I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home

Did You Ever Have a Family

Bill Clegg2015

After a house fire kills her entire family, a woman drives across the country to live in a motel. The story follows those left behind.

Same elegiac register, still literary

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The Brief History of the Dead

Kevin Brockmeier2006

The dead live in a city as long as someone on Earth remembers them. When a virus hits, the city shrinks until only one living woman remains.

Same elegiac register, still magical realism

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Galveston

Sean Stewart2000

After a flood brings magic back to Texas, the city of Galveston is split between the mundane world and a carnival realm ruled by Momus.

Same elegiac register, still magical realism

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Victory City

Salman Rushdie2023

A woman blessed by a goddess creates a city from seeds and watches it rise and fall over 250 years.

Same elegiac register, still magical realism

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Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

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Love & Sleep

John Crowley1994

Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

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This Girl

Colleen Hoover2013

A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

elegiac → earnest

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While It Lasts

Abbi Glines2013

A college baseball player works on a farm over the summer to avoid jail after a DUI. He falls for a woman who is grieving her late fiancé.

elegiac → warm

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Dungeon Crawler Carl

Matt Dinniman2020

Earth is converted into an 18-level televised death game. A man and a cat must navigate traps and monsters to survive.

elegiac → sardonic

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The Stainless Steel Rat

Harry Harrison1961

A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.

elegiac → playful

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Love & Sleep

John Crowley1994

Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

elegiac → meditative, still magical realism

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Among Others

Jo Walton2011

A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

elegiac → tender, still magical realism

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The Memory Police

Yoko Ogawa1994

Objects vanish from an island and from the residents' memories. A novelist hides her editor from the police who enforce the disappearances.

Same elegiac register, still literary

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Was

Geoff Ryman1992

Three timelines connect a Kansas girl in the 1880s, Judy Garland on set, and a dying man in the 1980s. It examines the reality behind the Oz myth.

Same elegiac register, still magical realism

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