witchcraft – Page 4 – Cannonball Read 17

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and caldron shrug

The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich

March 21, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

When I first saw this title pop up on Tor’s Instagram, I clicked “want to read” on goodreads as quickly as humanly possible. Working girls forming a union? Witchcraft is involved? A real-life New England mill city? Sisters doing it for themselves? Hell yeah, sign me up! There are Mill Girls woven into the tapestry of my family history, and I am a child and life-long resident of New England. My husband was living steps from the mills of Lowell when we met, and we […]

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

February 8, 2021 by Jake 1 Comment

A Simple Favor is one of my favorite movies from the last few years. I love quirky crime comedies and the leads have great chemistry. But I also enjoyed how it depicted female relationships, especially in an unconventional manner. A Simple Pod, hosted by three journalists who also love the movie, unpacks this a little, talking about the queerness of the movie and the de-centering of men in its tale. We Ride Upon Sticks isn’t a crime story but it still hits a similar sweet spot for me. […]

Teenage girls are so powerful

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

January 27, 2021 by pineolliepple 1 Comment

In Quan Barry’s We Ride Upon Sticks, it’s 1989, and the middling Danvers High School Girls Varsity Field Hockey Team turns to witchcraft to help them make it to state finals (with the help of a possibly-haunted Emilio Estevez-covered notebook dubbed “Emilio” and the local lore of neighbouring Salem, Massachusetts). I just finished the book and I’m lying in bed awake with my heart feeling like it might burst out of my chest because – the absolutely nuclear power of teenage girls, man. Written in […]

less practical, more magical

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

November 1, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Twenty two years after the publication of Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman fired up the ol’ Owens Family Cauldron to brew up (I apologize for NOTHING) the story of “The Aunts”. Before Jet and Franny were kooky caregivers with cupboards full of teeth and dove hearts, they were kids squirming under the overbearing but uninvolved eyes of their midcentury modern parents. Necessarily, when re-approaching a well-defined but of-its-time creation, one must get a little creative with facts and figures. Practical Magic was already a bit screwy with time, […]

“If you spy a naked man among the pines, you must run as if the Devil were after you.”

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

February 23, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Never have truer words been spoken! This collection of short stories crept around my periphery for some time, and I am both overjoyed to have finally given in to it and disappointed in myself for not biting earlier. I came across it originally on a list of fairy-tale retellings on Autostraddle, and when it popped up again in the employee recommendations section of one of my favorite booksellers (Crow Bookshop in Burlington, what’s up!) I knew that it was meant to be. Still, it sat […]

A meandering but mostly fun ride

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

July 6, 2019 by Bothari43 Leave a Comment

This massive book covers time travel, witchcraft, academia, military machinations, and more science and physics than this English major could comfortably follow. It feels like several different books mashed together (maybe because of the dual authors?), but the merging of all the pieces was pretty successful. I haven’t read much Stephenson, so I’m not sure how much was him and how much was Galland, but I enjoyed most of it. Melisande Stokes is trapped in 1851 London, and is writing down everything that happened to […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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