The Library Coven

Hello, magical folx! This week we’re discussing Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the second book in the Six of Crows series. Check out our Six of Crows episode for a refresher on what happened in the last book! Side Note & Content Warning: We know we’ve been gone for a bit, and we appreciate you patience as we get back in the swing of things. We recorded this episode in November, and a lot has changed in the world since then. This could be a difficult episode to listen to if the current pandemic is taking a toll on your mental health. Obviously, we had no idea where the world would be in a few months. We also discuss addiction and child abuse in this episode. ChildHelp – Child Abuse – Call 1-800-422-4453 for assistance Transcripts below (or access the pdf version) While we all read King of Scars, it seems there may be the possibility of a third Six of Crows book. We’ll keep our fingers crossed! While we love Harry Potter as much as the next person, but we do take issue with the problematic author. Let’s not forget about the time she stole Indigenous stories for her ever “expanding” universe. Explained “Billionaires” episode Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj episode on the opioid epidemic Pleasure Activism edited by Adrienne Maree Brown Follow @coffeespoonie on twitter This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy Transcript. Episode 29. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo kelly [00:00:00] Hi, listeners were prefacing this episode with a content warning for sexual violence, addiction and ableism. transition [00:00:05] [intro music plays] jessie [00:00:19] Hello and welcome to JK, It’s Magic, a bi-weekly podcast in which two bookish besties discuss mostly YA fantasy through the lens of intersectional feminist criticism. Why? Because critique is our fangirl love language, and because talking about books is pretty magical. I’m Jessie. kelly [00:00:36] And I’m Kelly. kelly [00:00:38] …Aaaannd I haven’t written a plot summary, but I will do one on the fly. jessie [00:00:43] [laughs] You can do it! kelly [00:00:44] CROOKED KINGDOM! We are finally back in Ketterdam reading the second uh book in the SIX OF CROWS duology by Leigh Bardugo. It was a long time ago that we talked about SIX OF CROWS, right? jessie [00:01:00] Forever ago, it feels like I don’t know what episode that was, but I will find out. [both laughing] kelly [00:01:07] Anyway, we are back with Kaz and Inej and Nina and Wylan and Jesper and Mathias,

Happy New Year! With 2020 upon us, we wanted to take a look back at 2019. In this very special episode, we’re looking back at some of our favorite books, TV shows, movies, and other things from 2019, and talking about what we’re looking forward to in 2020. We’d love to hear about your favs from the year and what you’re looking forward to in the upcoming year! Hit us up on twitter or Instagram! We put a lot of work into this podcast this year. K crunched some numbers! Please consider supporting our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi. Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. You can also show your support by rating and reviewing the show! If you are trying to find out what we’re reading next, you can find our schedule under Future Episodes, you can find past episodes there as well, or on the Episodes page. We also have a bright and shiny FAQ page! You can find the interview episodes for J & K here. We’re going to link to all the things we talked about in the episode below (mostly books and TV shows), but a quick warning that there are spoilers for ACOMAF and Coco in this episode. We also mentioned a Crooked Kingdom episode that we planned to have out before now, but it will be headed your way soon! Follow JK, It’s Magic on Goodreads (and Jessie, too!) to keep up with our ever growing TBR Books J loved this year that were not for the podcast: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston and The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory We’ve gotten photos for the cast of the Grishaverse series, and Ben Barnes playing the Darkling may be the reason J jumps to K’s Darkling ship The problem(s) with Cassandra Clare – this article really lays out a lot of the issues at play, so you can decide how you feel about it all for yourself Books we can’t wait to read in 2020: Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Queen of Nothing, Wayward Son, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and The Gilded Ones (we will be reading almost all of these in the coming season! Except for one – see issues with Rainbow Rowell here) Dear Martin by Nic Stone, and the tweet about the books she gives her kids (I had to scroll a lot to find this for ya’ll!) Robin DeAngelo’s White Fragility is a must read! We’re linking to the book, paper, video, and resources When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon Learn more about Macmillan’s embargo on ebooks and learn what you can do to help Take a look at the salary and diversity in the book publishing industry Favorite nonfiction books this year: Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarsinha, anything by Adrienne Maree Brown, The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison, Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto by Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser, Am I Dying by Christopher Kelly, White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, and We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehasi Coates Favorite shows: Great British Bake Off, Fleabag, Dear White People, Insecure, You’re the Worst, Peaky Blinders, The Punisher, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Crown, Speechless, Killing Eve, Steven Universe, She-Ra and the Princess of Power, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Explained, Sex Education, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Favorite Movies: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Spider-Man Far From Home, Jojo Rabbit, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor Ragnarok, What We Do in the Shadows, Endgame, Downton Abbey Can’t wait to see movies: Us, Hustlers, Photograph, Frozen II That time Disney tried to trademark Dia de los Muertos You can get Disney Plus free for a year if you have Verizon and have an unlimited plan J is over the moon about the MCR return! That’s all we’ve got for you! What are you looking forward to in the coming year? What have been your favorite books and movies? Drop us a line on twitter or Instagram. Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx.

Hello, magical listeners! We’re coming at you this week with a discussion of Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova, the first in the Brooklyn Brujas series. J & K discuss the failed system of incarceration and the implications of those systems on brown people, beautiful world building, and Latin American folklore. There may also be a few tangents along the way… And there are some spoilers for the movie Coco. There aren’t a ton of show notes this week. See you in a fortnight! Full transcript included below. Or access the pdf version.  We talked a bit about diversity in YA, but here are the stats from 2018, which includes children’s books ( Huyck, David and Sarah Park Dahlen. (2019 June 19). Diversity in Children’s Books 2018. sarahpark.com blog. Created in consultation with Edith Campbell, Molly Beth Griffin, K. T. Horning, Debbie Reese, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Madeline Tyner, with statistics compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison:  http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp. Retrieved from https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/picture-this-diversity-in-childrens-books-2018-infographic/.) We talked a bit about the connection between the mind and body. The Body Keeps the Score is a book that explores those connections Toni Morrison’s Beloved We talked about the smells we get from YA authors. What are some of your favorite #SmellsLikeYa moments? via GIPHY Call to action: Time to learn more shit, do less harm, and continue to fight for our collective liberation! Read: Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano THE LIBRARY COVEN  [fka JK, It’s Magic] Episode 28  Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova transition [00:00:14] [jaunty string and harpsichord music plays]. kelly [00:00:14] Hello! And welcome to JK, It’s Magic, a bi-weekly podcast in which two bookish besties discuss mostly YA fantasy through the lens of intersectional feminist criticism. Why? Because critique is our fangirl love language. And because talking about books is pretty magical. jessie [00:00:31] I’m Jessie. kelly [00:00:32] And I’m Kelly. jessie [00:00:33] And today in Episode 28, we’re going to talk about Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova. We meet Alex, a bruja who is hiding her powers and attempts to rid herself of them on her death day. Things go terribly wrong. Alex’s family is taken and she has to travel to Los Lagos with Bad Boy Nova to try and rescue them. kelly [00:00:57] But before we dive in, we want to tell you about our shiny new Patreon. We have different tiers, membership levels with nerdy names. For five dollars a month, you can join the Court of Shadows and get access to our reader and listener community on Discord, which is like slack, but for fun and not work. We also shout out your name in episode credits and we’re going to have mini-sodes in which we talk about– we nerd out about everything from Marvel movies to Great British Bake Off. For ten dollars a month. You can join the dregs and we at that level you can get exclusive full-length bonus episodes, which are going to include deep dives into theoretical texts, interviews with readers, academics, writers, podcasters and other people. And also you get all the rewards from the previous tiers. We also have twenty dollars a month and fifty dollars a month options. So please check out our Patreon. And the first 10 people to become patrons are going to get a book from our personal bookshelves. So chickity-check it out. transition [00:02:01] [jaunty string music plays] kelly [00:02:06] Initial reactions. jessie [00:02:08] So this was a reread for me, and I’ve only read the first book in the series, the series is called Brooklyn Brujas, um but I did really enjoy the book. The worldbuilding is fantastic. The book starts out really exciting and with the magic starts right away. I love Alex, Nova, Rishi and I really want to know what happens next.

Oh hello again, magical listeners! J had the pleasure of reading an ARC of Rena Barron’s Kingdom of Souls, and we’re finally bringing you our conversation about this expansive, thrilling novel. It has one of the the most complex magical systems of anything we’ve read for the podcast so far. Enjoy! Content warning: we briefly discuss sexual violence in this episode. Here is a resource for those who need help: RAINN – Anti-sex violence assistance. Call 800-856-4619 or visit their website for assistance. Take care, listeners. Please excuse the erratic release schedule lately – J & K are both in grad school and the struggle is real. And now…links! You can learn about the orisha and the Yoruba faith if you don’t know about them already. J recommends this crash course video (even tho it’s by a white dude). J mentions Daughters of Nri by Reni K. Amayo. We can’t wait to read this one. Oh, and the cover is… *swoon*…so gorgeous. For more on the “divine right of kings”, check out this episode of the BBC podcast In Our Time. We couldn’t find any sources to suggest that it is the norm for children in certain cultures to call parents by their first name. Heka is a god from ancient Egypt and is also an Egyptian word for “magic”. Oh the “mind/body” problem. One of philosophy’s fav topics. Disability studies scholars such as Eli Clare, Margaret Price, and Sami Schalk have taken up the issue as well. See Price’s 2014 article “The Bodymind Problem and the Possibilities of Pain” (full text available here). For more on witchcraft in present-day Africa, see Dr. Mwizenge S. Tembo’s article “The Witchdoctors are not Wrong: The Future Role and Impact of African Psychology on Individual Well-Being” (full text available here). The “blood moon” has many different meanings (here’s one take). The American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA) compiled a lengthy list of different moon names from various indigenous peoples. K highly recommends Sarah Faith Gottesdiener‘s writing for all things moon/tarot/magic-related. Her podcast, Strange Magic, is excellent as well! ICYMI (“it” being learning wtf “race” and “ethnicity” are and how they differ), here’s a helpful Crash Course Sociology video. We’ve mentioned “White Fragility” (the concept, article, and book) many times on this podcast. We think it should be required reading for white ppl. There are a lot of good discussion/reading guides out there, too. We’ve heard excellent things about PTSD researcher Bessel van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Maria Popova’s essay about the text on her blog Brain Pickings is also worth reading. When we say that the gender binary as colonial concept, this is what we mean. See also María Lugones’s article “Heterosexualism and the Colonial/Modern Gender System” (full text available here) As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne,

Hello, magical listeners, and welcome back! We are starting season 2 by reading The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen. We’re talking science fiction, mental health, and sexist school norms in this fortnight’s episode. *We received this book as an ARC form the author* We want to give a content warning for this episode as we discuss issues of depression and self harm. If you or someone you know needs help, please contact The Trevor Project . The Bright Sessions podcast Highly Sensitive People v Empaths The AM Archives podcast A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney is a book that is fantastic at describing the race of ALL characters Our episode on A Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is one of the few books we’ve read with a male protagonist CA has signed a law to allow college players to accept endorsement deals starting in 2023 The history of the Sadie Hawkins Dance The Infinite Noise as it relates to invisible/chronic illness What it means to be a spoonie – which K & J both are. Also, follow Coffee Spoonie on twitter if you’re not already Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli Episode on Ship It Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy

Have you ever imagined what Downton Abbey would be like if it took place in the Iron Islands and was actually a supernatural murder mystery inspired by a Brothers Grimm story?? Well, House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig is all that and much more! Tune in for K’s double entendres and puns and stay for J’s incisive comments about mental illness and ability, along with discussions of numerous other important topics (e.g., whiteness, gender, heteronormativity, class). Before we send you off into the wonderful world of links, let’s do a bit of housekeeping. We have been making this podcast for a year…WHAT!?! Time flies when you are having fun creating a thing with your soul-friend. We have decided to end Season 1 of the show and take a short break to glow up the podcast (slash rest and recharge). We will be back with a vengeance on October 1st! We know, we know, parting is such sweet sorrow, so to ease the blow you can look forward to hearing not one, not two, but THREE bloopers at the very end of this ep. Finally, an enormous thank you to Scones & Tomes for starting a goodreads bookclub to read along with us. We <3 U, magical listeners. Without further ado…LINKSSSSS Read the original story that the novel takes as its foundation: “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” by the Brothers Grimm. J did some research on different cultures, religions, and their different mourning rituals. See also, mourning rituals in the Victorian Age. Want to know more about Pontus? You can start here. Do yourself a favor and (re)read “The Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti . JK, It’s Magic is not responsible for the possible nostalgia trip back to high school/uni English class that might ensue. Fun fact: J likes lighthouses. Learn more about them here. Curious about sailing superstitions? Find out more. Further reading: Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarsinha. This is one of the theoretical texts K want us to read for the pod! Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy

Hello, dear listeners! This fortnight we’re reading Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, a new retelling of Mulan. We found some pretty problematic areas in the book, but found the story quite captivating overall. As a note, we did receive this book as an ARC, but our feelings and reactions to the story are honest. Content Warning: This book deals with some heavy violence issues. It comes up briefly in the episode. First, we would like to point out that we talked about there being a “miracle cure” for a disability in the book. Apparently, this was changed in the final book, but there are still issues of ableism and the main character pretending to be disabled. See more conversation on the topic via this twitter thread and this one There was not a map on the author’s website We talked a ton about knitting and the fiber arts. I found some videos on learning to knit (one that I used), embroider, and sew, for anyone who may be interested. Fiber arts is a wide ranging field, and the history is vast. As a side note, we would like to mention that we stand with Ravelry’s recent decisions to ban support of a certain administration on their site. The knitting community has been talking about racism and diversity within the community for a few months now, or at least it’s been at the forefront of discussions since then. If you are a crafter, I would suggest following people from diverse backgrounds, purchasing products from BIPOC creators, and standing against those who spew hate The following are the links we used when we talked about The Poppy War, as religion in China came up again in this episode: the current state of religion in China, religion in China in general, Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, and Han Chinese I couldn’t find any reliable sources about hawks in Chinese literature. Does anyone have any information about that? The djinn seem to be particular to Islamic culture, and I couldn’t find anything about Chinese culture in particular. There was mention of the Devas in Buddhism in the above article. Buddhists made up about 15% of religious affiliation in China in 2014, as stated in the articles regarding religion We mentioned colorism in the Asian community, and we will leave that to the voices of people from the Asian community, Simra Mariam and Rachel Ramirez, to speak about K mention Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici We mentioned how straw bans can hurt people with disabilities. This is a good time to mention, not all disabilities are visible. Don’t shame someone who is using a straw, you may not know the reason why If you didn’t know much about the college bribery scandal, here’s some more information, and info on how it effects students with disabilities Aja Barber is J’s go to person for learning more about sustainable clothing. Follow her on Instagram, and support her work on Patreon! Fleabag is J’s new favorite TV obsession. Season 2 is so perfect, and you should definitely watch it! Bisexual icon Li Shang Yes, YA twitter is not afraid to call out problematic issues in book, like the problems in Spin the Dawn. Yes, some books should be cancelled. And no, we’re not always wrong! Diversity Baseline Survey from 2015. The book publishing industry is mostly white, able bodied, straight, cis-women. Which likely contributes to the lack of diversity in the books being published. In 2012, 55% of YA books were purchased by adults, with 78% of those purchases being for themselves. Which may be part of the reason some books that are marketed for teens seem so mature. J recommends White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, yet again! K recommends Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown K recommends Episode 4: The Anatomy of an Apology from the podcast Intersectionality Matters Does anyone have suggestions for fantastic New Adult fantasy books? Drop a line in the comments and let us know! Finally, there are some meows from the podcat, Lainey, at the end of the episode (and some bell sounds).

Magical listeners! We’re taking a break from YA this fortnight to bring you an episode about the incredible fantasy novel The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty. The show notes happen to be long this time — why not research-it-up and check out the links to learn some stuff? About magic, fiction, history, religion, language: The author has curated a reading list of narrative sources, primary sources, and folktales about the “early Islamic world” (a very broad term) for those who are interested in learning more. Book 2 of the Daevabad trilogy, The Kingdom of Copper, came out in January 2019 (we can’t wait to read it!). The Empire of Gold, the series’ final installment, is scheduled for release in January 2020. Chakraborty did an excellent interview on the podcast 88 Cups of Tea with Yin Chang. During the interview, Chakraborty specifically addresses being white and writing about the Islamic World. Definitely worth a listen. Is your memory of the Book of Genesis a bit rusty? Refresh your memory about the Tower of Babel story. More info on ifrits, carpets (magical and otherwise), and djinn. On Judaism (religion? race? nation? culture? ethnicity?). On the term “Muslim” as religion or ethnicity. A very helpful review of Enzo Traverso’s book Fire and Blood: The European Civil War, 1914-1945. Key terms include: “European Civil War”, “hot” vs. “cold violence”, and “technological responsibility”. Traverso actually came out with a new book in 2019 on a related topic (The New Faces of Fascism: Populism and the Far Right), but we haven’t read it yet. Modesty fashion is on the rise. Here is a quick overview and some links to fabulous modesty fashion bloggers. Arabic does indeed have gender for nouns (masculine and feminine options only). More details for language nerds here. K isn’t the only one who finds Poe Dameron annoying. See this reddit thread: “Wow, people are really mad at Poe Dameron”. Much, much more on the Black Panther Party’s history, tactics, and ideologies here and here. We mention “breaking the wheel” a few times over the course of this episode, so here’s a gif for good measure About contemporary politics: This episode of Pod Save America mentions Joe Biden’s bs about hyping up his work with segregationists. Bonus: the show notes have a ton of links to articles about a range of important contemporary issues such as immigration, the 2020 Presidential race, and escalating tensions with Iran. Find the first debate recap episode here. This video and article from The Root provides a helpful explanation of redlining, the practice of denying services to individuals and communities and a hallmark of institutional racism. SCOTUS just released a troubling ruling on partisan gerrymandering. Here is the PDF of the entire decision, and Justice Kagan’s dissenting opinion begins on page 40. Donating to the F•ck Gerry(mandering) fund is one way to help. K highly recommends the NPR podcast White Lies about the unsolved murder of a white Civil Rights activist in the 1960s. About random things: Cuddle parties are a real thing. Here’s a recap of someone’s experience at one. Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes,

This fortnight we’re discussing Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. The first book in the Six of Crows duology and the fourth book in the Grishaverse series. We discussed a wide range of topics including slavery, sex work, and stereotypes of different cultures. Content warning: In this episode we discuss sexual harassment, sex slavery, and childhood trauma/violence We promised resources for those who might need them. Please get help if you need it: RAINN – Anti-sex violence assistance. Call 800-856-4619 or visit their website for assistance ChildHelp – Child Abuse – Call 1-800-422-4453 for assistance Safe Place or National Runaway Safeline – Assistance for young people experiencing homelessness with both shelter and medical needs. Text 44357 or visit Safe Place website for help. Call 1-800-786-2929, or visit the National Runaway Safeline for their assistance Free Clinics and sliding scale clinics searchable by state There are a few Game of Thrones spoilers in this episode (for the TV show). We talked a lot about the opioid epidemic in the U.S, and there is a lot of information about it out there, so we wanted to provide more context about confronting the epidemic and states taking legal action against the people making the drugs. More information on the Sackler family and their extreme wealth Last Week Tonight episode about the opioid crisis and Sackler family’s responsibility for it There are three John Oliver videos about the tax breaks churches get and how those can be used for many different things. I recommend watching them in this order: Televangelists, Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption, and Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption Final Update The symptoms of Haphephobia, or fear of being touched, which we see presented in Kaz Black Lives Matter has resources, information about how you can help, and how to donate to their cause The history of the Romani people and common stereotypes that wee see play out in the story Leigh Bardugo suffers from osteonecrosis, which came up in our discussion of her depiction of Kaz, but was also mentions in the acknowledgements Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj episode about the wide reach of gun into other countries Information on dyslexia and dysgraphia Gray asexual and asexual spectrum If you haven’t seen it, watch the movie Dope Reparations have been coming up a bunch in episodes and in the news. Ta-Nehisi Coats brought reparations back into the national discussion in 2014 in his work for The Atlantic. Now Democratic candidates are deciding where they stand on the issue. A bit of history on the difference between slaves and indentured servants. Turns out there may have been some difference initially, but not for long. There is gambling in Amsterdam, and the profits go to the state. Not so different from Ketterdam after all! There is a ton of research and talk out there about confusing sex work with sex trafficking (they are not the same thing), as well as a debate as to whether sex work should be legalized, decriminalized, or remain illegal. JK, It’s Magic is a sex positive podcast, which means we support those who choose sex work, because sex work is work. But we also believe this discussion really needs include those who are doing that work to see what they want and need from us as a society. Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books fr...

Finally, the ACOMAF episode is here! J & K both adore ACOMAF, and in the spirit of that affection, we don’t shy away from dredging up the novel’s problematic aspects. Generous and loving critique is, after all, what our podcast is all about. If you need a refresher, catch up on our discussion of A Court of Thorns and Roses And now, copious show notes and links: “O I forbid you, maidens a’,That wear gowd on your hair,To come or gae by Carterhaugh,For young Tam Lin is there.” –– “The Ballad of Tam Lin” is a faerie legend from Scottish lands and it tells the story of a mortal woman saving a faerie male from a Faerie Queen. Sound familiar? It should! That’s basically ACOTAR, although SJM makes a lot of changes. Shoutout to Taiko (K’s friend) for sharing her wisdom on this topic. Learn more about the ballad here. The first print version of “La Belle e La Bête” [Beauty and the Beast] appeared in France in the 1740s, although stories of human women taking animal-esque partners is apparently a common trope from folktales worldwide. This article from the Smithsonian is a good read if you want to know more about different versions of the story in a variety of media (text, film, etc.) that have been created over the centuries. Also, K recommends the Beauty and the Beast episode of the podcast Myths & Legends. Utilitarianism video from Crash Course J mentions the “50 Shades of White: The Long Fight Against Racism in Romance Novels” article from the Guardian. It’s a long read, but well worth it. Rhys and Tarquin might not explicitly discuss giving up power and privilege to make change happen, but adrienne maree brown does in this excellent post. Please read it and relinquish the patriarchy!! We mention SJM’s privileging female sexual pleasure in our “Shipwrecked” segment. K has been reading Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown, and couldn’t recommend it more! This Them article on queerbaiting gets into some specific pop culture examples (e.g., Ariana Grande, etc.). V helpful. Also related to our conversation about queerbaiting in ACOMAF, here is some useful info from GLAAD about dismantling stereotypes of bi folx. Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy