June 20, 2006
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
Man. This is a depressing book. Good, but depressing. Written in the 90s, it called out plenty of things I could remember from my own adolescence - the incredible pressures girls are under in our society, the way our culture harms them, and so on. I was glad she included numerous examples of adolescent girls who were doing well, and I was intrigued by her comparison between overly restrictive households (where the girls may be happy and feel safe but where they aren't encouraged to grow) and overly permissive households (where the girls often run wild and harm themselves).
Good stuff. I hope she updates it for this decade.
Book 8 for 2006. Man. I'm not doing all that well with reading this year, am I? I think I may have read a couple books which I then managed to forget to note here, but I'm not sure. Grrr.
Evolutionary Witchcraft
by T. Thorn Coyle
This is a surprisingly good first book from Coyle, who is a political activist, musician, performer, and witch. She writes about the Feri tradition of witchcraft, breaking the book into parts corresponding to the directions within and parts of the magic circle. I liked the exercises she offers as well as the way she separated out the gods and tools of her path. Fascinating stuff.
