📓 Year of the Witch by Temperance Alden

[Jewitch]

I feel you – there’s something about this book that doesn’t quite sit well with me, but I haven’t quite figured out what Parts of it are very well-written and I resonate with, but the majority of it has been kind of off-putting. Hopefully I figure out what it is about it that’s making me feel so “meh” by the time it’s time to post my final review/thoughts on it so I can see if others felt the same way about it as me, or what other people felt about those parts and why because I’m fascinated about that kind of stuff

[Rowan]

That’s exactly it for me too. Parts reeled me in, and others dropped me flat.
I’ll follow still to see how others resonated with it too.
Have a good week.

[Jewitch]

You too! Blessed be

[IrisW]

Same here. I’ve loved parts of it and it’s made me think and question things. Other parts have… I don’t know whether irritated me is right exactly, but it’s close.

[Liisa]

I’m so glad I’m not the only one, I was kind of forcing myself for the last few days there. It’s not because the book has bad content i just think that most of it is stuff I already have in books and what I’ve learned from the site and all of you I do still like the “make the wheel of the year your own” aspect of the book, there was a lot of different cycles covered though and I think that less is more sometimes sp things don’t get stressful or confusing

[Francisco]

@Rowan

I hate stopping halfway through on books but I also hate forcing myself to read something I’m not into

In that case I usually skip the chapter and jump to the next, or keep skipping pages until I find something I connect with. Works most of the time… sometimes

The thing about this book however is that it doesn’t flow very well. The topics sometimes feel disconnected, and as said above it’s doesn’t go very deep into each idea.

[Rowan]

I’ve actually been reading two others sporadically so I think I’ll edit one of those on to the list.

[Elle]

Is it too late to join book club with a week left? I bought this book on Amazon back in January because of a YouTuber review on it, and I put it down (don’t remember why) and haven’t picked it back up since the night I downloaded it.

Maybe I need to take the book club approach of and to make it better going by some of the later comments in the post!

Time to catch up!

[Francisco]

LOL that reminds me of a quote “In wine there’s truth”.

It’s not too late to join but this topic will be open for just 1 week more!

Or… you can just add your book to the next reading which will start next month.

[Elle]

So… I restarted from the beginning and I am just checking in with everyone else on a turn of phrase in the book… I need to check in to make sure I am not the one living under a rock and completely misunderstanding.

This is from chapter 2 subheading seasons (sorry, I have the Kindle version, so I will omit the page number since it will not line up to the book):

“Sleep is often called the little death…”

Has anyone heard this before? I side eyed this thinking no one actually says that because I only know the french expression la petite mort/the little death which refers to something delightful that happens in bed that is definitely not sleep (well, I imagine for most people. I’m not here to shame preferences…)

I think where she took that to is fitting for what she claimed it to be - it painted a beautiful picture. However, I don’t believe the phrase meant what she believes it to mean and if I recall correctly, I kept finding things like this throughout the book that made me question the author. I will keep reading on because it’s an easy read (at least early on).

Edited to add: later in the chapter, she quotes philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer with him using the phrase in a similar way… so I guess I am at least partially under a rock.

[BryWisteria]

Welcome, @Elle!

Francisco is right- you can join the book club at any time! I’ve added you in here and also on the main thread for this Book Club Reading Session. If you don’t finish this week, you are free to continue reading the book into next reading session

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Friendly reminder time!

The current reading period will end in one week

A Reader’s Review post will appear in the forums in one week for everyone to share their thoughts and see what other coven members were reading.

I hope everyone is finding Year of the Witch to be an interesting read! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the book

Happy reading and blessed be

[IrisW]

I had the same thought @Elle, I’ve only ever heard that phrase referring to orgasms

[Rowan]

@elle & @IrisW Well I must definitely be under a rock, I’ve never heard that!

[Jewitch]

Same here!

I have heard sleep called “the little death” before, but I can’t remember where I heard it

[Susurrus]

I honestly can’t remember ever hearing that! It’s interesting that it refers to a couple of different things though. Learn something new every day.

[Jewitch]

Also, while I’m thinking about it, I just wanted to give everyone a head’s up: I apologize in advance if my write-up/review for this book is even longer than usual – I have a LOT to say about this book :3 haha

[IrisW]

I’m really struggling to continue with it, and that doesn’t often happen with books. Think I’m going to skip to the chapter on Beltane today then maybe dip back in throughout the year.

It had promise at the start and I’ve enjoyed parts, but I think I’d rather focus my attention on something I enjoy reading.

[BryWisteria]

Hello Year of the Witch readers!

The current session of the Book Club has come to an end- thanks for joining in!

You are all warmly invited to share your thoughts on this (apparently quite controversial and surprising!) book in the Book Club VI - Readers’ Reviews thread

The few wonderful reviews already posted here have since been re-homed there. You can still find them, along with reviews from those who read other books this session, in the new thread.

Thanks again! Hopefully you all found something interesting in Year of the Witch