The Art of Vanishing is a book about a woman who gets a night shift janitorial job at an art museum and, upon realizing she can somehow step inside the paintings, falls in love with one of the subjects. It’s a fast read and very fun — I think it would make a GREAT beach read this summer.

This is a sweeping, magical story perfect for fans of magical realism and travel. I found its meditation on purpose and relationships and what it means to live well to be quite powerful.

What a genre-mashup delight this book was! Part antihero western, part dual-timeline family saga, with a sprinkling of magical realism (including a very mysterious book), The Bullet Swallower has something for everyone.

While I still think The Tiger’s Wife was Obreht’s masterpiece, I really enjoyed this one too. I’m also just a sucker for any literary fiction that promises hints of magic.

Our queen has blessed us once again. Boy, does Leigh Bardugo know how to sweep us away, how to write a love story, and how to knock an ENDING (!) out of the park.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is part sweeping time-travel, part love story, part murder mystery, and fully unputdownable. It’s the perfect book if you’re looking for a fast, immersive read that you’ll want to gobble up in one day.

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is a lush, poignant dramatization of the life of legendary pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao. It’s very interior, more about her than her adventures. I liked it a lot.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a lush, delicious, completely enchanting (and short!) gothic fairytale with an ending I can’t believe I didn’t see coming. What more could you ask for?

Victory City is a delightful historical literary fantasy by the master storyteller himself. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a delight to read, and Rushdie always leaves us with much to ponder.

White Cat, Black Dog is a delightfully weird little collection of stories inspired by fairy tales and folklore. It’s funny and layered and excellent.

I absolutely loved What We Fed to the Manticore. It’s a collection of beautifully rendered short stories, all from the perspective of animals, ruminating on grief, hope, war, and climate change. Please read it.

Maria, Maria is a playful, witchy collection of short stories written in different experimental formats. While I didn’t fall head over heels, I had a lot of fun reading this one.

This Time Tomorrow is a heartwarming, tear-jerking super-readable novel about nostalgia and a daughter’s fierce love for (and from) a single parent. I really, really enjoyed it.

When Women Were Dragons is a fierce, heartfelt work of magical realism and historical fiction — one day in the 50s, thousands of angry women turned into dragons. Yeah, it’s awesome.

Piranesi is literary fiction with so much magical realism that it tips into fantasy — so basically, perfect for me. This book was intriguing and creative and I really liked it!

Revival Season is a well-paced, impressive debut novel with big, full characters and a central conflict that’s as unique as it is familiar. I really enjoyed it.

Reading this book felt like sinking into a pile of fall leaves wrapped in a plaid blanket with candles lit and a mug of hot apple cider. I haven’t read Practical Magic, but it seems like a fantastic prequel.

The Tiger’s Wife is so, so beautiful and compelling. This is storytelling at its best, and I’ll be recommending it for probably the rest of my life.

What Happens at Night is a dream-like and weird but very atmospheric and moving novel. I really liked it, but it won’t be for everyone.

Lanny was exactly my kind of literary magical realism — visceral, full-bodied, whimsical, a little weird, and deeply resonant.