Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie

After a storm hits New York City, strange things begin to happen to some residents. They are, it turns out, decedents of the union of an ancient jinn (genie spirit) princess and a mortal man. A great war breaks out for the fate of the world that lasts one thousand and one nights, echoing the span of Scheherazade’s storytelling in Arabian Nights.

Rushdie is a master of spinning together seemingly conflicting worlds and societies, and looking directly at modern society’s ills through the lens of the fantastical. Told plainly and keenly, as an avid fan of Rushdie’s I think this is one of his most playful and accessible reads that brought me joy to be swept up in.

- Erin