January 2024 Reading Wrap Up
As y'all know, I started this blog anew to record my thoughts on some books I read. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of reading a lot more books than the average human should, and they knock each other out of my noggin. This is why I maintain a color-coded spreadsheet with columns to keep track of things. I also took on a winter reading challenge, and I've read most of the 17 books I was looking to read. With that said, let's see where things landed this month!
Religious Text
None applicable.
1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?
None applicable (thank the gods).
2/10 - Trash
Creating Magickal Entities: A Complete Guide to Entity Creation | David Michael Cunningham, Taylor Ellwood, T Amanda R Wagener
This one was...rough. Painful, even. This made me retroactively rate the other occult books I read higher just to cope.
3/10 - Meh
Heartbreaker | Julie Garwood [reading challenge]
I was hoping this one would be fun, considering the author is from Missouri and the summary seemed promising, but the main male character (not the antagonist) came across as a creep the whole time. I hated him very much.
4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier
Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists, & Other Creatives | T Thorn Coyle [reading challenge]
With all due respect to Mx. T Thorn Coyle…this book sucked. It originated as a zine and tbh it should have stayed that way. There was a lot of fluff to get the page count up that could honestly have been removed (and should have been). I didn’t feel like I came away from this one learning anything new about sigils or how to incorporate them or my writing into my craft.
The Whittiers | Danielle Steel [reading challenge]
Unlike my surprisingly good experiences reading The Wedding Planner, The Whittiers was a sludge to get through. It was a bit annoying to hear Danielle Steel talk so much about how the characters weren't rich when they were clearly living a rather rich lifestyle without much financial problems in the beginning, and I eventually gave up on the book. The characters just...weren't too compelling to trudge through the repetition for.
The Stranger Upstairs | Lisa M Matlin
YOU. This book took a bit too long to get to the point (the plot), but at least part 2 was absolutely riveting and the epilogue was intriguing. I honestly think None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell did this better, even though The Stranger Upstairs is more about a house than a person. Just...read None Of This Is True instead. Trust me.
Liber Null and Psychonaut | Liber Kaos | Peter J Carroll
Part of what I'm doing is research into chaos magic, starting with its foundational texts. And boy howdy, is this a severely middling book to me. Pointlessly obtuse, refuses to get to the point, spends too long sucking Aleister Crowley's dick... But utterly fascinating from a retrospective point of view, seeing what chaos magic looks like now.
7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats
Dracula | Bram Stoker [reading challenge]
I'm going to beat Bram Stoker with a broom. Good with the caveat that you have to read it with the context of it being a product of its time. Also, post-vampire Lucy Westenra can GET SOME.
Strawberry Shortcake Murder | Joanne Fluke [reading challenge]
I "read" this one in audiobook form, thanks to my library having a Playaway of it. This one…aged a little poorly in some aspects. I might skip into more modern entries to the series rather than trudge through the older stuff to get there.
The Leftover Woman | Jean Kwok [reading challenge]
This one was a fucking TRIP. This book was full of twists and turns and physically pained me at points. It absolutely fucked me up and I was crying by the end, so I was lucky that no one came into work while I was reading it. I can't say much about it for fear of spoiling it, other than that it delivered upon what it promised.
The Midnight Library | Matt Haig [reading challenge]
This did NOT help with the crying! This book also fucked me up! It’s absolutely wild from the get-go. Content warning for animal death early on, though, because that did not help my anxious ass.
Marrying the Ketchups | Jennifer Close [reading challenge]
With all of the things this book was juggling, it ended exactly how it needed to.
Spells for Change: A Guide for Modern Witches | Frankie Castanea/Chaotic Witch Aunt
I was expecting something entirely different from this book.
Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos Magic | Phil Hine
Exactly what it says on the tin.
Magickal Servitors: Create Your Own Spirits to Attract Pleasure, Power and Prosperity | Damon Brand
Far more effective and to-the-point than Creating Magickal Entities was, but still far from perfect.
9/10 - Very Very Good
The Puppets of Spelhorst | Kate DiCamillo [reading challenge]
This book is one I've been meaning to read since the library got it in. It's an adorable story with great illustrations and plenty of drama for the 8- to 12-year-old in your life. Or for you, if you want a touching low-stakes story with an open ending.
Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under The Sea | Dav Pilkey [reading challenge]
From the guy who brought us Captain Underpants comes an adorable graphic novel about…honestly a lot happening, there was a lot. Luckily, even though it’s late in the series, there’s enough context provided that you can get a good grasp of the characters. Doesn’t have much to do with Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, though, so I’m deducting a point for that. I read Jules Verne's work and there was nothing about a dog-headed cop in there, nor a cat man who used to be a criminal and is having the worst redemption arc of his life.
Honestly, it was still fun.
Practical Gods | Carl Dennis [reading challenge]
Read for both my reading challenge AND my book club's Pulitzer Prize prompt, this is such a lovely collection of poems and really gets into the crossing of religious belief with modern problems. How does it do this as a book of poetry? I’m not sure! But it did! Definitely worth the multiple prizes it has won. I ordered my own personal copy and I'm waiting for it to arrive.
Gods of Jade and Shadow | Silvia Moreno-Garcia [reading challenge]
I AM GOING TO EAT THIS BOOK BECAUSE I LOVE IT SO MUCH. We love a book in which the main character dies but that's not the end of their story!
Warrior Magic: Justice Spirituality and Culture from Around the World | Tomas Prower
I did a little write-up of this one.
Give-A-Damn-Jones | Bill Pronzini [reading challenge]
This one was great because the titular character respects women and protects minorities and keeps getting into situations. We love a guy who doesn't want to be here! This was the first Western I've read, and I think it was a good pick.
10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone
Well, everyone who's into the genre these fall under, at least.
Sappho: A New Translation | Mary Barnard
I was so worried that this translation would...well, straightwash Sappho, but from what I see, Mary is dedicated to translating them as close to intentional meaning as possible, including Sappho's bisexuality. Hell yeah.
Welsh Witchcraft: A Guide to the Spirits, Lore, and Magic of Wales | Mhara Starling
This is an in-depth look into a Welsh witch's practice. It's delightful to read someone talk about their own craft, and you can really tell that Mhara loves the place she lives in.
Exodus 20:3: A Monster Romance | Freydis Moon
We love a gay angelfucker romance between a trans man and an angel, complete with smut. Honestly, a great time.
The Salt Grows Heavy | Cassandra Khaw
Do you want the mermaid from The Little Mermaid fairy tale to murder people? Do you want a nonbinary plague doctor? Do you want to hear about murderous child cannibals and freakish surgeons? Do you want your protagonist to McFucking Snap? Do you want a happy ending in the weirdest way possible in this setting? Read The Salt Grows Heavy! A mere 112 pages that will fuck you up while you're trying to poop in peace!
