The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can’t help but go all fangirl here, as Aaronovich expands occult London into occult Europe with this new magical adventure in Germany. I truly love the Rivers of London books and the occult world being uncovered—oops, I mean being built here (wink,wink). We’re getting the stage set for “Men in Black International”, only with magical beings and deities instead of aliens, and the possibilities are endless and exciting.

Our hero, Tobias Winter, works for Abteilung KDA - the Department for Complex and Unspecific Matters, Germany’s version of London’s Folly, and he sounds a bit like his counterpart Peter Grant, from London. Cops and criminals think alike, no matter what country they’re in, no matter if they’re human or “other”.

“This is a tale about the Queen of the Harvest, the October Man, and the little-known time the vineyard around Trier started to eat people....” and you need to read it. Fans will not be disappointed.
(Thanks to Subterranean Press and Netgalley for the review e-galley)


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Wandering the Wilderness of the Mind

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esmé Weijun Wang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For all the writers, artists, etc., who've felt like they've teetered on the edge of madness...it's always a good refresher to see what actual crazy is like. It's also pretty scary. This is an unflinching look at living with mental illness, eliciting wonder, despair, hope and gratitude. You understand why people who are poor and without a support system have very little hope.
It's a collection, so there is some repetition, but I found the book to be edited beautifully, especially the choice of the final essay.
I'm reminded of the story of Joanne Greenberg, who wrote the book I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (don't substitute the movie) and many other wonderful novels, most exploring people with disabilities or peculiarities and their intersection with "normal." I'm hoping Ms. Wang has a lot more high functioning life to live, and makes more books.
Worth the read, for sure.


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Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics

Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics by Mirabai Starr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Part memoir, part Feminine Mystery mystic manifesto, Wild Mercy is a celebration of the Divine Feminine experienced by women (and some men) throughout history. To some, this will be an introduction; to others, a welcome visit with saints and mystics, avatars and activists, archetypes and goddesses from ancient times to the present, with Mirabai's own counterculture/Jewish/Buddhist perspective foremost.
Wild Mercy is also an introduction and exploration of the contemplative life, or the examined life, as practiced through time to modernity. There's much to savor here, each chapter opening with a meditative depiction of the heart that's calling to Spirit, then an exploration of approaches, then a deepening practice.
And again, the book presents another face, another aspect; it's an exercise in intersectional spirituality, for that's where the mystic has always resided, right smack dab in the middle of God's heart, no matter the doctrines.
If you think you might be a mystic; if you're drawn to spiritual traditions beyond your own; if you, too, are a woman of a certain age; if you feel a need to deepen your relationship with the soul's Beloved, this will be an excellent addition to your spiritual library.
(Thanks to Netgalley and Sounds True, I received a digital copy for review.)


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We Were Diplomats Once, And Young

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Deserves the accolades. Fascinating exploration of identity and power, politics and loyalty. I was a bit worried because it's uncomfortable hard work to be plopped into a situation where you don't have firm ground beneath your virtual feet--the reader's experience mirrors the main character's experience--but by 50-90 pages in I knew where we were going and enjoyed the ride. Especially the poetic thread. Recommended!


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Morse Code for Energy Healers

The Emotion Code: How to Release Your Trapped Emotions for Abundant Health, Love, and Happiness by Bradley Nelson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy from the publisher through a goodreads giveaway! The Emotion Code is an understatedly Christian (he mentions God and Jesus in a non-proselytizing way) approach to energy healing and emotional intelligence, rather than a traditional psychological self-help book. The author is a chiropractor and an intuitive who believes that most of the body's resistance to healing comes from unrecognized emotional blocks. Through a series of dialogues with the body, using muscle tension as a guide, you can identify and release the mostly "uncomfortable" feelings that are begging for your attention. Release the emotion, release the pain in the body; hear the message, the messenger goes away. No more chronic pain!
As is typical in this type of offering, 50 % of the book consists of success stories to bolster your belief in the system being offered, 25% of the book establishing the author's expertise, and 25% an introduction to the system.
If you do stay with the book the whole way, you'll find that while there are instances of instant or miraculous healing, deep issues mostly require a lot of intense work for healing to occur. And while touting the process as a way of self-healing, most of the stories and examples are of people being helped to healing by other people. Dr. Nelson provides a handy chart of emotions and a website dedicated to information, merchandising, and certified practitioners that can further your journey into his system.
If you believe it, it will work. This is all standard fare in the world of energy/faith healing. Whether you call it laying on of hands or Reiki, it's been around as long as humans. Dr. Nelson's is a very rational approach, even as the subjects of remote healing and surrogate patients come up. There are photos to help you visualize the muscle tests, and charts of charts.
This is a good introduction if you don't know much about energy healing, but if you're already knowledgeable, there's nothing new here. And there's no substitute for the work of self-examination and self-awareness if you're looking for help with those deeper emotional issues.


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Fly Me Away!

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Bird King is the kind of book that spoils you from reading others for a few days. It's going to be one of my favorite novels of the year, perhaps all time. (Though Wilson's previous book moves to the top of the TBR pleasure pile.) This book stands on its own as a darkly luminous fantasy novel, but it's also a work of art, created to please on more than one level of perception, as are all the best stories; I mean, of course, it lifts us into the territory of myth. Such fast-paced adventure: a slave girl and a magic map maker flee the Holy Inquisition at the fall of Granada, the last Muslim emirate on the Iberian peninsula. And there are djinn, (not the usual depiction, thanks!) and magic. Worth the read just for the adventure and coming-of-age story. Then there's the exploration of relationships and love. This is a novelistic homage to the great poem written by the Sufi poet that inspired Hafiz and Rumi, Attar. It's not poetic at all, except in its themes. It's true to the spirit of mysticism but it's not a poem or a retelling of The Conference of the Birds. The writing has the flavor of both Salman Rushdie and Guy Gavriel Kay, in reverence and irreverence, in facility with Islamic and history concepts and nostalgia for a past that might have been. There is not a wrong note emotionally, spiritually, psychologically as questions of loyalty, good and evil, free will, service and dominance, sin and goodness are dealt with along the journey. And of course, your own beliefs about those issues are highlighted as you go along. Is there a land of freedom, where justice and mercy are married in balance, where kindness is the law, where people can live in harmony no matter their beliefs? If there's not, does the fact that we can imagine it mean that we can create it, even after ten thousand years of failure? Are Camelot and Granada, Themiscyra and America only meant to last a few lifetimes, perfect in idealism, imperfect in practice--or is goodwill among humans sustainable? Do you have to follow tradition, accept injustice, be the spoils of war? Or do you flee death and look for a future? Must you lay in the bed you made, or is there forgiveness, repentance, more chances at friendship, honor, and life? Once you've been possessed by a demon, are you ever free? You don't have to think about that stuff as you read, but I love the books and authors that make it possible. Highly recommended!


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Heart and Humor Win the Day

Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a great book for book clubs! Professor Chandra and his Cambridge colleagues thought he would get the 2016 Nobel Prize in economics, but on announcement day he’s passed over; put on furlough for calling a female student an imbecile; run into by a bicyclist, and finds out he's had a silent heart attack. He spends his 70th birthday alone: rich, respected, divorced, and mostly estranged from his kids. He has moments of kindness to protégées, but he's a grumpy old man. His son is rich from telling people how to succeed in business through affirmations, his oldest daughter is a radical and doesn’t talk to him anymore, and his ex lives in Boulder with her psychologist husband and the youngest daughter, a high school senior who gets involved with drugs. This allows Chandra to escape from the mess of his life in England. He goes to Boulder in attempt to fix his daughter. Professor Chandra is not a likeable dude—until he punches laid-back Steve ("Kids experiment!") in the nose, and Steve manipulates him into a weekend retreat at Esalen. "Being Who You Are at Summer Solstice" is not where or who Chandra wants to be, but he starts asking some questions and observing himself. Conservative intellectual meets emotional woo-woo, and the humor and growth begin. It’s challenging to read about your country from a foreigner’s viewpoint, just as it’s challenging to see yourself through someone else’s eyes—and yet modernity has shown us we’re all more alike than different, adopting what pleases us and complaining about the rest. So much fodder for book club exploration and talk: generational, cultural, political and societal divides, with heart and humor the only options for authentic connection. This is really a story of coming to an accommodation with an ever-changing, confusing world, coming to terms with life as an elder. I’d love to know what other folks think about it, too: the best kind of book club book. Recommended!
(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital review copy!)


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