Some of the books I got for Christmas, waiting to be delved into!
More delights just longing for attention!
I actually got started in blogging through my now-defunct book blog. And, I used to keep a running list in a notebook of books I read each year and then transcribe it at the end of the year. That was a pain. So, I eventually I realized I could use Goodreads as my booklist AND save myself a lot of work and energy by copying and pasting from that list, rather than typing it all up by hand. Go, me! I usually read between 100-150 books a year. This is mainly because I have had a nursling for nine years now and I read at naptime and bedtime every day. I also naturally read very fast and always have. My reading was down this year though because I got an ipad last January and while I do use the Kindle app on it to read books, I also am much more likely to start poking around on the internet instead. This is something I’d like to change in 2013! I’m noticing my personal pendulum swinging back more to print books rather than digital books and at any one moment I have at least three stacks of books-in-progress, dotted around the house.
At the beginning of December I noticed that my 2012 book list at Goodreads only had 95 books read on it! Yikes! So, I picked up the pace and read five more, bringing my yearly total up to a nice, even 100 by the end of the year 🙂
Here’s my list! If there is an associated review already published here, that is noted in the review column. What were your favorite reads of 2012?
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Dec 27, 2012
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Dec 26, 2012
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Loved this book! Beautifully written in a very honest manner the narrative includes her self-doubts and follies as well as her priestessly moments. My heart is yearning to take a pilgrimage to the desert now, as well as to further deepen and refine my own priestess path.
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Dec 26, 2012
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Mediocre. |
Dec 25, 2012
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Very good! |
Dec 25, 2012
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This is a wonderful book! Lots of good resources and thoughtful commentary. Some critiques in that some of the print is extremely tiny, some material is repeated from the previous book, there is quite a bit of repetitiveness, and not all suggestions are fully developed (I.e. for each goddess there are multiple “workshops” suggested which include things like making various items. However, no further information or instructions for most of these things are included).I don’t usually connect strongly with individual goddess imagery, but the way in which this book was written brought in the significance of many different goddess images and I found myself learning and thinking about specific goddesses in different ways. I also loved all the different chants, ritual outlines, and invocations included. Really great pictures and some beautiful art enhance the book.Great circle resource and good resource for Priestesses!
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Dec 23, 2012
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This book wasn’t what I expected or hoped for. It is all obscure historical and cultural “rituals” like eat three raw eggs mixed with bat dung while standing under the banana tree on the new moon, types of things. Some things are really interesting to read about from a historical perspective, but there is nothing of relevance to creating ceremony/acknowledgement for mothers today. It is definitely a history/anthropology book more than a miscarriage resource.
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Nov 20, 2012
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I’ve read this twice. It was the first book I bought on women’s spirituality/women’s circles and despite much MORE reading and training since originally buying the book, including ordination as a priestess, i still discovered new insights on second reading. Contains great quotes from various other authors also and good bibliography. My only critique is that the section on example rituals could use a lot more detail.
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Nov 11, 2012
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Listened to audio book version.
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Nov 08, 2012
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Listened to audio version. Evanovich books are perfect for audio–light and fun enough to keep you entertained on a commute and you don’t have to “waste” serious reading time on them, just already-wasted in the car time! These books are like “dessert” for me after all the nonfiction and academic reading I do. So, they’re a fun treat and I love Lorelai King’s reading of them!
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Nov 08, 2012
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Listened to audio book version.
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Nov 08, 2012
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Read for Ecofeminism class. |
Nov 08, 2012
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Read for Ecofeminism class.
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Nov 07, 2012
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Read for book club.
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Nov 07, 2012
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Read this aloud to my boys, ages 9 and 6. The six year old’s attention wandered during it, as did my own, and it took a long time to finish–the book has lots of, IMO, unnecessary description and repetitiveness. It was an interesting story overall though with a variety of twists and lots of action. The nine year old voted five stars very enthusiastically though saying he “loved it!”, so I told him that’s what I’d put in!
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Nov 07, 2012
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Loved it! Great resource. Includes words to a variety of chants as well as outlines for a number of rituals for a variety of purposes. Differentiates between Women’s Spirituality and Wicca in a way that some pagan books seem to miss/ignore, though assumes more overlap/congruence between the two than I, personally, have experienced or perceived.
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Oct 14, 2012
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Excellent resource! Empowering, insightful, and creative.
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Sep 20, 2012
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Short and basic.
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Sep 16, 2012
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Sep 14, 2012
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Sep 09, 2012
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Sep 03, 2012
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Aug 29, 2012
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Book Review: Pushing for Midwives |
Aug 27, 2012
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Very good resource! |
Aug 27, 2012
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Basic, but interesting and well-written.
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Aug 20, 2012
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Read for a class. |
Aug 18, 2012
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There were some good things about this book about the meaning, value, purpose, and role of ritual in family life. I lost interest about halfway through and ended up skimming the second half. While it does contain some planning lists/worksheets for considering your own family rituals, the overall emphasis is on short vignettes of how other families have coped with challenges or occasions in their own lives. Also, the focus is on very conventional, mainstream “ritual” occasions–birthdays, anniversaries, holidays–rather than on life cycle rites of passage and other more spiritual transitions in one’s life.
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Aug 18, 2012
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Totally forgettable.
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Aug 16, 2012
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Great that it comes with a CD! Tedious towards the end and I found myself losing interest/skimming. Not as readily practical as some other shamanic books.
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Aug 14, 2012
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Read for book club. Extremely interesting book covering a subject I had very little to no prior knowledge of–written in a conversational style that is paced like a novel.
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Aug 11, 2012
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Loved this book! Accidentally found it after accidentally finding Shekhinah’s cool Womanrunes system. Enjoying reading older books on Goddess spirituality lately. Lots of great stuff to be gleaned from less well-known works.
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Jul 31, 2012
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Excellent resource for officiants (couples too). Jumps right into the basics of wedding ceremonies (no long intro or background, immediately to the meat of the book). Clearly and concisely written. Contains “spiritual” (actually, Abrahamic religion oriented) and “non-spiritual” (humanist) examples for each segment of a wedding ceremony (I.e. opening words, declaration of intent, vows, rings, closing blessing…).
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Jul 30, 2012
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Good resource with many ideas for couples and officiants. Skimmed second half which has examples of specific traditions/ceremonies.
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Jul 30, 2012
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Short collection of primarily quotes/readings for use during weddings. Only one real example of vows/ceremony. Useful for browsing for love/marriage/anniversary quotes, not very useful for actually planning a wedding ceremony.
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Jul 28, 2012
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Jul 27, 2012
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Read for book club and have mixed feelings–could take it or leave for roughly first 200 pages and then got more enraptured and couldn’t put it down by the end. A bit erratic (and eccentric–is supposed to be the author’s past-life experiences) and sometimes extraordinarily romance-novel-esque what with all the heaving and bodice-ripping
***Spoiler warning***For those who, like me, prefer to avoid horrible scenes of brutal rape and torture, I suggest skipping pages 466-490, at minimum.
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Jul 10, 2012
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Listened to audio version. Hated the narrator of this one (different than the first six and the following books–obviously, I’m not the only hater). She also pronounces Eddie’s last name as “DeCooch,” which I found distracting.
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Jul 07, 2012
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Very interesting look at the incompatibilities between “New Age” philosophies and thoughts and feminist spirituality and Goddess perspectives.
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Jul 07, 2012
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Subtitled, “reflections on a journey to the Goddess,” I was anticipating a more personal, chronological narrative. Instead, this is mainly a collection of essays/papers/presentations about various aspects of Goddess spirituality. Many of them are interesting, some are from other sources. I discovered a lot that was worthwhile in this book, but it wasn’t what I was anticipating reading and so I ended up feeling disappointed also.
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Jun 29, 2012
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Jun 17, 2012
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About half of the material seemed recycled from previous books?
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Jun 17, 2012
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Jun 15, 2012
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Review: Birth on the Labyrinth Path
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Jun 12, 2012
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Jun 11, 2012
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Fun to listen to audio book versions on my commute!
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Jun 07, 2012
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Very good book. I wish I had read it when my miscarriages were in process rather than now, in retrospect. This is a collection of personal stories, essays, poems, and reflections about miscarriage and stillbirth (mostly miscarriage). Most of the stories are written by women and there are a handful written by fathers. The stories of other women reaching out across the page and across the years is a beautiful gift to all the women to follow who find themselves joining the same, unwanted “club.” I identified with the closing journal entry reflecting on, “all the women who comforted me with stories…a sorority of sorrow, these women, and now myself among them, moving past the pain to find a jagged peace in comforting another suffering sister.” (Edgren, p. 184)
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Jun 04, 2012
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Jun 03, 2012
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Jun 03, 2012
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Read for book club. Kind of hated. Should have done two stars.
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Jun 02, 2012
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Clever short story. Amusing and scary look at social media of the future–takes on a life of its own!
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May 25, 2012
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Didn’t realize it was a short story and was very caught off guard when it suddenly ended. Good character development in such a small size. Interesting story that kept me turning pages!
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May 25, 2012
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Really enjoyed this fast-paced YA dystopian novel. The main character is sometimes frustrating in his inaction/puzzlement, but overall it was a great read. Very quick with pacing–sometimes hard to keep up with everything that is going on. Keeps you on the edge of your seat and turning pages. Two great female characters and an interesting secondary character I didn’t expect to see continue as part of the action.
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May 21, 2012
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Enjoyed listening to the unabridged audio edition in the car with my boys.
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May 19, 2012
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Delightful resource for the empowered woman! I read this one twice this year.
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May 19, 2012
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May 16, 2012
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Read for book club
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May 09, 2012
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May 06, 2012
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Interesting, fast-paced, and with some twists. Unresolved ending setting you up for book two.
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Apr 29, 2012
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Apr 29, 2012
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Apr 27, 2012
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Apr 27, 2012
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I found this book very engrossing, suspenseful, and well-written. It is not a feel-good tale though. Pretty gruesome, violent, and ultimately hopeless/depressing. Don’t wait for a happy ending! It reminded me of Hunger Games in overall tone and structure, but was more depressing.I agree with other reviewers who have noted that you don’t find out any more about what is happening politically than you read in the Amazon description (which gives you actually more info than the book itself about the domestic situation).As a Missouri native, I enjoyed the element that Missouri is the line between the two halves of the nation and it is familiar Missouri topography that must be navigated on the characters’ flight from the oppressive half of the divided US. The implication is that it split along political lines, with the conservatives holding one half and the secular/liberal side holding the other half. Since we never actually spend any time in the secular half, we never know if it is really doing as good as they hope it is, but the conservative half as it evolved in this tale is certainly not a state that I would ever want to live in!
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Apr 25, 2012
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Did not like at all. Sounded cool. Was not.
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Apr 18, 2012
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I don’t really consider myself to be pagan, but I have been looking for ideas for family-friendly rituals and seasonal celebrations. This book was a good resource with a variety of ideas, readings, and rituals as well as some instructions for craft projects.
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Apr 15, 2012
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Listened to unabridged audio edition during my commute and loved it. Kept thinking about the story in between drives. I was a huge fan of Alanna as a kid (my own daughter is named Alaina, actually!) and Aly is also an enjoyable character. As I listened, I kept being curious about the spelling of names, thinking that, based on hearing them pronounced, they’d certainly be difficult to decode while reading–from other reviews, I think I was right! Semi-predictable, but with some twists and intrigue and interesting characters galore!Some familiar Tortallan characters make small appearances, but don’t expect to spend too much time with the Lioness or anyone else from Alanna’s books.**I think the item description is supposed to say “impressive heritage,” right?! George and Alanna might have been hard on Aly, but they weren’t “oppressive”!
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Apr 09, 2012
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Great resource!
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Apr 08, 2012
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Interesting personal memoir of the author’s spiritual journey. Good insights into a model of Christianity that doesn’t work (for her) and to a solitary Wiccan path that does. Writing style is a little erratic/uneven and some of the anecdotes were a little “out there.” The author is clearly very committed to her spiritual development and watching her progress was interesting and engaging.
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Mar 31, 2012
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Read for book club.
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Mar 30, 2012
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I really enjoyed this book overall. The first half was stronger than the second, but it picked up again by the end. Fire of the Goddess explores 9 goddess archetypes and includes visualization/meditation exercises for each, followed by an illustrative story, and then a combination of exercises/assignments/ritual. One of the best things about this book was that the ideas for activities were very creative and interesting and not just a rehash of other ideas. I enjoyed the visualizations, but did not find myself connecting with the goddess stories meant to illustrate the archetypes. The sections about the Dark Mother and the Priestess were especially good. High quality, original, useful, and informative, I think anyone interested in goddess spirituality would enjoy Fire of the Goddess and take away some practical ideas.
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Mar 30, 2012
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Read for a class.
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Mar 30, 2012
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A favorite this year!
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Mar 24, 2012
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Lovely collection of readings, poems, and prayers with a ecological emphasis. Some really spoke to my heart, others did not (mostly those that use traditional Judeo-Christian language), but it is such a large collection that there is something for everyone. I appreciate how many of the readings brought a sense of the sacred, a touch of the holy, to everyday, natural events and concepts. i.e. “thanks to the spirit of evolution…” Personally, I like the idea of “every day sacred” and I felt like this book put that feeling into words.I read this book over the course of a year, little-by-little, as I sat at my home altar each afternoon. A blog post I wrote inspired by one of the readings is here: https://talkbirth.me/2012/03/23/300-th…
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Mar 24, 2012
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Mar 21, 2012
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YA dystopian fiction.
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Mar 15, 2012
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Nice collection of different readings, poems, prayers. Lots of voices are represented and some are more appealing than others–most will find something that speaks to them in this collection. Quality is somewhat erratic.
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Mar 14, 2012
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Fiction, mystery.
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Mar 13, 2012
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Read for a class. |
Mar 10, 2012
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Mar 04, 2012
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Mar 04, 2012
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Read the first one for book club in January.
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Mar 02, 2012
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I read this book piece by piece over the course of the year during my morning meditation time. Some very beautiful and meaningful poetry and prose. Highly recommend!
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Feb 24, 2012
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Feb 24, 2012
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Unimpressive.
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Feb 19, 2012
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Read this for book club and thoroughly enjoyed it. Little slow to get started, but I’m so glad I stuck with it. It was gripping! There was a very, very disturbing scene and I agree with other reviewers that I’m not sure why fantasy books always have the heroine suffer so grievously 😦
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Feb 13, 2012
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Needed something lightweight and fun to read and greatly enjoyed this collection. A quick read that had me laughing hard enough that I experienced the first world problem of needing to wipe laughter-tears from my eyes on my pajama shirt.
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Feb 10, 2012
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I read this aloud to my 8 year old. His verdict: amazing, awesome, and all the stars. I enjoyed it also and we both laughed out loud on multiple occasions. Very funny and unusual tale about a human girl raised by monsters who is called upon to help the survival of both human and monsterkind. Ending was slightly weak, mostly because it was prepping for book two, rather than a story resolution.
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Jan 31, 2012
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An intense read that is not for the faint of heart. Important topic, but very difficult to read about. The violence against women was intense and profound. Deeply disturbing, but important to recognize, particularly the ongoing legacy in contemporary culture. Read for a class.
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Jan 30, 2012
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Jan 30, 2012
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I spent a whole year gradually reading through this book. I highly recommend it to any woman who has felt like there was something “missing” in traditional approach to meditation and to a Zen living approach. Maurine clearly explains how traditional approaches are some antethical to woman’s natural ways of relating to the world and that traditions that encourage “transcending” the body, actually may mask hostility to the female body. This is a very earthy, grounded, practical, insightful book with a lot of great content.
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Jan 18, 2012
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Much of the content was familiar and there was some repetition, but it lit my fire to get back to decluttering–closets, shelves, wardrobe, brain, and life commitments/schedule. I needed the reminder to choose the best and ditch the rest!I like the term “minimalist”–less cumbersome than “simple living advocate” and less confusing/potential bizarre than, “simple liver.” I immediately decluttered my stash of scarves, winter hats, and gloves. I like her idea to get rid of one thing every day. Could be a great 2012 challenge project! Friendly, clear writing style.
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Jan 17, 2012
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Jan 15, 2012
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Jan 15, 2012
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Still can’t remember what this one was–Goodreads deleted it from their library and since I was using Goodreads as my way to remember, of course, now I’ve forgotten!
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Jan 14, 2012
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Christian book about disconnecting from social media.
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Jan 14, 2012
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Forgettable fiction.
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Jan 13, 2012
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Jan 13, 2012
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Jan 13, 2012
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Jan 13, 2012
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Jan 13, 2012
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