Books like 'American Innovations'
Readers who enjoyed American Innovations by Rivka Galchen also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary magical-realism literary-fiction
-
Max, Mischa & Tetoffensiven by Johan Harstad
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMAX HANSEN er søvnløs i Midtvesten. Han er teaterinstruktør på turné tvers gjennom USA. Det kan være at han har blitt amerikaner. Han har ikke vært hjemme på over tjue år. HELST SKULLE HAN aldri forlatt stedet han ble født, en forstad til Stavanger hvor man fikk bråke så mye man orket mens fedrene var ute på plattformene i Nordsjøen og hvor stillheten la seg tung over husene når de kom tilbake... -
![The Houseplant by Jeremy Ray]()
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 magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction found-family -
![The Book of Embraces by Eduardo Galeano]()
The Book of Embraces by Eduardo Galeano
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsParable, paradox, anecdote, dream, and autobiography blend into an exuberant world view and affirmation of human possibility...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book classics contemporary fiction -
![Louis de Bernières Box Set of 3 books: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts / Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord / The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzmán by Louis de Bernières]()
Louis de Bernières Box Set of 3 books: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts / Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord / The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzmán by Louis de Bernières
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis rambunctious first novel by the author of the bestselling Corelli's Mandolin is set in an impoverished, violent, yet ravishingly beautiful country somewhere in South America. When the haughty Dona Constanza decides to divert a river to fill her swimming pool, the consequences are at once tragic, heroic, and outrageously funny... -
-
![A Place to Start Over - Second Edition by Susan Mackie]()
A Place to Start Over - Second Edition by Susan Mackie
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSecond Edition with five new Bonus Chapters.Can one bad decision change your life?While recuperating from her biggest mistake, Harriet’s had time to plan a fresh start, away from the city.With a business plan on her laptop and determination in her heart, she leaves Sydney, heading north... -
![Hades by Mark Z. Danielewski]()
Hades by Mark Z. Danielewski
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen a viral video puts twelve-year-old Xanther under a spotlight of scrutiny at school, her little white cat—still slumbering, still unnamed—offers the only escape, though it comes at a price. Not even Xanther’ parents can deny the strange currents now shuddering around their eldest, touching off inexplicable happenings. Entities troubling the dreams of the twins seem to have singled out Freya... -
![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]()
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 magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary fiction low-fantasy philosophy -
![All Fires the Fire by Julio Cortázar]()
All Fires the Fire by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsCortazar's stories are like small time pieces, where each polished part moves relentlessly on its own particular path, exercising a crucial and perpetual influence on the mechanism as a whole...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary fiction -
![Han cantado bingo by Lana Corujo]()
Han cantado bingo by Lana Corujo
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTodo empieza con un algunas noches, en los diez minutos suspendidos antes de que Abuela regrese del bingo, dos hermanas salen a escondidas por la puerta de atrás hasta El Ahorcado —un volcán redondo como una panza bocarriba—, cuentan hasta tres y corren de vuelta sin mirar atrás...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction fiction contemporary female-author coming-of-age family book -
![Nostalgia by Mircea Cărtărescu]()
Nostalgia by Mircea Cărtărescu
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMircea Cartarescu, born in 1956, is one of Romania's leading novelists and poets...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book classics contemporary fiction -
![El regalo by Eloy Moreno]()
-
![Stolen by You by Lindsey Hart]()
Stolen by You by Lindsey Hart
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsInfiltrating Mr. Hotshot's house in the middle of the night?Yes, that was the plan.Getting my hands on his family jewels?Definitely what I was going for.And I mean actual jewelry, not the other round ball kind of things, alright.Now, catching the guy practically naked in his house?Oh God, definitely not what was supposed to happen... -
![Joe Nuthin's Guide to Life by Helen Fisher]()
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 fiction contemporary audiobook fantasy friendship female-mc -
![Le Démon de la colline aux loups by Dimitri Rouchon-Borie]()
Le Démon de la colline aux loups by Dimitri Rouchon-Borie
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsUn homme se retrouve en prison. Brutalisé dans sa mémoire et dans sa chair, il décide avant de mourir de nous livrer le récit de son destin.Écrit dans un élan vertigineux, porté par une langue aussi fulgurante que bienveillante, Le Démon de la Colline aux Loups raconte un être, son enfance perdue, sa vie emplie de violence, de douleur et de rage, d’amour et de passion, de moments de lumière.. -
-
![The Pink House by Cindy Kirk]()
The Pink House by Cindy Kirk
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDeep in the forest, on a sun-drenched patch of lush green grass, surrounded by lily-of-the-valley, sits a pink house. With turrets towering like neighboring trees, and a wide welcoming front porch, the old Victorian is impossible to miss. Except that everyone in town has—everyone but Hannah Danbury... -
![The Theory of Light and Matter by Andrew Porter]()
The Theory of Light and Matter by Andrew Porter
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThese ten short stories explore loss and sacrifice in American suburbia. In idyllic suburbs across the country, from Philadelphia to San Francisco, narrators struggle to find meaning or value in their lives because of (or in spite of) something that has happened in their pasts. In Hole, a young man reconstructs the memory of his childhood friend's deadly fall... -
![Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson]()
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... -
![Time Shelter: A Novel by Georgi Gospodinov]()
Time Shelter: A Novel by Georgi Gospodinov
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 13 ratings“A trickster at heart, and often very funny” (Garth Greenwell, The New Yorker), award-winning Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov has enthralled readers around the world with his labyrinth-like, Kafkaesque tales of contemporary Europe...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult book contemporary fiction hard-sci-fi philosophy -
![Petrovi u gripu i oko njega by Aleksei Salnikov, Алексей Сальников]()
Petrovi u gripu i oko njega by Aleksei Salnikov, Алексей Сальников
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAleksej Saljnikov rođen je 7. avgusta 1978. u gradu Tartu, Estonija), od 1984. živeo je na Uralu, a od 2005. godine u Jekaterinburgu, gde se i odvija radnja njegovog romana.Debitovao je kao pesnik. Širom Rusije postao je poznat posle objavljivanja romana Petrovi u gripu i oko njega, koji je od žirija kritike dobio književnu nagradu NOS; dobitnik je i nagrade Nacionalni bestseler (2018)...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![The Shiver by Jakub Małecki]()
The Shiver by Jakub Małecki
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsONLY ONE CHAPTER - 1938-1969 One of the most renowned books of 2015.Polish bestseller.The book compared to the works of Johnatan Carroll, Fiodor Dostojewski, Andy Weir and Jurij Andruchowycz.The novel has been recommended by the best Polish Wiesław Myśliwski, Jacek Dukaj, Szczepan Twardoch, Wit Szostak.Masterly prose wrapped in magical realism...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism fiction contemporary audiobook historical-fiction fantasy drama -
![درماندگی بزرگ ما by Barış Bıçakçı]()
درماندگی بزرگ ما by Barış Bıçakçı
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsدر یکی از روزهای سرد زمستان، دو دوست قدیمی در کنار هم بر سر تپهای در میان ابرها ایستادهاند. در برابرشان دریای سیاه است، و پشت سرشان استانبول با هزار خاطره و رؤیا. هر دوی آنها در آن لحظه به یک چیز فکر میکنند: به کسی که حالا در دوردستها روزگار میگذراند... -
![City by Alessandro Baricco]()
City by Alessandro Baricco
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe author of the international bestseller Silk now delivers a ravishing and wildly inventive novel about friendship, genius and its discontents, and the redemptive power of narrative. Somewhere in America lives a brilliant boy named Gould, an intellectual guided missile aimed at the Nobel Prize. His only companions are an imaginary giant and an imaginary mute... -
![Three Scenarios In Which Hana Sasaki Grows A Tail by Kelly Luce]()
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... -
![Live for Me by Emma Thomas]()
Live for Me by Emma Thomas
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTwenty-seven-year-old Ophelia Lux Taylor is feisty and driven; she also happens to have bipolar disorder. Although she's had her ups and downs, life is good now: she lives with her twin brother, Onyx, and another friend in an artsy community in Cincinnati and is pursuing a master's degree in psychology... -
-
![Night Jasmine by Mary Lou Widmer]()
Night Jasmine by Mary Lou Widmer
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTWO MEN...ONE LOVE... Brutally exposed to the naked facts of life, Katie Raspanti fled the dingy hovels of the slums to become a kitchen maid in New Orleans's most elegant household. She was no more than a child, but all too soon she became the tantalizing beauty who commanded the hearts of two brothers, both willing to abandon family and fortune to be at her side... -
![Following His Heart by Donna Fasano]()
Following His Heart by Donna Fasano
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings***USA Today Bestselling Author*** Sara Carson is a 30-something widow with a busy life. Two fun-loving best friends, a caring mom who needs her, and a thriving sweet shop. What more could a woman want? But when the ancient plumbing in her shop springs a leak and a gorgeous, dark-eyed stranger rushes to her rescue, hilarity unfolds—and Sara quickly sees exactly what she’s been missing... -
![One Last Wish by Ella Harper]()
One Last Wish by Ella Harper
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsRosie and Nate had the perfect relationship. But they struggled to cope with the devastating news their daughter Emmie has incurable cancer. It feels like their world – and their relationship – has come crashing down. They must do everything to support their little girl, but can they stop their marriage falling apart? Unbeknownst to her parents, Emmie is on a mission... -
![Einstein's Beach House by Jacob M. Appel]()
Einstein's Beach House by Jacob M. Appel
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA couple adopts a depressed hedgehog; a stranger shows up, claiming to be the father of a girl's imaginary friend; a woman kidnaps her ex-husband's turtle; a family is evicted from their home, but was it ever really theirs? Heartbreaking and hilarious, the eight stories of Einstein's Beach House examine how we deceive ourselves and others, all to arrive at something far more real... -
![The Plover by Brian Doyle]()
The Plover by Brian Doyle
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA compelling, marvelous novel by the acclaimed author of Mink River Declan O Donnell has left Oregon aboard his boat, the Plover, to escape the life that’s so troubled him on land. He sets course west into the Pacific in search of solitude...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary fiction -
![62: A Model Kit by Julio Cortázar]()
62: A Model Kit by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAs one of the main characters, the intellectual Juan, puts it: to one person the City might appear as Paris, to another it might be where one goes upon getting out of bed in Barcelona; to another it might appear as a beer hall in Oslo...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book classics contemporary fiction -
![A River Called Time by Mia Couto]()
A River Called Time by Mia Couto
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Extraordinary vision . . . his prose is suffused with striking images."—The Washington Post"To read Mia Couto is to encounter a peculiarly African sensibility, a writer of fluid, fragmentary narratives . . . remarkable... -
![The Early Stories, 1953-1975 by John Updike]()
The Early Stories, 1953-1975 by John Updike
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsGathering together almost all the short fiction that John Updike published between 1953 and 1975, this collection opens with Updike's autobiographical stories about a young boy growing up during the Depression in a small Pennsylvania town. There follows tales of life away from home, student days, early marriage and young families, and finally Updike's experimental stories on 'The Single Life'...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies classics contemporary fiction humor -
![Oração para Desaparecer by Socorro Acioli]()
Oração para Desaparecer by Socorro Acioli
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPrimeiro romance de Socorro Acioli após A cabeça do santo, Oração para Desaparecer conta a história de uma mulher que, sem lembrança nenhuma de seu passado, precisa reconstruir a vida em um lugar completamente desconhecido, apenas com a língua portuguesa como porto seguro.Cida, uma mulher sem identidade nem memória, reconstrói pouco a pouco uma nova vida em um lugar completamente desconhecido...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction romance fiction fantasy contemporary audiobook book -
![The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr]()
The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA gripping literary mystery in the vein of Bolaño’s Savage Detectives , this coming-of-age novel unravels the fascinating life of a maligned Black author, based on Yambo Ouologuem.The first Sub-Saharan African winner of France’s top literary prize, the Goncourt.In 2018, Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer in Paris, discovers a legendary book from the 1930s, The Labyrinth of Inhumanity... -
-
![Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages, Neil Gaiman]()
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 magical-realism anthologies contemporary fiction lgbtq low-fantasy magic -
![Honeysuckle Hollow by Jennifer Moorman]()
Honeysuckle Hollow by Jennifer Moorman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTessa Andrews believes she has her life all figured out, organized in carefully numbered lists to ensure she doesn’t make bad decisions. But her meticulous process is shaken when torrential rain hits Mystic Water for twenty-six hours, forty-four minutes, and two seconds, leaving parts of the town, and her condo, drowning in floodwater... -
![Piano Stories by Felisberto Hernández, Julio Cortázar]()
Piano Stories by Felisberto Hernández, Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsInhabited by rich, eccentric characters and full of strange and surprising landscapes, this collection of short stories deeply influenced a generation of magical realists.If I hadn't read the stories of Felisberto Hernandez in 1950, I would not be the writer I am today. Because he taught me that the most haunting mysteries are those of everyday life...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary fiction low-fantasy -
![The Stories of Bernard Malamud by Bernard Malamud]()
The Stories of Bernard Malamud by Bernard Malamud
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOffers stories about the American Jewish experience, interpersonal relationships, love, guilt, and...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction fiction humor classics absurdism contemporary philosophical -
![Safe as Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino]()
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:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author female-mc fiction -
![A Crown of Feathers by Isaac Bashevis Singer]()
A Crown of Feathers by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer"--Cover... -
![A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall]()
A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn intimate portrait of five inextricably linked lives, spanning one calendar year at Kew Gardens in London. Nothing is set in stone. A bird can be refolded into a boat, a fish, a kimono, or any other extravagant vision. At other times it aches to return to its original folds. The paper begins to fray. It tires, rebels... -
![Kamusari Tales Told at Night by Shion Miura, 三浦紫苑]()
Kamusari Tales Told at Night by Shion Miura, 三浦紫苑
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom Shion Miura, award-winning author of The Easy Life in Kamusari, comes a spirit-lifting novel about tradition, first love, and ancient lore in a Japanese mountain village.It’s been a year since Yuki Hirano left home―or more precisely, was booted from it―to study forestry in the remote mountain village of Kamusari...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction romance fiction contemporary young-adult audiobook female-author -
![Timeskipper by Stefano Benni]()
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 magical-realism adult book coming-of-age contemporary fiction humor -
![Dear Shameless Death by Latife Tekin]()
Dear Shameless Death by Latife Tekin
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA strange magical story of a young girl growing up in modern Turkey, from her birth in a small rural village haunted by fairies and demons to hertraumatic move to the big city. It concentrates on the daughter's struggle gainst her overbearing mother and is both fantastic and hallucinatory...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book contemporary female-author fiction -
-
![Plays, Prose Writings, and Poems by Oscar Wilde]()
Plays, Prose Writings, and Poems by Oscar Wilde
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)Introduction by Terry EagletonOscar Wilde has been acknowledged as the wittiest writer in the English language. This collection proves that he was also one of the most versatile...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies classics contemporary drama fiction -
![The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi]()
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 fiction fantasy contemporary audiobook cozy low-fantasy -
![Missing Kissinger by Etgar Keret]()
Missing Kissinger by Etgar Keret
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA magician tries to pull a rabbit out of a hat, but takes out only its head; a guy brings a girl home with him for the first time only to find that his best friend has pissed on his doorstep; a young man graduates from Magician School but soon discovers that he can't do everything; two drunk students do battle with a pavement and win; someone has a mother and a girlfriend who hate each other's...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies comedy contemporary fiction humor -
![The View from the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockmeier]()
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 magical-realism anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction low-fantasy magic -
![The Knife Thrower and Other Stories by Steven Millhauser]()
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 magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction low-fantasy -
![The Water Museum by Luis Alberto Urrea]()
The Water Museum by Luis Alberto Urrea
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis hard-hitting, beautiful short story collection from one of America's preeminent literary voices “reflect[s] both sides of his Mexican-American heritage while stretching the reader's understanding of human boundaries” ( Kirkus ).Examining the borders between one nation and another, between one person and another, Urrea reveals his mastery of the short form...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism fiction contemporary audiobook latinx-mc anthologies poc-author
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.
