Magical Thinking

The Lunatic

Wide Eyed by Trinie Dalton

I got this book when I worked for Utne magazine and only read the first story before I determined that it was necessary to send to my best friend. I knew she would love it, and was not as compelled to read the book as I was last week when I visited her and noticed the book on her shelf. I read it on the airplane home and was completely smitten. It was simple and weird and magical and I wished I could write a book just like it. When I finished it a few hours after I began, I didn't want it to be over. I was not through with her magic.

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

This is the best book I've read in a long time. Who can resist young, egotistical avant garde Mexican poets convinced that they are the next generation of underground literature?