”Friday Night Club” by Sofia Lundberg, Alyson Richman, and M.J. Rose :: I have always admired the artwork of Hilma af Klint but knew nothing about her creative circle, aka “The Five,” and weekly gatherings and seances. Apparently they used occult as part of their artmaking practice. This historical fiction book follows present-day Guggenheim Museum associate curator Eben Elliot as he brings a Klint exhibition to New York and uncovers secrets about the group.
”The Shining” by Dorothea Lasky :: an ekphrastic horror lyric inhabiting the voices, rooms, wallpaper and psychological architecture of “The Shining.”
”The Ghost: A Cultural History” by Susan Owens :: For a solid history—visual and literary—of ghosts, from the medieval period to the present, this book traces how artists and writers have imagined apparitions, revenants, and the permeable boundary between worlds.
”Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures” by Merlin Sheldrake :: On a lighter note, this is an expansive account of the hidden fungal kingdom and its role in decomposition, nutrient exchange, fermentation, symbiosis, and the continual unmaking and remaking of life. Very death-rebirth-life cycle, but with the proper dose of death for the season
”Grimoire: New Scottish Folk Tales” by Robin Robertson :: Scottish folklore, hostile weather, myth, balladry, and elemental landscapes that can turn suddenly terrifying. Good for a one-sitting reading, one chilling short story at a time.
”Thin Skin: Essays” by Jenn Shapland :: I picked up this book in Pittsburgh at a used book sale and then realized the author is based in Santa Fe. The title comes from the fact that Shapland was diagnosed with extreme skin sensitivity, which I can also relate to. She uses that condition as a way into a larger argument: the boundaries between a person and the world are porous, and the choices we make ripple outward to people, places, and species far from us. The essays mix historical research, interviews, cultural criticism, and memoir set largely in New Mexico.
“The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna“ by Mira Ptacin :: a reported history of a Spiritualist community founded in the Maine woods in 1876, where generations of mediums have maintained rituals intended to preserve communication between the living and the afterlife.
“The Changing Light at Sandover“ by James Merrill :: A fall classic, if you will—a vast poetic work produced through years of Ouija-board sessions: séances, dictated messages, spirits, and cosmologies of the afterlife.
“On November First, the Ghosts Arrive” by Nina MacLaughlin :: short essay about November, the thinning boundary, absence and inviting the dead back among the living.
“When Cemeteries Became Natural Sanctuaries” by Livia Gershon :: a history of rural cemeteries as parks, botanical spaces, and places of recreation as well as mourning.
Trauma, DNA, and Psychic Ability :: 97% of individuals with psychic abilities, scientifically documented or otherwise, report having experienced moderate to severe systematic abuse and trauma in their early childhood.
“Why you should talk to your dead ancestors” by Mariam Vahradyan :: grounded in Armenian ancestor traditions and the psychological idea of continuing bonds (audio version available)
“The Life and Afterlife of the Churchyard in Literature” by Thomas Laqueur :: churchyards, elegiac poetry and the cultural imagination surrounding the dead who remain close to home.
“Ghost in the Land of Skeletons” by Christopher Kennedy
“Theme in Yellow” by Carl Sandburg