The Well-Read Witch

Witches: five silhouetted figures. [Photograph]. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest.
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One thing I know for sure is that I am too lazy, disorganized and anti-social to be a competent witch who belongs to a close-knit coven. I never know what phase of the moon we are in and my black thumb prevents me from cultivating the necessary herb garden for effective rituals and spells. I don't even cook from recipe books, so putting together a whole spell is out of the question. I have never read any of the Harry Potter books.   However, that doesn't mean I'm not intrigued by witches, Wiccans, pagans, and the spiritually adventurous.

Whether you celebrate Halloween, harvest festivals in the church parking lot, or Samhain, witches are a part of our collective imagination and historical record and autumn is the time they are most likely to be on our imaginative radar. Witches, witchcraft, witch hunters, and witch panics make for riveting reading in the categories of fiction and non-fiction. So keep one lamp on for yourself, pretend you're not home to hand out candy, and read about witches.

Non-Fiction

America Bewitched: The Story of Witchcraft After Salem by Owen Davies
A Brief History of Witchcraft by Lois Martin
Brujas, Bultos, y Brasas: Tales of Witchcraft and the Supernatural in the Pecos Valley collected and edited by Nasario Garcia
The Crafty Witch: 101 Ideas for Every Occasion by Willow Polson
The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of Witch-Hunting in the Western World by John Demos
The Penguin Book of Witches edited by Katherine Howe
Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials by Aarilynne Roach
Wiccan Celebrations: Inspiration for Living By Nature's Cycle by Silver Elder

Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants by Claudia Muller-Eberling, Christian Ratsch, and Wolf-Dieter Storl

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English
Witches, Rakes, and Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder,and Mayhem in Boston, 1630-1775 by D. Brenton Simons


Fiction

Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
The Book of Spirits by James Reese
Brida by Paulo Coehlo
Bruja Brouhaha by Rochelle Staab
The Burning Times by Jeanne Kalogridis
The Circle by Bentley Little
Dark Birthright by Jeanne Treat
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

Lasher by Anne Rice
Taltos: Lives of the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice

abcreads recommends: The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

Checquy statistics indicate that 15 percent of all men in hats are concealing horns.
~Daniel O'Malley, The Rook

It opens with a letter, and the letter begins: "Dear You, The body you are wearing used to be mine." Myfanwy Thomas finds the letter in her pocket when she wakes up, bruised and beaten and with dead bodies wearing latex gloves all around her, in a London park. Of course, she doesn't know that she is called, or rather, that the body she inhabiting is called, Myfanwy Thomas until she reads the letter (which tells her pronounce her first name to rhyme with Tiffany, rather than the traditional Welsh pronunciation). Her memory has been wiped clean; she is beginning from scratch. The letter was in her pocket, addressed "To You"; there is another, marked "2", that continues telling her the story of Myfanwy.

The novel is not epistolary, but letters from her former self (and a large purple binder) play a big part in telling her story. The adventure begins with a bank lockbox and a choice, and Myfanwy chooses to rejoin her body's former life as a Rook, a high-level operative in the Checquy (pronounced Sheck-Eh) Group - which is, as the book cover describes it, "Her Majesty's Supernatural Secret Service". For centuries they have protected the world from sentient fungus, the Sirens of the Mediterranean Sea, fleshcrafters (those who radically alter the properties of the human body), and the like. The purple binder is full of information about the Checquy, and about her work there. Myfanwy is literally learning her job, and how to wrangle with her own supernatural ability, as she goes along.

And what a job! Myfanwy has a large office, a secretary, an executive assistant named Ingrid, and an established reputation for being an extremely capable, but timid, administrator waiting for her. A day's work includes a woman who coughs up ectoplasm that turns into the animals that chase people; dreams of Victorian ladies who offer her afternoon tea and interrogate her; a co-worker who is four bodies with a hive mind; a secret training facility that turns children into fighters; and the knowledge that there is a traitorous conspiracy to unravel before Myfanwy's memory is taken again...or worse. This is all part of the wild ride that is The Rook.

Intrigued? Read the first 4 chapters of The Rook, watch a book trailer, and more at The Rook Files, the website of author Daniel O'Malley. A sequel to The Rook, Stilleto, will be published in June 2016. And watch for The Rook to premiere on Hulu as a television show! We can hardly wait!

Paranormal Diversions for All Ages

It's October!  Days are getting shorter, and colder, and SPOOKIER.  In celebration of the magic in the air, we offer a selection of paranormal fiction delights for children, teens, and adults. If you like your fiction a little scary and/or a bit fantastic, these are the books for you!

Children's

The Slither Sisters by Charles Gilman

A Gaggle of Goblins by Suzanne Harper

Ghost Town by Phoebe Rivers

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis

Gustav Gloom and the People Taker by Adam-Troy Castro


Teens

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong

If I Should Die by Amy Plum

The Art of Wishing by Lindsay Ribar

All Our Pretty Songs by Sarah McCarry

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

The Diviners by Libba Bray


Grown Ups

Scent of Darkness by Margot Berwin

The Water Witch by Juliet Dark [eBook]

Wild Invitation by Nalini Singh

The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson

A Clockwork Heart by  Liesel Schwarz

Zombiellenium - Vol. 1 : Gretchen by Arthur de Pins

Reviver by Seth Patrick

The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty