Inglenook Blog

Bright ideas, inspiring stories, and thought-provoking articles to spark your creativity and stoke your inner fire.

The Best Magical Historical Fiction Books

September 29, 2025

In magical realism, otherworldly elements often highlight political tensions, injustice, and oppression. Protagonists (and authors, for that matter) lean on magic as a coping mechanism to escape or re-contextualize the brutalities and all-too-familiar discrimination of the past, doing away with romanticized notions of bygone eras. When authors dive into magical historical fiction, the real or […]

5 Books Like “In the Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado

September 26, 2025

Book Recommendations

When In the Dream House was published by Carmen Maria Machado in 2019, it rocketed into the limelight. Lauded for its literary experimentation and brave exploration of the taboos and complexities of queer identity, the book won the 2019 Bisexual Book Award, 2020 Judy Grahn Award, 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction, and 2021 Rathbones […]

The Best Books About Magical Forests

September 17, 2025

Book Recommendations | Magic in Nature

Does the forest comfort or scare you? In literature, the woods are often portrayed as oases of freedom and clarity, where humans can shake off conformity and follow their natural instincts. But the woods can also be cautionary, a place to be wary of and avoid. Darker stories show the forest as a place of […]

The Best Magical Realism Short Story Collections

September 10, 2025

Book Recommendations | Featured Reads

In the mood for some stories that are short, sweet (OK, maybe not sweet), and leave you wondering about the very nature of reality? While magical realism can pull us into deeply dark, kaleidoscope-like versions of day-to-day life that change our perspective forever, the truth is that a mini dose of surrealism is sometimes all […]

The Best Books About Magical Libraries

July 29, 2025

Book Recommendations | Featured Reads

Need to leave the real world for a bit? Ever dreamt of getting lost in a magical library? (Were you one of those kids who watched the lesser-known Macaulay Culkin movie from 1994, The Pagemaster?) In addition to being the ultimate fantasy of all bibliophiles, the magical library trope is essentially its own genre. One […]

The Best Sleeping Beauty Retellings

July 24, 2025

Book Recommendations | Books About Magic

Why is the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale so compelling? In a world where we can easily feel like we're going through the motions, a tale that reminds us to "wake up" and begin participating in our own lives seems timelier than ever. Sleeping Beauty also appeals because of its commentary on the transition from childhood […]

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