Pagan Book Reviews

Okay, so I’m a wee bit late this year. But here it is–the three year anniversary post! Even though I’m on semi-hiatus (meaning I’m not really reviewing anything except what I happen to read along the way, and I’m not currently accepting review copies), the blog is still as active as I can make it. I’ve had this domain name for a year now, and I think I managed to get most of the links to it fixed, though old lupabitch.wordpress.com links should still go here. Here’s last year’s anniversary post, and the year before that. And here are this year’s stats, building on the stats from previous years:

–293 posts (not including this one), of which 290 are reviews or lists of reviews at other sites.
–92,414 views
–The best-ever day for views was last year’s anniversary post on Thursday, 18 December 2008, with 429 views.
–255 legitimate comments, some of which are my replies.
–100 categories, 99 of which are book-related
–PaganBookReviews.com is still the very first result on a Google search for “pagan book reviews”! However, it’s only #10 for “pagan books”.

The first review since my first anniversary post was The Goat Foot God by Diotima; the most recent post was Echoes of Alexandria by H. Jeremiah Lewis. Ironically enough, both of these are (or, until recently, were) published by Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Even with the hellacious amount of reading I’ve had to do for school, which has cut down significantly on my fun reading time, I’ve still managed to get a good bit of reviewing done, and read some neat books. Here are some of the highlights of my year:

—Bear Daughter by Judith Berman – one of the best novels I’ve read, and a must-read for any shamanic practitioner.
—Lightbreaker by Mark Teppo – another good novel (two for two on the fic, now!) by a promising new author who’s going up on the must-reserve-next-book list with Jim Butcher and Patrick Rothfuss.
—Drawing Down the Spirits by Kenaz Filan and Raven Kaldera – finally, an entire book dedicated to possession-based spirit work, particularly friendly (though not exclusively) to neopagans and other non-indigenous folk.
—Christopaganism by Joyce and River Higginbotham – I’ve long maintained that eclectic/syncretic neopaganism can include Christianity as much as elements of any other religion, and this is a great guide for those who want to know how to do just that.
—Darkwood by M.E. Breen – while I started this review blog to primarily review nonfic, I got a lot of good fiction this year. This YA fantasy novel is excellent, and I would recommend it to adults as well who want a well-written story in a fleshed-out world with good characterization.
—Beyond 2012 by James Endredy – amid the huge pile of drek that’s accumulated around the 2012 hype, Endredy’s take is an excellent reality check about the real problems we face–environmental degradation, for example, instead of hostile lizard people and misplaced typhoons.
—Ecotherapy edited by Linda Buzzell and Craig Chalquist – I love this book for so many reasons, personal, spiritual and professional. Even if you aren’t a professional therapist, this is an excellent read for working with the psyche as a part of a greater, interconnected whole (but without fluff and conjecture).
—Make Merry in Step and Song by Bronwen Forbes – one of the reasons I really like this book is that it’s on a niche topic, Morris Dancing in theory and practice. Good research, well-applied.
—Trance-Portation by Diana L. Paxson – a superb guide to trance work and altered states of consciousness which came in handy in some of my journeying work.
—The Druidry Handbook by John Michael Greer – I’ve liked everything JMG has published, and this one stood out to me because it gave me a good understanding of some modern druidic practices, as well as their context. While it’s not my path, I’m keeping it on my reference shelf.
—The Art of Shapeshifting by Ted Andrews – This is a really underappreciated book by the late Ted Andrews; if you ever wanted a thorough guide on shapeshifting as a form of magic and spirituality, this is it.
—The Phillupic Hymns – An excellent variety of stories and poems ranging from the death of Antinous, to what happened to Sobek set up on a blind date.

As for my semi-hiatus, I’m going to see how things look late next summer, as I end my classwork and start into my practicum. My classes at grad school require a LOT of reading, which is why I had to cut down on the review copies. I do want to keep reviewing, though, and I will keep readers and publishers posted as to my status. I really appreciate everyone’s patience and support; please do feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or are just curious as to how I’m doing. Thank you 🙂