‘How to Die in the 21st Century’, a gentle primer
A review of Hannah Gould’s How to Die in the 21st Century, an accessible Australian introduction to death, dying, funerals, and end-of-life planning.
Books
‘I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness’
Book review of Irene Solà’s I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness, a graphic magical realist novel about cursed women, folklore and death in Catalonia.
A tarot reader’s review of ‘The Castle of Crossed Destinies’
A tarot reader’s review of Italo Calvino’s The Castle of Crossed Destinies, exploring its two-part structure, what works and what didn’t quite land.
Strange and wounded: a review of ‘The Wax Child’
A review of The Wax Child by Olga Ravn and Martin Aitken, exploring witchery and witch trials in Denmark during the 1600s through the lens of a wax doll.
The best books I read in 2025
A year of books on animism, Hermetic philosophy, science and contemplation, witch trials, and the complex histories of magic across cultures and traditions.
Altered Traits: Meditation and the mind, brain, and body
A review of Altered Traits, which looks at the science of meditation and what it reveals (and doesn’t) about its effects on the mind, brain, and body.