Trismegistus (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lebateleur) wrote2022-01-05 05:19 pm
lebateleur) wrote2022-01-05 05:19 pm
Entry tags:
What Am I Reading Wednesday - January 5
First book post of 2022! Let's see if I can keep these on a more regular schedule this year.
What I Finished Reading This Week
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street – Natasha Pulley
I love this novel’s tight plotting and beautiful prose. I’ve read this book at least a dozen times. If you haven’t yet, you should.
Homemade Magick – Lon Milo DuQuette
This memoir recounts DuQuette’s long career as a ceremonial magician. It’s also the best thing he’s written, largely because he eschews his usual “jovial fantasy subculture white guy” stylistic affectations* in favor of straightforward, readable prose and keeps the Crowley fanboying to a minimum. The result is a useful and enjoyable look at how one family practices ceremonial magick in their home, with some good practical examples of how others might get started doing so. I don’t care for DuQuette’s tendency to steal things he wants for his rituals (and one wonders whether he’d be as cutesy about readers “surreptitiously acquiring” his books from a pirate site, say), but aside from that unsavory aspect, his advice is sound, and this is a book I am likely to read more than once.
* Think “Verily, it is with no small trepidation that I offer these comments on all subjects magical, having attempted to the best of my meager ability to put off the sandals of presumption and keep my personal speculations and theories to the barest minimum...”-type stuff. For some reason, Thelemites and Crowley devotees really go in for this sort of linguistic flatulence.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 1 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Still plugging away.
League of Dragons – Naomi Novik
The books in this series have become traditional seasonal reads for me, and this year is no exception.
Scythe – Neal Shusterman
This book is not very good.
What I’m Reading Next
I acquired no new books this week.
What I Still Have Left To Review
The Last Graduate ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (1) ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (2) ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (3)
これで以上です。
What I Finished Reading This Week
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street – Natasha Pulley
I love this novel’s tight plotting and beautiful prose. I’ve read this book at least a dozen times. If you haven’t yet, you should.
Homemade Magick – Lon Milo DuQuette
This memoir recounts DuQuette’s long career as a ceremonial magician. It’s also the best thing he’s written, largely because he eschews his usual “jovial fantasy subculture white guy” stylistic affectations* in favor of straightforward, readable prose and keeps the Crowley fanboying to a minimum. The result is a useful and enjoyable look at how one family practices ceremonial magick in their home, with some good practical examples of how others might get started doing so. I don’t care for DuQuette’s tendency to steal things he wants for his rituals (and one wonders whether he’d be as cutesy about readers “surreptitiously acquiring” his books from a pirate site, say), but aside from that unsavory aspect, his advice is sound, and this is a book I am likely to read more than once.
* Think “Verily, it is with no small trepidation that I offer these comments on all subjects magical, having attempted to the best of my meager ability to put off the sandals of presumption and keep my personal speculations and theories to the barest minimum...”-type stuff. For some reason, Thelemites and Crowley devotees really go in for this sort of linguistic flatulence.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 1 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Still plugging away.
League of Dragons – Naomi Novik
The books in this series have become traditional seasonal reads for me, and this year is no exception.
Scythe – Neal Shusterman
This book is not very good.
What I’m Reading Next
I acquired no new books this week.
What I Still Have Left To Review
The Last Graduate ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (1) ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (2) ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (3)
これで以上です。