We’ve had a lot of time to read lately so we should be able to complete our TBR list for this spring. The Kali Krew has a few books and games they’d like to share with you from our TBR lists – some of them are new releases, some of them that pesky book that we’ll get to this year. We swear we will.
Lilyn’s Picks
The Mirror Empire (The Worldbreaker Saga #1) by Kameron Hurley
“Technically it’s three books (Empire Ascendant, The Broken Heavens) but I need to read them!” – Lilyn
The Outside by Ada Hoffman
“I will finish this [redacted] book” – Lilyn
Grace’s Picks
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn
Gracie’s Game Picks
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Tracy’s Picks
Headcheese by Jess Hagemann
Camp Slaughter by Sergio Gomez
Hollow Bones by B. Narr
Olly’s Picks
Gears of War: Bloodlines by Jason M. Hough
Crash by J.G. Ballard
Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley
Sam’s Picks
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Shawn’s Picks
The Consultant by Bentley Little
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Eliza’s Picks
Infested by Carol Gore
Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan
A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson
Bill’s Picks
Lent by Jo Walton
Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower
I hope our list helps you guys out to find something that tickles your fancy bone for something to read or play during this time to keep yourself distracted and mentally balanced. When you’re worrying and over-loading with stress please find time to care for your mental health as well, while you’re protecting your physical health and the health of those around you.
Have any books on your TBR for the spring? Let us know! Share the ideas!
GracieKat was the first co-host of Sci-Fi & Scary, Lilyn’s partner-in-crime, and sub-head of the Kali Krew. She reviews horror books, movies, and games for the site. She also does a weekly Focus on the Frightful feature, and is the site list-maker. She is also in control of the Sci-Fi & Scary podcast which will relaunch soon.
My TBR for spring is mostly non-fiction: I’m teaching a course on early modern European witchcraft and witchcraft prosecutions, so reading a ton of case studies and country overviews. Though I am hoping it provides inspiration for some writing!
What’s the most disturbing thing you’ve read yet, Brian?
This is a good question. It can be interpreted several ways.
1. How weird do you want your sex? The confession of Isobel Gowdie of Scotland includes anatomical details of the Devil’s participation in an orgy.
2. How rational can people be when they are being irrational? Reading about how the German official responsible for prosecuting accused witch Anna Schmieg developed the legal reasoning to get permission to torture her a second time made me want to scream, “You can’t be reasonable if your logic is based on nonsense!”
3. The “witches of Warboys” case in England began entirely by chance: an old woman came to visit a family with an ill child. And the old woman was wearing a black cap. The child saw the cap, got fixated on it, and accused the old woman of being a witch. If she’d not come at that time, or not worn a black cap, she probably wouldn’t have been convicted of witchcraft and executed.
I think that gives you some taste of what I’m running into.
Holy crap.
How many years are you covering?
C. 1425 – 1775, with either case studies or country overviews on Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Germany, Poland, Iceland, and Basque Country. Couldn’t lay my hands on a good book for Hungary or Switzerland before the academic library I use closed for the duration.
The course is going to be 8 online classes, two hours each. Should be fun.
That sounds so interesting! Your classes sound like they’d be amazing! I’ve always been interested in witchcraft trials through the ages. So much of it has been so long that most of the info that I remember is about Salem, even though that wasn’t even 1% of everything that happened.
Two of the facts that always interested me were the word ‘poisoner’ being changed to witch (in the “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” quote) because of King James’ run-in with the Scottish? And also the Giles Corey story
In European medieval and early modern culture, witchcraft and poisoning were both considered “occult” methods of killing people, in the most basic sense of “occult:” being hidden. So it was easy for Christian Europeans to treat poisoners and witches much the same way. In fact, the case I mentioned to Lilyn about the prosecutor trying to get permission to torture for the second time? That began as a poisoning case, and was turned into a witchcraft case.
I should add that you actually could take the class, since it will be online using Zoom. I’ll certainly post some related stories on my Sillyhistory blog, which it is time to revive, so you’ll get a chance to read about some of what I’ve been researching!
I can’t promise I’d show up for every one, but I’m definitely interested.
Thank you for your interest. Seriously.
Here’s the course info: https://ccae.org/classes/offering/2809/burn-the-witch-witches-and-witch-hunting-in-early-modern-europe-new
Crash is pretty disturbing! Can I unread it, lol?
Wouldn’t that be lovely if we could unread books?
That would be nice if we could delete certain books from the memory banks, lol