The Library Coven

Hey listeners, welcome to the second (and final) installment of our interview mini-sodes! In this episode, Kelly fields questions from Jessie about a plethora of extremely important topics including superpowers, fur babies, astrology, and books (#obvi). Like Jessie did for the last episode, I (Kelly) am updating the show notes with information I forgot to share in the interview. Feast your ears! My dogs are named after two Battlestar Galactica characters: Starbuck (callsign for Kara Thrace) and Helo (callsign for Karl Agathon). The Portlandia episode about BSG describes how all-consuming the show can be. A friend sent me this wonderful video from the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend about normalizing antidepressant and anxiety medication. The song even mentions rescue dogs needing meds! Related: “Dogs Get Anxiety, Too” (from The Atlantic) Besides my fav bands from my emo-adjacent formative years (e.g., Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, etc.), I’ve been listening to a ton of queer pop music: Janelle Monáe, Hayley Kiyoko, Troye Sivan, Christine and the Queens, Halsey, and so many more. (Related: “2018 Is the Year of the Queer Woman Pop Star” and “A New Age of Queer Pop Is Here…And Artists Want to Talk”) My tarot teachers and mentors include: Lindsay Mack. Her podcast “Tarot for the Wild Soul” and online tarot course of the same title have been such fonts of knowledge in my tarot journey. Tess Giberson. They are so incredible. “Strange Magic” podcast by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener and Amanda Yates Garcia Little Red Tarot blog is no longer active, but I highly recommend checking out the archived posts! The person behind LRT, Beth Maiden, is also wonderful. She runs an amazing witchy shop too! My go-to tarot decks at the moment are Christy C. Road’s Next World Tarot and The Wild Unknown by Kim Krans. (No kick back from using these links – I just love the work these artists do and provide for the collective) Overcommitting is something I’m currently un-learning for a plethora of reasons—among them, my role as an academic. Academia is a space which not-so-tacitly promotes overcommitment and burnout. I recently stumbled upon this article about ADHD and overcommitting, which has given me some perspective. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks. If you’re involved in education in any way, please do the collective a favor and read this book. Then incorporate hooks’ ideas into your educator praxis. This is something I try to work on all the time in my teaching. Teen slash high school Kelly went through a phase reading the “canon”. Don’t worry, I’ve seen the light, and now I spend most of my reading time learning from black women writers, queer writers, and indigenous writers. “How does the literary canon reinforce the logic of the incel?”, an article from The Guardian, pretty much sums up less-than-sunny feelings about the “canon”. 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,

Hey, everyone! We’ve decided to do something different and interview each other for the next two episodes so you can get to know us better! In this first interview, Kelly is interviewing Jessie. Is there anything you were surprised to learn? Jessie is writing the show notes to include anything else she forgot to say in her interview! I am huge supporter of #adoptdontshop, because adopting a pet means saving a life. Lainey (the podcat!) was adopted, and I love her so much. She is one of the best things that ever happened to me. Also, if you’re getting a cat, please do not declaw them! #pawsneedclaws Cats need their claws for all sorts of reason, so trim them instead (Lainey gets hew claws trimmed once a week) You may have heard me talk about my invisible illness a few times on the show. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2009, which makes me a spoonie. It can be difficult at times, but I’m currently in remission 🙂 Other shows I would recommend: Luther, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (even though it is peak white feminism, so be warned), Killing Eve, Call the Midwife, Umbrella Academy, Downton Abbey, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, Russel Howard Hour, Brooklyn 99, and all the Netflix Marvel shows (even though they’re canceled) Other books I read as a teen were all things Cate Tiernan, The Girl with the Silver Eyes, P.C. Cast, Cassandra Clare, Alyxandra Harvey, Melissa Marr, Judy Blume, Bridge to Tarabithia, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Peter Pan, and any book that had magic. There wasn’t much in the way of diverse books even when I was a kid (not that long ago!!!), so I am really glad to see more diverse books coming out every year! Watch all the lovely/hilarious interviews of Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans And finally, here are some of my favorite recipes: Sourdough bread Cinnamon Scones (which I make without the frosting) Pan au Chocolat Bake with Jack (who I go to for all my bread making advice) 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

This fortnight we’re discussing Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, one of the most intersectional books we’ve read yet! We talked about the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and colonialism. We chatted about shipping, impostor syndrome, and many many other things. We adored this book, and we can’t wait to see what Justina Ireland has in store for us next! As always, we had a bunch of things we talked about, and you can find that information in the show notes below (these may be our longest show notes yet!). Justina Ireland also provided a list of book resources, and those are also listed below. Let’s start with the resources Justina Ireland mentioned: Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940 To Change Them Forever: Indian Education at the Rainy Mountain Boarding School, 1893-1920 One House, One Voice, One Heart: Native American Education at the Santa Fe Indian School And now the many things we mentioned throughout the episode: I (J) apologizes for calling biracial/multiracial people mixed instead of biracial/multiracial. As a biracial person, I recognized there is a negative connotation with calling people that. I am included in that group, and I grew up saying mixed (even about myself). That is not an excuse. I apologize, and I will work to do better in the future. Racial Impostor Syndrome Hoodoo and Louisiana Voodoo Get Out and the western horror genre Get Out being categorized as a comedy – Jordan Peele did not have input on that decision Race issues in Night of the Living Dead Dred Scott “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The significance of the phrase, “by any means necessary“ Controversy surrounding leggings. Which shouldn’t be a controversy at all, because we should all be allowed to wear whatever we fucking want! The sexist history of pockets The history of women’s dress codes, which again, wear whatever you want, whatever makes you comfortable Learning how to decolonize your beauty routine Natural hair and race Tuskegee experiments Secret Feminist Agenda – Episode 3.13 Understanding White Supremacy The importance of safe access to abortion No White Saviors Reasons why people may code switch Gun control and The Black Panthers School to Prison Pipeline Mass incarceration of POCs Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present There are some great articles about what it means to be a POC (bi/multiracial in particular), and be super into a subculture that is very white, for me (J) that was emo/scene culture Jameela Jamil makes some great points about the need to teach enthusiastic consent K suggested reading Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde Get to know ShiShi Rose and Layla F. Saad, who are both doing super important social justice work. Here are a list of books with Asexual and Aromantic characters and more information on the asexuality spectrum All My Relations Episode 5: Decolonizing Sex There are some spoilers for The Punisher season 1, which has sadly been cancelled Read Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi 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,

This week we’re discussing Descendant of the Crane by Joan He. We received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review (which we promise to always provide). We discussed monarchies, constitutions, colorism, and magic this week, as well as many other topics. Below are links to all the resources and things we had to look up, some of which included looking things up while we were recording, I left it in, because I think it’s cool to see the process. And J is back to calling everything interesting… Cranes were mentioned in the title, but they are often mentioned throughout the story. Turns out, they’re pretty significant Check out the “Meet the Characters” section of Joan He’s website then check out this article and this article for discussions of colorism Military Industrial Complex AOC’s take on dark money in politics We talked a lot about the different types of monarchy. Here’s an overview of the difference between constitutional and absolute monarchy Lingchi, or death by a thousand cuts is a real thing We could have benefited from a civics lesson on Imperial Chinese government, so here’s more on how government functioned during that time, which may give us all a better idea on how Hesina’s government may have functioned K mentioned books by bell hooks Season 3 of Serial Episodes of The Daily dealing with the Mueller case can be found here, here, and here There are some slight Daredevil season 3 spoilers I (J) said the UK Royal family tree wrong, but Anne shouldn’t be behind Andrew because she’s a woman Comp titles and diversity 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

Happy Spring, listeners! In Episode 16 we discuss The Wicked King by Holly Black, the much-awaited sequel to The Cruel Prince. Content warning: emotional and physical child abuse. ChildHelp – Child Abuse Assistance – Call 1-800-422-4453 if you or someone you know is the victim of child abuse Below you can find links to all of the topics and references that came up in our conversation. And 10 points to Gryffindor if you can count the number of times K say the word “fascinating”. Is it the shiny, new replacement for “interesting”?? Only time will tell. If, like us, you’ve ever had a hard time distinguishing between an anti hero and a villain, you can refer to this informative post. K mentions all the drama from the February 2019 Cohen hearing. This NYT Opinion piece captures the essence of Mark Meadows’ playing the “victim card” and derailing the proceedings with some white fragility bs. Also, this Vox article is a pretty good take on the entire debacle. If you have a few hours (and a desire to do intense intellectual gymnastics), here’s the passage of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) where the Lord/Bondsman dialectic appears. But maybe if you don’t have time or energy to read Hegel you’d prefer this more accessible Philosophy Bro piece (it’s funny). Or heck, we’re not above Sparknotes sometimes. Money is confusing. So are bitcoins. Thank goodness for informational youtube videos. Jameela Jamil often talks about enthusiastic consent and other general patriarchy-destroying topics (huzzah!). See her witty and poignant speech at the 2019 Makers Conference. K brings up Professor Jennifer Nash’s book The Black Body in Ecstasy (Duke UP, 2014). Other contemporary voices talking about the importance of pleasure include adrienne marie brown in her new book Pleasure Activism (AK Press, 2019). J enthusiastically recommends books by Jasmine Guillory! The poem that K references and can’t remember the name of is “Goblin Market” (written 1859, published 1862) by Christina Rossetti. It’s a great read if you have a few minutes! Brené Brown’s work on shame and guilt is straightforward. This Ted talk provides a good overview of the challenges of confronting shame. But there are so many resources out there about the difference between the two. We talk about parenting for a bit in this episode. K recently read an incredible article about Inuit parenting techniques. It’s definitely worth checking out. 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

This fortnight J & K are discussing The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. We’re diverting a bit from our usual YA Fantasy books. This book is definitely for adults, and not for the faint of heart! The characters are complicated, the story is complex and violent, and there is a ton of action. Content Warning: In this episode we discuss drug use, rape, genocide, and other instances of extreme violence.  ChildHelp – Child Abuse – Call 1-800-422-4453 for assistance We apologize ahead of time for any mispronounced words, names, and/or places. As is usual, we referenced quite a few things, and you can find more information below! Shamanism Drug traditions from around the world and hallucinogenic drugs The history of The War on Drugs in the US K mentioned the Nanjing Massacre and the implications it has on this story Hannah Arendt’s Eichman in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil There is a ton of information out there about how much of our brain we use, and it seems like maybe doctors aren’t in agreement, but 10% is apparently a very low number (and in case you’re interested and need something light hearted after reading this book, here is that video of Ken Jeong answering medical questions J mentioned) We talked a lot about religion, which in China is quite diverse and varied. Here is information about the current state of religion in China, religion in China in general, Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, and Han Chinese (which is an ethnic group, which may have influenced some of the religious aspects of the story). 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

Listeners, the time has finally come to talk about A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, the first book in one of our favorite series. We saved the rest of the series spoilers for a special end segment that begins around 1:11:45. If you haven’t read the rest of the books and/or don’t want spoilers, be sure to skip that! You’ll notice that the show notes are short this time – surprisingly, we stayed pretty close to the source text in our discussion. Off brand, we know. Don’t fret, we’ll probably be back to our regular encyclopedic show notes antics for Ep 15. “There’s a Weird, Sexist Problem in Fantasy That We Need to Talk About” is the article J mentions about fantasy written by women often being mis-categorized as YA. The “Pleasure” issue of Bitch Magazine has some diverse feminist-y takes on what the experiences and representations of pleasure entail. On a related note, here’s an excellent Bitch profile/interview about Sarah Barmak’s book Closer: Notes from the Orgasmic Frontier of Female Sexuality. Lots of good info included there. 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

This fortnight we’re discussing A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney, and there were a ton of Alice in Wonderland puns from K, as this is a modern retelling of the story. Don’t expect to get any hints about this story because you read the original. This is a whole new take! As always, there were a ton of outside sources mentioned, and hopefully we caught them all to add to the show notes. If you have any questions or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Sweet potato pie or pumpkin pie? Which do you prefer? For many African Americans sweet potato pie wins every time, but where did that divide start? Here’s more information on how sweet potato pie became the choice dessert of black Americans K mentions the TV show Queen Sugar (J hasn’t watched it yet, but if K is recommending, it’s worth watching!). There is a great article from The Root about black faces being written out of fantasy and sci-fi, and they mentioned some great websites for all us Black Nerds, Black Nerd Problems and Black Girl Nerds K mentioned Elizabeth Gilbert as someone who has been talking about mourning the loss of her partner It took way too long to fins this not so much a meme, but a tweet, and I found a list about eating at your white friend’s house, that was pretty funny There many authors writing #ownvoices stories, and it would be wise to read more from the creator of the hashtag, Corinne Duyvis The danger of “positive” stereotypes, such as the Strong Black Woman Rachel Ricketts article: “The Year I Gave Up White Comfort”, a necessary read for anyone who is a friend to POCs or wishes to be a good ally White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo Beauty standards, for the most part, are still centralized on white beauty standards, here are some ways to resist those ideals, and more on how we came to associate beauty with whiteness Watch Good Hair Read The Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris Learn more, and take the ACE quiz to learn about how emotional and physical trauma in childhood can lead to increased risk of illness and disease in adulthood More on the gentrification of Atlanta On the racial disparities experienced by POCs when dealing with medical professionals Might want to think twice before getting married on a plantation, which have not just have a history of slavery, but are the homes of former slave owners We talked a bit about protective hairstyles in this episode. Don’t know what that is? Here is more information on protective hairstyles. FYI, these hairstyles are not for everyone… J mentioned The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory. It is a great modern romance with diversity! Apparently, triforce has to do with Zelda. We didn’t know! Lastly, here is a worthwhile article about black burnout. It feels like it goes with this book. 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,

Hello esteemed listeners! We adored A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee*!! What a delightful romp of a book*. Below you’ll find plenty of links and resources to complement our discussion. **We want to recognize that Mackenzi Lee has been pretty problematic as a person and author, and we while we did enjoy this book at the time, we will not be reading or podcasting about her books in the future.  Content Warning: In this episode we discuss emotional and physical abuse as well as addiction.  If you or someone you know are the victim of sexual assault and would like assistance, please call RAINN (Call 800-856-4619 or visit their website for assistance) or if you are a member of the LGBTQIA community in crisis, and would like someone to talk to, please contact The Trevor Project. (1-866-488-7386, text 678678, or visit their website to chat) If you or someone you know are the victims of child abuse, please contact ChildHelp (1-800-422-4453) for assistance. These resources are free and confidential! We mention Monty’s internalization of his father’s abusive messages. This is, of course, a deeply personal and painful topic. Here are a few perspectives: “The Inner/Internal Abuser” and “Accountability for Internalized Abuse: Moving Closer to Self-love” (BIPOC viewpoint of internalizing messages of various interlocking oppressions). Monty sometimes adopts a “colorblind”** approach to race in his relationship to Percy. Here is an academic deep dive into why “colorblind-racism” upholds white supremacy, and there are many other studies and posts on the topic (such as this one…and this other one…). Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race and  are some other book-length resources to check out. ** We acknowledge that this term itself is problematic because it is an example of ableist language. PLEASE  learn more about removing such language from your vocabulary. Here’s a resource to begin the work. White saviorism also comes into play with Monty. Here is Teju Cole’s discussion of the White-Savior Industrial Complex and an incisive callout of “volunteer” trips to “Africa” by Chidera Ihejerika. For more about this topic, we highly recommend following and supporting No White Saviors. White fragility also rears its ugly head (I mean…when doesn’t it??). Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Race is a must-read. It even comes with a reading group guide!! We fully support Felicity going after that spinster life. Episode 2.3 of Secret Feminist Agenda, one of K’s fave podcasts, tackles this issue, as does Briallen Hopper’s piece “On Spinsters”. There’s so much to say about disability and illness and cure as they show up in the novel. K reads from the description of Brilliant Imperfection by Eli Clare. For real, not-at-all-ficticious footage of J eating a magical, alchemical heart, click here. Good, ole Wikipedia has much more information on the deplorable history of sodomy laws in the United States. Lawrence v. Texas was the Supreme Court Case that struck down all sodomy laws in the United States…and that was only in 2003. WTF. Yay for bi visibility! But that’s not really the norm. The Bisexual Resource Center has numerous resources, especially pertaining to Biphobia and Bi Erasure. Here’s a longer piece about bi representation on TV specifically. 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!

Happy New Year, Listeners! We are excited to read and discuss new (and old) book with this year. Any suggestions for books you’d like to read with us? This fortnight we’re discussing Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan . J & K have some mixed feeling about this book. We loved the elaborate back story and well fleshed out setting, but had some difficulty with the pacing. And obvi, we were excited to have many different kinds of representation in this book. What were your thoughts about this story? Content Warning: In this episode we discuss sexual assault and rape  If you or someone you know are the victim of sexual assault and would like assistance, please call RAINN or if you are a member of the LGBTQIA community in crisis, and would like someone to talk to, please contact The Trevor Project. These resources are free and confidential! This week’s show notes are a bit long, but we’re here to provide you with all the background info we can!  There are spoilers for both the movie John Wick and and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas J & K put a lot of pressure on loving this book because it told stories we haven’t read before. And I (J) was hesitant to criticize the book too much because I think these kinds of representation are important (as the episode goes on, I get much more comfortable). It was the Rep Sweats. Listen to this fantastic episode about the Rep Sweats from Code Switch. They focuses a lot on Asian American Rep Sweats, which is pretty on target since that’s part of what we’re talking about in Girls of Paper and Fire. Kat Chow also discusses her Rep Sweats from when Crazy Rich Asians came out. It’s worth a read. Shamanism came up in both Through the Wardrobe and One Does Not Simply… There is so much information, but Britannica has a good overview of Shamaninism within Asian culture and in other regions. Free Will vs Causal Determinism ( which has come up in a few different episodes) and Compatibilism (which is supposed to reconcile the Free Will and Determinism). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy offers an in depth overview of all three. There are also these great videos from Crash Course that describe all three in a much shorter amount of time, and they’re entertaining! – Determinism vs Free Will – Compatibilism – J mentions an English political/comedy show, here’s Russell Howard’s interview of Adam Kay, the former doctor who wrote about his time working as a doctor for the NHS in This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor K mentions Jakelin Caal Maquin when talking about the people we are and are not allowed to mourn, and we think it’s important to remember those who have died due to the actions of our government. We will remember Jakelin Caal Maquin. More information on the Reagan Administration’s foreign policy. K talked about his dealings with South America in particular. We are not mourning the death of George H. W. Bush, who ramped up the war on drugs (among other terrible policies) which increasingly affected POCs, and lead to initiatives like stop and frisk. Here’s more information on China’s internet policies, human rights’ violations, and the growing power of their president, Xi Jingping. In the world of Girls of Paper and Fire there’s a caste system in place.  Here’s more information (it is particular to India, as was much of the information on caste systems). There are a lot of women holding up the patriarchy in this book. Please ready “What is Toxic White Feminism” by Rachel Cargle Read Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed by Meghan Daum and The Mother of All Questions  by Rebecca Solnit for more discussion on women and their worth being tied to having children. Stockholm syndrome K highly recommends watching Nanette by Hannah Gadsby as soon as possible! J & K are very excited about getting a sequel to the movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before based on the books by Jenny Han. Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you,