{"id":13380,"date":"2017-07-24T09:28:02","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T13:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/dandelionlady\/?p=13380"},"modified":"2017-07-24T09:28:02","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T13:28:02","slug":"books-read-month-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/dandelionlady\/2017\/07\/books-read-month-july.html","title":{"rendered":"Books I Read This Month: July"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So what have you been reading, Dear reader? Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve been working on, \u00a0in no particular order, just as I happen to write about them.<\/p>\n

The New Moon\u2019s Arms<\/span> by Nalo Hopkinson This one is a fiction novel written by one of my new favorite authors. I have loved everything I\u2019ve read of hers. It\u2019s set in modern day Caribbean islands and is about this menopausal woman who begins to have magic finding powers. It\u2019s not only so funny (especially if you or anyone you know is going through The Change) it\u2019s written by a black woman about a black woman and her family. So so good. That fact that it\u2019s written by a POC is pretty much icing on the most excellent cake. I read it in a day and it was a breath of fresh air between more scholarly tasks.<\/p>\n

\"A
Jan Davidsz. de Heem [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>Miasma<\/span> by Robert Parker So, I got this one out of interlibrary loan. This means I only get it for two months, which is not enough. I had only made it through three chapters when it was due back! So with my husband\u2019s encouragement I spent a marathon five hours<\/em> one Saturday reading the whole thing and taking copious notes. I\u2019m slowly putting up all the notes over on my Patreon account and trying to really process what everything I read might mean for my own personal purification practice and for larger purification works. This book is really just a beginning, I need to look cross culturally and will be looking for more scholarly works on purification and spiritual pollution.<\/p>\n

Harley Quinn Vol 2: Power Outage<\/span> by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti Okay so I have weaknesses. Some people are weirdly obsessed with football or LuLaRoe Leggings. I have a weakness for superheroes and when I was younger than I am now I was particularly obsessed with Batman: The Animated Series. So if you are not well versed in Batman lore and knowledge, I will tell you there was a writer for that show named Paul Dini who created a character that became amazing. Harley Quinn. People do a lot of things with Harley, and I\u2019m sure she likes some of them more than others. I didn\u2019t love the movie. The Joker is her origin story, not her ending, at least in my little corner of reality. I like this comic because it captures her true Neutral Neutral nature very well, and I have a bit of a thing for the whole Poison Ivy and Harley dynamic and love story. What can I say? She\u2019s a powerful bisexual woman, it\u2019s kinda awesome!<\/p>\n

The Healing Wisdom of Africa<\/span>, by Malidoma Patrice Som\u00e9. I got this one as part of a reading list for an upcoming class on diversity training that I am hoping to take, and because I occasionally have Hermione like tendencies I started reading it before class. I am liking it ever so much. The author is of the Dagara people in Burkina Faso in Africa. I had to go look on a map to find it. It\u2019s north of Ghana in West Africa. He was raised in a western style boarding school, away from his village and family, but eventually goes back to his home. This book is his attempt to share and explain the wisdom of his village and native culture to a western mind, because he is in the rare spot where he understands both cultures. I think he\u2019s pretty amazing, considering what he describes reminds me a lot of what Native Americans had to go through when their children were forcibly taken and \u201ceducated\u201d. \u00a0I haven\u2019t finished this one yet and am looking forward to reading more.<\/p>\n

River of Gods<\/span> by Ian McDonald this one is a futuristic fiction book set in an India of 30 years from now. I like the combination of religion and computer tech. It has the feel of some of the best of cyberpunk, like Snow Crash had. We\u2019ve hit the edge of cyberpunk already. It\u2019s no longer \u201cfiction\u201d so I\u2019ve thought about what was next and I think this author has too. It\u2019s been slow going, mostly because I\u2019ve been focused on other work and other books. I don\u2019t know if I will finish it or not.<\/p>\n

Last but not least:<\/h3>\n

The Spell of the Sensuous<\/span> by David Abram I\u2019ve read this book a couple of times already, but it came up again on a list of pagan theology books on another pagan Patheos blog: Dowsing for Divinity<\/a>. I posted it on my facebook feed and bam! Suddenly I am in a really cool group of people who are going to be reading Spell of the Sensuous and a bunch of other pagan theology books if all goes well. Best thing of all? I didn\u2019t have to organize it! *Insert happy dance here* We\u2019ve got a Gardnerian, some various druids and druid clergy, a religious studies prof and a couple of PhD students so I think it\u2019s going to generate some great discussion. I will report back as things develop!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all for this month, I hope you\u2019ve been reading some great books too. \u00a0If you find my work useful, consider supporting it over at my Patreon.<\/a> \u00a0Even a small monthly contribution can help me a great deal. Thanks!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So what have you been reading, Dear reader? Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve been working on, \u00a0in no particular order, just as I happen to write about them. The New Moon\u2019s Arms by Nalo Hopkinson This one is a fiction novel written by one of my new favorite authors. I have loved everything I\u2019ve read of hers. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2262,"featured_media":13358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,125],"tags":[274,261,114,11,196,275,276,124],"class_list":["post-13380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-theology-ethics","tag-book-review","tag-books","tag-druidry","tag-pagan","tag-priestwork","tag-purification","tag-review","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nBooks I Read This Month: July<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So what have you been reading, Dear Reader? 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