“It’s Monday! What are you reading?” is a weekly meme hosted by Book Date. The folks at Teacher Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers have given #IMWAYR a new lens by focusing on books for kids & teens. Check out their blogs to see what they’re reading!

I use #IMWAYR mostly to organize my reading list for the week and set out my book goals.

WHAT I READ LAST WEEK:

 

• Jonesy, Vol. 1 by Sam Humphries & Caitlyn Rose Boyle
• Jonesy, Vol. 2 by Sam Humphries & Caitlyn Rose Boyle
• Jonesy, Vol. 3 by Sam Humphries & Caitlyn Rose Boyle
• Space Boy, Vol. 1 by Stephen McCranie
• The Altered History of Willow Sparks by Tara O’Connor

It was a super busy week for me, so I mostly read graphic novels, but I loved all of the ones I read (even though it felt weird to not read any YA fiction).

I also finally finished the audiobook version of Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, narrated by Jim Dale. I’m one step closer to finishing the series, and will hopefully soon no longer be the only librarian ever who hasn’t read them.

WHAT I’M EXCITED TO READ THIS WEEK:

 

Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft, edited by Tess Sharpe

This anthology just arrived at my library, and I’ve already binge-read the first few stories. I love the diversity and how each author brings a different interpretation of what it means to be a witch. I’m looking forward to reading the rest and I know I’ll love it.

Goodreads summary: “A young adult fiction anthology of 15 stories featuring contemporary, historical, and futuristic stories featuring witchy heroines who are diverse in race, class, sexuality, religion, geography, and era.

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

Glinda the Good Witch. Elphaba the Wicked Witch. Willow. Sabrina. Gemma Doyle. The Mayfair Witches. Ursula the Sea Witch. Morgan le Fey. The three weird sisters from Macbeth.

History tells us women accused of witchcraft were often outsiders: educated, independent, unmarried, unwilling to fall in line with traditional societal expectations.

Bold. Powerful. Rebellious.

A bruja’s traditional love spell has unexpected results. A witch’s healing hands begin to take life instead of giving it when she ignores her attraction to a fellow witch. In a terrifying future, women are captured by a cabal of men crying witchcraft and the one true witch among them must fight to free them all. In a desolate past, three orphaned sisters prophesize for a murderous king. Somewhere in the present, a teen girl just wants to kiss a boy without causing a hurricane.

From good witches to bad witches, to witches who are a bit of both, this is an anthology of diverse witchy tales from a collection of diverse, feminist authors. The collective strength of women working together—magically or mundanely–has long frightened society, to the point that women’s rights are challenged, legislated against, and denied all over the world. Toil & Trouble delves deep into the truly diverse mythology of witchcraft from many cultures and feminist points of view, to create modern and unique tales of witchery that have yet to be explored.”

 

A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma

This book is dark, twisted, magical, and sounds perfect for ushering in the Fall season. I’ve heard so many things about Nova Ren Suma’s beautiful writing and am really excited to finally read some of her work. Plus, the women-centered narrative sounds like it will pair well with Toil & Trouble. 

Goodreads summary: “Bina has never forgotten the time she and her mother ran away from home. Her mother promised they would hitchhike to the city to escape Bina’s cruel father and start over. But before they could even leave town, Bina had a new stepfather and two new stepsisters, and a humming sense of betrayal pulling apart the bond with her mother—a bond Bina thought was unbreakable.

Eight years later, after too many lies and with trouble on her heels, Bina finds herself on the side of the road again, the city of her dreams calling for her. She has an old suitcase, a fresh black eye, and a room waiting for her at Catherine House, a young women’s residence in Greenwich Village with a tragic history, a vow of confidentiality, and dark, magical secrets. There, Bina is drawn to her enigmatic downstairs neighbor Monet, a girl who is equal parts intriguing and dangerous. As Bina’s lease begins to run out, and nightmare and memory get tangled, she will be forced to face the terrible truth of why she’s come to Catherine House and what it will take for her to leave… ”

What are you reading this week?