A Little Bit of Magic

For someone who is supposed to be a grown-up, I love Harry Potter way too much. I revel in a world where people can fly on brooms and turn chocolate into toads and hatch baby dragons. In a pathetic attempt to justify my love of all magical fiction, I am giving you a list of "adult" (read, serious and legitimate) fiction that has either a little bit or a lot of magic between the pages.

I just finished Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. I fell for the characters in this book in a second. But I really want an apple tree in my backyard that throws apples at people to get attention. I cannot wait to read her new book, The Sugar Queen.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez also has a tree, but this tree sees much sorrow in the many years it gives it shade to the Buendia family. This family story is full of premonitions and mysteries, and is told in a way that leaves you wondering what is imagined and what is real.

One of my favorite books is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The love story of Henry and Clare is challenged by Henry's disturbing condition that occasionally sends him forward or backward in time. Once you have made the leap of imagination, the journey that this special couple takes will stay with you for a very long time.

Elizabeth Kostova spent many years researching and writing her novel, The Historian. Vampires, history and international setting combine in a haunting tale of the quest to find Vlad the Impaler.

A few summers ago, Alice Hoffman came to The Open Book when she was visiting friends in the area. I am afraid that the bookstore employees (and the owner) behaved like the rabid fans that we are and terrified the poor woman. Ms. Hoffman graciously signed books and left, looking relieved to get away. All of Alice Hoffman's books have a bit of magic, and one of my favorites is The Ice Queen. Ice, fire and water as metaphors, fairy tale references and love and passion are combined in a dark, beautiful story.

So, it is summer and what better time to indulge in the desire to experience worlds where things are a little out of the ordinary? If you want the ultimate fantasy experience, I highly recommend that you read all seven volumes of Harry Potter while eating Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and drinking butterbeer!