Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

All right, I was a witch. Does it matter?

Circe by Madeline Miller

by Leave a Comment

The witch, Circe, turns up in the Odyssey, famous for turning half of Odysseus’ men into pigs, before changing them back again and giving Odysseus aid in his ever longer journey home from Troy. Circe, her island, and her interactions with Odysseus take up a single chapter of the Odyssey, and from this Miller weaves a much more satisfying tale in this 2018 novel. Circe is the eldest and least-regarded of four children of the Titan Helios and sea nymph Perse. She grows up as […]

Witch Hunt!

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

by Leave a Comment

The mix of modern crime procedurals and the deep stupidity of superstition just didn’t click for me. Katherina Kepler is a war widow (or at least she assumes so, since her husband never came back), and one of her sons is Johannes Kepler, authority on the newly discovered revolutionary laws of planetary motion.  She herself happens to be an authority on herbal remedies, but not everyone in the village has confidence in her treatments.  The random cow has a bad spell, and apparently at some […]

Do you already have a vague idea of what self-care is? If yes, you can skip this book

The Witch's Book of Self-Care by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

by 1 Comment

BINGO – SELF-CARE Arin Murphy-Hiscock endeavors to instruct in practical self-care through a witch’s lens. She begins with an introduction to what self-care is and isn’t and how the idea of self-care has been co-opted by some many people and industries to make a buck. She then breaks down modes of self-care into Mental and Emotional Self-Care, Physical Self-Care, Spiritual Self-Care, and Household Self-Care. She sprinkles spells, rituals, and recipes throughout as well as practical tips on how to incorporate self-care into one’s daily life. […]

Spellbinding

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

by Leave a Comment

After a long day at work, university lecturer Stefan de Graaf returns to his home in the sleepy Dutch town of Beek, kisses his wife and sits down at the kitchen table. The wife tells him Grandma K has come to visit. They laugh and talk about their day. In a corner of the living room stands a silent woman, dressed in rags and chains, smelling of decay. Her eyes and mouth have been sewn shut. The wife has hung a dish towel over the […]

Which matters more, her past or her present?

The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston

by 3 Comments

Bess is a witch living in modern times. She also happens to be over 300 years old. She’s just moved into a new house and has caught the attention of a local girl named Tegan. As Bess and Tegan spend time together, Bess recounts tales of her life as a way of instructing Tegan in magic and witchcraft. The tales of Bess’ life are simultaneously cautionary ones about the dangers of powerful men and their relentless pursuit of what they perceive as theirs and about […]

Not a bad introduction to what magic could be in your life

Kitchen Table Magic by Melissa Cynova

by Leave a Comment

Written as an introduction to witchcraft and magic, Cynova breaks her book Kitchen Table Magic into two parts: the first is an overview of what magic is and the various parts of what witchcraft are. She gives an overview of intention, grounding, spells, divination, etc. The second half is a collection of spells and rituals for various situations. Cynova presents herself as a hard polytheist with a belief in the supernatural. PROS: While Cynova herself is a supernatural-believer she has moments where she recognizes that a lot […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo