The Nature of Witches
An American scientist in Sweden begins to wonder whether his estranged wife is a witch. Surprisingly perceptive prose and vivid characterization give way to appalling misogyny, sexual violence, and an ending that rewards an utterly reprehensible protagonist.
Daughter of Night
Lilith's prehistoric world collides with an alien civilization facing cosmic annihilation. An intriguing retelling of ancient mythology gets lost in metaphysical exposition, though its Soviet author's remarkable history adds another dimension to the story.
House of Illusion
A young librarian visits her eccentric aunt's mysterious estate, hoping for adventure. An intriguing opening, a charming mechanic, and some genuinely terrible plotting make for a deeply disappointing Gothic mystery.
Suffer a Witch to Die
A wonderfully obscure 1960s Gothic thriller about a widow transported into the body of her Puritan doppelgänger during the Salem witch trials. Eerie, inventive, and just a little too short for its own good.
The Witches
Twenty-eight pages into this literary tale of witchcraft, I surrendered to its relentlessly philosophical narrator. Not necessarily a bad book, but one whose storytelling style is spectacularly incompatible with mine.
Daughters of Earth
Three vintage science-fiction stories, one painfully misogynistic and two extraordinary. An intimate multigenerational history of women exploring space and a telepathic encounter between a stranded child and an alien mother make this collection well worth reading.
The Serpent
A sheltered goddess-princess is thrust into a brutal world where women's sexuality is both a liability and a source of power. Beautiful, devastating, unexpectedly funny, and one of the most thought-provoking novels I've read.