просто чужих секретов, городских улиц, новых домов, крепких напитков, друзей, сновидений, разговоров до утра, красавиц и, конечно, ужасных чудовищ, куда без них.В этой книге слишком много жизни — столько, что хватит всем персонажам и останется на долю читателя... -
Brain Freeze: World Book Day 2018 by Tom Fletcher
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA little girl discovers that eating ice cream from her grandfather's old ice-cream truck gives her the power to travel through time, in this brilliant, funny and heartwarming story from bestselling author Tom Fletcher...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure book children children-books contemporary -
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In a Thousand Different Ways by Cecelia Ahern
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFinding your way is never a simple journey…Alice sees the best in people.She also sees the worst.She sees a thousand different emotions and knows exactly what everyone around her is feeling.Every. Single. Day.But it’s the dark thoughts.The sadness. The rage.These are the things she can’t get out of her head. The things that overwhelm her...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism low-fantasy fiction contemporary fantasy audiobook family -
Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages, Neil Gaiman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEmerging from a unique and powerful voice, this innovative collection offers a tantalizing glimpse of what lies hidden just beyond the ordinary, skirting the border between childhood and adulthood...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism anthologies contemporary fiction lgbtq magic -
Sleight of Hand by Peter S. Beagle
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAbundant with tales of quiet heroism, life-changing decisions, and determined searches for deep answers, this extraordinary collection of contemporary fantasy explores the realms between this world and the next. From the top of the Berlin Wall to the depths of the darkest seas, gods and monsters battle their enemies and innermost fears, yet mere mortals make the truly difficult choices...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary epic fiction -
Murphy’s Luck by Benjamin Laskin
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSometimes rotten luck is better than no luck at all.Jinxed from birth with mystifying bad luck, Murphy Drummer hasn’t ventured beyond the safety of his backyard since he was a little boy. To remedy his loneliness, he became the master of a thousand hobbies and as amazing as his crazy luck... -
Timeskipper by Stefano Benni
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the author of Margherita Dolce Vita One late-winter morning as he is "hop-hiking" downhill toward his character-building destination, a vomit-yellow cube surrounded by a garden of barbarously unkempt weeds known as the Bisacconi elementary school, Stefano Benni's young hero encounters a peculiar man--as big as a mountain and as filthy as a garbage dump, with a vast beard the color of a...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult book coming-of-age contemporary -
O by Eka Kurniawan
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTentang seekor monyet yang ingin menikah dengan Kaisar Dangdut... -
L'assassinio del Commendatore. Libro primo: Idee che affiorano by Haruki Murakami
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsUna borsa con qualche vestito e le matite per disegnare. Quando la moglie gli dice che lo lascia, il protagonista di questa storia non prende altro: carica tutto in macchina e se ne va di casa...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction low-fantasy asia east-asia japan fiction contemporary -
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman by Louis de Bernières
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe epic finale of the Latin American trilogy following The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts and Senor Vivo and the Coca LordWhile the economy of his small South American country collapses, President Veracruz joins his improbable populace of ex-soldiers, former guerrillas, unfrocked priests and reformed - though by no means inactive - whores, in a bizarre search for sexual fulfilment... -
Курильщик by Mariam Petrosyan, Мариам Петросян
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsНа окраине города, среди стандартных новостроек, стоит Серый Дом, в котором живут Сфинкс, Слепой, Лорд, Табаки, Македонский, Черный и многие другие. Неизвестно, действительно ли Лорд происходит из благородного рода драконов, но вот Слепой действительно слеп, а Сфинкс - мудр. Табаки, конечно, не шакал, хотя и любит поживиться чужим добром... -
Сказки старого Вильнюса II by Max Frei
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsВ центре Вильнюса ровно сто восемь улиц. И если ходить по ним достаточно долго, то есть почти каждый день на протяжении нескольких лет, на некоторых улицах можно стать свидетелем удивительных историй. А на некоторых - даже их участником.В подобных случаях, я знаю, обычно говорят - дескать, такие истории могли, конечно же, произойти где угодно... -
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The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOne photograph, one treasured memory, one chance to go back . . . In a cosy photography studio in the mountains between this world and the next, someone is waking up as if from a dream. A kind man will hand them a hot cup of tea and gently explain that, having reached the end of their life, they have one final task...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction low-fantasy fiction fantasy contemporary audiobook cozy -
The Blue Flowers by Raymond Queneau
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAt his death in 1976, Raymond Queneau was one of France's most eminent men of letters – novelist, poet, essayist, editor, scientist, mathematician, and, more to the point, pataphysician. And only a pataphysician nurtured lovingly on surrealist excess could have dreamed up The Blue Flowers, Queneau's 1964 novel, now reissued as a New Directions Paperbook... -
The View from the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockmeier
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsKevin Brockmeier--award -winning author of The Brief History of the Dead--has been widely praised for the richness of his imagination, the lyrical grace and playfulness of his language, and the empathic emotional complexity of his storytelling. And this dazzling collection once again affirms his place as one of the most creative and compassionate writers of his generation...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction magic -
The Knife Thrower and Other Stories by Steven Millhauser
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Knife Thrower introduces a series of distinctively Millhauserian worlds: tiny, fabulous, self-enclosed, like Fabergé eggs or like the short-story genre itself...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction -
Daydreams of Angels by Heather O'Neill
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsInventive, outlandish, and tender fairy tales from a bestselling authorThe fantastic has always been at the edges of Heather O'Neill's work. In her bestselling novels Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, she transformed the shabbiest streets of Montreal with her beautiful, freewheeling metaphors...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary fairy-tale -
Pears and Perils by Drew Hayes
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMost people would be overjoyed to win $50,000 and the chance to star in a nation-wide commercial, even if it was just for a fast food joint like Camelot Burger. Then again, Clint Tucker has never been like most people. Ushered to the tropical paradise of Kenowai, he and the other winners undertake an island tradition for the cameras, one meant to free a local imprisoned deity...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
We Never Talk about My Brother by Peter S. Beagle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsModern parables of love, death, and transformation are peppered with melancholy in this extraordinary collection of contemporary fantasy. Each short story cultivates a whimsical sense of imagination and reveals a mature, darker voice than previously experienced from this legendary author...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult angels anthologies contemporary fiction -
The Wrong Heaven by Amy Bonnaffons
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"In her amazing, wildly inventive collection, Amy Bonnaffons writes about transformation, each story further complicating the world as we know it. With a style that blends humor and sincerity in such strange, perfect ratios, Bonnaffons reveals the mysteries inside of us, just waiting to make themselves known. The Wrong Heaven, so wondrous, will alter you in all the necessary ways...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary -
Before You Go by Tommy Butler
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this “dazzling debut” (Publishers Weekly), the moving story of one man’s quest for happiness is interwoven with speculative tales of the Before and After, resulting in a profound yet playful literary journey into the ache and wonder of being human.In the Before, humankind is created with a hole in its heart, the designers not realizing their mistake—if it was a mistake—until too late...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
Catastrophe: And Other Stories by Dino Buzzati
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn Catastrophe, the renowned Italian short story writer Dino Buzzati brings vividly to life the slow and quietly terrifying collapse of our known, everyday world. In stories touched by the fantastical and the strange, and filled with humor, irony, and menace, Buzzati illuminates the nightmarish side of our ordinary existence...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary -
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Blinding by Mircea Cărtărescu
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsPart visceral dream-memoir, part fictive journey through a hallucinatory Bucharest, Mircea Cărtărescu's BLINDING was one of the most widely heralded literary sensations in contemporary Romania, and a bestseller from the day of its release...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult book contemporary family -
In the Penny Arcade by Steven Millhauser
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe seven stories of In the Penny Arcade blend both the real and the fantastic in a seductive mix that illuminates the full range of Steven Millhauser's gifts, from 'August Eschenburg', the story of a clockmaker's son whose extraordinary talent for creating animated figures is lost on a world whose taste for the perverse and crude supersedes that of the refined and beautiful, to 'Cathay', a...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary fiction -
When Mystical Creatures Attack! by Kathleen Founds
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn When Mystical Creatures Attack!, Ms. Freedman’s high school English class writes essays in which mystical creatures resolve the greatest sociopolitical problems of our time. Students include Janice Gibbs, “a feral child with excessive eyeliner and an anti-authoritarian complex that would be interesting were it not so ill-informed,” and Cody Splunk, an aspiring writer working on a time machine... -
May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings***Best Small Press Debut of 2012 -- The Atlantic Wire***May We Shed These Human Bodies peers through vast spaces and skies with the world's most powerful telescope to find humanity: wild and bright and hard as diamonds...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction fantasy -
Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsConspiracies, memes, and therapies of various efficacy underpin this beguiling short-story collection from Elizabeth Tan.In the titular story, a cat-shaped oven tells a depressed woman she doesn’t have to be sorry anymore. A Yourtopia Bespoke Terraria employee becomes paranoid about the mounting coincidences in her life...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies comedy -
Tex and Molly in the Afterlife by Richard Grant
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMolly's and Tex's abrupt and accidental deaths have granted them a unique opportunity to brazenly reinvent their personal realities--not to mention a chance to commune with various forsaked ancient deities and down-and--out woodland spirits. But a pair of gentle souls once firmly rooted in the Earth cannot so easily vacate this corporeal plane...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure adult anthologies classics -
Man Seeking Woman by Simon Rich
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 19 ratings"No matter how zany things get, there's an endearing simplicity at the heart of these inventive tales.... Love doesn't always conquer all, but these stories suggest Rich thinks its certainly ought to."--Daily Beast Love can be messy, painful, and even tragic. When seen through the eyes of Simon Rich it can also be hilarious...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century anthologies audiobook comedy contemporary -
Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the Pulitzer Finalist and universally beloved author of the New York Times best sellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove, a stunning new collection of short fiction that showcases Karen Russell's extraordinary, irresistible gifts of language and imagination...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary -
The Seventh Day by Yu Hua
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the acclaimed author of Brothers and To a major new novel that limns the joys and sorrows of life in contemporary China. Yang Fei was born on a moving train. Lost by his mother, adopted by a young switchman, raised with simplicity and love, he is utterly unprepared for the tempestuous changes that await him and his country...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism humor low-fantasy fiction contemporary fantasy death -
Man V. Nature by Diane Cook
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA refreshingly imaginative, daring debut collection of stories which illuminates with audacious wit the complexity of human behavior, as seen through the lens of the natural worldTold with perfect rhythm and unyielding brutality, these stories expose unsuspecting men and women to the realities of nature, the primal instincts of man, and the dark humor and heartbreak of our struggle to not only...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary -
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A Child Across the Sky by Jonathan Carroll
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLibrarian's Note: this is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 071263441X / 9780712634410.Just as the the word "weird" has many implications and shades of meaning, so too does the latest--weird--work by this gifted and perplexing writer. As Carroll ( Bones of the Moon ; Sleeping in Flame ) himself says, "Life has a habit of turning dark corners... -
Tales of Falling and Flying by Ben Loory
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 11 ratings“Mesmerizing and magical. . . . A stunning book.” —NPR.org“Short stories so imaginative — and yet so perplexingly familiar — they could have formed in a dream. . . . Taut, meticulously balanced and written in Loory’s direct, witty prose, his own stories take a page from Aesop: high-flying tales nonetheless boiled down to the essentials...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary fiction -
A Better Angel by Chris Adrian
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe stories in A Better Angel describe the terrain of human suffering—illness, regret, mourning, sympathy—in the most unusual of ways. In “Stab,” a bereaved twin starts a friendship with a homicidal fifth grader in the hope that she can somehow lead him back to his dead brother...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary death fiction -
L'assassinio del Commendatore. Libro secondo: Metafore che si trasformano by Haruki Murakami
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNella casa in mezzo al bosco che fu l’abitazione e l’atelier di Amada Masahiko, il grande artista autore del misterioso quadro L’assassinio del Commendatore, vive ormai da qualche mese il giovane pittore protagonista di questa storia...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction low-fantasy fiction contemporary mystery fantasy audiobook -
The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz by Russell Hoban
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratings'A piece of invention as original as any of Tolkien's or C.S. Lewis's' New Statesman'I have gone to look for a lion.' In a world where lions have become extinct, the map-maker Jachin-Boaz nevertheless abandons his wife and son to find one, leaving just this note. But his decision has unexpected consequences...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure adult animals book contemporary -
The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs Rafi Zabor's PEN-Faulkner Award-winning novel opens, the Bear shuffles and jigs with a chain through his nose, rolling in the gutter, letting his partner wrestle him to the ground for the crowd's enjoyment. But as soon becomes clear, this is no ordinary dancing bear. "I mean, dance is all right, even street dance...
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