Tarot and Novels....

Book of Shadows

I'm in the middle of a most AWESOME book,
I just HAVE to share!

Published in June 2010, it's called
"Book of Shadows" by Alexandra Sokoloff.

Honestly, I was a bit turned off by the title;
publishers tend to use this term just to suck you in...
but this time, it fits.

Chilling and pretty accurate (so far, at least...only half way!)
it touches on tarot and runes, witches and Wicca
(it's set in Boston and SALEM!! MA.),
spells and (~~shivers~~) Crowley (he just creeps me out!)
in a very knowledgeable way.

I can't put it down! (well, except when I'm here! )

Cara

Weymouth Sands

The chapter 'Lodmoor' in John Cowper Powys' 'Wemouth Sands' where Gipsy May reads the cards for the Punch-and-Judy girl Marrett. It doesn't go well, considering they're both after the same man! JCP doesn't seem to get read much these days which is a tragedy - his novels are some of the greatest in English literature, and draw wonderfully on native mythology. I can't stop re-reading his work! Though after reading through this thread I have to go back to 'Little, Big' once more because it too is utterly marvellous.

It's in the other thread, but I feel it deserves mention here: The Greater Trumps by Charles Williams. His novels have been called "supernatural thrillers," and if such topics interest you it would be worth trying. His style has been described as old-fashioned; perhaps, but I'd categorize it rather as poetic (I suppose traditional poetic diction is old-fashioned these days). He packs a lot of symbolism and meaning into his prose, while telling a good tale. This story presupposes an original Tarot deck and a set of corresponding three-dimensional figurines which depict the Majors (or rather, the deck depicts the figurines); the attempt to bring together the two sets for one family's personal advantage is what drives the plot. But it's so much more: very mystical and, dare I say, religious in feeling and in ethics.

Fawsley said:

The chapter 'Lodmoor' in John Cowper Powys' 'Wemouth Sands' where Gipsy May reads the cards for the Punch-and-Judy girl Marrett. It doesn't go well, considering they're both after the same man! JCP doesn't seem to get read much these days which is a tragedy - his novels are some of the greatest in English literature, and draw wonderfully on native mythology. I can't stop re-reading his work! Though after reading through this thread I have to go back to 'Little, Big' once more because it too is utterly marvellous.

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I've read Powys' A Glastonbury Romance, a lengthy but fascinating novel involving the Grail tradition in more-or-less modern times.

As far as I'm concerned, Little, Big is a masterpiece. When I finished the book I was close to tears, not tears of sadness exactly, but of a sense of loss of a world that was both hauntingly beautiful as well as tragic. It's so hard to express in words. No other novel has affected me so deeply or so permanently.

Frank Portman: Andromeda Klein. Brilliant book.

By the way - Sepulchre (Kate Mosse) is Just Awful.

gregory said:

Frank Portman: Andromeda Klein. Brilliant book.

By the way - Sepulchre (Kate Mosse) is Just Awful.

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Yay! Another resounding vote for Andromeda Klein - one of the best
books I've read in a while! (and I read a LOT.)
I'm hoping for a sequel

But I don't agree that Sepulchre was "awful" - not the best book, granted,
but it was entertaining

Cara

The plot of Emma Bull's Bone Dance is structured around a tarot reading, and each section is named for a card. I've always wished the deck in it was real. It's described as a luridly colored mix of various culture's iconography, and the pictures move when the cards are tilted (like lenticular postcards -- examples here). How cool would a tarot deck like that be? It's a really good book, too.

http://www.amazon.com/Circle-Kindne...3V5C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1304476135&sr=8-2



Here's a great book. I'll add more later, or read the review. There's a tarot spread in the book.

Anam Cara said:

But I don't agree that Sepulchre was "awful" - not the best book, granted,
but it was entertaining

Cara

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To each her own....

By the end my only care was that the deck should survive.... I couldn't give a toss about any of the people !

One of the worst things was the artificial insertion of French bits to make us feel like we were in France. We can do that without help. This kind of - "and the trees - les arbres - shone in the sunlight" - UGH.

I have yet to read Tarot of Perfection... shall do so soon... I recently ordered Hand of Fate by Dottie Enderie... absolutely loved The Devil, The Lovers, and Me.