Books Blog : witchcraft

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

HRevvdon@evpl — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:55:00 GMT

Set in a small southern town, Beautiful Creatures (2009) revolves around Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes. Ethan is born and raised in Gatlin and can’t wait to get out. He runs with the "in" clique and is a basketball star. Then Lena comes to town. Lena is an outcast from the start because she is not from Gatlin and she is different, she is also part of one of the founding families that has always been at odds with the rest of the town…mostly because for some mysterious reason their plantation house was the only one left standing after Sherman’s March during the Civil War.

Ethan and Lena fall in love through a series of interconnected dreams and supernatural occurrences. Ethan soon learns that Lena is a “caster” and that she is about to be “claimed.” She will basically become dark/evil or light/good. Their mission is to make sure that she goes light. Along the way all of Lena’s caster family gets involved and all the mean, prejudice, and closed-minded townspeople cause all kinds of angst for the young couple.

This novel is very gothic in nature, as you would expect, and starts very promising in its uniqueness. It is reminiscent of Anne Rice, only for a younger audience. It has some humor as well. I thought it was great that the Lena’s reclusive uncle names his dog Boo Radley after the character from To Kill a Mockingbird. A little over half way through the book though it starts losing its uniqueness, it even has a scene directly out of Stephen King’s Carrie (which would have worked if it had been acknowledged and poked fun). I think the ending was weak at best. I am sure there will be a sequel but I will skip it.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

HRevvdon@evpl — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:36:00 GMT

The year is 1991 and doctorate student Connie Goodwin is looking for the subject for her dissertation. Connie is a student of early American history at an Ivy League university. Her mother, a native New Englander transplanted to Arizona where she reads auras, asks her to move to her grandmother’s old house in Marblehead to ready it for sale. The house is ancient and has not been lived in for decades.

Connie finds what she hopes will be the unique new found source that she can use for her dissertation – a undocumented victim of the Salem witch trials, Deliverance Dane. So begins Connie’s search for The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (2009). Katherine Howe’s book is more than the detective work of a student running source documentation to ground. The novel travels back and forth from the 20^thcentury to the 17^th century easily, realistically depicting everyday life as well and the “physick” work of Deliverance and her descendents. There is social commentary within the story, in both centuries of women’s roles at the time, used as a method to move the story along.

The novel is well written and enjoyable. I was a little disappointed in the depiction of Connie’s final confrontation with her advisor, it was a little anticlimactic but I will stop there to avoid my comments being a spoiler. I was also a little distracted with all the running to phone booths to make telephone calls; I realize this was pretty much pre-cell phones but it was a little too irritating to only know the mother thorough the odd phone call to Arizona. The mother would have added to the story if the character would have been developed more and differently.

Overall a good book that I would recommend; I read the book, but I would think that is would be a good audio book or download as well.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

HRevvdon@evpl — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:13:00 GMT

I didn't know what to expect from The Little Giant of Aberdeen County (2009) by Tiffany Baker, it was recommended by a friend and I had not heard anything other than it is a first novel from Baker.

The story is about two children in a very small northeastern town. Serena Jane is the older child and is a beautiful petite child. Then there is the younger sister. When their mother is close to giving birth to the younger sister she is so big that the townspeople start taking bets on how many babies she will have. She has one very large child, and dies in childbirth. The doctor misunderstands the mother's delirious ramblings and names the child Truly. This is really Truly's story. Truly is large and keeps growing.

As children the two are separated at the death of their father - Truly to a poor and bad-luck farmer's family and Serena Jane to the preacher's home where she is pampered and coddled. Serena Jane's life is tangled with the town doctor's family and she marries his son, Robert Morgan - Bob Bob. She has a son and then runs off. Truly then becomes housekeeper and her life becomes tangled with Robert Morgan.

Truly realizes that an antique quilt holds the secrets of Robert Morgan's greatgreat-grandmother - reputed to be a witch. She learns the secrets of herbs and plants to help cure, and the secret of how they can harm or kill. At first the knowledge gives Truly something of her own to hang on to, but then she learns it can also be a burden if she does not use it correctly.

I enjoyed this book and thought it an impressive first novel. My one problem was that from time to time I forgot that it was not set in an earlier time, but in today's world. The book does not dwell on the reason for Truly's being a "little giant", just that it makes her very different. I liked that.

"Called Out of Darkness: a Spiritual Confession" by Anne Rice

MediaPhile@evpl — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:34:00 GMT

I have long been a fan of Anne Rice's legendary vampire and witch series so was intrigued enough to pick up this short autobiography. Rice describes the reasons behind her return to Christianity after 38 years as an athiest.

She details her parochial school upbringing in New Orleans and her strong attachment to Catholicism that got derailed during college and subsequent years living in the San Francisco area.

Her discovery 10 years ago that she had Type 1 diabetes, followed by the death from cancer of her beloved husband Stan 4 years later led her to resolve that she would only write works praising God.

Thus she began her "Christ the Lord" series of biographical novels. First came "Out of Egypt", in 2006, followed by "The Road to Cana" this year.

Visit Rice's website for more information on all her works -- as well as further explanation of her changed world view. Wikipedia also has an informative article.

Perfect fireside reading for Fall

librarianinheels@evpl — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:58:00 GMT

When I was a kid, I loved to prop myself up in a wing chair by the fire, stick my feet out, and read a good book. While I don't have a fireplace in my house, I have established a comfortable little reading ritual for myself when the nights are cool, and this fall I'm reading a few books that I think the casual reader might enjoy.

For those of you out there who really enjoy material that might be classified as "chick lit", but you like your fiction served up with some humor and a little bit of social criticism, try anything by Marian Keyes. Keyes is an Irish author and one of my favorites - her books are alternately entertaining and thought-provoking. Right now, I am reading Angels, an installment in her non-sequential saga of the five Walsh sisters. I have read Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday and Anybody Out There?, about Claire, Rachel and Anna - this book is about Maggie and I'm still waiting for the book about Helen, the most outrageous of the Walsh sisters. (hopefully Keyes will write one soon...it should be the best, the most hysterically funny of the bunch...maybe that is why it's taking her so long to write it?) This Charming Man is Keyes' latest novel (and for those of us old enough to remember - it's also the name of a song by the Smiths)...about the interworkings of toxic relationships between four different women and one man. The subject matter is more intense than Keyes has tackled in the past - but this one really seems like it will deliver, as hers always do. It's our November selection for our chick lit book discussion at Oaklyn.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent is a novel based in truth, set in 1691-1692 Massachusetts Bay Colony and centers around a family's involvement the Salem witch trials. It's engrossing reading...particularly when you realize that Kathleen Kent, the author, is a descendant of the family portryed in the novel. I am really enjoying it. Perfect fall reading...so curl up by the fire (or with a bunch of pillows, some cherry Hershey kisses, and a warm blankie - and a cat or two...) and dig in!

"The Lace Reader" author hits it rich!

MediaPhile@evpl — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:43:00 GMT

I recently heard Brunonia Barry talk about her very successful first novel, "The Lace Reader," a Mary Higgins Clark sort of adventure/love novel set in contemporary Salem, Massachusetts.

Barry, a former scriptwriter with theatre experience who now lives in Salem, quit her job to write a novel -- with her husband's permission, of course. After seven years of research and rewrites, she offered the manuscript to a reading group at a local bookstore. She and her husband then self-published "The Lace Reader" through Flap Jacket Press.

On a whim, she sent a copy off to a friend in Hollywood to promote to the studios. The manuscript landed in the right hands and next thing she knew there was a huge bidding war between publishers. "The Lace Reader" has just been re-released by William Morrow this summer with a major promotion and a $2,000,000 book deal for Barry.

So the moral of the story is this: never give up, success is around the corner. Even for 50 something women wannabee writers.