The Library Coven

Hold on to your hats, folks! This fortnight we’re reading The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, the first book in The Broken Earth Trilogy. And no matter how many people talk about their love for this book, it was not our cup of tea! We spent a lot of time being confused, and maybe had more questions than answers in this episode. What are your thoughts on this book? Content Warning for discussions of murder, torture, child abuse, and cannibalism On to the notes, which are quite short this week! The Witcher season 1 – slight spoilers about the timeline in that show K brings up Avatar: The Last Airbender (as she is known to do) AudioShelf – podcast about audiobooks! 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 or #thelibrarycoven. 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 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. The Library Coven 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) #LandBack. 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.

In this episode we’re discussing Queen of the Conquered Kacen Callender (they/them), the first book in the Islands of Blood and Storm series. The book takes place in a Caribbean-inspired fantasy world and follows our main character, Sigourney, as she makes a bid for power as the only Black person in contention to rule the islands that have been colonized by the white Fjern. When all those in line to the throne are gathered for the storm season and start to be killed off one by one, chaos ensues. As it does. Content warning for discussions of rape and white supremacist violence.  Callender also wrote Felix Ever After. It’s on our TBR! Have you read it yet? Here’s a helpful video outlining the history of colonialism in the Caribbean region. It’s about 40 minutes long, and well worth the watch. Check it out! Want to test your Caribbean geography? Here’s a map quiz. I (K) just took it and got 62% *cringing emoji* Go ahead, learn yourself something. Fjerda, Fjern…notice the similarities? In Norwegian, “fjern” means “far away” or “distant.” K highly recommends Sami Schalk’s work, especially her book Bodyminds Reimagined: Race, (Dis)Ability and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction. And follow Professor Schalk on twitter! (@DrSamiSchalk) Resmaa Menakem’s website. K is slowly working their way through his book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies.  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 or #thelibrarycoven. 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 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. The Library Coven 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) #LandBack. 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.

Let’s take a look back at all the wonderful things we loved in this shit show of a year– most of them book-related, although we chat about film/TV a fair amount too. We want to share our favs with y’all in the hopes of spreading a bit more joy around. Please reach out and let us know yours as well!  We know this time of year is filled with wrap ups, lists, etc. (hell, we’re complicit), which, for some, can be rough to wade through. Take care of yourselves and feel free to skip this one if that’s the case for you. We’ll be back in 2021 with more book discussions. onto the notes!  The Library Coven: 2020 by the numbers 1 rebrand/rename (lol, thanks for sticking with us through it and to be clear, fuck TERFs forever) 25 episodes 14 books 10 GBBO episodes 2 full-length bonus episodes (Umbrella Academy & 2 years of podcasting) 1 year-in-review recap episode 20 hours (1,173 minutes) of produced episode audio, which breaks down into… approx. 80 hours of editing audio and writing show notes (about 4x as long as the episode) Each of us spends about 1.5-2 hours prepping our episode scripts = 30 ish hours Who knows how many hours of reading/listening Total pages read for podcast books = 6,946 [average 496 pages/book] Fiction books mentioned in the episode (alphabetical by author last name) Shadow and Bone series, King of Scars, Six of Crows duology and Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo Queen of Nothing by Holly Black Bruja Born by Zoraida Córdova New Kid  and Class Act by Jerry Craft Legendborn by Tracey Deon We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal Get a Life, Chloe Brown and Take a Hint, Dani Brown byTalia Hibbert You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang A Court of Mist and Fury and Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney Nocturna by Maya Motayne The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas Non-fiction books mentioned in the episode (alphabetical by author last name) Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown Evicted by Matthew Desomond Rust Belt Femme by Rachael Anne Jolie Braiding Sweetgrass by Brigid Wall Kemmerer Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha They Called Us Enemy by George Takei The Body Keeps the Score by Besser Van der Kolk Trauma Stewardship Laura van Dernoot Lipsky with Connie Burk TV shows mentioned The Crown Insecure Lovecraft Country Kim’s Convenience Crash Landing on You Breeders You Great British Bake Off Lovesick  The Good Place The Queen’s Gambit Umbrella Academy Little Fires Everywhere The Dragon Prince Vida Pose It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia a new host of Marvel shows to be released! (Loki, WandaVision, Falcon & Winter Soldier) Movies! Emma Rafiki Big Time Adolescence The Old Guard Booksmart Good Boys Crip Camp Trial of the Chicago Seven 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 or #thelibrarycoven. 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 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. The Library Coven is recorded and produced on stolen indig...

Hello, coven! And welcome to one of the last episodes of the shit show that has been 2020! This week we’re discussing Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore (they/them). Let’s talk about some swans! What is magical realism? We talked a bit about being Latinx and white. There have been lots of great discussions about this, and here are 2 videos that explain it better than K or I did What is White Latinx and White Passing Privilege? Can Latinos Benefit from White Privilege? K mentioned Arrested Development TV show J recommended the movie Practical Magic for people who want stories about sisters, magic, and curses Transcript below or access the PDF version As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading or #thelibrarycoven. 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 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. The Library Coven 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) #LandBack. 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.  The Library Coven Episode 44. Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore transition [00:00:08] [jaunty string and harpsichord music plays]. jessie [00:00:08] Hello! And welcome to the Library Coven, a bi-weekly podcast in which two bookish besties discuss mostly YA [young adult] 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 [00:00:23] And I’m Kelly. In this episode, we’re talking about Blanca y Roja, Anna marie McLemore. Blanca and Roja del Cisne are sisters from a family with a generational curse. At some point during their teen years, one of the two daughters will turn into a swan never to be seen or heard from again, except in Swan form, I guess. And then whe— the sisters team up with two friends who mysteriously turned into non nonhuman animals. And then at that point, social assumptions and sibling rivalry take their toll on the relationships and chaos ensues. Can they break the curse? It’s a YA novel. So you probably know the answer. [jessie laughs] jessie [00:01:04] Um, this week we’re asking people to please be kind and stay home this holiday season if you’re able to. We’re really close to a vaccine, and it would be great to keep numbers down until people could get vaccinated. We’re in a really delicate time right now. So call to action: stay home if you can. If you can’t, wear a mask. kelly [00:01:24] It goes over your nose. [jessie laughs] jessie [00:01:28] Yes, over the nose. kelly [00:01:32] Please come hang out with us on the social media, as Jessie wrote it, “the social media”. jessie [00:01:38] I wanted to say the “sosh meed”, but I was like “nah, too much.” [laughs] kelly [00:01:42] We love chatting with you all. Let us know what books you want us to discuss for season four because we are plann...

Hello everyone, and most especially to Saidah, who emailed us in December 2019 asking about when we were going to record an episode about R.F. Kuang’s The Dragon Republic. Saidah, we’re only a year late, but that time is now! If y’all need to recap the first book in the series, you can check out Episode 15 of the podcast in which we discussThe Poppy War.  Full disclosure: this series is not YA and Kelly uses verbal air quotes an embarrassing number of times in the episode. You’ve been warned. Enjoy! Content Warning for discussions of genocide, sexual assault, drug use and other instances of extreme violence.  This isn’t the first time we have bemoaned the lack of maps and accessory visual content in audiobooks. Can’t we get a 1-page pdf or something?! R.F. Kuang is Chinese-American but more importantly, here’s her bio in her own words: “Rebecca F. Kuang is a Marshall Scholar, translator, and the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award nominated author of the Poppy War trilogy. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale” (source: author’s website) For more from Ibram X. Kendi on the concept of “uplift suasion” and for a general EDUCATION, check out the book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.  If you aren’t already following NO WHITE SAVIORS (@nowhitesaviors) on instagram, please check yourself and go do that now. Some resources for further learning re: why we shouldn’t fetishize so-called American Democracy “The Savage US Constitution” episode of the Red Nation Podcast featuring Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (author of An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, among many other works) is an excellent deep-dive into the immensely violent settler colonial, white supremacist, patriarchal foundations of the US constitution, a document that gets soooo revered. For more on the CIA’s specific role in the history of US imperialism and colonialism and the country’s whole problem of coups and puppet democracies, check out the following episode of Revolutionary Left Radio: “Guerrilla Warfare: Washington Bullets with Vijay Prashad” 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 or #thelibrarycoven. 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 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. The Library Coven 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) #LandBack. 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.

And just like that series 11 (or collection 8 for us folks in the US) is over. It was so much fun to have this during this fairly terrible time, and we hope you’ve all enjoyed listening to our ramblings about the show. Now time for a re-watch! [gif of Matt waving to Noel] 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. The Library Coven 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

Tune in for our ramblings on the chaos that was patisserie week! Alas, this season of GBBO is almost over *crying emoji*  Almost no notes this time! But here’s that tweet Kelly mentions.

Hello, coven! This week we’re discussing Wayward Witch, the third and final (?) book in the Brooklyn Brujas series by Zoraida Córdova. You can check out our episodes about Labyrinth Lost and Bruja Born if you need a refresher about what happened in the earlier books! Which was your favorite of the series? What would be your sinmago power be? Full episode transcript below or access the transcript PDF And now, onward to the notes (of which there are very few this week)! The audiobook was narrated by Almarie Guerra “When people show you who they are” quote is from Dr. Maya Angelou The Body Keeps the Score [gif of Thor looking intense and being super hot] 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. The Library Coven 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 The Library Coven. Episode 42 (posted December 1, 2020)  Wayward Witch by Zoraida Córdova transition [00:00:03] jaunty string and harpsichord music plays. jessie [00:00:03] Hello! And welcome to the Library Coven, 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 [00:00:18] And I’m Kelly. And in this episode we’re discussing Wayward Witch. We’re back in the Brooklyn Brujas series. This is a third book in the series by Zoraida Córdova. The novel follows the youngest Mortiz sister Rose’s story, finding herself, discovering the extent of her powers and learning more about her family. After her and her dad are transported through a portal to the magical kingdom of Adas, Rose teams up with several magical beings to rid us of the rot, a mysterious pestilence that is overtaking the land. jessie [00:00:48] If you’re not already, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram @TheLibraryCoven. We love chatting with you, magical coven, and we’d love to do it more. Let us know if you have any ideas for things you’d like to add to our feed. Any pictures you’d like us to take or anything you want to know about us. transition [00:01:04] [jaunty string music plays] kelly [00:01:08] Initial reactions. jessie [00:01:10] OK, I’m not gonna to lie because I wouldn’t lie to y’all, but I was a little disappointed with this book. I really love Labyrinth Lost and Bruja Born. And I really love Rose that we get to see in those stories. So I was really excited for Wayward Witch. But it was kind of a travel story, which isn’t my thing. I can see why people would like this story and being in Adas, but it wasn’t my favorite in the trilogy. And I was, I was disappointed.

Hello, Coven! We’re at week eight of Great British Bake Off, and where did the time go!? This week, it’s all things desserts, and a very unusual technical. Who do you think is making it to the final? Just a few notes: compote is “a dessert originating from medieval Europe, made of whole or pieces of fruit in sugar syrup. Whole fruits are cooked in water with sugar and spices. The syrup may be seasoned with vanilla, lemon or orange peel, cinnamon sticks or powder, cloves, other spices, ground almonds, grated coconut, candied fruit or raisins. The compote is served either warm or cold.” –  Wikipedia entry for compote coulis is “is a form of thin sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits”  -Wikipedia entry for coulis apricots are in season in the US from May to July – Food Network Reasons you cheesecake might crack from Bake From Scratch and why it might have a well from The Spruce Eats J called it Surrey Pond Pudding, but it is Sussex Pond Pudding, and here is a recipe from Prue herself (a vegetarian version) Prue also writes books that are not cookbooks! ^ this is how I was feeling through the whole episode [gif of Prue looking exasperated and raising her hands to her temples like “wtf are you doing?!”] 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. The Library Coven 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

ahoy, bakers and reader/listeners! This season of GBBO is nearly over (NOOOOOO), but we’re still excited to share this bonus ep with y’all. We talk quiche, donuts, and ice cream cake. Oh, and Jessie gives us a lesson on air fryers. Enjoy! [gif of Mel and Nadia holding up index and pinky fingers – metal!]