Book Review
It seems it’s been ages since I posted a book review. I’ve upped my reading since last year. I was in a long phase of watching video. Most of which was not useful.
As Uranus moves into Gemini, the flow of information is going to increase and even new ways of communication are going to arrive. So we need to discern more and more as our attention is going to become a precious commodity and the competition is going to be fiercer then it is. Remember your time is finite. And if you want to hear more about Uranus in Gemini or the other huge planetary shifts we’re seeing in 2025, that’s on my astrology channel. But let’s get into the books. And if you want reviews as I drop them follow me on Instagram.
I’ve been hitting the used book stores because books are phenomenally expensive. Am I the only one who did not realize that? I’ve made some great discoveries, found some bestsellers albeit a while after the hype had died down. I also got around to reading some books I already had. I don’t follow the latest book hype so this works for me.
I’ve tried to group similar reads in each review (more on the way). This is the memoir/history-briography/non-fiction group. Let me know if you’ve read any and what your thoughts were.
BOOK OF SHADOWS – Phyllis Curott
Phyllis Curott is an entertainment lawyer living in Manhattan. A senior partner at a prestigious firm makes her an offer. But he is also her ex-boyfriend and things did not end well. At the same time, through a chance encounter, she joins a circle of women practising witchcraft.
At first, she’s suspicious, afraid they’re practicing black magic or that their meetings are just senseless make believe and a waste of time. But she soon learns that the celebration of the goddess, the seasons, nature and Mother Earth and the divine feminine are spiritual practices that go by many names and have existed in many cultures centuries, even millennia.
She takes us on this journey of discovery, and self discovery, where she explores mythology, shamanism, and Wicca. All the old ways share common ground: they are rooted in the balance of nature and the divine feminine and masculine. Women and men are on equal ground, both energies are honored and deemed important, and often practices are led by women.
The Catholic Church labelled them as devil worship and tried to obliterate them. The Church targeted the women and women’s power. Wise women, healers, practicians of old faiths were labelled witches, tortured and executed. The church, for men and by men, held women in a distant second place, as passive participants.
She comes to see that we now live in an imbalance with only male dominated patriarchal religions. Nature, the earth cycles and the place of the divine feminine are disregarded which is the reason we live in a world with so much conflict.
This leads her to question her own identity, her priorities and how she wants to live. She feels conflicted in her new job and the increasing tension with her ex (not the good kind!) is destructive. How can she reconcile what she is learning in her practice and the aggressive, confrontational nature of her work. Is it even possible?
I have to admit I stayed to see how things played out with her ex. It’s an interesting read but the deep dives into different belief systems was a little long. I have to agree though, we live in a world where masculine and feminine energy is unequally valued and balanced. And maybe that is the root of the problem.
Today, Phillis Curott is a high priestess and president of a Wiccan order. A frequent speaker, activist and defender of Wicca, she successfully challenged the Archbishop of Chicago during the congregation of religions in 1993. The traditional churches boycotted Curott as a speaker and leader of the Congregation of the Goddess. She has written other books on Wicca and continues to be an activist in the defence of her faith and other marginalized practices.
GEORGE BOLEYN Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat – Claire Cherry and Claire Ridgeway
On May 17th 1536, 2 days before her own execution, Anne Boleyn’s alleged co-conspirators were executed for treason. Among these 5 innocent men, her brother George Boleyn, Lord Rochford.
George was an accomplished courtier, close friend of the King (at least up until his arrest) and diplomat, charged with several missions to France. Even before his sister caught the King’s eye, in fact before she arrived at court, he was a favorite of Henry the VIII’s. He rose to great heights, like his sister.
I really enjoyed this book. It reads like fiction but it’s tragically true. The authors have done exhaustive research. It was fascinating to read what we know as facts and what was rumor, mistruths and libel against the Boleyns. They also ponder who knew what and why they acted the way they did. For example did George’s wife Jane really give evidence against her husband? And why did Jane become lady in waiting to Henry’s new wife, Jane Seymour after her husband and sister in law had been unjustly accused and put to death?
Quote: ‘George and Anne Boleyn were, in the words of historian James Carley, « an immensely attractive pair, intellectually and physically, and after their fall the court became a much less glamorous place without them. » George was 32 and Anne 36.
BLOOD TIES – Antonio Nicaso and Lee Lamothe
If you have wondered how far organized crime can reach and how much money is involved this is definitely an interesting read. The Caruana-Cuntrera family was referred to as the Rothschilds of the mafia. A closed, secretive family, all hailing from the same village in Sicily, and intermarrying over generations.
They lived all over the world, but were headed by Alfonso Caruana, living in Canada. They became a great money laundering and drug importing organization, supplanting other big names such as Violi, Cotroni and Rizzuto. Their own fall came in the 1990s.
I read this in the original french. It was one of those books I’d had for ages and never got around to. I enjoyed it much more than expected. Probably because I’m from Montreal, and a lot of the story takes place there, especially in the early years.
METAMORPHOSIS – Franz Kafka
Gregor is a young man who is the sole financial support of his family: father, mother and sister. He works a job he dislikes for an overbearing boss. But he remains good natured, happy to provide for his family who needs him. 
One day Gregor awakes to find he has transformed into an insect. No longer able leave his room, mush less work, his family’s reaction is surprising.
Kafka shows a hopeless life of sacrifice without the gratitude that would give it value. A system that uses and disposes, even at the family level.
Franz Kafka is considered one of the great literary minds of the 20th century. From Kafka we get kafkaesque: bleakness, oppressiveness, alienation and absurdity.
If you want to explore 20th century philosophers, or German philosophers in particular, or just want something to throw down at a dinner party, Metamorphosis is a good start at only about 100 pages.
AUDITION – Barbara Walters
I picked this up at a little free library. At over 600 pages, Walters has made this detailed autobiography her most in-depth report ever. In her defense it gives us a complete picture of where she came from, her rise to fame and her motivations. I’m not a fan but I thought it would be interesting. And as a free book what was there to lose?
I remember Barbara Walters as an interviewer of celebrities and political figures. I was too young to remember her before and I never watched the View after. Here are a few things that stood out to me:
She started in television when television began, as a researcher and writer, something she had learned in previous jobs at ad agencies. At the time when it was unthinkable that a women would be in front of the camera, much less reading the news. That was a man’s job.
When she does start working in front of the camera, it is women oriented short segments (how to fold linen napkins -I kid you not). It took years for her read the news and many more to be referred to as co-anchor.
She had an incredible work ethic, partly fuelled by the financial ups and downs of her father. He was in show business, in the days of music halls and huge live productions (imagine famous crooners of the day and Rockettes-style dancers with feather costumes). She supported her family almost as soon as she began to work. Later, she became her family’s sole support as her fathers business ventures failed and the heyday of nightclubs passed.
She is honest about her relationship with her family. Her only sibling was a sister who had an intellectually disability. Few resources existed for her sister at the time. Consequently her sister remained with her mother and the two developed a symbiotic link that deepened when her mother and father grew apart.
Later, even if she had the means to move her family from Florida to New York, and provide a home and care for her parents, she never did. She continued to pay for them, but they stayed in Florida. She explains how she agonized over the choice.
The book is more factual than emotional. This could be her reporter side or just not being overly emotional by nature. For example, she and two colleagues have finished an interview with a middle-eastern leader who is at odds with the U.S. The two colleagues are killed when their plane returning to the U.S. explodes mid-flight. While she talks about the loss, and labels her emotion there’s no mention of her reaction. No ‘I cried for days’ or ‘I was a mess’.
She never discusses how she is becoming famous or her salary or any feelings related to that. Once there is an allusion to her needing to calm down and stop yelling (I’m paraphrasing here). But you have to read between the lines a lot.
She continued to work hard and press for interviews (sometimes it took years) but it was obvious-again between the lines- that she was now a force of her own. She was going toe to toe with Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather.
In the early 1970s, ABC offers her 1M$ a year, trying to woo her way form NBC. And -paraphrasing again here- “the money was not the issue because NBC was paying 800 000$ a year.” In the 1990s, ABC will offer her 10M a year, but she will stay at NBC.
She candidly talks about starting the View and struggles along the way. Especially with certain hosts. 
I am sure Danielle Steele’s A Perfect Life is based on Walter’s. They did know each other. Side note: there’s a review of this book on my Insta. Coincidence, I read this book not too long before Walter’s and saw the similarities. What ever possessed me to pick up aDanielle Steele (another little free library find) I don’t know. I have no need to read her ever again.
Like her or not she was a pioneer and role model for women in broadcasting. Barbara Walters passed December 30th 2022. She suffered from dementia for the last decade of her life.
Image: Cover Detail from Book of Shadows (20th anniversary edition) by Phyllis Curott.