Forgotten Favorites: The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno; A Darkly Comic and Poignant Look Into The Adult Life of Encyclopedia Brown

Forgotten Favorites: The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno; A Nostalgic and Darkly Comic Book About The Adult Life of Encyclopedia Brown

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Anyone who grew up between the 1970’s-’90’s remembers Encyclopedia Brown, the series of juvenile detective books by Donald Sobol. For those that don't, an explanation will be needed. Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown (Yes, Sobol named him after the Jim Croce song)  was the 10-year-old son of the Chief of Police in Idaville, Florida. He had an eidetic memory and was himself an amateur detective. (The book would usually describe Encyclopedia’s head as being like an encyclopedia or a library but usually add something like “his pals said he was better than a library. At least they could take him fishing.”)

The books were very formulaic in nature. The crimes never involved dark subjects like murder. Usually, theft and kidnapping were as felonious as they got. The first chapter of each book involves Encyclopedia solving a crime for his father at the dinner table. The second usually concerned Encyclopedia's Detective Agency (Mysteries solved for a quarter-” no case too small”.) where he solves a case for a local child usually involving Bugs Meany, local bully and leader of a group of tough boys called the Tigers. (The narration often suggested other names for the gang: “They should have called themselves The Umbrella Carts because they always pulled something shady.”) The third chapter usually featured another crime caused by Bugs but Encyclopedia is aided by his friend/assistant/bodyguard Sally Kimball, the prettiest and toughest girl in the fifth grade and who beat Bugs up once. The other chapters concerned with other cases. One would be sure to focus on Wilfred Wiggins, high school dropout and con artist who planned some scheme to bilk kids out of their money. (One of these adventures contains the immortal lapse in logic from Encyclopedia, one that I often quote: “I wouldn't believe him if he swore he were lying.”) Each mystery contains a purposely contradictory clue to which Encyclopedia latches on to solve the mystery. The final pages are answers to the mystery to explain how Encyclopedia solved it. For example Bugs Meany claim to sell an inscribed Civil War sword from Robert E. Lee to Stonewall Jackson after the First Battle of Bull Run. The answer would reveal that Encyclopedia knew it was a fake because Lee, a Confederate general, would have called it the “Battle of Manassas.” Not to mention that the sword said “First Battle of Bull Run” before there would have been a Second Battle of Bull Run.

Of course nowadays some have argued the logic behind Encyclopedia's observations. TV Tropes has devoted two sections specifically for Encyclopedia Brown: Conviction by Contradiction (AKA "Bugs Meany is Gonna Walk") in which other explanations could be offered for the clue. (If a professional fails to use professional jargon, it may not necessarily mean that they are a phony because they don't appear to know it. They may have forgotten or dumbed down their dialogue to speak in layman's terms.) and Conviction by Conterfactual Clue (AKA "Encyclopedia Browned") in which the claim itself is wrong (In one case Encyclopedia deduced that someone committed a crime because "thunder always happens before lightening." While scientifically that is true, an approaching thunderstorm can be close enough that thunder and lightning seem to occur simultaneously.)

Many Readers probably enjoyed the books and possibly dreamed of starting their own detective agencies. (This Reader certainly did.) Of course in real life, mysteries aren't always solved by simple deduction and not by super genius kids. Sometimes they are messy, dark, and have no solution. The Readers also didn't always account for what would happen to Encyclopedia Brown, or the many other kid and teen detectives like Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and others, when they are faced with these real world mysteries and after they grow up and realize the world around them is complicated and unsolvable.

Joe Meno wrote this possibility in his  novel, The Boy Detective Fails. It is nostalgic in that it explores the wondrous adventurous spirit of these childhood detective stories but takes a swerve into dark comedy by revealing the disturbing adult world as the young detective ages.

Billy Argo, the book’s answer to Encyclopedia Brown, has a proud history of solving mysteries since age 10. His walls are fitted with newspaper clippings of mysteries solved by him, his best friend, Fenton, and younger sister, Caroline. Billy acquired quite the reputation of a boy genius detective until he attended college.

While Billy was away at college, Caroline committed suicide. Grief stricken and anxious about the reasons behind his sister's death, Billy attempted suicide. Instead of following his sister in death, Billy is institutionalized for ten years in a psychiatric hospital. He emerges from the hospital, a cynical and bitter thirty-year-old man hiding from his mystery-solving youthful self.

But mysteries don't hide from Billy forever and he can't resist looking for answers when something unsolvable happens right in front of him. He encounters two children, science fair prodigy, Effie Mumford and her selectively mute brother, Gus. The kids are concerned about the death of their beheaded pet rabbit. So once again the Former Boy Detective is called into action.

There are little passages that lovers of these juvenile mysteries will smile at. While Billy is certainly a prototype of Encyclopedia, Caroline is cleverly pitched to the opposite extreme from the feisty tomboy, Sally. Instead, Caroline is a very feminine young lady who wears pretty dresses, studies French, and transcribed the mysteries with her girlish handwriting in her white and gold diary. At least she is that way, until she attempts to solve a mystery on her own without Billy. She emerges from a violent encounter as a bedridden Goth girl dressed in black listening to sad songs until her death.

Other characters and situations are familiar to fans of juvenile mysteries. One female character, Violet Dew is clearly based on Nancy Drew and a pair of brothers emerge that bear a strong resemblance to Frank and Joe Hardy. Even the chapter titles are based on these mysteries called “The Case of X,” such as “The Case of the Brown Bunny.”

The book is filled with odd moments that explore this gruesome and bizarre world. Billy  solves mysteries that would have given Encyclopedia nightmares. He is surrounded by serial murders, corrupt political figures, and criminals that do bad things simply because they want to. It's a much darker world that was found than in good old Idaville.

There are some very bizarre moments as well. Besides the Mumford's Headless Rabbit, there are buildings that instantly vanish (leading to a conspiracy of villains.) Billy discovers that one of his former arch- enemies is staying in the same group home that he is. At times, this book is almost like an acid trip into a children's adventure book.

Besides the weirdness, there is real depth with the characters. Billy bonds with the Mumford children becoming a mentor/big brother to them. While he is stuck in a boring job as a telemarketer selling wigs, he sympathizes with many of the customers who are often sick or disfigured. He also becomes enamored with Penny Maple, a widowed kleptomaniac who can no more stop stealing than Billy can stop being a detective.

The strongest emotional crux is with Billy looking for answers to Caroline’s suicide. Caroline is a ghost haunting Billy throughout the book as he reads her diary and asks questions about why she would do it. Ignoring the advice of his psychiatrist that he can't bear not having answers, he pursues his investigation into Caroline's motives.

When he traces Caroline's final case and comes face to face with the violent crime that resulted in Caroline's suicide, Billy learns a truth that the child detective doesn't know but the embittered adult does: Some questions are better left unanswered and some cases are better left unsolved.

Weekly Reader: The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho; A Magical Dark Novel About Goddess Worship With A Beguiling Mysterious Protagonist

Weekly Reader: The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho; A Magical Dark Novel About Goddess Worship With A Beguiling Mysterious Protagonist

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoiler: Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Witch of Portobello could be a Spiritual Successor or an Unofficial Sequel to his Brida. While Brida is a beautiful story about a young woman taking her first initiative steps into becoming a witch, The Witch of Portobello features a woman who not only begins training as a witch. She goes beyond her training to becoming a leader and teacher of others, even beginning her own religious movement.

I am not spoiling anything by revealing that Sherine “Athena” Khalil, the eponymous Witch is dead. That is revealed in the beginning of the book. The book contains various first person narratives of who Athena was and how she affected the people around her. Like Rashomon, each person brings their own biases and agendas into the book creating a protagonist who is enigmatic, charismatic, and who could be an enlightened being, a troubled lunatic, or a conniving fraud. It depends on the narrators’ points of view and your own.

What is known about Athena makes for interesting reading as Coelho dissects her the way he does his other protagonists like Santiago, Veronika, and Brida. Athena was born in Romania to an unwed Romany mother and was adopted by Samira R. Khalil and her husband, a well-to-do Lebanese couple. While they name her Sherine, they are aware of Anti-Middle Eastern sentiment and suggest that she get her name changed.

Overhearing her uncle mention Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, young Sherine decides that is to be her name. This passage involving Athena's name change foreshadows Athena's interest in shaping others, almost the world, to fit her needs and her connections to a Higher Power that she believes is directing her actions.

Athena is often seen as a woman who is always searching for some deeper meaning and purpose to her life. One character described her as “a woman of the twenty-second century living in the twenty-first and made no secret about that fact.” In other words, she is someone who sees beyond her physical world and has a hard time living in it.

Athena bounces through several jobs until she settles on working at a bank for a time. She marries quickly to an engineering student, Lukas Jessen-Petersen, not out of love or desire  but so she can become a mother. It is no surprise that two years after giving birth to her son, Viorel, they get divorced.

She goes to Catholic Church but when she is denied communion because of her divorce she walks out in a fury. The priest is adamant at first but after Athena and Viorel leave his church, he dreams that he sees Jesus Christ who says “It has been a long time since they let me in (the Church).” revealing that strict dogma in the male-dominated church had replaced love and forgiveness that Jesus spoke about.

Athena comes into her own when she takes direction in her life through three passages which explores an eventual connection to Spirituality and Goddess Worship. The first passage is when she joins her landlord in a dancing ritual. This dance gives her a fresh perspective and connection to a Higher Power. She is so influenced by the dance that she leads her co-workers at the bank into dancing sessions. At first the dancing confuses her manager. But, when he sees how happy and centered his employees are, he relents and she begins engaging her colleagues in dancing sessions at the beginning of each day. This shows her growing influence over others.

The second and third passages happen when she takes a trip to Romania to meet her birth family and rediscover her roots. First, she is reunited with her birth mother who introduces her to the concept of Goddess Worship by referring to St. Sarah, the patron saint of the Romany. Second, she meets Dr. Deirdre “Edda”O’Neil who teaches Athena to embrace her inner wisdom and intuition.

Athena takes to those lessons so well that when she returns to London, she reshapes herself into a teacher and guru. She begins teaching classes by channeling a spirit called Hagia Sofia who answers deep questions that Athena's friends and students ask. She also leads them in dance and meditation courses to awaken the Goddesses inside themselves.

This is when Athena becomes unclear to the people around her and she becomes a target of controversy and suspicion. Her meetings in Portobello Road, London (a street in London famous for its street markets) become the target of protests headed by Rev. Ian Banks, a Christian Conservative who protests what he calls “the Satanic heart of England.’

Athena also encounters uncertainty within her inner circle. Herron Ryan, a skeptical journalist who first encounters Athena in Romania while he is researching a documentary on the history of Dracula, is curious about Athena's following and drawn by her charisma. He is both suspicious of and enchanted by her.

Another Narrator that is equally appalled and fascinated with Athena is Andrea McCain, an actress and one of Athena's students. She doesn't like Athena as a person. Andrea thinks she is a neglectful mother to Viorel and a slut who makes a habit of seducing other men particularly Andrea's boyfriend, Herron. Though she doesn't like Athena personally, Andrea relates to the meetings and finds them effective.

Because we get multiple narratives but not Athena's, we are left wondering who she is. Is Hagia Sofia real? Is she a con artist trying to get money from lost souls? Is she a cult leader buying into her own hype and obtaining a Goddess complex? We don't know and that's what makes her so fascinating.

Her death is also mysterious. It gets one line of mention with no foreshadowing beforehand so no one knows exactly who killed her and why. An epilogue gives a possible solution but still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. With a character like Athena who is shrouded in mystery, a conventional ending would have been anticlimactic. Instead she leaves the book just as she entered: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

Like Brida, Coelho uses a lot of Goddess and magic imagery to describe his lead character. To use Goddess terms, Brida is the Maiden, the young innocent beginning her lessons and discovering her path. Athena would be the Mother, an experienced woman in the prime of her life both literally to Viorel and figuratively to her followers as she guides them in their sessions. Now all we need is for Coelho to write a book about an older woman to be the Crone. Then he could turn his duo of magical ladies into a trio.

Weekly Reader: After Alice by Gregory Maguire; Sequel to the Alice Tale Lacks Sparkle, Magic, and Alice

Weekly Reader: After Alice by Gregory Maguire; Sequel To The Alice Tale Lacks Sparkle, Magic, and Alice

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: There's an episode of Mad Men in which the characters watch an ad for Patio soft drink which features a jingle parodying the opening to the movie musical, Bye Bye Birdie complete with an Ann-Margaret look-alike caterwauling the jinglized version of the opening song. The client and advertisers look at it and say, “It's not right. The song's right. The camera angle’s right. The setting’s right. But something’s not right. Something's missing, what is it?” Sterling-Cooper’s womanizing Accounts Director, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) comes up with the answer. “(The look-alike) isn't Ann-Margaret.”

That's exactly how I feel about Gregory Maguire's novel, After Alice. Maguire has made an excellent career of deconstructing popular fairy tales and children's literature to give them a fresh perspective. His OZ Quartet/Wicked Years is probably his best known work. They retell the story of L. Frank Baum’s OZ books from the points of view of Brr, The Cowardly Lion and particularly Elphaba, the presumed Wicked Witch of the West and her family including her son, Liir and granddaughter, Rain. The original and best novel of the series, Wicked, was also the source of the popular Tony winning musical of the same name. Maguire also took a hand at retelling Cinderella (Confessions from an Ugly Stepsister), Snow White (Mirror, Mirror) and A Christmas Carol (Lost). In his most recent work, Maguire tackles Lewis Carroll’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. But unfortunately unlike many of his other works, Maguire suffers a major misstep in his writing.

To paraphrase the advertisers in Mad Men, something is missing. The world is right, the Wonderland characters are right, the wordplay is present (Several times the riddle “when is a door not a door?” “When it's a jar” is repeated once literally), and even the oddities of size and depth perception that marks the journey as a Dreamworld are there. But something Isn't there. The protagonists are not Alice.

Now I am biased, I will admit that Alice is one of my favorite literary characters, probably my favorite female literary character. So I take great care in observing how other authors and filmmakers portray her. In Carroll's books, she is a bright, inquisitive, imaginative young girl even before she enters Wonderland. She is fond of pretending to be two people, gives herself very good advice but seldom follows it, engages in games of “Let's Pretend”, and rambles off as much nonsense as the Wonderland residents. (unsure of what Latitude and Longitude are but “finds them grand words to say.”) She also has some pretty strong character flaws such as stubbornness, a quick temper, and a willingness to argue with anyone even authority figures. (Queen of Hearts: Hold your tongue. Alice: I won't!). In other words, she is just as interesting a character as are the eccentric creatures of Wonderland.

That’s why the protagonists of After Alice are so disappointing. There is no spark nor fire to them. They are dull gray protagonists in a world that screams for a lead that is as bright and vibrant as the world around her.

Alice is missing throughout the Maguire book, on her Magical Mystery Tour. So her place is filled with two characters who had minor roles in Carroll's book: Alice's older sister, Lydia (the one who read “a book without pictures or conversations” at the beginning and started Alice off on her journey) and Ada, a friend of Alice's who gets one mention in the original book. (When Alice is trying to figure out who she is, she is certain that she's not Ada “for Ada's hair goes into ringlets and (Alice's) hair doesn't go into ringlets at all.”) Ada is determined to find Alice who she considers her best friend and Lydia, well Lydia, is concerned about her sister but also wants to catch the eye of her father's house guest, Mr. Winter.

There's nothing wrong with retelling a story through the supporting character’s point of view, in fact I love it. Last year I wrote a list of “Our Sides of the Story: Favorite Books and Stories Told From Alternate Points of View.” (Both Wicked and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister are on that list). But like any other protagonist, the author can't just rely in name recognition. They have to give them their own story, their own motives or the book just becomes a rehash of the original and the Reader is left wondering why bother writing it.

The problems with Ada and Lydia are there is nothing there that is interesting. Ada gets to see Wonderland but the beginning tells us that she is a sensible girl, a vicar's daughter, so she doesn't interact or engage with the Wonderland residents in a way that is meaningful. It seems more like Maguire wanted the Reader to say “Oh look there's the Walrus and the Carpenter!” “There's the White Queen” rather than, “What is Ada going to do with them?” While there are some interesting aspects to Ada's character (She is consistently described as a “large and heavy girl” and she has a limp which implies she has some physical and psychological issues.).

There are also some clever references to the original book such as Ada bringing the orange marmalade that Alice finds while falling through the rabbit hole. (and doesn't drop for “fear of killing somebody underneath.”).

However unlike her predecessor, Ada is extremely dull: an ineffectual tour guide to a world we already know about.

Lydia’s half of the book is even worse. Because Lydia doesn't visit Wonderland herself, there is almost no purpose to her story. Her infatuation with Mr. Winter seems more to spring from the comedy of manners from Jane Austen rather than the satiric nonsense of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. She goes to humorous extremes to get Mr. Winter’s attention including befriending Winter’s African-American ward, Siam and considering Ada’s governess, Mrs. Armstrong, a rival for his affections. Like Ada, Lydia has some interesting traits such as taking a maternal role towards her younger sister after the death of their mother, which she determines as a reason that Alice behaves so flighty and wild. (It makes perfect sense.) But Lydia's story is more of a distraction to add more pages to the book than to serve any real purpose. Not to mention, Lydia’s relationship with Mr. Winter doesn't really go anywhere in the end so there's almost no reason for it.

There are a few new Wonderland characters like a Tin Ballerina and a Tin Bear that seem to belong more to OZ than Wonderland. Even Queen Victoria has a cameo to engage in a first person plural “Royal We” conversation with Ada. But these characters are out of place in Wonderland's milieu.

The only interesting original character is Siam. A former American slave, the young boy was freed and unofficially adopted by Winter who is almost suffocatingly overprotective of the boy. After accidentally falling down the rabbit hole and running into Ada, he learns to embrace a childlike nature and falls in love with the place. The resolution to his story is extremely open ended, but he makes the choice that many Readers of Carroll's book no doubt wish they could.

I had such high hopes for this book. I really wanted to love it. As mentioned Wicked and Confessions are among my favorite books that tell stories from Alternate Points of View. (though I can't say the same for the other Wicked Years books.) Mirror Mirror takes an interesting historic perspective to Snow White. Of course as I said I absolutely love the original Alice books.

But After Alice was a true disappointment. There was no magic to the tale. Not enough nonsense. Not enough Alice.

Classics Corner: Drawing Down The Moon: Witches, Druids. Goddess-Worshipers and Other Pagans in America by Margot Adler; The Ultimate History of Neo-Paganism

Classics Corner: Drawing Down The Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshipers and Other Pagans in America by Margot Adler; The Ultimate History of Neo-Paganism

Pagans have had a mostly bad reputation. There are many who call them witches and fear them believing they worship the Devil. Those that are not afraid, ridicule and mock them believing that they are just play acting scenes from Harry Potter and worship beings that don't exist. NPR producer/correspondent and author, Margot Adler did much to open the public's perceptions of Neo-Paganism in her book, Drawing Down The Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshipers and Other Pagans in America. She helped the public see Neo-Paganism as a unique religion that brings it's followers closer to nature, helps them relate to the ancient Gods and Goddesses of the past, and maintain their individuality in a society bound by largely Abrahamic religious dogma.

Adler explores both the murky history of the following and the variations of the spiritual practice in its many forms and identities. (Much like Christianity can be divided into other denominations like Catholicism, Baptist, Lutherans, and Methodists and so on.)
The book is a fascinating read in recounting the history, teachings, philosophies, mythologies, and the individuals who practice them. The key is diversity, Adler believed, “The open message of Drawing Down The Moon has always been that the spiritual is like the natural world-only diversity will save it.”

Diversity is a key theme to the book and to Neo-Paganism itself. Most Pagans subscribe to what is called the Wiccan Rede: If it harms none,do what thou will or to put it simply “Whatever works for you.”
However, there are many groups that take a high-handed approach to their members and other movements. You never want to go to a Pagan festival and mistake a Gardnerian for an Alexandrian or vice verse at least not if you don't have two hours to kill. And if I have heard the term “fluffy bunny pagan” once I’ve heard it a hundred times.
But unfortunately, it is human nature that any movement is going to have it's different distinctions, large egos, and plenty of arguments over who is doing it “the right correct way” and who isn't.
But the Neo-Pagan religions are known for having members who adapted their practice, accepted various theories, and added their own touches. Many Pagans are nothing if not creative.

Even the origins are often under suspicion and confusion. Originally many Pagans believed the s-called Pagan Myth in which the current incarnation is simply the latest in a long line of an organized pre-Christian nature religion which worshiped a Mother Goddess and her consort a Horned God. This is based on the theory that many artifacts from different countries which would have had little contact with each other had the same small carvings of a goddess, a full figured woman in a seated position like the Venus of Willendorf.
When Christianity became the prime European religion, at first they adapted to the current Pagan religions by assimilating their symbols and standards. God and Goddess figures transformed into Saints, like Ireland's Brigid. Dates were moved to celebrate Christian alternatives to existing Pagan holidays such as Jesus's birth being declared December 25th to compete with Saturnalia and Yule, already holidays celebrated at the time.
Eventually the Catholic Church became less willing to cooperate with the pre-existing religions and created the Inquisition a period of over 200 years called “The Burning Times” in which over 9 million particularly women were executed, imprisoned, tortured, or exiled.
However despite the public scorn and attacks, some families and covens continued their religion in secret passing them orally through the generations. They were finally established as an official religion in 1951 by the decline of the Witchcraft Act in England mostly through the efforts of Wicca founder, Gerald Gardner and his other coven members such as Doreen Valiente.


It's a nice origin story. Too bad much of it is either untrue or unsubstantiated, according to Adler’s book. Many people including Pagans have questioned the veracity of this official story and the sources from which it came. Sources like The Witch-Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Murray, The White Goddess by Robert Graves, and Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland had questionable research or may have been completely fabricated.
While there were of course pre-Christian pagan religions (and certainly the Christian assimilation cannot be disputed), none have been found that worshipped the exact same deities. They had their own figures, customs, and followings. Though some Archetypes and similar figures were featured in many myths and legends.
The numbers of “The Burning Times” victims were smaller than believed closer to 50,000 victims rather than 9 million. Though as one of the interview subjects said in the books “whether it's sixteen or sixty thousand, murder is still murder.” Most certainly believe no matter the final tally that is 9 million or 50,000 too many.

As far as the story about whether the Pagan religion successfully thrived through the Family Traditions (called Fam-Trads by many Pagans) are mostly anecdotal.
Wicca founder, Gerald Gardner said that he learned witchcraft under a mentor, Dorothy Clutterbucket who taught him magic. She may have existed but may not have had anything to do Gardner though more than likely Gardner changed her name.
While there is no proof of an organized Pagan religion before Wicca began, Adler pointed out that many magical organizations like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and plenty of folk religions that practiced magic like Voodoo and Santeria thrived during those times suggesting that there could be some truth to the so-called Pagan Myth. (Not to mention many books and authors expressed what could only be described as very Pagan ideals. Later I intend to compose a Lit List of books with Pagan philosophies and themes. Some of them are rather surprising.)
So there is a chance it may have existed in one form or another just not as conclusive or as organized as the followers of the Pagan Myth believed.

Certainly the most well-known Pagan religion is Wicca, a largely nature based religion in which it's practitioners worship mostly a Mother Goddess and Father God, celebrate eight holidays called Sabbats that are based on the yearly cycle, and practice magic or chant to the deities to allow things to happen. The book is quick to point out that it's not the only one.
Wicca itself has different divisions. There are Gardnerians who follow the procedures laid out by Gardner. (including the specific number of coven members and that they must practice skyclad or nude.) Alexandrians followed the teachings of Alexander Sanders with an emphasis on ceremonial magic. Raymond Buckland started the Saex Wicca in which fed up with the other Traditions claiming they were the oldest, Buckland cleverly responded his was “the youngest."
There are Wiccan practices which are solely practiced by women like the Dianics and men like the Minoan Brotherhood. In both cases, the branches were formed because members were uncomfortable with the Great Rite ritual only emphasizing the heterosexual union of the Goddess and God or the duality imagery of male/female, Goddess/God practiced by other forms of Wicca.
Dianics such as Z. Budapest's Susan B. Anthony Coven focus almost exclusively on the Goddess and her roles as Mother, Creator, Healer, Lover, and Warrior. The Minoan Brotherhood mostly consists of gay men who use the practice to explore their sexuality and the dual nature within themselves.

Adler explored these many forms expertly showing them as individuals and recognizing their differences as well as their similarities such as thirsts for knowledge through study and commitment to causes like Environmentalism and Feminism.
One glaring omission Adler left out in the book were Solitary Wiccans, those who practice without a coven. Usually they have to make things up as they go along and get information from the assistance of books from authors like Scott Cunningham. (I speak from personal experience.)

Adler explored other Neo-Pagan followings besides Wicca. Many of them worship the old gods but bring them to a modern sensibility. The members of The Church of Eternal Source worship the Egyptian gods and goddesses in elaborate ceremonial rituals where they dress in traditional costumes and robes. They are known for using many Egyptian rituals and practices, but adapting them to modern times. For example, while they respect the ancient Egyptian practice of mummification, instead they cremate their dead.

The Asatru worship the Norse gods. In proving there is no definite in who a Pagan is or what they believe, in contrast to the mostly liberal Wiccans, Asatru, Adler found, were mostly conservative and militaristic and favored more traditional roles for men and women. The Asatru have received some negative connotations over the recent years because since they adopted the ancient Norse symbols like the swastika and the hammer, they have been associated with Neo-Nazis and Anti-Semitic groups. Adler states while some members of the Asatru have an interest in their ethnicity, she implies that it's less of a means of racial superiority than it is to simply explore their family history and cultures. (Though not in Adler's book, an anecdotal and possibly apocryphal tale shows the divisions between the Asatru and Neo-Nazis. According to the story, a group of Neo-Nazis learned that a Pagan coven had planned an outdoor ceremony in a forest. The Neo-Nazis planned on ambushing and attacking the Pagans figuring that since many were pacifists, they wouldn't fight back. Unfortunately the particular Pagan group were Asatru who were ready with knives, swords, and other weapons in hand. One Asatru member with a ceremonial hammer even threatened that if the Neo-Nazis so much as installed or burned a cross, they were going to be nailed to it. Needless to say the Neo-Nazis left without attacking.)

Some of the more unique Pagan religions are the ones that started in very unusual ways. Adler devotes a whole chapter to The Church of All Worlds, a religious movement founded by Oberon and Morning Glory Zell. The Zells were inspired by Robert Heinlein's science fiction novel, A Stranger in a Strange Land in which a native Martian starts a religion on Earth. The practitioners of the Church of All Worlds retain customs from Heinlein's novel like “groking” intuitively passing knowledge to each other and greeting each other with an open palm saying “Thou Art God or Goddess.” While some may question a religion that was inspired by a science fiction novel, many people have cited unusual sometimes fictional or literary means of approaching Paganism.
This Reader certainly has no room to judge. I acknowledge the Disney animated series, Gargoyles as one of the sparks that led me to become fascinated with Shakespeare's plays, Celtic and Greco-Roman mythology, Arthurian legends, and then to Wicca itself.

Another Pagan movement that had a unique origin story is that of the Reformed Druids of North America founded by Isaac Bonewits. The Reformed Druids were created in 1963 at Carleton College as a humorous protest against the college's mandatory religious requirement. Though some members of the RDNA don't consider themselves Pagan, they do have similar beliefs such as a reverence to Nature and an unwillingness to adhere to strict dogma. Even though the movement started as a joke, Bonewits himself became a prominent musician and speaker on Paganism (even though he was known for disagreeing with other prominent Pagans. For example he was one of the most outspoken critics of the Pagan Myth). Bonewits later founded the Arn Draoicht Fein (A Druid Fellowship) which studies the history and practices of the ancient Druids and adapts them to modern society.

Then there are the Discordians, a religion founded by Malaclypse The Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst to worship Eris/Discordia, the Greco-Roman Goddess of Chaos. The Discordians thrive on being a parody and use play, paradox, and pranks in their traditions. (One of their “saints” is Joshua Norton, a man who claimed to be the First Emperor of San Francisco.) Well you don't expect a religion based on the Goddess of Chaos to take itself seriously.

One of the most fascinating chapters explores how Paganism has changed in the 21st century. The stereotype of the Pagan is a peace loving hippy who lives in rural areas and is practically off the grid. Adler found many who fit the stereotype to the letter she also found others who lived opposite ways of life. One pagan mentioned that he meditated to the God and Goddess every morning and evening on his way to and from his job on a military base. Hardly a peace loving hippy, he said his commitment to Paganism allowed him to embrace his warrior side to protect and defend his country.
Many Adler found lived in the cities “That's where the jobs are” one said. Another said people were more accepting towards Pagans in their city.
She also found a surprising number who worked in science and technology particularly in computer programming. Many say that they work in computers because it's a secret world of codes and different languages much like the other worlds many Pagans explore through meditation and ritual.
Others also say that Paganism and Computer jobs attract the same type of people: usually introverted
iconoclasts who are highly intelligent and curious.
In contrast to those who believe Science and Technology will destroy the Earth, many Pagans use their education and experience to study Environmental Science and Zoology to help preserve the environment and Medicine, Education, and Social Sciences to help with humanitarian causes.

Someone may begin reading Drawing Down The Moon with an idea of what they think a witch should be. Once they finish this book, they will realize that there is a lot more. They may even find as many of Adler's interview subjects said, “I always had a religion. I just never knew it had a name.” They may feel like “they are coming home.”

July's Schedule

Okay last month wasn't as good as I hoped, I only posted two reviews and am posting the last two during the first weekend in July. But every month brings new promise. Like I did with last month, this month I am planning on experimenting a little. Because in months past, I often missed a book or two, I won't set the deadlines for when the reviews will be posted. Instead these reviews are scheduled to appear sometime in July hopefully. (Though some may have to be moved if so needed.)

This month there will be two main themes: Magical Realism in Fiction and Non-Fiction and Alternate Looks at Favorite Characters.
 What's the comparison? Well nothing really, except they are both fun ideas. We are going to get a hold-over non-fiction book from last month which is the definitive work about Neo-Paganism in the United States. Then we will explore yet another spiritual journey courtesy of Paulo Coelho. We also explore the first book by the influential and controversial Carlos Castaneda describing his friendship with the enigmatic Don Juan Matus.

We also will look at the world of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland seen through the eyes of a new visitor. We will also explore the teen and adulthood years of some childhood favorites: The Peanuts gang and Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (or characters who strongly resemble them).

So without further ado, here they are, July's reads:

1.Classics Corner:  Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshipers and Other Pagans in North America by Margot Adler

2. Weekly Reader: The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

3. Weekly Reader Bonus: Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal

4.Weekly Reader: After Alice by Gregory Maguire

5. Classics Corner: The Teachings of Don Juan Matus: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda

6. Weekly Reader: The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno

Classics Corner: Imajica by Clive Barker; A Parallel Universe Fantasy That Draws You In and Won't Let Go

Classics Corner: Imajica by Clive Barker; A Parallel Universe Fantasy That Draws You In and Won't Let Go


By Julie Sara Porter,


Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: First I want to thank my sister-in-law Tzyra Andreeva for giving me this wonderful book. It's definitely a great gift.

You don't read a book like Clive Barker’s Imajica. You inhabit it, you immerse yourself into it. The parallel world setting, the magical eccentric characters, the intricate plot and deep themes of religion, gender roles and realizing one’s own identity draw the Reader in and doesn't let them go.

This is the type of book that starts the Reader thinking that it's one thing but early hints show that it becomes a completely different work. Charlie Estabrook, an obsessive Englishman wants to hire an assassin to murder Judith, his soon-to-be-ex-wife and the Reader sits back ready for a psychological thriller. But certain things happen that prove otherwise about the narrative.


There’s the bizarre coincidence that both Judith and her former lover, John Furie Zacharias AKA Gentle can only remember the last ten years of their lives. There's the go-between with Estabrook and the assassin who is murdered by a strange man who not only appears out of thin air but murders the go-between by putting unearthly insects in his mouth that crawl through his skin. Then,there's the passage where the hired assassin,Pie’oh’pah transforms from male to female depending on who is observing it. Well that's horror master Clive Barker, the creator of the Hellraiser and Candyman franchises for you.

Instead of being a conventional thriller or a conventional well just about anything, Imajica reveals itself to be an evocative novel set within five parallel universes. The Universes called the Dominions (Earth is the Fifth Dominion) were connected as one called the Imajica but now have lost those connections. Many sorcerers and magic users have attempted to join the Five Dominions in a ritual called The Reconciliation to no success. Among them, the back story tells us, was a sorcerer who attempted the Reconciliation 2,018 years ago who not only failed but ended up on the wrong end of a cross. (Guess who?) The most recent attempt was made 200 years ago by a Maestro Sartori who failed miserably and made some very magical and destructive decisions that affected the rest of the characters and himself.

What happens next is a road trip through the unique worlds of the other four Dominions. In trying to defend Judith from the eccentric assassin, Gentle begins to bond with it. Soon he and Pie’oh'pah form a friendship and travel to the other Dominions. Pie’oh'pah has its own motives which get revealed later. For Gentle, an art forger and ladies’ man, the trip is to give him direction and possibly some answers for questions that have plagued him for the past ten years.


Meanwhile Judith goes on a magical journey of her own. Astral projection allows her to travel inside the body of a mysterious woman who has been imprisoned in a comatose state for over 100 years inside the home of a member of the Tabula Rasa. They are a secret organization who are driven to destroy any magic users and stop the Reconciliation and aren't particular about the methods to achieve these goals.

The Four Dominions are brilliantly captured in Barker's writing. They are individually characterized with unique details that describe the landscapes. One Dominion is surrounded by a frozen lake with killer tides...literally. Another has a green sky which turns purple at night. Another has a comet for a sun and another has two suns and an immense desert. Another looks like a living city and turns out to be one.

There are also unusual characters in these environments as well. There are human characters with gills, feathers, and fur (some with all three). Pie'oh'pah’s transformations from male to female are illusions to seduce its lovers into thinking that they are seeing their strongest desire. A little girl Huzzah is described as a very ugly girl but is one of the sweetest most adorable characters in the book. There are also frightening characters like the Nullianacs, creatures with hands for heads who devour their enemies. Once the First Dominion is revealed to be a living city, it becomes a thing of nightmares.

Besides describing unique settings, Barker provides brilliant rich characters in the novel, many of whom are more than they seem. The Second Dominion's capital city, Yzordderrex is ruled by the Autarch, a malevolent war mongering tyrant and Quaisoir, his mentally ill wife. In other books, they would be the direct villains of the piece. But Imajica isn't so clearly defined. As Gentle, Judith, The
Autarch and Quaisoir discover they are more connected than they thought, the lines between heroes and villains become blurry making the four very developed.

Judith and Gentle are very developed characters in their struggles throughout the novel to discover their identities. Gentle begins the novel as a dilettante artist who uses his talents to copy other works and hop from one bed to another. His journey through the Dominions becomes one of self-discovery. He and Pie'oh'pah fall in love when Gentle realizes what a loving and loyal creature his companion is. He also embraces some dormant magical abilities which he uses in the protection of his friends and loved ones.


Gentle becomes confused whether his role is to continue the Reconciliation or to stop it. He learns who he once was in a heartbreaking and frightening scene in which he is driven to insanity by the memories of not only his current life but the previous ones before it.
Once he remembers his former identity's cruelties and deceptions, he is determined to make things right in this life. When he confronts Hapexamendios, the God that was the true author of this destruction, Gentle is prepared to face Him to claim his identity for himself.


Judith also goes on her own journey.When she learns that she was created for the purpose of being a romantic object for someone, she seeks to break that pattern to become her own person. Like Gentle, she refuses to remain a plaything for others’ designs.
Judith also discovers some abilities that allow her to free the Goddesses who had been removed by Hapexamendios and The Autarch's theocracy. She recognizes the strength of many of the other female characters and in herself.
It is only when Judith and Gentle are able to accept their former identities and be willing to break their old patterns to become their own people are they able to truly bring completion to the Dominions in a very unique and clever way.

Like his magical characters and setting, Barker weaves a spell on the Reader that captivates them and holds onto them long after the book is closed. That is why this is the best book that I have read this year so far.

Weekly Reader: All The Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation; Put Your Hands Up for the Ultimate Guide to Unmarried Women in 21st Century America

Weekly Reader: All The Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and The Rise of an Independent Nation; Put Your Hands Up For The Ultimate Guide To Unmarried Women in 21st Century America

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Who is gonna rule the world? Single girls!

Okay, I promise I will stop quoting Beyoncé. But Rebecca Traister’s nonfiction book All The Single Ladies gives an account of a growing phenomenon: Unmarried Women who remain unmarried or have late in life marriages.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the number of unmarried women, in 2017, is 53.2 percent, outnumbering married women. According to Traister “For young women, for the first time it is as normal to be unmarried as it is to be married, even if it doesn't always feel that way.”

Since she learned in 2009 that American marriages fell below 50 percent, Traister realized that by the time they hit their mid-thirties many of her female friends remained unmarried. So she began a nearly ten year study of women who no longer required men “to put a ring on it.”

(Okay, okay I'll stop.)

Many single women, such as this Reader, often feel alone when they learn that many of their friends are married, in committed relationships, or have children. Traister says that it is more common than most women realize and that it shouldn't carry the social stigma that it used to.

She wrote, “The vast increase in the number of single women is to be celebrated not because singleness is in and of itself a better or more desirable state than coupledom. The revolution is in the expansion of options.....There are now an infinite number of alternate routes open; they wind around combinations of love, sex, partnership, parenthood, work, and friendship, at different speeds.”

In one chapter, Traister recalls single women who made an impact in history despite taunts that they were “sexless” and the percentages of unmarried women a “dismal spectacle.” Such notables as poet Christina Rossetti, novelists Anne and Emily Bronte and Willa Cather, medical professionals like doctors Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell and nurses like Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale, and social reformers like Jane Addams, Alice Paul, and Susan B. Anthony.

Traister also recognizes figures from the late 20th-early 21st centuries like Anita Hill who accused Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, the fictional television character Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) who had a baby without a husband, and Sandra Fluke who testified about insurance regulations being proposed for buying birth control. All received criticism partly because of their unmarried statuses.

 According to Hill’s autobiography, her single status allowed her “detractors to place 'her as far outside the norms of proper behavior as they could.’” Then vice-president Dan Quayle accused the Murphy Brown storyline as “supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid professional women was mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it another lifestyle choice.”

Fluke also met with antagonism particularly from Right-wing radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh. He called Fluke a “prostitute” and “slut.” A writer at American Spectator called Fluke “The Modern Welfare Queen for the 21st Century.”

Even Oprah Winfrey, the currently highest paid entertainer, keeps getting pestered with questions about when she is going to marry longtime partner, Stedman Graham and have children. “If I had children, they would hate me,”Winfrey said. “They would have ended up on the equivalent of the Oprah show talking about me; because something (in her life) would have to suffer and it probably would’ve been them.” The stories of these and other women in the book reflect that even when single women make great strides in the world, the focus is often on their marital status and why they aren't married. (Imagine how many articles would be wasted about an unmarried female President of the United State’s wardrobe choices and why there's no First Gentleman.)

Traister explores many of the benefits single women have and their current options which are much larger than the days when women had no choice but to wait at home with relatives until she found a husband. Many areas, particularly cities are welcome towards single women. Traister realized this herself while living in Manhattan; she observed a fight between a straight male-female couple. She looked around the restaurant and saw that, except for the fighting couple, she was surrounded by women dining either in pairs or by themselves. A woman eating alone was no longer a peculiar sight, especially in the cities.

“Cities are chock-full of single people, male or female: never married, divorced, widowed and separated,” Traister said. “While more than 25 percent of people across the United States live alone, metropolises like Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Denver boast single dwelling households that compromise more than 40 percent of their total populations.”

Among the reasons that single women chose urban landscapes is because of the variety of careers and people. Even as far back as the 19th century. “... New mills and factories especially in New England, actively recruited young women as cheap labor,” Traister said. “Improvements in infrastructure….made it easier for women to leave rural homes and head to growing cities to work as seamstresses and milliners, governesses, and laundresses.”

Urban life is still an appeal for modern single women, Traister writes because of variety and domestic infrastructure. “In metropolises, women are more likely to find a deep and diverse pool of romantic and sexual prospects, and to encounter a combination of community and anonymity that unburdens them of centuries of behavioral expectations,” she said. “Urban landscapes often physically force people of different classes, genders, races, and religions to mix and meet in the public spaces that they share with each other.”

One of the benefits that single women often have, Traister writes are deeper friendships with other women. After marriage and children, friendships often change as women find little in common with each other or less time to be together. During singlehood, women often find a tight group of friends to form a sisterly bond. (Think of the characters in the show, Sex and the City or the movie, Waiting to Exhale.)

Traister refers to two women, Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow who met at a Gossip Girl viewing party. The two shared a great deal in common including a love of independence. While both are heterosexual, Friedman describes Sow as “(her) emotional support, (her) everything.” The two have made plans for the future, including maintaining their friendship if they relocate.

“It is really important that my co-workers know (Friedman),” Sow said. “...I don't even think I say that she is my best friend because it's so much more to than that to me. She is the person that I talk to every day. She is my person.”

This sentiment “she is my person” is echoed in the series Grey’s Anatomy, created by Shonda Rhimes, an unmarried mother of three. In Grey’s, two female doctors share a close friendship and refer to each other as “my person.” Friedman and Sow are still good friends though Sow is single and lives in Northern California and Friedman lives in Los Angeles with her partner. The two women share a podcast called, “Call Your Girlfriend.”

Besides friendships, single women relish their time alone. Kitty Curtis, a hair stylist from New Jersey (who now lives in Florida) said that she had first felt scared of being alone after a bad relationship. She thought of entering another relationship but the feeling passed. “I really value my time alone, “Curtis said. “ I started to value not having another adult agenda of any sort, and I got cozy and comfy in my new life. It's just a really easy life being alone.”

One of the things Curtis enjoys is the ability to travel. “I felt like I was constantly having to pull somebody along into a dream,” she said. “....Now I feel like there's so much to see in the world, so many more things to do. It's so much more exciting than the combining my dreams with somebody else's.”

Some women make the same decisions that men do by waiting until they are settled in their careers, something they learned from their own pasts. Traister remembers that her grandmother had a career as a biology professor which she gave up to marry her husband and give birth to her daughter, Traister's mother. “She was always sick, had headaches and back problems,” Traister’s mother recalled. “She was obsessive about the floor; she scrubbed it three times a week on her hands and knees. She was not a happy lady; it was clear, even to me, as a kid.”

In 1958, Traister's grandmother received an offer to replace the deceased biology teacher. After asking her husband's permission, Traister's grandmother accepted the job. Her daughter saw an instant change in her mother's behavior. “When she went back to work, it was like night and day,” Traister's mother said. “She was busy; she didn't have to scrub the floor three times a week. She dressed up. She took more care of her appearance. She was happier. Everything about her changed.” Traister's mother learned that lesson well about finding meaningful work that she decided not to be a stay-at-home mother. She spent five decades as an English professor. “I love being everybody's grandmother and mother, and wife, and all of that-that’s wonderful,” she said. “But basically there's got to be something that's me and that's been my working life.”

“Every generation has struggled to overcome the generational obstacles set before the previous one, and often eliminates these obstacles for the next, “Traister wrote. Traister herself learned from her mother and grandmother. She had an accomplished career as a writer at large for New York magazine, contributing editor at Elle magazine, and wrote about women in politics, media, and entertainment from a Feminist perspective for New Republic and Salon. She wrote articles for The Nation, The New York Observer, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, Glamour, and Marie Claire and a previous book, Big Girls Don't Cry about the 2008 election. She herself did not get married until she was 35 and had been a successful author. Traister describes her single years as beneficial to her eventual marriage. “I’d been heartbroken, afraid, jubilant, and bored,” she said. “I was a grown-up: a reasonably complicated person. I’d become that person not in the company of any one man, but alongside my friends, my family, my city, my work, and simply by myself.”

That's not to say that Traister writes only about the good things about being single. Sometimes she writes about the difficulties single women have especially impoverished single mothers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics women still earn $0.78 for every $1.00 men make and the gap is wider for women of color.

Also certain factors like pay inequality, wage stagnation, and social policies favor married couples because of the assumption that men are still the primary breadwinners. According to Atlantic writers, Christina Campbell and Lisa Arnold, “Marital privilege pervades every facet of our lives.” Campbell and Arnold found that health, life, home, and car insurance cost more for single people than for marrieds. They also found “it is not a Federal crime for landlords to discriminate against potential renters based on their marital status.”

While there are options for women to choose single motherhood such as IVF, freezing embryos, adoptions, or giving birth without marrying, there are still grim stigmas associated with single mother-headed households. 42 percent of families headed by single mothers lay below the poverty line. Some of those families are headed by women who had their first child out of high school.

One of those was Pamela who was 17 when she gave birth to her first child. Her boyfriend was 34 and they decided to have the baby. She wanted to go to college partly to get away from her alcoholic father.

Pamela wasn't alone. Many of her fellow students dropped out of high school after giving birth. “Those that didn't graduate and the spouse wasn't around didn't go to college,” Pamela said. “They ended up working full-time jobs, at McDonald's or at a clothing store.”

Pamela graduated from New York College in 2004, and lived with her boyfriend without marrying him. She had a second child with her partner and they are still together but not married. She works as a legal assistant at the Office of the Bronx District Attorney and plans on going to law school.

Other problems associated with singlehood are emotional. There is the exhaustion of earning money and caring for the household. “For most working Americans the times off for honeymoons and paid leave after babies are pipe dreams,” Traister said.”....Single people and those without children often find themselves not only without the encouragement to take personal time off on their own; they often compensate for their colleagues’ breaks by making up the work, slogging through even more hours.”

Another emotional factor that is a detriment to single people is the loneliness particularly when they get older. When Frances Kissling watched over her dying mother, the unmarried Kissling was stunned by her mother's question, “who is going to do this for you?” “It knocked me on my ass,”Kissling said. “Oh my God, who is going to do this for me?” Kissling got her own answer when she was diagnosed with kidney disease and during therapy she realized she was alone.

Of course there is no guarantee that because someone is in a relationship or has children that someone will be cared for, Traister writes. “Those who take comfort that in getting married thinking they are evading a future of lonely decline do not often consider the very realistic possibilities of divorce, abandonment, or the early death of a partner,” Traister said.

All the Single Ladies is a very honest book about the good and bad of being single. While singlehood is not for everyone, it is no longer a status in which to be ashamed. This single lady isn't.