A lot.
And for a long time.
In order to amuse myself, I made a list of all the pagan and occult-related books that I own.
And organized them alphabetically, by author.
And then by subject, which was most difficult, because I have a lot of books that could fit into many different categories at the same time, and simultaneously not fit into any category at all. There were books that I, as a Pagan, loved and found useful, but they weren’t really about Paganism itself. There were herbals filled with intriguing folklore, and studies of mythology, and anthropological texts of sacred plants and people living a pre-Christian way of life, and none of these were the least bit directed at Pagans. I then changed the title of the list from Useful Pagan Books to Useful Books for Pagans (especially Witches), That Might Not Necessarily Be About Paganism, But Who Cares ‘Cause I’m the Only Person Who’ll Be Reading This Anyway.
So, I went back to my master list (sorted by author), and ignored the categories that I’d created (because the system had failed me) and decided to review the books. I wouldn’t sort them by subject, but I would make a note of what subjects they contained, in case anyone really cared that much.
These reviews won’t be anything special. They’re mostly for my own reference, for when I can’t remember why I hated a book so much, and whatnot. The review format is:
Title
Author
Subject(s)
Publisher
Date and Place Published
Where I Found It (Amazon, Used Books, etc)
Reading Level (Simplistic, Moderate, Academic)
General Summary
What I Thought (Loved it, and so on and so forth)
Recommended To (Beginners, Non-Pagans, Everyone Else)
In Print
For the Reading Levels:
Simplistic = No Dictionary Needed
Moderate = No Dictionary Needed, But Not All Fun and Games
Academic = Aimed at Undergraduates, etc, in a related study field, Dictionary Useful.
Also, it may be useful to note that for the locations where I found books, NS is Nova Scotia, Canada, and NL is Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
On to the Reviews!
Links to most of the stores listed (and many other links as well) can be found on the page entitled (who would've thought) Links
Cheers and Happy Readings!
You can reach me at: absinthe _ witch @hotmail.com
