Jeannie's Place

Here is my next installment of my return to the world of the written word:

The Greater Trumps by Charles Williams: Williams was a friend of C. S. Lewis and Tolkien and a member of the their literary society, The Inklings. Unlike Lewis and Tolkien who both wrote High Fantasy, he focused more on what today would be referred to as Urban Fantasy or Mystical Horror. In a way, he's sort of the bastard grandfather of writers like Charles De Lint and Stephan King. This novel falls into the urban fantasy category and was written in 1932. Unfortunately, Mr. Williams does not have the skill of timing that his compatriots had. The book lags dreadfully for the first 10 chapters and only picks up towards the end, with a rather abrupt and unsatisfying finale. In his favor, Williams creates solid female protagonists and seems to grasp the concept of the female mystic. Since the book focuses on the Tarot deck, most specifically the Major Archana, he obviously did some study into Kabalistic mysticism while writing it. Most notably he seems to have a very strong grasp of the idea of magical male/female partnership. I can't help wondering, with all the mystical theory in the book, whether Gerald Gardener read this novel while devising what would become British Traditional Wicca...

Things I Learned From Knitting...Whether I Wanted To Or Not by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot): Once again Stephanie has provided us with a small book of good knitting advice and Harloty antidotes. I really need to read more of her books!!! This one is going back to strixluna who so kindly loaned it to me and will be added to The Wishlist ASAP.

The Princess and The Goblins by George MacDonald: One of the great fantasy classics. I was inspired to re-read this up by Phillip Newell's discussion of the author in his book on Celtic Christianity. The story was written in 1872 and is therefore rather Victorian, but it still has the wonderful vision of feminine deity in the form of Irene's Fairy Grandmother, who could be easily mistaken for a Moon Goddess under the right circumstances. I'm contemplating adding the sequel, The Princess and Curdie to The Pile.

Current Lunchtime Title: Sancutuary
Current Bedside Title: Our Babies, Ourselves