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kalira's reviews
380 reviews
The House of My Mother by Shari Franke
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage
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The Crocheting Witch: New Age Arts and Crafts by RJ Montgomery
1.5
While the author says she has been crocheting since she was a child and a Wiccan since she was a teenager, one gets the impression that she's not quite . . . in a position to teach either of these things.
She bounces unpredictably from catering to a beginning crocheter audience, even explaining what crocheting is (using finished yarn and a hook to make fabric), to things like tapestry crochet matching this grid I provided with no explanation.
She presents at the beginning of the book that she expects a reader to know how to chain, single crochet, half-double crochet, and double crochet, but she'll explain the intermediate stitches needed. She introduces a handful of stitches (not very well, for someone who doesn't know them; I'm unfamiliar with some and was entirely lost - and the ones I am familiar with I found poorly done and even missing important steps), and also calls several of them by her own personal names. Which is . . . fine, but please at least say 'commonly called' names? (Especially when she had instructed a reader unfamiliar with anything she expects to look for a plethora of sites online that will explain. Not if you're looking for, say, 'teddy-bear stitch' . . . instead of lemon peel stitch.)
The instructions for many of the projects are likewise patchy - the projects themselves mostly houseware type things with little adjustment for magical focus, mostly as an aesthetic. Using a band of another stitch for different elements, tapestry patterns of a sigil, eye, or rune. . . A poppet that is two spheres sewn together. Two wine bottle bags for some reason. Six small pouches. (Not counting the tarot deck pouch, which looks messy and unfinished to me where the author describes it as elegant; to each their own.) (Also not counting the Viking-inspired/themed book bag, which she says she "gave a rustic, handcrafted look on purpose" - it is handcrafted? and using 'rustic' for 'sloppy' or 'poorly made' is a bit . . . especially in imitation of a people known for phenomenal textiles, in this case).
In general another editing pass was badly needed. There are places with foolish mistakes, repeated sentences. . . In one area the author correctly lists the elemental associations with the cardinal directions . . . and then in absolutely zero of the charts, descriptions, or photos is the piece actually aligned properly with the items on it or right way up. For the same piece, the author repeatedly says 'you'll see I've used white for air' and similar - the piece has yellow for air, in every photo and chart.
She bounces unpredictably from catering to a beginning crocheter audience, even explaining what crocheting is (using finished yarn and a hook to make fabric), to things like tapestry crochet matching this grid I provided with no explanation.
She presents at the beginning of the book that she expects a reader to know how to chain, single crochet, half-double crochet, and double crochet, but she'll explain the intermediate stitches needed. She introduces a handful of stitches (not very well, for someone who doesn't know them; I'm unfamiliar with some and was entirely lost - and the ones I am familiar with I found poorly done and even missing important steps), and also calls several of them by her own personal names. Which is . . . fine, but please at least say 'commonly called' names? (Especially when she had instructed a reader unfamiliar with anything she expects to look for a plethora of sites online that will explain. Not if you're looking for, say, 'teddy-bear stitch' . . . instead of lemon peel stitch.)
The instructions for many of the projects are likewise patchy - the projects themselves mostly houseware type things with little adjustment for magical focus, mostly as an aesthetic. Using a band of another stitch for different elements, tapestry patterns of a sigil, eye, or rune. . . A poppet that is two spheres sewn together. Two wine bottle bags for some reason. Six small pouches. (Not counting the tarot deck pouch, which looks messy and unfinished to me where the author describes it as elegant; to each their own.) (Also not counting the Viking-inspired/themed book bag, which she says she "gave a rustic, handcrafted look on purpose" - it is handcrafted? and using 'rustic' for 'sloppy' or 'poorly made' is a bit . . . especially in imitation of a people known for phenomenal textiles, in this case).
In general another editing pass was badly needed. There are places with foolish mistakes, repeated sentences. . . In one area the author correctly lists the elemental associations with the cardinal directions . . . and then in absolutely zero of the charts, descriptions, or photos is the piece actually aligned properly with the items on it or right way up. For the same piece, the author repeatedly says 'you'll see I've used white for air' and similar - the piece has yellow for air, in every photo and chart.
Selected Shorts: A Touch of Magic by Symphony Space
4.0
While more or less seeming towards the magical or indeed towards spec-fic at all - some very much so, some very understated - and equally broad in mood, light, heavy, funny or heartachy, the stories collected here are interesting and beautifully told, and the live audience's reactions along with my own was a fun experience (and quiet enough in the mastering never to make it jarring or difficult to listen to the stories themselves).
The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
Note: I did not finish this book - I dropped it 66 pages in.
I got this at the library as a blind-date-with-a-book, labelled "Magic Love Fate"; I was intrigued by the description, but . . . the book rather failed to live up to it, I felt.
It felt very like a contemporary literary piece, which is not a favoured genre for me, and on top of that, all of it that I read felt very recounting of events rather than actually showing things happen, or having any kind of emotional immediacy. (Even when we followed a character through a violently bloody massacre, even when she was cradling her dead sibling's body; that felt particularly fallen short.) It was a minor support for that feeling that, as a stylistic choice, there are no quotation marks or similar anywhere in the book - all dialogue is just part of the narrative text.
There were some things that were hinted at long past when the reader really should have been allowed to know (like who the most important character/loss in our MCs' lives was).
While it didn't squick me, the unexpected incest between one of our MCs and a cousin was . . . startling. And felt like it came out of nowhere and was going likewise.
Mostly the characters just felt like that, and not terribly compelling; some of that likely because of that feeling of the book being a distant report on some things that occurred rather than following them.
I was most interested by Severine's portions of the story; the ghosts and her (Francois') family history, and her relationship with her grandmother . . . and the connection of the comets to the MCs' lives was also interesting, but too distant to hold my interest, I suppose. I wanted to read more, even if it was a bit of a slog, but after more than three weeks when every time I looked at it and thought I should read some more I couldn't bring myself to do so, or had an eurgh reaction. . .
Well. Dropped as a DNF and I'll return it tomorrow.
I got this at the library as a blind-date-with-a-book, labelled "Magic Love Fate"; I was intrigued by the description, but . . . the book rather failed to live up to it, I felt.
It felt very like a contemporary literary piece, which is not a favoured genre for me, and on top of that, all of it that I read felt very recounting of events rather than actually showing things happen, or having any kind of emotional immediacy. (Even when we followed a character through a violently bloody massacre, even when she was cradling her dead sibling's body; that felt particularly fallen short.) It was a minor support for that feeling that, as a stylistic choice, there are no quotation marks or similar anywhere in the book - all dialogue is just part of the narrative text.
There were some things that were hinted at long past when the reader really should have been allowed to know (like who the most important character/loss in our MCs' lives was).
While it didn't squick me, the unexpected incest between one of our MCs and a cousin was . . . startling. And felt like it came out of nowhere and was going likewise.
Mostly the characters just felt like that, and not terribly compelling; some of that likely because of that feeling of the book being a distant report on some things that occurred rather than following them.
I was most interested by Severine's portions of the story; the ghosts and her (Francois') family history, and her relationship with her grandmother . . . and the connection of the comets to the MCs' lives was also interesting, but too distant to hold my interest, I suppose. I wanted to read more, even if it was a bit of a slog, but after more than three weeks when every time I looked at it and thought I should read some more I couldn't bring myself to do so, or had an eurgh reaction. . .
Well. Dropped as a DNF and I'll return it tomorrow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Incest, Grief
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by Matt Eversmann, James Patterson
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
3.75
There were a lot of fascinating stories - peeks at lives - of a wide variety of people across the USA and Canada who work with (and mostly also love) books; there were some sobering thoughts as to current events from the Covid19 pandemic through political attacks and tension, which made this both more sharply relevant and occasionally a little heavy to think about.
A few of the people came across very much as business/sales people - not book people. And they stood out jarringly, almost distant, because so many of the rest were very much not - even the ones who have been selling books and other things for many years.
I'm tempted to go through again just to make a list of all the books these folks mentioned! Some recommended, some mentioned because of stories with specific patrons, some that were old favourites and some just passing through.
A few of the people came across very much as business/sales people - not book people. And they stood out jarringly, almost distant, because so many of the rest were very much not - even the ones who have been selling books and other things for many years.
I'm tempted to go through again just to make a list of all the books these folks mentioned! Some recommended, some mentioned because of stories with specific patrons, some that were old favourites and some just passing through.