Folklore genre books (86)
41.
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach : A Cuban Folktale by Carmen Agra Deedy EN
Country: North America / 
Cuba
Cuba
Description:
The beautiful Martina Josefina Catalina Cucaracha doesn't know coffee beans about love and marriage, so when suitors come calling, what is she to do? Luckily, she has her Cuban family to help! While some of the Cucarachas offer Martina gifts to make her more attractive, only Abuela, her grandmother, gives her some useful advice: spill coffee on his shoes to see how he handles anger. At first, Martina is skeptical of her Abuela's suggestion, but when suitor after suitor fails the Coffee Test, she wonders if a little green cockroach can ever find true love. After reading this award-winning retel... continue
42.
Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou EN
CongoDescription:
After an ancient initiation, a young Congolese boy is given an animal double in the form of a porcupine and the pair begin an inexplicable streak of murders until the porcupine quits and decides to pen a literary confession. Original.
43.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez EN
Country: South America / 
Colombia
Colombia
Description:
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, and alive with unforgettable men and women -- brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul -- this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.
44.
Palace of the Peacock by Wilson Harris EN
Country: South America / 
Guyana
Guyana
Description:
In his tale of a doomed crew beating their way up-river through the jungles of Guyana, first published in 1960, Wilson Harris revealed the unique poetic vision and laid out the themes and designs, not only of his famous work, The Guyana Quartet, but of all his future work. The Palace of the Peacock displays that vision in all its hallucinatory vividness, given additional impact by its rejection of the conventions of the twentieth-century novel and the uncompromising energy of its use of language in its response to character and landscape. The compelling adventure story of the narrative is para... continue
45.
Parade: A Folktale by Hiromi Kawakami EN
JapanDescription:
"A parable about memory, mythic characters, and confessional regrets . . . An ethereal, resonating literary gift" (Booklist, starred review) from the internationally bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo. "On a summer afternoon, Tsukiko and her former high school teacher have prepared and eaten somen noodles together. “Tell me a story from long ago,” Sensei says. “I wasn’t alive long ago,” Tsukiko says, “but should I tell you a story from when I was little?” “Please do,” Sensei replies, and so Tsukiko tells him that, when she was a child, she awakened one day to find something with a ... continue
46.
Pleasantview by Celeste Mohammed EN
Country: Europe / 
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Description:
Coconut trees. Carnival. Rum and coke. To many outsiders, these and other sunny images are all they know about life in the Caribbean. However, if you want to learn how the locals truly live and experience the dark and often harrowing truths that lurk behind the idyllic imagery of Caribbean culture, then come visit the town of Pleasantview. Come during election season, and see how one candidate sets out to slaughter endangered turtles - just for fun. Or come on the day the other candidate beats his "outside-woman," so badly she ends up losing their baby. Then come on the night of the political ... continue
Romania48.
Sea Sirens by Amy Chu EN
VietnamDescription:
Dive into this visually stunning, middle-grade graphic novel about a spunky Vietnamese American surfer girl and her cantankerous talking cat who plunge into a fantasy world of oceanic marvels . . . and mayhem! Trot, a Vietnamese American surfer girl, and Cap'n Bill, her cranky one-eyed cat, catch too big a wave and wipe out, sucked down into a magical underwater kingdom where an ancient deep-sea battle rages. The beautiful Sea Siren mermaids are under attack from the Serpent King and his slithery minions--and Trot and her feline become dangerously entangled in this war of tails and fins. This ... continue
49.
Soundjata : ein Mandingo-Epos by Djibril Tamsir Niane DE
GuineaDescription:
D. T. Niane (1932 - 2021), Historiker aus Guinea, lässt das alte Afrika zu uns sprechen. Er ist zu einem der Griots (nämlich Djeli Mamadou Kouyaté) gegangen, und hat aufgezeichnet, was diesem - zwar fantastisch ausgeschmückt, aber im Kern unverfälscht - über Generationen von dem Leben und den Taten des legendär gewordenen Großkönigs Soundjata überliefert wurde. Wir erfahren die Geschichten des "Helden mit den vielen Namen", Sohn des Büffels und des Löwen, der im 13. Jahrhundert zum Begründer des mächtigen Mandin... continue
50.
Stork Mountain : A Novel by Miroslav Penkov EN
BulgariaDescription:
"A young Bulgarian immigrant returns to the country of his birth in search of his grandfather, who suddenly and unexpectedly cut all contact with the family three years ago. The trail leads him to a village on the border with Turkey, a stone's throw away from Greece, high up in the Strandja Mountains--a place of pagan mysteries and black storks nesting in giant oaks; a place where every spring, possessed by Christian saints, men and women dance barefoot across live coals in search of rebirth. Here in the mountains, he gets drawn by his grandfather into a maze of half-truths"--Amazon.com.