2015 Witches and Witchcraft Reading Challenge!

 

In December I graduated with an MA in Creative Writing after spending a year working on a historical fiction/magical realism novel exploring witchcraft in Tudor England, so naturally I just had to sign up for this reading challenge when I came across it!

Much like the 2015 Fairytale Challenge, this challenge runs all year from January 1st to December 31st 2015, and the goal is simply to read books that feature witches and witchcraft! You can sign up all the way up until December 15th 2015, so if you're in the mood to read some witchy books then sign up - just click the image above to go to the sign up page!

The Levels!

Initiate: 1-5 Books

Maiden: 6-10 Books

Mother: 11-15 Books

Crone: 16-20 Books

My Tentative 2015 Witchy TBR!

The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston

The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston

Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Half Bad by Sally Green

Half Wild by Sally Green

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Witch of Edmonton by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford

Witches: A Tale of Scandal, Sorcery and Seduction by Tracy Borman

The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker

Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper

Burn Mark by Laura Powell

The Thickety: A Path Begins by J. A. White

My Witchy Recommendations!

Witch Child by Celia Rees

Sorceress by Celia Rees

Corrag by Susan Fletcher

Malkin Child by Livi Michael

Witch Hill by Marcus Sedgwick

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Witch by Damian Walford Davies

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Happy reading, and good luck!

Waiting On Wednesday | The Penguin Book of Witches

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted over at Breaking the Spine as a way for us readers to share the upcoming releases we're most looking forward to!

My pick this week is: The Penguin Book of Witches ed. by Katherine Howe

Expected Publication Date: 30th September, 2014

Publisher: Penguin Classics

From a manual for witch hunters written by King James himself in 1597, to court documents from the Salem witch trials of 1692, to newspaper coverage of a woman stoned to death on the streets of Philadelphia while the Continental Congress met, The Penguin Book of Witches is a treasury of historical accounts of accused witches that sheds light on the reality behind the legends. Bringing to life stories like that of Eunice Cole, tried for attacking a teenage girl with a rock and buried with a stake through her heart; Jane Jacobs, a Bostonian so often accused of witchcraft that she took her tormentors to court on charges of slander; and Increase Mather, an exorcism-performing minister famed for his knowledge of witches, this volume provides a unique tour through the darkest history of English and North American witchcraft, never failing to horrify, intrigue, and delight.

Why I'm Waiting: I'm a big history nerd, and this year I've been working on a novel featuring witches and witchcraft, so this book is calling to me! I own so many novels about witches, but I'd love to get my hands on a book full of actual historical accounts of witchcraft. I think this book will be really interesting!

What are you waiting on?

What's Up Wednesday! | 20/08/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

I finished rereading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time, and then last night I decided to revisit my childhood by reading Even More Terrible Tudors by Terry Deary. No regrets.

I'm not sure what I'm going to read next, but I'm hoping it'll be The Thickety: A Path Begins by J.A. White if my copy has arrived!

What I'm Writing

I'm sure you all know this by now: I'm working on my portfolio. Over the past few days I finally managed to get one of the big, climactic scenes of the novel written, and though I'm sure it needs a lot of editing I'm strangely proud of it - hopefully that doesn't jinx how other people receive it!

What Inspires Me Right Now

Today is the 402nd Anniversary of the Pendle Witch Trials, one of the most famous witch trials in Britain, and this year the Castle opened up the dungeon they were kept in and allowed people to go down in groups and be told the story. This was great news for me as one of the main characters in my WIP is accused of witchcraft and imprisoned in the same castle so it was great research, but being the sap that I am I actually found being in that dungeon quite emotional. I didn't cry, but there's something so painfully sad about the injustice of the witch hunts in the late 16th/early 17th centuries.

I wish I could say witch hunts don't happen now, but they're still happening in the Niger Delta where children are bathed in acid, buried alive and tortured to extract confessions. Stepping Stones Nigeria is a charity who are trying to put an end to this, but sadly not many people know of them - please spread the word of the great work they do!

What Else I've Been Up To

The Castle was really busy on Saturday when I went - which is great, it's awesome to see so many people enjoying this fascinating building - and there were so many different events on, including a birds of prey demonstration. The birds were adorable, so naturally I got some pictures on my phone while I was there, including this one of Rio the barn owl:

While I was in town I was also ecstatic to come across a small pile of Horrible Histories books in the editions I had when I was younger. The majority of my childhood books and all of my childhood toys aren't with me any more, for various reasons, and as someone who places a lot of sentimental value on things it's always made me very sad. The books were 60p each, so naturally I got seven of them. No regrets!

I'm also currently holding a giveaway over on my tumblr, so if you're tumblrer yourself why not check it out and enter? You could get a free book out of it!

What's new with you?

Review | Witch Hill by Marcus Sedgwick

Witch Hill

by Marcus Sedgwick

My Rating: 

At first, Jamie isn't too worried about the bad dreams he's been having since coming to his aunt's house. Most people awoken in the middle of the night to find their house burning down would probably have nightmares, too. But instead of fire, he keeps dreaming of a "horrible, scary old woman," relentlessly coming after him for some awful, inexplicable purpose. Even though he's come to Aunt Jane's to recover from the fire's aftermath, he doesn't want to bother her or his cousin Alison with his silly fears. He can see that they are very busy with their village's community service project--cleaning off an age-old carving on the side of hill that overlooks the town. But when the carving turns out to be a peculiar primordial figure instead of the "crown" that the people of Crownshill expected to see, and Jamie uncovers evidence of an ancient witchcraft trial in local history papers, he is swept into a centuries-old mystery to which he unwittingly has the key. Who is the old crone chasing him, and what does she want? Jamie will have to endure an experience worse than fire to find out.

Marcus Sedgwick is one of those authors I'd never heard of before until I came across his Swordhand Omnibus over on Goodreads. After that, I started seeing his books everywhere. His work sounded pretty interesting, so I found myself a second hand copy of Witch Hill on Abebooks for around £2, and when I eventually got around to reading it I read it in about an hour. My edition is only 161 pages long, so it's definitely more of a novella than a novel.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Despite my rating, which is relatively low, I actually have a lot of good things to say about this novella, so I'm going to start with those!

I would definitely class Witch Hill as a middle grade novella, but I'd be a big fat liar if I said it didn't give me the creeps. A lot of this story focuses on the nightmares Jamie has been having since going to stay with his aunt and his cousin, and the descriptions in his nightmares gave me the heebie jeebies. In fact reading those dream sequences was quite nostalgic, it reminded me of the way I felt as a child when I read ghost stories before bed that I probably shouldn't have been reading. I find myself reading middle grade so rarely these days that it was a real joy to read it again!

As I've grown older and learned more regarding the history of witchcraft, I find myself sympathising with the word 'witch' rather than fearing it. This book, in the hour I read it, reminded me why witches can still terrify children; in fact it reminded me of those frightening, self-inflicted afternoons of my childhood when I would watch Roald Dahl's The Witches.

Having said that, one of the elements of this story I appreciated the most was its historical accuracy, and I think that's especially important in a middle grade story; writers of historical fiction should try just as hard to be accurate for their younger readers as they would their adult readers. One of the characters is a historian from whom Jamie learns a lot about the witch trials in the 17th century; she shares information with him such as crushing the myth that accused witches in England were burned at the stake.

Alongside the terrifying woman on the hill, we also have the story of a young girl from the 17th century who was accused of witchcraft by her neighbours, and murdered because of it. Honestly it was nice to see Sedgwick use the old witch for the fright factor, but also use the story to remind his readers, most of whom we can presume are children, that the witch trials which occurred in our past were incredibly unjust and resulted in the horrific deaths of many innocent people.

Now, it's time we moved on to some of the stuff I didn't like that much.

I have to admit I was expecting a different kind of story when I started reading Witch Hill. The blurb on my copy is a little different to the one at the top of this review, and when I first read it I assumed the story was going to be about a modern day boy befriending the ghost of a 17th century girl who was wrongly accused of witchcraft, and the evil, old crone was going to fit into the story somehow. Honestly, I sort of wish it had been that story and I can't help thinking that, my edition at least, was a little misleading. The story is much more focused on Jamie and his fears, which isn't a bad thing, but I did sometimes find him a little boring as a narrator.

In fact the other major problem I had with this novella is that Jamie's narrative voice seemed to be all over the place. I kept having to remind myself that he was 12 years old, because at times he seemed a lot younger and then at other times he said something that made him sound more like a teenager. I would have liked to have gotten more of a sense as to who he was. Despite the story being told from his POV I don't think I could tell anyone anything particularly interesting about him; as far as I can remember he doesn't seem to have any hobbies or interests. He just felt a bit bland.

Though there were definitely elements of the story I appreciated and enjoyed, I thought the story as a whole was underwhelming and pretty obvious. However, I am in my 20s so I'm not exactly this novella's target audience, which is why I have such mixed feelings about it. While I might not recommend this book to one of my friends, I definitely recommend it to younger readers; especially younger readers who like their stories on the spooky side, or readers who have an interest in history but don't want to dive straight into historical fiction.

This story might not have blown me away, but parts of it still creeped me out so I'd like to check out more Sedgwick in future - I'm interested in seeing what some of his YA fiction is like.

J.

10 Books That Changed Me | Witch Child by Celia Rees

Continuing with the history theme from last month, this month I'm going to talk to you about Celia Rees's Witch Child.

I first read Witch Child when I was around 12/13 years old, and I can still remember picking it out from amongst the other books on the shelves when I saw it. There's something so haunting and enticing about the photograph on the cover that immediately drew me in.

I don't think I purchased it the first time I saw it, but each time I went into the book shop I kept making eye contact with this book, and I kept picking it up and reading the blurb and feeling the weight of it in my hands.

It wasn't just the physical book that interested me, but the story inside. As I've mentioned many times before I've always loved history, but I never really read that much historical fiction, and I think that's because, when I was younger at least, there weren't many pieces of historical fiction out there for younger readers. I'm sure there were, I just couldn't find them; when I was younger the Teen section wasn't full of all the fun, dark YA reads we have now, it was full of pink books about pretty teenagers who had spots and wanted boyfriends.

I'm not at all trying to shame people who enjoy reading those kinds of books - the contemporary romance books of today - they just weren't what I was interested in. I never grew out of my love for history and fantasy and horror. I didn't want to grow up and read about people in the real world; the real world was the place I was trying to escape from.

Eventually my parents bought me a copy of Witch Child and I adored it. In fact I'm pretty sure I reread it several times because one time just wasn't enough. Like the book I mentioned last month, this book made history approachable for me and other people my age, not by making history gruesome but by helping me to see history through the eyes of another teenage girl. Historical fiction became something I could access, too, it wasn't just for adults.

This is the book that first got me into historical fiction; in fact I think its influence on me is obvious even now, given that I'm currently working on a historical fiction novel that deals with the subject of witchcraft!

I'm 22 now, and I still recommend this book to other people. If I ever have a daughter of my own I'm going to encourage her to read it, too.

Which book do you remember most from your early teens?

Meet My Main Character!

On Sunday I came across a fantastic new blog hop/chain of posts for historical fiction writers to introduce the main character from their WIP or soon to be published novel. It looked like so much fun that I simply had to join in, so the lovely Beth von Staats tagged me in her post. Make sure you check it out, it's a really interesting read!

I must also give honourable mentions to Debra Brown, who started this blog hop, and to Farida Mestek, whose post inspired me to join in!

What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

My novel has two protagonists, but the protagonist we see the most of is Jane Ask, who is 21 years old at the beginning of the novel (apart from the brief prologue, in which she is 6). She is entirely fictional, and very dear to my heart.

To the right is a picture of how I imagine Jane, made with this dollmaker because, sadly, I can't even draw stickmen well.

When and where is the story set?

The novel is set in Lancaster, Lancashire, and at the beginning of the novel the year is 1554. Mary I sits on the English throne.

What should we know about him/her?

After her mother's sudden death when she is 6, Jane grows up with just her father and two older brothers. Her oldest brother, Matthew, and her father eventually die, and her other brother, David, moves to London to work as a carpenter there. Jane elects to remain in Lancaster, near the countryside that she loves, and away from the wilderness that is London.

At the beginning of the novel London, and indeed all of England, is a dangerous place for Jane to be, for she is a Protestant, and therefore a heretic in the eyes of the queen. She must keep her beliefs incredibly secret, as Lancashire, like most of the north of England, is devoutly Catholic. 

She lives a quiet life as a healer, with only a select few friends, and enjoys her own company. She's also rather proud, despite being on the poorer end of the social scale, though she would never admit it.

What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

During the autumn of 1554 Jane is accused of witchcraft. She is arrested, questioned and tortured via thumbscrew, leaving her hands forever maimed. Determined not to be hanged for something she hasn't done, Jane still refuses to admit to the charges. She is eventually ducked and found innocent when she sinks, but spends the rest of her days struggling with PTSD; she suffers from nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks.


Jane eventually marries a Scottish tutor, a Protestant like herself who has fled London after seeing some of his friends arrested and executed, and has four children, three of whom survive infancy. Her oldest child and only daughter, Thora, gives her something of a shock when one day she summons fire in her palm.

The realisation that her beloved daughter is the very thing Jane was once accused of being brings back memories she'd rather forget. She is forced to question everything she knows about the world and the true circumstances of her mother's death, all while trying to protect Thora from herself as her powers begin to grow stronger.

What is the personal goal of the character?

Ultimately Jane wants nothing more than to keep her children safe, and she will do anything to make sure that they are. Due to her PTSD she suffers from mild paranoia, and is fiercely protective of all three of them.

Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

Yes! My novel is titled Bloodroot and Bracken, and a few weeks ago I took part in WeWriWa and posted the first eight sentences of the novel. Other than that, however, I keep it mostly to myself. For now!

When can we expect the book to be published?

Ha - I need to finish writing it first! Ideally I'd like to have it ready to send off to agents either at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

I hope you enjoyed finding out a little more about Jane, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Once again, thank you to Beth von Staats for tagging me. I'm going to pass the torch to Carrie-Anne Brownian, an author of 20th century historical fiction whose characters I'd love to learn more about, and also to Amy Brashear, who, I believe, is working on a novel which takes place in the 1960s. Exciting!

If anyone else would like to join in, let me know and I'd be more than happy to tag you!

J.

Why Witches?

Most of us don't believe in magic, and yet it constantly bleeds into our stories, and has done for as long as we've been telling them. So what is it about witchcraft that still fascinates us? Why are we still reading - and writing - about it?

Even now there's still a stream of new releases either inspired by witchcraft or featuring witches. Books like the Harry Potter series and Laura Powell's Burn Mark have brought witches into modern day Britain, as has the newly released Half Bad by Sally Green, which came out just this month.

Or if the Salem Witch Trials are of more interest to you, July will see the release of Katherine Howe's Conversion, and last year saw the premiere of American Horror Story: Coven.

Or if you'd rather not read something set in the modern day, this month will also see the release of Paula Brackston's latest novel, The Midnight Witch.

As someone from Britain, I whole heartedly believe that witchcraft is a big part of British culture. That may sound odd. I'm not trying to say that the population of Britain is sitting around performing the odd magic spell while their neighbours aren't looking, merely that it's an undeniably huge part of our history, and so it should be. During the witch hunting frenzy of the 16th and 17th centuries, 40,000 people were executed for witchcraft in Britain alone. If we look at how many people populated Britain's largest cities in the early 17th century, then the number of people executed is the entire population of Newcastle four times over.

In hindsight we know now that the witch trials in Britain came about because of superstition - particularly after England broke away from Rome and adopted Protestantism over Catholicism - and fear. Fear quickly turned into hysteria, and hysteria turned into slaughter. It's worth mentioning that throughout the rest of Europe there was a fairly even split between men and women who were executed for witchcraft, whereas in Britain over 90% of the victims were women.

These were independent women - in the sense that they often lived and worked alone, making it easier for their neighbours to turn against them - many of whom were practicing an early form of science. In a society ruled by men, religion, or a combination of the two, these women were a threat to the social norms, and to the immortal souls of the other townspeople.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Historical Fiction is often used as a way to say something about the present; it appears as though it's talking about a time long ago, and then suddenly you find yourself discovering echoes of the story, and of whatever time period you were reading, in the world around you. It's clever that way.

Though, as I said, men were accused of witchcraft, it is a predominantly female thing, and in a lot of fiction I think we can view it as a metaphor. In a way magic is representative of the repressed potential so many women have inside them, and how they were unable to convey this potential in an era of history ruled over by a superstitious and sexist patriarchy. Essentially, they were women before their time.

After all, not only were women accused of carrying out the devil's bidding, but also of sleeping with him. So not only had these women dared to have sex - for pleasure - outside of marriage, they'd done it with the worst imaginable creature.

Perhaps one of the most famous examples of a woman ahead of her time is Anne Boleyn, the second, ill-fated wife of Henry VIII. Whether you believe she was a whore, a martyr, or you don't care all that much, there's no denying that she was fiercely intelligent and ambitious, and ultimately her ambition cost her her life.

The crimes for which she was executed? Adultery and witchcraft.

We might not like to think it, but there are echoes of this kind of behaviour even now. How often are women shamed for wanting a career over wanting children? How often are women made to feel ashamed of being aware of their own sexuality, by men and even by other women, and of happening to enjoy safe sex with as many partners as they choose? More often, I imagine, than we would like to admit.

Obviously feminism has come a long way since the 16th century, but it still has a way to go. That, I believe, is one of the reasons why we still read and write stories about witchcraft today. It's about giving women their power back, and giving them voices that matter.

Magic is power, and so often in stories we like to see power reside in the hands of those who most deserve to wield it.

Thanks for reading! J.

March Reads!

It's the beginning of a brand, spanking new month and time for me to talk about the books I'd like to try and tick off my TBR list in March!

I have a lot of unread books - I mean a lot - and only a teeny weeny portion of them are at university with me. I do have, however, quite an array of books with me that focus on magic or history or both! This is because of my MA, and I'd really like to read these books in particular soon so I can talk about them in an upcoming presentation about my own work.

Three of these books were mentioned in my February Reads but I didn't get around to them, though I did make a start on one of them!

Dark Triumph

by Robin LaFevers

When Sybella arrived at the doorstep of St Mortain half mad with grief and despair the convent were only too happy to offer her refuge - but at a price. The sisters of this convent serve Death, and with Sybella naturally skilled in both the arts of death and seduction, she could become one of their most dangerous weapons.

But her assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to the life that nearly drove her mad. Her father's rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother's love is equally monstrous. But when Sybella discovers an unexpected ally she discovers that a daughter of Death may find something other than vengeance to live for...

Grave Mercy was the last book I read in February and I loved it, so with Dark Triumph on my shelf I just had to jump straight into it and continue with the trilogy! This will definitely be the first book I finish this month.

Scent of Magic

by Maria V. Snyder

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.

War is coming and Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible... again.

I was hoping to get through the second book in Maria V. Snyder's Healer trilogy last month, but unfortunately I didn't get round to it. Hopefully I'll read it this month, and then I can treat myself to the final book in the trilogy and finish the series during my Easter holiday!

A Discovery of Witches

by Deborah Harkness

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

This is the one book from last month I've actually started! I was reading it with a friend of mine (who has already finished it - I need to catch up!) but then I got distracted finishing a book I was half way through, and then I got distracted by the His Fair Assassin trilogy...

I definitely want to read this book this month, though; I've been meaning to start this trilogy for a while and as far as I'm aware it's gotten pretty great reviews from almost everyone who's read it.

The Witch's Daughter

by Paula Brackston

My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins…

In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn’t know she had and making her immortal. She couldn't have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life.

In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life for herself, tending her garden and selling herbs and oils at the local farmers' market. But her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl called Tegan starts hanging around. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth begins teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories--and demons—long thought forgotten.

Here we have the third and final book that I'd also hoped to get through in February but didn't. Oops!

The Witch's Daughter is the ideal book for me to read right now because the novel I'm working on focuses on witchcraft and the relationship between a mother and daughter. I'm really looking forward to this one!

The Stolen One

by Suzanne Crowley

Kat's true identity is a secret, even from her. All she has ever known are Grace and Anna and their small village. Kat wants more—more than hours spent embroidering finery for wealthy ladies and more than Christian, the gentle young farmer courting her.

But there are wolves outside, Grace warns. Waiting, with their eyes glowing in the dark . . . and Grace has given Kat safety and a home when no one else would.

Then a stranger appears in their cottage, bringing the mystery of Kat's birth with her. In one night, Kat's destiny finds her: She will leave. She will journey to London, and her skill with the needle will attract the notice of the magnificent Queen Elizabeth—and of the wolves of the court. She will discover what Grace would never tell her.

Everything will unravel.

Is anyone else really jealous of the cover model's hair?

Unfortunately I already know the main character's true identity because she's based on a historical figure whose Wikipedia page I was on when I stumbled across this book, but I don't mind! This book is similar to The Witch's Daughter in that it's much more of a mixture of Historical Fiction and witchcraft.

I found my beautiful hardback copy second hand over on Amazon, so if you're interested in reading this book check there or on AbeBooks before you go searching anywhere else - otherwise you might miss out on a bargain!

Burn Mark

by Laura Powell

In a modern world where witches are hunted down and burned at the stake, two lives intersect. Glory is from a family of witches, and is desperate to develop her 'Fae' powers and become a witch herself, though witch-activity carries a threat of being burned at the stake. Lucas is the son of the Chief Prosecutor for the Inquisition with a privileged life very different from the witches he is being trained to prosecute. And then one day, both Glory and Lucas develop the Fae. In one fell stroke, their lives are inextricably bound together.

I read the first few pages of this book last month but I just couldn't get into it and ended up finishing The Rosie Project instead.

I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to enjoy this book or not; the pages I read were okay but they didn't particularly hook me, but I shouldn't judge it until I've given it a fair try! I have no idea if Burn Mark is the first in a trilogy or if the sequel, Witch Fire, concludes a duology. It'd be nice if it was a duology just because there aren't enough of those around, though I am starting to see more of them. I think duologies might be the next trilogies...

That's all six of the books I'd like to read this month! What are you hoping to read in March?

January Reads!

It's the 10th of January already! How did that happen?

I've already written a post about the books I'm most looking forward to reading which are being released in 2014, and now I'm going to share with you the books I'm hoping to read in January! If I manage to read the books I mention here (I tend to just read whatever I feel like at the time) then I might just turn this into a monthly feature.

There are four books I'd really like to complete this month. That might not seem like much to most people but, like I said, if I gave myself a huge list I wouldn't end up reading them anyway because I'd end up reading something else! 

Of the four books I want to read, one of them I have read before and three of them I've already started - let's just hope I can finish them!

Green Rider

by Kristen Britain

American Gods

by Neil Gaiman

I bought Kristen Britain's Green Rider and Neil Gaiman's American Gods quite a long time ago - longer than I'd care to admit - and recently I finally got around to starting them. According to Goodreads I'm already a quarter of the way through Green Rider and so far I'm enjoying it!

I was in a bit of a reading slump before I picked it up, and I think what I really needed was a good old fashioned fantasy novel. Green Rider is the first in a series, and if I enjoy the rest of the book as much as I've enjoyed the first quarter I'll definitely be carrying on with it! Not to mention these books have gorgeous covers.

I've only read just over 100 pages of American Gods but so far I've loved what I've read. A lot of people have claimed this book is Gaiman's masterpiece, and even though the story's still just getting started I already have this feeling that by the time I've finished it it's going to have earned a place on my list of favourites.

Witches: A Tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction

by Tracy Borman

Tracy Borman's Witches: A Tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction is the third book I've already started. And by started I mean I've only read the first 17 pages. Unlike the other books on this list, Witches is a non-fiction history book which deals with the story of a woman and her two daughters who, I believe, were accused of murdering children using witchcraft during the 1600s.

As I've mentioned in previous posts I'm currently working on a historical/paranormal novel centered around the theme of witchcraft, so I'm reading up on the subject as much as I can in my spare time with both fiction and non-fiction. I wasn't even aware of this book until one of my friends bought it for me for my birthday - it's gorgeous in hardback!

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

by J. K. Rowling

The final book on this list I have definitely read before. The Harry Potter series is a favourite of readers all over the world, it's certainly one of mine, but it's been so long since I re-read the series. I'd like to make 2014 the year I re-live the story from Harry's first year through to his final battle with Voldemort.

So this month I want to re-read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first book in the series. I can't wait to go back to Hogwarts! It's been a while...

There we have it: the four books I'd like to read in January. It could be that something else catches my eye and I end up discarding this entire list, but given that I've already started some of them I think I should be able to stick to my list this month!

What are you reading in January?