Suggestions...

A friend at the Rochester Public Library recommended Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke as his favorite read this year. Unfortunately, since I am still catching up with all the books I've never read from previous years, I have yet to get to this enormous tome (800 pages, yikes!!)...

New read...

Just finished reading Mama Day by Gloria Naylor. Wonderful novel, full of exciting imagery and fantastical elements. Ophelia (aka Cocoa) is a northern transplant from Willow Springs, an island off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, but a part of neither state. Willow Springs belongs in its own world, and Naylor manages to infuse the southern community with a mysticism that is believable and sacred. Ophelia has gone to New York City to find her way, leaving behind her beloved grandmother, Abigail, and her tough-as-nails grand aunt, Mama Day. Naylor's novel is an example of mystical realism, with Mama Day as the matriarch of a clan which is notorious for being healers and intimate with magic. The novel works because the point-of-view shifts; first we listen to a story told by Mama Day, next the narration shifts to Ophelia, then we also hear the story of George, Ophelia's husband. The drama of the novel essentially boils down to Ophelia coming back into the fold of her family and redeeming her wandering soul, with the help of her husband, George.
A contemporary fantasy novel which uses legend, oral tradition, and a storytelling heritage to flesh out the characters who are witness to the same events, but choose to interpret those events differently.
Highly recommended.