Literay Intention (January-February)

For several years in January I wander over to Goodreads and set an annual reading challenge with the intention of this being the year I will fully meet that goal of 30….work is busy, drop it down to 25….there are concerts and events that I will totally go to, drop to 20….oh, look a 6 week course on medieval Paganism….let’s drop that goal to 15.

Perhaps that’s an exaggeration but it holds true – January me wants to hit 30 books for the year. There are bouts of hours of reading and then there are days where not a page is turned. So I’m making a commitment to go back to read and share – just like the old days.

January

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale by Joe R. Lansdale – I like a good horror short story anthology and this one was full of total weirdness and disquieting images…good, strange, haunting horror.

Magic Maker: The Enchanted Path to Creativity by Pam Grossman – To be fair I started this in 2025 and I don’t think I’ve annotated a book so much – not even in college (annotating with sticky notes, cannot bring myself to mark up a book with pencil or gasp, pen). That is the power of the content of this work about the connection between creative and magic, whatever form that takes for you. Had more than a few instances of synchronicity while reading this one. Very insightful and inspiring.

February

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson – Wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this one about witches who are very much a part of the modern world but mostly hidden from the mundanes. There are some very powerful characters and all manner of magical war is on full display. Juno Dawson doesn’t keep this a cozy story of sister witches fighting the evils of the modern world. It gets dark and I really enjoyed that. Not that there aren’t some touching moments and the found family is a good part of the story. The ending…oh my. I plan to start book 2 this month so I don’t forget anything.

That’s it for now. March recap to follow in about 3 weeks. I have high hopes for this month if I don’t get too distracted by Resident Evil 9, taking a course one day a week, building a lego vampire castle…..and welcoming Spring.

© 2026, Denise Pasutti