<–The State of the Reader: 9/21/22         The State of the Reader: 10/19/22–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

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Books Purchased: 3

• Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score (Knockemout) – $3.99 @ Amazon Kindle
• The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks (Witch Walker) – $0.99 @ Amazon Kindle
• The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz – $2.99 @ Amazon Kindle

Total: $7.97

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Books Finished: 1

Title: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Author: Shirley Jackson
Date Added: September 18, 2019
Date Started: September 20, 2022
Date Finished: September 28, 2022

Media: eBook/Kindle

I think I understand why this book has a rating under 4.00 on Goodreads, though I disagree with the reasoning; people didn’t like the ending, but it made perfect sense for these characters.  I’ll even admit I was hoping for something different as it was closing out, but after I finished and thought about it, it was the best ending it could gotten, and it wasn’t what I expected.

I watched a few reviews/analyses of the story on YouTube, which further helped me shape my opinion that the ending was exactly what it should’ve been.  The reviewers helped contextualize it with Shirley Jackson’s own feminist leaning philosophy.  She may not have called herself one, but this and her other stories certainly suggest it.  I also didn’t realize that Jackson was the author of The Lottery, a story I had to read for one my classes in high school.  I added more of her books to my list, though she doesn’t have that many.

Oh, there’s also a movie of this, which I might check out at some point.

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Books Reading: 5

Title: The Girl from the Well
Series: The Girl from the Well
Author: Rin Chupeco
Date Added: February 28, 2022
Date Started: September 22, 2022

Media: eBook/Kindle

My newest library book and there are some hardcore The Ring vibes with this, though I supposed I should say Ringu, the Japanese film the former is based on.  The titular character is more of an avenging angel type though due to what happened to her, and I love me a good vengeance story especially when it concerns pieces of shit that hurt children.  This is also from the POV of the ghost.

If I haven’t mentioned it before The Ring (American version) terrified me so badly I no longer can handle psychological horror even though I’m fascinated by it.  It’s like one of those “I fear to watch but I cannot turn away” situations.  Like SOMA fucked me up, but it’s still one of the best stories I’ve ever experienced, and my dumb ass still wants to write horror.  I also have a fascination with Japanese horror since I’m obsessed with Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs), and they always have some hint of horror in them even though they’re not in the horror genre themselves.

Title: Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens: The Divine Feminine in the African Religious Traditions
Author: Lilith Dorsey
Date Added: May 29, 2020
Date Started: August 1, 2022

Media: Paperback
Progress: 11%

Chapter 1 is more about setting up your own altar for practice, which is good information of course, but I’m more interested in learning about the lore.  There’s not much more left of the chapter so I plan to finish, but I really want to learn about the orishas and loas et al.

Title: Ecofeminism
Series Title: Critique Influence Change
Authors: Maria Mies & Vandana Shiva
Date Added: July 13, 2020
Date Started: May 3, 2022

Media: Paperback
Progress: 13%

This is one of those long haul books haha, though I have a lot of those don’t I?  I don’t know if it’s the most efficient way to research, but I do like dipping my toes into different pots to see how the colors look.  I also did just buy those two Jung volumes, and I want to see what I can garner from them.

Title: The King in Yellow
Author: Robert W. Chambers
Date Added: August 4, 2019
Date Restarted: April 17, 2022

Media: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 89%

Oooooommmmggggg the final stories in this book are such a slog.  I finally finished “The Street of the First Shell” and I’m on the last story “Rue Barrée.”  I think all of these “Street” stories (rue is “street” in French) are all connected, but I’m too bored to see what it is, which is why I’m going to look them up after I finish, which I hopefully will before next update.  Then I can stop complaining lol.

Title: House of Sky and Breath
Series: Crescent City
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Date Added: March 7, 2021
Date Started: February 23, 2022

Media: Physical/Hardback
Progress: 51%

Read one chapter so I can say I did that 👍🏾

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Last week I said I was going to check out the Sharp Objects series on HBO Max.  I did but it was kind of eh.  I think they got the mien right, but it just didn’t grab my attention.  I may go back to it at some point, but I’m just not in the mood right now.  

I actually bought two more books but since they’re physical and I won’t get them for a few days I’ll include them in the next update, so please…hold your excitement lol.

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<–The State of the Reader: 9/21/22         The State of the Reader: 10/19/22–>