Books like 'Horse, Flower, Bird'
Readers who enjoyed Horse, Flower, Bird by Kate Bernheimer also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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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:
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The Very Best of Charles de Lint by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAt turns whimsical, dark, and mystical, this extraordinary collection of retold fairy tales and new, modern myths redefine the boundaries of magic. Compiling favored stories suggested by the author and his fans, this delightful treasury contains the most esteemed and beloved selections that de Lint has to offer...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings anthologies contemporary fiction -
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 female-mc magical-realism low-fantasy fiction contemporary audiobook fantasy -
Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles de Lint, Charles Vess
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWorld Fantasy Award-winning author of The Onion GirlThe city of Newford could be any contemporary North American city...except that magic lurks in its music, in its art, in the shadows of its grittiest streets, where mythic beings walk disguised. And its people are like you and me, each looking for a bit of magic to shape their lives and transform their fate...Categorized as:
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Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsReturn to NewfordFamiliar to Charles de Lint's ever-growing audience as the setting of the novels Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, The Onion Girl, and many others, Newford is the quintessential North American city, tough and streetwise on the surface and rich with hidden magic for those who can see...Categorized as:
fairy-tale low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings adult anthologies contemporary -
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 myths literary-fiction low-fantasy retellings fantasy fiction audiobook -
Ella: An Amish Retelling of Cinderella by Sarah Price
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn Sarah Price’s heartwarming Amish version of this best-loved fairytale, a hardworking, overlooked young woman is rewarded in unexpected ways . . . “Be kind and have faith.” Ella Troyer strives to abide by her mother’s final words, although life in the small Amish town of Echo Creek isn’t always easy... -
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 -
Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsOne of the New York Times’s Ten Best Books of the Year: These traditional stories of Italy, retold by a literary master, are “a treasure” (Los Angeles Times)... -
Promises to Keep by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAfter Widdershins, I thought I wouldn't write at length about Jilly again. I'd promised one more short story about her for Bill at Subterranean Press, but that would be it. Having left her in a good place at the end of Widdershins, I didn't want to complicate her life yet again, so I planned to set the story earlier in her life, during her first year as a student at Butler University...Categorized as:
fairy-tale low-fantasy magical-realism retellings audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
The Little Snake by A.L. Kennedy
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThis is the story of Mary, a young girl born in a beautiful city full of rose gardens and fluttering kites. When she is still very small, Mary meets Lanmo, a shining golden snake, who becomes her very best friend.The snake visits Mary many times, he sees her city change, become sadder as bombs drop and war creeps in...Categorized as:
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Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 21 ratings"Muse and Reverie "is an all-new collection of short fiction in Charles de Lint's "Newford" universe--the fifth such collection since 1993, and the first since 2002. Previous collections are "Dreams Underfoot," "The Ivory and the Horn," the World Fantasy Award-winning "Memory and Dream," and "Tapping the Dream Tree...Categorized as:
fairy-tale low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings anthologies contemporary fiction -
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 -
Nine Fairy Tales and One More Thrown in for Good Measure by Karel Čapek
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsKarel Čapek, author of the acclaimed War with the Newts, is one of the great Czechoslovak writers of the twentieth century. These fairy tales bear Čapek's combination of the fantastic and the satirical, offering fairies, elves, and talking animals alongside references to detectives, secret police agents, luxury automobiles, and Hollywood starlets...Categorized as:
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The Immortal by Jorge Luis Borges, George Guidall
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA Selection from The Collected Fictions of Jorge Luis... -
Safe as Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSafe as Houses, the debut story collection of Marie-Helene Bertino, proves that not all homes are shelters. The titular story revolves around an aging English professor who, mourning the loss of his wife, robs other people's homes of their sentimental knick-knacks. In "Free Ham," a young dropout wins a ham after her house burns down and refuses to accept it...Categorized as:
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The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsInspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game...Categorized as:
magical-realism retellings literary-fiction female-mc low-fantasy fantasy fiction contemporary -
Beastly Tales from Here and There by Vikram Seth
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTen witty and enchanting animal fables in verse which, like a modern Aesop's Fables, can be enjoyed by young and old... -
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:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult book coming-of-age contemporary fiction -
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 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 -
The Threads of the Heart by Carole Martinez
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThey say Frasquita knows magic, that she is a healer with occult powers, that perhaps she is a sorcerer. She does indeed possess a remarkable gift, one that has been passed down to the women in her family for generations...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings 21st-century adult book -
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:
fairy-tale literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism retellings adult anthologies contemporary -
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Crow Winter by Karen McBride
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNanabush. A name that has a certain weight on the tongue—a taste. Like lit sage in a windowless room or aluminum foil on a metal filling.Trickster. Storyteller. Shape-shifter. An ancient troublemaker with the power to do great things, only he doesn’t want to put in the work.Since coming home to Spirit Bear Point First Nation, Hazel Ellis has been dreaming of an old crow...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings adult book contemporary -
Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan by Liz Michalski
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this beautiful, grounded, and darkly magical modern-day reimagining of J. M. Barrie's classic, to save her daughter's life one woman must take on the infamous Peter Pan--who is not the innocent adventurer the fairy tales make him out to be . . . Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy--yes, that Wendy...Categorized as:
fairy-tale female-mc literary-fiction magical-realism myths retellings adult audiobook -
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 -
The Lost Storyteller by Amanda Block
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"A powerful novel about the bond between fathers and daughters, and how stories connect us all. I loved it" Jenny Colgan THE LOST STORYTELLER is the heartwarming and evocative debut novel from a stunning new voice in fiction, Amanda Block. Perfect for fans of Ruth Hogan, Jessie Burton and Diane Setterfield.Rebecca hasn't seen her father Leo since she was six...Categorized as:
fairy-tale literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism retellings adult audiobook book -
The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-six by Jonathon Keats
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMarvelous and mystical stories of the thirty-six anonymous saints whose decency sustains the world–reimagined from Jewish folklore. A liar, a cheat, a degenerate, and a whore. These are the last people one might expect to be virtuous...Categorized as:
fairy-tale literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings adult anthologies -
Shall We Gather by Alex Bledsoe
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen one world brushes another, asking the right question can be... -
Honeycomb by Joanne M. Harris
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA lushly illustrated set of dark, captivating fairy talesThe beauty of stories; you never know where they will take you. Full of dreams and nightmares, Honeycomb is an entrancing mosaic novel of original fairy tales from bestselling author Joanne M. Harris and legendary artist Charles Vess in a collaboration that’s been years in the making...Categorized as:
fairy-tale low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure adult anthologies -
Little Red Writing by Joan Holub, Melissa Sweet
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAcclaimed writer Joan Holub and Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet team up in this hilarious and exuberant retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, in which a brave, little red pencil finds her way through the many perils of writing a story, faces a ravenous pencil sharpener (the Wolf 3000)... and saves the day... -
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:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings adult anthologies contemporary -
Flying Leap by Judy Budnitz
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis surreal collection features such storylines as: a young man is persuaded to donate his heart to his dying mother; a girl comes of age in strange suburbia; and a man and a woman conduct a passionate love affair on a park bench...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author feminism -
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Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWidely praised and widely read, Elizabeth Hand is regarded as one of America's leading literary fantasists. This new collection (an expansion of the limited-release Bibliomancy, which won the World Fantasy Award in 2005) showcases a wildly inventive author at the height of her powers...Categorized as:
female-mc low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings adult anthologies contemporary -
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 -
A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn their tiny, sea-beaten cottage on the north coast of Scotland, Liska and Ruth await the birth of their first child.Each passes the time by telling the baby stories, trying to pass on the lessons they’ve learned: tales of circuses and stargazing, selkie fishermen and domestic werewolves, child-eating witches and broken-toothed dragons...Categorized as:
fairy-tale literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings 21st-century adult -
The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern by Rita Zoey Chin
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA luminous coming of age story about a fiercely lonely young woman's quest to uncover the truth behind her mother's disappearance.Born in a carnival trailer, Leah Fern begins her life as the "The Youngest and Very Best Fortuneteller in the World," taking strangers' hands and feeling the depths of their emotions...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction female-mc low-fantasy fiction fantasy contemporary magic -
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 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... -
Things Remembered and Things Forgotten by Kyōko Nakajima
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratings'If we want to understand what has been lost to time, there is no way other than through the exercise of imagination ... imagination applied with delicate rather than broad strokes'...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary dystopia female-author -
Dance, Gladys, Dance (Nunatak First Fiction) by Cassie Stocks
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWINNER OF THE 2013 STEPHEN LEACOCK AWARD FOR HUMOUR WRITING!27-year-old Frieda Zweig is at an impasse. Behind her is a string of failed relationships and half-forgotten ambitions of being a painter; in front of her lies the dreary task of finding a real job and figuring out what “normal” people do with their lives...Categorized as:
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Pen America Best Debut Short Stories 2017 by Yuka Igarashi
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsThe writers who are household names today all got their start when an editor encountered their work for the first time and took a chance. This new annual anthology is a celebration of twelve such moments of discovery-a showcase of the best debuts published this year by literary magazines and websites across the country...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies audiobook contemporary -
The Inner Side of the Wind by Milorad Pavić
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsA magically entertaining love story that spans two centuries. In his most personal and intimate work to date, Pavic parallels the myth of Hero and Leander, telling of two lovers in Belgrade, one from the turn of the eighteenth century and the other from early in the twentieth, who reach out to each other from across the gulf of time... -
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The Girlfriend's Guide to Gods by Maria Dahvana Headley
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGods won’t save you. Gods will break you. Nevertheless, you will persist. And become anew.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied...Categorized as:
female-mc literary-fiction low-fantasy myths retellings adult ancient-civilization book -
Five Odd Honors by Jane Lindskold
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Thirteen Orphans and their allies have opened the ninth gate into the Lands Born from Smoke and Sacrifice . . . and discover that the Lands have been altered almost beyond recognition, transformed by magic into an apparently uninhabited world where land shifts beneath one's feet and fire burns blue...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure book contemporary fiction -
Swansong by Kerry Andrew
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this stunningly assured, immersive and vividly atmospheric first novel, a young woman comes face-to-face with the volatile, haunted wilderness of the Scottish Highlands.Polly Vaughan is trying to escape the ravaging guilt of a disturbing incident in London by heading north to the Scottish Highlands... -
A Cooked-Up Fairy Tale by Penny Parker Klostermann, Ben Mantle
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the creators of There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight comes a fun fractured fairy tale about an aspiring chef who mistakenly turns story ingredients into delectable dishes. . . . Uh-oh! In the magical land of fairy tales, William doesn't quite fit in. He'd rather poach pears than pursue princesses, and he values gnocchi over knighthood. . . -
New World Fairy Tales by Cassandra Parkin
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn contemporary America, an un-named college student sets out on an obsessive journey of discovery to collect and record the life-stories of total strangers. The interviews that follow have echoes of another, far more famous literary journey, undertaken long ago and in another world...Categorized as:
fairy-tale literary-fiction magical-realism retellings 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary -
Of Snow and Roses by T.M. Franklin
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIs she a powerful witch... or is it all in her head?When Neve awakens in a hospital room, cuffed to the bed, the only thing she knows is her name. Her doctor says she’s been a patient at the Blackbriar Institute for most of her life, that she’s been battling mental illness since she was a small child... that bouts of amnesia are common with her condition.But something doesn’t add up...
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