folktale/myth

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Gods of Jade and Shadow

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Nebula Award Finalist & Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, Tor, the NY Public Library, & Book Riot

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty, small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own. Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it–and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan God of Death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey, from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City–and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

“A spellbinding fairy tale rooted in Mexican mythology . . . Gods of Jade and Shadow is a magical fairy tale about identity, freedom, and love, and it's like nothing you've read before.” —Bustle

(A special thank you to book club member, Carol Weldon for the suggestion.)

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Apple and Knife

Inspired by horror, myths, and fairy tales, Apple and Knife is an unsettling ride that swerves into the supernatural to explore the dangers and power of occupying a female body in today’s world.

These short works of fiction set in the Indonesian everyday—in corporate boardrooms, in shanty towns, on Javanese dangdut music stages—reveal a soupy otherworld stewing just beneath the surface. Sometimes wacky and always engrossing, this is subversive feminist horror at its best, where men and women alike are arbiters of fear, and where revenge is sometimes sweetest when delivered from the grave.

Mara finds herself brainstorming an ad campaign for Free Maxi Pads, with a little help from the menstruation-eating hag of her childhood. Jamal falls in love with the rich and powerful Bambang, but it is the era of Indonesia's “smiling general” and, if he’s not careful, he may find himself recruited to Bambang’s brutal cause. Solihin would give anything to make dangdut singer Salimah his wife—anything at all.

In the globally connected and fast-developing Indonesia of Apple and Knife, taboos, inversions, sex and death all come together in a heady, intoxicating mix full of pointed critiques and bloody mutilations. Women carve a place for themselves in this world, finding ways to subvert norms or enacting brutalities on themselves and each other.

“In Apple and Knife, Intan Paramaditha has turned the fairytale on its head. Instead of helpless maidens, these fables are bursting with fierce and fabulous females, determined to exact justice in an unjust world. As the enigmatic title suggests, the writing is juicy and incisive. Every story is a gem and, as with all good fairytales, there are important lessons to be learned.” —Melanie Cheng,

“Deliciously dark and expertly disturbing, Intan Paramaditha’s compelling Apple and Knife will haunt you. Her weird, original stories reveal the darkness behind old tales and the shadows lurking at the edges of modern life.” —Ryan O’Neill

(Group read suggestion from Julie Jacobs, book club moderator.)

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Black Water Sister

One of BookPage's Best Books of 2021
Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award 2021 Best Audiobook
One of Book Riot's Best SFF Standalones of 2021
One of Tor Reviewers' Choice Best Books of 2021

A twisty, feminist, and enthralling page-turner steeped in Malaysian mythology. (BuzzFeed)

When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she chalks it up to stress. Closeted, broke and jobless, she’s moving back to Malaysia with her parents—a country she last saw when she was a toddler.

She soon learns the new voice isn’t even hers, it’s the ghost of her estranged grandmother. Drawn into a world of Malaysian myth and real-world consequences filled with gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business, but dealing with her grandmother is just as complicated.

“[Focusing on] Malaysia’s Chinese diaspora culture. . . an immersive tale of family secrets, deities, spirits, and religious belief. Cho offers a complex emotional roller-coaster of a read.”—Library Journal

“Ghosts. Gods. Gangsters. Wildly entertaining…Black Water Sister has it all!”—Vulture

“Cho’s multifaceted characters, like her masterful plot, are never quite what they first appear. Unpredictable twists keep the pages turning while the comic but endearing relationship between Jess and her sassy grandmother provides the story’s heart. This is a must-read.”—Publishers Weekly

Note: Outstanding on audio!

(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder. +A staff recommendation of hers.)

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David Mogo Godhunter

Winner of the 2020 Nommo Ilube Award (an all Africa-based award) for Best Novel

A celebration of Nigerian mythology turning multiple genres on their head to create a completely new mash-up of Nigerian God-punk, David Mogo Godhunter is like nothing you've ever read…

Lagos will not be destroyed

The gods have fallen to earth in their thousands, and chaos reigns. Though broken and leaderless, the city endures.

David Mogo, demigod and godhunter, has one task: capture two of the most powerful gods in the city and deliver them to the wizard gangster Lukmon Ajala.

No problem, right?

“This story is captivating!” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“It's a fun, fresh ride brimming full of adventure. Wholeheartedly recommend if you love Zen Cho, Tade Thompson, or Nnedi Okorafor.” —Jager

“Vivid, visceral and with a strength of the voice that just pulls you right in. The god-littered world of David Mogo's Lagos just won't let go.” —Ng

“Assured, arch, and thoroughly enjoyable—an auspicious debut from one of the most promising new voices in the growing coterie of African writers.” —Wired Magazine

“A Nigerian Harry Dresden. Okungbowa's voice is great, and makes Lagos feel familiar.” —Jacey Bedford, author of Winterwood

(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder.)

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Savushun

Savushun chronicles the life of a Persian family during the Allied occupation of Iran during WWII. It is set in Shiraz, a town which evokes images of Persepolis and pre-Islamic monuments, the great poets, the shrines, Sufis, and nomadic tribes within a historical web of the interests, privilege and influence of foreign powers; incompetence, corruption, and arrogance of persons in authority; the paternalistic landowner-peasant relationship; tribalism; and the fear of famine.

The story is seen through the eyes of Zari, a young wife and mother, who copes with her idealistic and uncompromising husband while struggling with her desire for traditional family life and her need for individual identity.

Daneshvar’s style is both sensitive and imaginative, while following cultural themes and metaphors. Within basic Iranian paradigms, the characters play out the roles inherent in their personalities. Although written prior to the Islamic Revolution, it brilliantly portrays the social and historical forces that gave pre-revolutionary Iran its characteristic hopelessness and emerging desperation so inadequately understood by outsiders.

“An engrossing chronicle of life in Persia-just-turned-Iran by Simin Daneshvar. Her compassionate vision of traditional folk ways surviving amid the threats of modernity (including Allied occupation) give her work a resonant universality. Recent events only strengthen her position as a writer deserving a wider audience.” —USA Today

“For Western readers the novel not only offers an example of contemporary Iranian fiction; it also provides a rare glimpse of the inner workings of an Iranian family.” – -Washington Post Book World

“Folklore and myth are expertly woven into a modern setting in this powerfully resonant work of historical fiction.” —Publishers Weekly

(A special thank you to book club member, Sarah Howe for the suggestion.)

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Blood Hunter

An urban fantasy heavily influenced by real world history set in an alternative South African world steeped in South African myth.

I was on the verge of becoming a man…

But now I must be so much more.

Vampires took everything from me. My family, my village, and my path to adulthood. They have drained my land dry of blood and freedom. And now I want revenge.

I may not be a man in the eyes of my ancestors, but I follow a new path now.

To avenge my people, I will need to become so much more. I must forsake all that makes me weak. All that stands in the way of my purpose. Even if it means embracing a half-life.

I am Umzingeli wegazi. An outcast. A rogue. A killer. A Blood Hunter.

Note: Blood Hunter is an action-packed and thrilling urban fantasy novel set in the fantastical world of the Kat Drummond series (view on Amazon). Blood Hunter can be read as a standalone, before or after the Kat Drummond series though it’s better to read this before Kat’s book 10.

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The God Who Begat a Jackal

The 17th-century feudal system, vassal uprisings, African folklore, and the Crusades are intertwined with the love between Aster, the daughter of a feudal lord, and Gudu, the court jester and family slave. Aster and Gudu's relationship is the ultimate taboo, but supernatural elements presage a destiny more powerful than the rule of man. With Mezlekia's enchanting storytelling and ironic humor, readers glimpse African deities that have long since weathered away and the social cleavages that have endured through time.

“Mezlekia takes the elements of the simplest of fairy stories—forbidden love, an heiress and a storytelling slave—and embroiders them lushly . . . The imagined world ends up. . . fabulous in the most literal of senses.” —The NY Times

“The God Who Begat a Jackal is everything a novel should be. It delivers an entire world—a profound, comical, moving, and memorable one. The moral and social truths of this novel—subtly and brilliantly evoked—are reminiscent of the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Mezlekia is a writer with extraordinary vision.” —M. Cezair-Thompson

(Group read suggestion from Mia DeGiovine Chaveco, book club co-founder.)

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The Whale Rider

An international bestseller & winner of the New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award written by a multiple-award winning Maori author

Eight-year-old Kahu craves her great-grandfather's love and attention. But he is focused on his duties as chief of a Maori tribe in Whangara, on the East Coast of New Zealand—a tribe that claims descent from the legendary “whale rider.” In every generation since the whale rider, a male has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir—there's only Kahu. She should be the next in line for the title, but her great-grandfather is blinded by tradition and sees no use for a girl.

Kahu will not be ignored. And in her struggle she has a unique ally: the whale rider himself, from whom she has inherited the ability to communicate with whales. Once that sacred gift is revealed, Kahu may be able to re-establish her people's ancestral connections, earn her great-grandfather's attention, and lead her tribe to a bold new future.

“A profoundly enchanting story that will hold [you] in its grip right up to its tender conclusion.” —Curled Up

(A special thank you to book club member, Suzanne Bradley for the suggestion.)

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The Heart of Redness

Shortlisted for the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize

In The Heart of Redness, Zakes Mda sets a story of South African village life against a notorious episode from the country's past. The result is a novel of great scope and deep human feeling, of passion and reconciliation.

As the novel opens Camugu, who left for America during apartheid, has returned to Johannesburg. Disillusioned by the problems of the new democracy, he follows his “famous lust” to Qolorha on the remote Eastern Cape. There in the nineteenth century a teenage prophetess named Nonqawuse commanded the Xhosa people to kill their cattle and burn their crops, promising that once they did so the spirits of their ancestors would rise and drive the occupying English into the ocean. The failed prophecy split the Xhosa into Believers and Unbelievers, dividing brother from brother, wife from husband, with devastating consequences.

One hundred fifty years later, the two groups' descendants are at odds over plans to build a vast casino and tourist resort in the village, and Camugu is soon drawn into their heritage and their future—and into a bizarre love triangle as well.

The Heart of Redness is a seamless weave of history, myth, and realist fiction. It is, arguably, the first great novel of the new South Africa—a triumph of imaginative and historical writing.

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The Story of Hong Gildong

The quintessential Korean classic: the Robin Hood story of a magical boy who joins a group of robber bandits and becomes a king.

Selected as a Best Book of the Year by NPR and The Washington Post

The Story of Hong Gildong is arguably the single most important work of classic Korean fiction. A fantastic story of adventure, it has been adapted into countless movies, television shows, novels, and comics in Korea. Until now, the earliest and fullest text of this incredible fable has been inaccessible to English readers.
 
Hong Gildong, the brilliant but illegitimate son of a noble government minister, cannot advance in society due to his second-class status, so he leaves home and becomes the leader of a band of outlaws. On the way to building his own empire and gaining acceptance from his family, Hong Gildong vanquishes assassins, battles monsters, and conquers kingdoms. Minsoo Kang’s expressive and lively new translation finally makes the authoritative text of this premodern tale available in English, reintroducing a noble and righteous outlaw and sharing a beloved hallmark of Korean culture.

“Hong Gildong is an iconic figure in the Korean literary canon…He’s the mythic center of a sometimes-delightful, sometimes-unsettling tale, and it’s time the Western world gets to know him.” —NPR

“[A] marvel-filled swashbuckler…Besides being half fairy tale, half social protest novel, The Story of Hong Gildong possesses a profound resonance for modern Koreans.” —The Washington Post

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The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

The Korean Charlotte's Web

“It has the plain language of a folktale but also its power of dark suggestion.” —NPR

“Bewitching . . . a bestseller told from the point of view of a homeless hen, which will make grown men and women cry.” —The Independent
 
This is the story of a hen named Sprout. No longer content to lay eggs on command, only to have them carted off to the market, she glimpses her future every morning through the barn doors, where the other animals roam free, and comes up with a plan to escape into the wild—and to hatch an egg of her own.

An anthem for freedom, individuality and motherhood featuring a plucky, spirited heroine who rebels against the tradition-bound world of the barnyard, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly is a novel of universal resonance that also opens a window on Korea, where it has captivated millions of readers. And with its array of animal characters—the hen, the duck, the rooster, the dog, the weasel—it calls to mind such classics in English as Animal Farm and Charlotte’s Web.

Featuring specially-commissioned illustrations, this first English-language edition of Sun-mi Hwang’s fable for our times beautifully captures the journey of an unforgettable character in world literature.

(A special thank you to book club member, Christine Jensen for the group read suggestion.)

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Damascus Nights

“In the classical Arab tradition of tale-telling, here is a magical book that celebrates the power of storytelling, delightfully transformed for modern sensibilities by an award-winning author.

The time is present-day Damascus, and Salim the coachman, the city's most famous storyteller, is mysteriously struck dumb. To break the spell, seven friends gather for seven nights to present Salim with seven wondrous ‘gifts’—seven stories of their own design.

Upon this enchanting frame of tales told in the fragrant Arabian night, the words of the past grow fainter, as ancient customs are yielding to modern turmoil. While the hairdresser, the teacher, the wife of the locksmith sip their tea and pass the water pipe, they swap stories about the magical and the mundane: about djinnis and princesses, about contemporary politics and the difficulties of bargaining in a New York department store. And as one tale leads to another... and another... all of Damascus appears before your eyes, along with a vision of storytelling-and talk-as the essence of friendship, of community, of life.

A sly and graceful work, a delight to readers young and old, Damascus Nights is ‘a highly atmospheric, pungent narrative’ (Publishers Weekly) while also being ‘enlightening, endearing, witty, and wise’ (Library Journal).”

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Syrian Folktales

“This delightful book relates folktales from the fourteen muhafazah (i.e., governorates or provinces) of Syria. Each folktale is located on a regional map and is accompanied by a local, related recipe that’s easy to follow.“ Also woven into the book are folk sayings, Syrian history, songs, riddles, and hadith (i.e., the words and teachings from the Prophet Muhammad which serve as the second primary source of Islamic teachings). The author also includes a glossary of Syrian terms for reference.

Thoughtfully written, Syrian Folktales is a culturally-relevant and unique counterpoint to all the negativity heard about Syria presenting a view of the country that isn't political or war torn. This slim volume provides a rich look into Syrian culture and is a wonderful read for all ages.

(Group read suggestion from Mia DeGiovine Chaveco, book club co-founder.)

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Redemption in Indigo

“Utterly delightful! The impish love child of Amos Tutuola [famed for his African folk tales] & Gabriel García Márquez [known as one of the best writers of the 20th century].” —Nalo Hopkinson

Bursting with humor and rich in fantastic detail, Redemption in Indigo is a clever, contemporary fairy tale that introduces readers to a dynamic new voice in Caribbean literature. Lord's world of spider tricksters and indigo immortals, inspired in part by a Senegalese folk tale [incorporating the Afro-Barbadian culture], will feel instantly familiar—but Paama's adventures are fresh, surprising, and utterly original.

Paama's husband is a fool and a glutton. Bad enough that he followed her to her parents' home in the village of Makendha, now he's disgraced himself by murdering livestock and stealing corn. When Paama leaves him for good, she attracts the attention of the undying ones—powerful spirits called the djombi—who present her with a gift: the Chaos Stick, which allows her to manipulate the subtle forces of the world. Unfortunately, a wrathful djombi with indigo skin believes this power should be his and his alone.

Karen Lord's debut novel, which won the prestigious Frank Collymore Literary Prize in Barbados, the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the Mythopoetic Award, is an intricately woven tale of adventure, magic, and the power of the human spirit.

(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder.)

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Jagannath

An award-winning story collection by an heir to Borges, Le Guin, and Lovecraft.

A child is born in a tin can. A switchboard operator finds himself in hell. Three corpulent women float somewhere beyond time. Welcome to the weird world of Karin Tidbeck, the visionary Swedish author of literary sci-fi, speculative fiction, and mind-bending fantasy who has captivated readers around the world.

Originally published by the tiny press Cheeky Frawg—the passion project of Ann and Jeff VanderMeer—Jagannath has been celebrated by readers and critics alike, with rave reviews from major outlets and support from lauded peers like China Miéville and even Ursula K. Le Guin herself. These are stories in which fairies haunt quiet towns, and an immortal being discovers the nature of time—stories in which anything is possible.

“I have never read anything like Jagannath. Omnious...funny…and mysteriously tender. These are wonderful stories.” —Ursula K. Le Guin

(Group read suggestion from Mia DeGiovine Chaveco, book club co-founder.)

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Kappa Quartet

Shortlisted for the Singapore Book Awards (Best Book Cover Design)

Epigram Books Fiction Prize Longlist

”Kevin is a young man without a soul, holidaying in Tokyo; Mr. Five, the enigmatic kappa, is the man he so happens to meet. Little does Kevin know that kappas—the river demons of Japanese folklore—desire nothing more than the souls of other humans.

Set between Singapore and Japan, Kappa Quartet is split into eight discrete sections, tracing the rippling effects of this chance encounter across a host of other characters, connected and bound to one another in ways both strange and serendipitous. Together they ask one another: what does it mean to be in possession of something nobody has seen before?”

After reading this novel, some reviewers have cited a comparison to the author Murakami while others have noted some flashes of suppressed terror more Kafkaesque. Each section narrated by a different character loosely intertwined together is certainly reminiscent of David Mitchell's better work with that same thrill you find in connecting the characters & discovering different facets of the story.

(Group read suggestion from Mia DeGiovine Chaveco, book club co-founder.)

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