So What Books...?

Ok, i'm convinced now i should get my lazy ass into gear and read something.

I know there are plenty of books listed on the AT site, people recommend informative an intelligent reading here on the threads...but...

like a reluctant child i don't want to wade through dry academic tomes that, for all their importance, relevance and quality, will send me running for the remote because it's so dry it will desicate my mind. It's not i don't value their content, just that i need something to bait me into reading them later.

I want some reading with PASSION!!

I want something that is gripping and beautifully expressed; i want an author who waxes lyrical about their subject, not shuffles through it with a correction pen and a calculator. I want to be taken on a journey, not through tarot storage boxes. Reading history, an' stuff is a bit like slow mo over cobbles for me. What books are gonna make me get up and dance about it?

I invite you to sell to me your most inspiring, motivating, book.

I will always vote for James Ricklef and Tarot Tells the Tale.

Another that had me gripped was Mary Greer's 21 Ways to Read a Tarot card.

These two books are ones I can go back to time and time again, and not feel bogged down, bored or confused with.

Davina

Based on what Recca-smiles is asking for I would go with "Tarot tells the tales" too.

Personally Alfred Douglas "the tarot" and Paul Foster Case "Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages " are very inspiring for me.

Another vote for Tarot Tells the Tale. It's funny, too. I love the reading he does for Cinderella. Serious, useful, but not self-important. Written with a light touch. Completely understandable to normal people. Perfect.

Another vote for "Tarot Tells the Tale." I gave a copy to all the ladies in our women's group and they all LOVED it!

Bodhran

If you want Passion, read Rachel Pollack's The Forest of Souls. I'd have even non-tarotists read that one, it's fantastic.

And Robert Graves' The White Goddess, if you've not already read it. Take him with a pinch of salt, but do take him - he's mythology man with a great big roar of excitement.

Do you read French or Spanish? Because if you do, then Alejandro Jodorowsky's La Voie du Tarot (La Via del Tarot) is one beautiful ride through the Marseille, committed and very well written - the man is an artist and it shows.

Robert Place's The Tarot is fabulous - easy to read but good analysis too. You can agree or not agree with him - but his ideas are very interesting and probably not too far away from the truth.

You will get a lot of fun out of the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols - one of those great books you can just pick up and put down, reading an entry here and there, and discovering loads of stuff on your tarot cards you never even thought about. That one is a reference - you'll be using it over and over for years.

And of course, Stuart Kaplan's Encyclopedias, which will give you as good a grounding as any. He's passionate, though I wouldn't read him cover-to-cover myself ( a bit - hum, indigestible in large doses ). Another essential reference.

Read history, read poetry, read mythology, read about art and symbolism, go walking in the book of nature to discover the plant life, oh - a million things. Tarot opens so many doors!

Wow tarot tells the tale certainly is a hit.

I like the sound of Pollacks 'forest of souls' too.

At least i have 21 ways to read, which i agree is great.

i appreciate all the feed back and will make a note of each, and see what i can get hold of first

I will second Place for readability and content!

I understand how it is when you want something to read that is pleasurable and fun. We all enjoy that. But lately, as much as hate it, I have been forcing myself to read more of Waite. I just got myself an old dictionary and started plowing through. While it has been quite a chore, I will have to say it has also been very rewarding. Waite, like most authors I suppose, has his own peculiar writing style, and once you get used to it, it does get easier.

Spitual Tarot is great

I also will agree with
forrest of souls
anything by robert place
chicken kabalah is great as well although not tarot it has refernces to tarot in there

Try The Truth about the Tarot by Gerald Suster - it's a relatively slim volume but every word counts. And it's written not just with passion but with a wicked sense of humour.