Top Ten Tuesday: A Touch of Magic

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a Halloween Freebie, so I am going to keep it on the lighter side and focus on books with a touch of magic. These are books that are set in our contemporary worlds, but there is something magical that happens. Often they would be classed as magical realism. 

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - I have always associated Alice Hoffman with magic but had never actually read the book until recently. Still haven't seen the movie but I would like to now!

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen - All of SAA's books have magical elements in them, often related to food, and this one is no different. 

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - Don't let the fact that one of the narrators in this book is a tree put you off. Such an excellent read! (my review)

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran - One of the characters in this book, Marjan, has unsurpassed ability with food. Her food can change your mood, and even the direction of your life in some cases. (my review)

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber - I loved this book so much and always keep an eye out for Heather Webber's new books (my review)

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden - When eating a lemon drop can help you see what your life might have been like had things worked out differently, there's definitely a touch of magic involved. Loved this book! (my review)

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura - In this book, if circumstances align, you can find yourself inside the cherry blossom bookshop. (mini review)

A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa - This one features amazing sounding Korean treats that help people say goodbye to their loved ones after they have passed (my review)

The Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein - I love the idea of this one. At the Anywhere Hotel, you can pick up a charm and instantly be transported anywhere in the world. Paris here I come!

Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - There are lots of examples of these books with a touch of magic in them in Asian fiction. This one is the most recent book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. (mini review)

 

Six Degrees of Separation: Flashlight to The Stowaway

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month, the starting point is Flashlight by Helen Choi. I started to read this before Christmas and was on the verge of giving it up when I saw that it had been announced as the starting point for this month's Six Degrees of Separation. I finally finished it earlier this month. You can read my thoughts here.

Flashlight partially talks about the treatment of Korean people living in Japan up to the end of WWII. White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton also tells what it was like to be Korean and living in Japan. (my review)

My next couple of choices are all about fruit and flower. Using the idea that mulberry is a fruit, as is cherry, I have chosen my next book as The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Japanese author Takuya Asakura. I haven't read this yet but I have had it on my TBR for a few months now.

Sticking with cherry blossoms, my next selection is Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss. 

This time my blossoms are apples as I have chosen Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens, a book set in Tasmania. 

I have two reasons for my next selection. The first is using the hyphenated name of Mary-something. The last author was Mary-Lou. Mary-Anne O'Connor is the author of In a Great Southern Land. My second reason for choosing this book? Well, when you think about the Great Southern Land that is Australia you can't get much further south than Tasmania.

Which brings me to my final choice which is The Stowaway which is once again by Mary-Anne O'Connor. That should be enough of a connection, but actually there is a clue as to why I wanted to end up on this book. The day I went to buy my copy of Flashlight, I needed to buy a second book by the publisher so I could get the little Penguin you can see in the picture. This book was the other book I bought that day!

Next month, the starting point is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Will you be joining us?