house-spirits I really enjoyed this book, which is fantastic mystical realism that easily matches if not surpasses that of Gabrielle Garcia Marquez. (Dern, I haven’t reviewed him here? I totally thought I’d done 100 Years of Solitude.) Except Allende is a woman, and her strong female characters are absolutely striking. Rosa the Beautiful with her sea-green hair, Clara the clairvoyant, Blanca the romantic lover and creator of mythical animals. Not that there aren’t fascinating men like the incredibly and laughably tempestuousness of Esteban, who we ultimately pity, or Blanca’s revolutionary lover who plays guitar with only two fingers. (Esteban cut off the others, of course.) The novel ranges all over the history of an unnamed South American country and could perhaps be deemed a little lengthy. But to me, the lyrical and magical story was the non-chick-lit-reading gal’s ideal summer book.

And since it’s summer and I’m so far behind in my book reviewing, I’m going to have to leave it at that. Oh well.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars — Book club selection