Adult Virtual Summer Reading Challenge: Julia

     It’s a common misconception that librarians spend all their time reading. We love to read, but we actually don’t have any more time to read at work than anyone else in any other job does! But when I do have time to read, I mostly enjoy historical fiction, contemporary romantic comedies, and stories with magical realism. In other words, fiction- I don’t read a lot of nonfiction. Real life is stressful enough, so for me, reading is an enjoyable escape. 
     Romantic comedy fiction is like the literary equivalent of the romantic comedy films that used to be so popular. Two people meet, overcome obstacles and misunderstandings, fall in love, and everyone has a happy ending. These books are a perfect escape after a stressful day at work! I enjoy historical fiction for similar reasons- I enjoy learning about history and other cultures, and it’s also a great escape.
     Another genre that I really enjoy is magical realism. This means it’s a story that’s set in the real world that we live in, but there are magical elements and some of the characters might have special powers. A particularly famous author in this genre is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, with books like Cien Años de Soledad or One Hundred Years of Solitude.
     On this guide, I’ve listed a few of my favorites. The first three that are listed- The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and The Shadow of the Wind all fall into the “magical realism” category. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a family drama involving secret “doors” to other worlds that are hidden within books. Gods of Jade and Shadow is set in Mexico in the 1920’s and is the story of a girl who accidentally awakens- and then falls in love with- an ancient god, and helps him save the world from destruction. And finally, The Shadow of the Wind is something I read a long time ago, but it’s still one of my favorite books. It’s very reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges’s The Library of Babel or La Biblioteca de Babel, where he describes the universe as an endless, labyrinthine library. 
   So I’ll end with this quote from Borges: “El universo (que otros llaman la Biblioteca) se compone de un número indefinido, y tal vez infinito, de galerías hexagonales, con vastos pozos de ventilación en el medio, cercados por barandas bajísimas. Desde cualquier hexágono se ven los pisos inferiores y superiores: interminablemente.”