Books marked in the margin
Brief, candid judgments from a wide-ranging reading life. Ratings measure the reading experience—not a book’s moral worth.
I have always been interested in horror. When I was younger, I was obsessed with creature features. My grandma would help me track down VHS tapes—because I am that old—of films I had read about in old horror magazines. Movies like Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Blob, Troll 2, and plenty of others. Troll 2 gave me nightmares for the longest time. Which is especially funny now, because I find it ridiculously cheesy.
Read the full review →When I first picked up Living in the End Times by Vlad Naumescu, I thought I had a fairly good idea of what I was getting into. The book focuses on ritual, history, and ethics among Romania's Old Believers, and I expected much of it to center on their religious practices. That is not exactly what I got, though, and perhaps that is why I found the book so interesting.
Read the full review →I expected Witchland to be interesting. What I didn’t expect was how often I had to remind myself that the people in its pages weren’t characters. They were real. Real people living in real villages, surrounded by neighbors, churches, government officials, family members, grudges, fears, rumors, and beliefs that could sometimes work together and sometimes barely seemed to function at all.
Read the full review →I really wanted to like The Book of Witchcraft by Semra Haksever. I truly did.
Read the full review →A book about how the Irish historically handled the loss of someone they loved? Count me in.
Read the full review →The Illustrated Compendium of Horror by Liz Deleo is a delightful addition to my ever-growing shelf of horror books. It is not, however, a book designed to truly frighten its reader—and I do not think it is trying to be. Instead, Deleo has created something closer to a beautifully illustrated tasting platter of horror: movies, books, characters, subgenres, cultural traditions, and strange little corners of the genre that invite you to take a bite and then go searching for more.
Read the full review →On the reading desk
Books presently being read, considered, and marked for the ledger.
By Benebell Wen
Published byPublisher to be added
By Katie Ortiz
Published byAlcove Press
By Amira Mittermaier
Published byDuke University Press
By Lydia Cabrera
Published byPublisher to be added