Books I’ve read in March. Only two – I must have been spending too much time reading Guardian articles and WordPress blogposts (not to mention spending far too much time on Twitter and Instagram).

Beyond the Broomstick by Morgana

This is a helpful introduction to the ideas of Wicca as it was when these articles were written. One of the interesting things is that Morgana states that polarity is not directly correlated with gender, and she wrote that in the 1990s. So it’s not a new idea. However I do find some of the ideas in the book gender essentialist, but you have to remember it was written a while ago. Many people have found this book to be a helpful introduction to Wicca, and it has been translated into many different languages.

The book explores the concepts of polarity, the gods, the masculine principle and the feminine principle, the concept of magic, and the philosophy of Paganism.

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Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire

Rather a slow start to this novel but the usual fun things are present: cryptids, magic, and ghosts. This is the seventh novel in the Incryptid series.

Antimony Price is in hiding from the Covenant of St George, and chooses to hide out in a cheap knockoff of Disneyworld. The second half of the book is much better than the first half. The Aeslin mice novella tacked on the end of the book is awesome, as half of it is written from the mice’s point of view.

The other characters in the book are mostly cryptids,  and are well-drawn and interesting. Antimony’s relationship with her furi boyfriend is rather touching, too.

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I have started reading the excellent Six Ways: Approaches & Entries for Practical Magic by Aidan Wachter.

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If you enjoyed this post, you might like my books.