When I was in high school, I spent two+ years sleeping my life away so you can say I have professional experience in rest and relaxation. Moshfegh is a brilliant writer and really captures the experience of malaise and mourning in a person who has never been loved. I see a lot of people talk about how much they dislike the main character because she’s narcissistic and annoying but they’re missing the point. Everyone suffers, even the terrible.

A refreshing cultural analysis on the concept of evil and how it functions socio-politically. I was pleasantly surprised to read Warwick’s fair criticisms on liberalism and wokeness culture. He never veers into the reactionary or into overcorrection. He points out what I feel are the real problems with identity politics and media consumption and brings some apt artistic references and context. 10s 10s 10s. And a quick read too. I loved this.

In all honesty, I originally bought this book for the vibes. I loved the cover and that’s what drew me to it. I still haven’t finished reading this one but each time I dive in, I feel like I’ve just spent an hour looking at my reflection in the mirror, scared to say my name out loud. In a good way. And a scary way too. The older I get, the more I think that to be a woman - a serious woman, a true woman - is to be insane. Anyway, I love reading about horror movies and feminine neuroticism. Janisse’s life story is heartbreaking and illuminating. The book itself is beautifully put together and the images are striking. i love it i love it i love i love it.

I listened to the audio-book of this and something about hearing someone narrate their own life story just hits in a different kind of way. I have endless respect for women who, like myself, grew up hard and wild and fast and somehow manage to make it out alive. Julia’s life story is outlandish and extraordinary and the kind of life only an Aquarius could live. I found her writing to be straightforward and evocative, a direct hit. She’s very frank about things that are hard to talk about and I honestly felt really inspired to be more open and naked in my own writing after reading this. Time well spent.

Not kidding or being hyperbolic when I say that reading Simone Weil changed my life. She is someone I come back to anytime I need to remember (in a some arcane sense of the word). She was a genius and this book is an ultimate treatise on Love, God, Beauty, Art, Suffering, etc. If you are a mystic, a Christian, a creative, a philosopher, a lover, a nerd, or whatever you got going on - pick this up.

I read this book early in my “spiritual journey” (I need to find a way to phrase this that doesn’t give namaste or ayahuasca) and I found it interesting. The author claims to have been visited by the 13 apostles and each imparted him with the 13 principles of Christ Consciousness. As a general idea, I do believe in a “Christ Consciousness” but maybe not as literal as this. It’s a good read to get a feeling for Christ as a memetic figure if you read it that way. A little kooky at times. Fun.

A long time ago, I dated someone I shouldn’t have and when we finally broke up, I went to my favourite bookstore, perused the shelves joylessly and stumbled upon this book. It set me free. And now I recommend this to every single woman who is ever going through a breakup and is interested in ending patterns of relational dysfunction at the fucking microcellular subterranean metaphysical level. This is definitely a psychoanalysis book - Mozol uses her own experiences to analyze the archetype of the dark feminine and does so from a Jungian perspective. But she’s a lover and a Libra so the writing is poetic and heartfelt and personal. Send this to a friend.

Cute Taschen-brand hardcover all about Rothko and his life. I bought this mostly to have as a reference for a project I was working on but I flip through it fondly these days. A year after I bought this book, I saw a Rothko in person for the first time at a museum somewhere in Europe and I stood there and cried.

Eerie. Nihilistic. Filled with the monotonous yet playful cynicism that only the French are capable of. I couldn’t put this down. It’s a story about a group of forty women locked in an underground cage for an undetermined reason. I won’t spoil anything. Just read it.

Great book on transcendental film theory. I’ve always believed in the spiritual/pseudo-religiousness of film and Schrader does a good job of talking us through these elements. I don’t particularly like slow cinema but I’m a big Paul Schrader fan so I enjoyed reading this.

Technically, this is a book for actors and Mamet is writing about acting as a practice but I honestly felt like a lot of what he was saying is just good advice and methods for every day life. I read this as if it was a philosophy book and I came away with more respect for the craft of acting and also a lot of wisdom for how I want to move through the world.

One of the best and most famous books to come out of Nigeria. Beautiful prose, compelling story, blunt sociopolitical commentary on the history of colonialism in Africa. I read this when I was in undergrad and something that always stuck out to me was the passage where (SPOILER) the pre-colonial Okonkwo was described beating his wife, as an aside. I’ve always thought that a lot of well-meaning but misguided people often romanticize the pre-colonial era and “ancestors” and try to blame colonialism for things that are much older, much more ancient. I remember a silent, bitter feeling of vindication.

If you’re a beginner and just getting into Human Design, this is really all you need to get you started. Great succinct overviews of all the different types, authorities, lines, gates, channels, etc.

I know I say that a lot of books changed my life but this is probably the one I credit for the most vital and complete transformation of my mind and living reality. In the 6 months after I read this book, I signed a record deal, met the love of my life, and moved across the country. It unlocked something in me, something a priori. A must-read if you’re interested in metaphysics, LOA, hermetic philosophy, esoterica, etc.

This is a story about teenagers that also happens to be one of the most prophetic science fiction books in existence. I read this in high school and it’s really crazy how somehow, Anderson managed to predict the spiritual infections of the post-postmodern digital age with such clarity and detail. I’ve always loved this book. Zoomers literally talk like this now.

She’s so incendiary and cheeky so of course, I immediately had to go look up her chart - Aries sun, Virgo moon. LMAO. And guess what! She’s right about a lot of things. You get the feeling that Paglia always wants to poke and prod you with her words. It’s not to just annoy you or make you dislike her but it’s to get you to think! To use your brain! I never feel preached to or as if I can’t disagree when reading her. Instead, I feel like I’m listening to a very wise, older, eccentric, gay friend of the family who  doesn’t really care what I think but just wants to make sure I am able to navigate the world as it is, not as I wish it could be. Paglia might deal with myths and art and history but she doesn’t deal in illusions. Real ass bitch.

Liz Greene is my favourite astrology writer and I have several copies of her books but this is by far my favourite of them all. Highly recommend to all who are serious about astrology as a spiritual practice and interested in understanding the mythical and philosophical underpinnings of how the planets work in our lives.

A dense but short read about, at its core, Love. I’ve heard a few different spiritual teachers talk about how life is relationships. Buber delves into a philosophical explanation of why that is. I felt like this book brought me closer to Truth, closer to God.

Still on my bookshelf. Might read in June.

Marion Woodman is just THAT girl. This is a book about the inner processes of psychological transformation in women and it goes crazy. Psychoanalysis is hard to write about in a way that doesn’t just slog on but Woodman has mastered this craft. Her writing is beautiful, point blank and many of her books have helped me so much. I always wished I could have met her before she passed. RIP.

Was Twitter-influenced into buying this and I enjoyed it, for the most part. Better to read if you’re already sad.

When I was in high school, I had a brief career writing erotic fiction in spiral notebooks that would get passed around to all the girls in my class. I’d write a new chapter every week and the characters all had names like “Bullet” and “Crystal” and “Shade”. This book was definitely one of the influences of that phase of my life. Trashy, sensationalist, melodramatic. Perfect.

A cute coffee table book that I suspect will become a collector’s item. Lots of ethereal, feminine images. I wish the writing was printed in a more legible font but I give it a pass in the name of creative vision. I like Collins as a photographer and I think her and Alexa Demie work really well together.

Bought this for the vibes and didn’t end up finishing it. I love autofiction as much as the next bitch but the writing here was just…not my thing.

The poet of our generation. I’ve always liked Lana Del Rey as a songwriter but reading this book gave me a newfound respect for her as a true writer. Just beautiful stuff. Lovely formatting. I found the typewriter font charming and I liked the photos she included.

Was not a huge fan of her prose tbh, and maybe that’s why I only read about half of the stories in this collection. I also expected it to be a little more sexy but every story has a certain melancholic flavour to it, which is not necessarily a bad thing but I think I just don’t like her style. If you have a craving for erotic-ish fiction with splashes of taboo then try this out.

I really wanted to like this, I did. It’s a short read but I ended up having to force myself to finish it and I found myself disagreeing with Chul Han’s perspective at various points throughout. It’s a cynical take on love and desire in the digital age, which is always up my alley, but I felt like there was a certain poetry/charm missing in the writing and some missed marks re: the philosophical functions of technology in culture.

Another banger by Simone Weil. I read this while on vacation in Mexico and found myself crying silently by the pool under the heat of the sun. It’s not a sad book, she’s just poignant and genius. 

Flipped through this but haven’t started yet but might pick it up properly in the summer. I’m a fan of Jenny Hval’s music so I’m looking forward to checking out her writing.