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"Join Me" by Danny Wallace. The byline was that it was a book about how he started a cult by accident. Which he didn't. He did it on purpose. It was the most self-indulgent pile of pants imaginable. I only kept reading it to see whether his girlfriend dumped him. She did.

"Join Me" by Danny Wallace. The byline was that it was a book about how he started a cult by accident. Which he didn't. He did it on purpose. It was the most self-indulgent pile of pants imaginable. I only kept reading it to see whether his girlfriend dumped him. She did.

Tee hee, I actually loved this book, and became a joinee! I even went to a join me meet in London where we gave presents to strangers!! I met Danny!

I agree though that he did not start the cult by accient, is it even a cult?!?

Helsbells wrote:

"Join Me" by Danny Wallace. The byline was that it was a book about how he started a cult by accident. Which he didn't. He did it on purpose. It was the most self-indulgent pile of pants imaginable. I only kept reading it to see whether his girlfriend dumped him. She did.

Tee hee, I actually loved this book, and became a joinee! I even went to a join me meet in London where we gave presents to strangers!! I met Danny!

I agree though that he did not start the cult by accient, is it even a cult?!?

I think to really be a cult he would need to promise salvation and fleece believers of their worldly goods, which - to be fair - he did not.

Ignore me Hels: I am just a sour, humourless, old git

sleepyowl
Post subject: Re: Books to avoid

Generally any books published by Llewelyn as it is a bunch of fluffy headed I talk to dragons nonesense that gives Pagans a rediculous reputation

That isn't strictly true. Sure, there are a fair few books published by Llewellyn that would fall into that category, but there are also many excellent titles. What I do object to with them is that many of their books tend to recycle the same old stuff over and over.

Ok ocailleagh I'll throw down the gauntlet for you to name some as I have read many & ended up selling most of them to the people who like spelling magic with a k on the end

Sleepyowl I dont like the "magik" books much either.I think I belong mostly in the northern tradition .I also find a lot of books on all subjects are a triumph of style over content.This is where the library wins hands down,you take the books back.

Gauntlet eh? Okelydokely then...

From a random sampling of the Llewellyn books in my library:

The 'Crone's Books' by Valerie Worth. 4/5. Full of interesting info, some fanciful stuff too, but she was a poet rather than a magickian of any kind.

'Sons of the Goddess' by Christopher Penczak. 3/5. Loses points for being rather basic, but still pretty damned good.

'The Pagan Family' by Ceisiwr Serith. 5/5. Though I'd probably give it 10/5 if I actually had a family with which to try the stuff in it.

'Embracing the Moon'/'Dancing with the Sun' by Yasmine Galenorn. 3/5. Some 'fluffiness', but good info nonetheless.

'Covencraft'/'Ritualcraft'/'True Magick (revised edition)' by Amber K. 5/5. Excellent books.

'Druid Magic' by Sutton and Mann. 4/5. Only loses a point for being a little too US-centric.

'Green Witchcraft' sequence of books by Ann Moura. 3/5. Some repetition, some dodgy historical stuff, but otherwise an excellent overview of her trad.

'Temple of Witchcraft' sequence by Christopher Penczak. 5/5. Still awaiting the final book of the series so it could still lose points, but based on these and most of his others, I doubt it. A thorough and well planned series of lessons, from the ground up. The one bugbear I have with his books is the occasional Laurie Cabot-worship.

'Silver Broomstick' sequence (including the BoS for Solitaries) by Silver RavenWolf. 3/5. Loses points for repetiton and for the change from 'basic Witchcraft book' to 'Wicca for teens' kinda vibe that creeps in through the series. I'm anticipating that you'll leap on her more than you will the others I've mentioned since she appears to have been vilified by a great deal of internet Pagans, so I'll get right in there and say that apart from the points I make above, I think that her books are pretty much a great place for the beginner to start. She teaches a responsible attitude, covers a great deal of ground, and generally explains things well.

One Llewellyn author I won't buy however, is Edain McCoy. I do have a few of her earlier books, from my naive early teens (I'm 32 now), but there's little chance of my buying more...if she's still even writing.

And as for complaining about people who spell 'magick' with a 'k', well that kinda comes across like you're spelling 'Witch' with a 'b'. Which is a little ridiculous ;-)

Occailleagh, The comment about witch with a b does not apply to me Iam a cat
I own 3 "pagan" books but have shelves of technical stuff.
None of your list has shown up in our local library which is a pity as I would most certainly read them but I havent found any deep feeling of connection to any authors work so far.
I do buy books but have to really need the information before I open my purse so the workshop manual for my van is a more "tiggyish" choice

Tiggyish, I like that :-)
I think the only ones from my list that I feel any kind of connection to would be Penczak and Amber K. Thats not to say I agree with everything they have to say, but their worldviews seems a little closer to mine than most.

Don't bother with Silver Ravenwolf unless you can get hold of a copy of American Folk Magic the only accurate book she has written & possibly the hardest one to get hold of in this country (I can can pull her books apart quite easily with the inaccuracies that she writes, very much the same with Kate West, who runs the fluffy brigade) & Sorry to be more of a fan of Prof Ronald Hutton

I've been looking out for that one actually :-) There's a great deal of her work that I've not read, but the ones I have are pretty accurate. The history stuff is a little hazy I believe, but the magickal info is fine.
I think I have Kate West's kitchen witch book...even that was lightweight :-s
Ron's a lovely bloke though, he's a friend of my HPs :-) Its always so weird when he pops up on tv!

Any book that is a list of great / must visit website - completely missing the point and a waste of paper.

Fresh Food from Small Spaces by R. J. Ruppenthal.

My kids bought this for me as a Mother's day present, and I am gutted to say that I learn't nothing new from it. It gives only the very very basic information on things, then refers you to other books. The only area of slight interest to me was the mushroom growing section. But then he states that this is a very costly exercise, and unless you are going to grow lots to sell its not worth it.

Very sad to say I think its a waste of money.

A pink book called something like 'how to sew your own clothes' or 'make your own clothes' something like that.

Basically, it's what to do with teeshirts to 'individualise' them - cutting them, sewing bits on, taking bits off. There's no actual 'making' your own clothes, only changing old ones

Seaweed and Eat It, by Fiona Houston and Xa Milne.

Utterly useless and totally nauseating!

I bought it because I though it would give me practical instruction on gathering, cleaning, and cooking mussels, whelks, shrimps etc etc.

What a disappointment!

It was just chock of poncy photos of them (and their stupidly named children) swanning about in Cath Kidston Wellies, thinking "how great are we?!" and in between there was the occasional bit of sickening saccharine text boasting about how little Tarquin-Iolanthe (or whatever) hand wove his own tofu for the salad. There may have been some useful stuff in there but I just couldn't face wading through the smugness.

A total pile of w*nk.