Finding books

[AussiePagan]

G'day

I'm thinking of buying some pagan books, but I don't know where to go. I know there's a the 'new age' section at my local book store, but those books look like they are more for entertainment purposes with such titles "Turn your boyfriend into a frog", and I wouldn't want to be seen buying girly books for myself :P.

So that leaves the internet, which I'm more comfortable with anyway. Can anyone recommend any good online stores that ship to Australia, preferability in discrete packaging ?

When you buy books, how do you know which authors are legit, and which are just fluffy crap? Being new to this it’s hard to work out what stuff is odd, but legit, and what stuff is just plain wrong.

[RhiannynWildseed]

G'day

I'm thinking of buying some pagan books, but I don't know where to go. I know there's a the 'new age' section at my local book store, but those books look like they are more for entertainment purposes with such titles "Turn your boyfriend into a frog", and I wouldn't want to be seen buying girly books for myself :P.

So that leaves the internet, which I'm more comfortable with anyway. Can anyone recommend any good online stores that ship to Australia, preferability in discrete packaging ?

When you buy books, how do you know which authors are legit, and which are just fluffy crap? Being new to this it’s hard to work out what stuff is odd, but legit, and what stuff is just plain wrong.

Amazon.com?

They ship to AUS right? And you can practically find any book listed there.

As far as good authors, try going and looking in the Author's Circle section. I'm sure they all have their own sections for a very good reason. :)

[Faelon_Moon_Hawk]

G'day

I'm thinking of buying some pagan books, but I don't know where to go. I know there's a the 'new age' section at my local book store, but those books look like they are more for entertainment purposes with such titles "Turn your boyfriend into a frog", and I wouldn't want to be seen buying girly books for myself :P.

So that leaves the internet, which I'm more comfortable with anyway. Can anyone recommend any good online stores that ship to Australia, preferability in discrete packaging ?

When you buy books, how do you know which authors are legit, and which are just fluffy crap? Being new to this it’s hard to work out what stuff is odd, but legit, and what stuff is just plain wrong.

you can find gook books in the new age section. As with anything you need to do a little research first. Check out reviews and stuff first, especially from other pagans...see what ppl recommend. You'll also find that some authors have a better reputation than others within the pagan community, and that this reputation can change depending on the ppl you ask. For example Silver RavenWolf, some love her, others hate her. Do a little (http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/vanthal/608/id57.htm) research (http://wicca.timerift.net/ravenwolf.html) and you can find out why.

It is hard to figure out what stuff is ligit and what isn't. but its the same with everything. there's junk science, and then there science that's been reviewed in peer reviewed journals. Use you common sense, best judgement and do some of your own research. Once you do that you'll be better able to tell who knows their stuff and who doesn't, as well as getting what you good information you can from bad sources. If you want recommendations then do a little search here at MW, and you'll find a bunchof threads w/ some.

Amazon is a great place, they also have reviews of books by ppl so that's helpful too when deciding. I usually get books from them, they have a much better selectiont han any of the book stores around me.

[MorningDove030202]

I bet your book store could order you whatever you wanted... Here are some online sources:

www.wiccaforbeginners.com and www.maidenmoon.com
www.witchschool.com
www.collegewicca.com

Dove

[RainInanna]

As far as determining which authors are good writers, you might want to check our Authors Circle sub-forum. You could ask them about their books and get to know them over there - http://mysticwicks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=69

[Ben Gruagach]

Another way to find vendors that are closer to you is to check the listings for your area at http://www.witchvox.com/

On the left side of the screen look for the dropdown menus where you can choose your area. Then look for shop listings (they have categories down the left side of the screen) and see what you find.

The books section here at MysticWicks (http://www.mysticwicks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20) has a lot of good reviews and discussions of books. There are also some threads specifically about what books people recommend to beginners.

[David19]

There's a lot of good suggestions from other people, but this site may help you decide which books are not fluffy and which are (& which ones you should avoid like Silver Ravenwolf) http://wicca.timerift.net/books.html, i kind of know how you feel as a lot of the books i've seen do seem really new age and fluffy, but there are a lot of books that are good, and there are some you can download too, so at least you'll save money.

Anyway hope i've helped.

BTW, i'm not sure if you just want to know where to get books or want some suggestions on what books to get, but Mastering Witchcraft by Paul Huson is a great, non-fluff book :).

[Arion]

Wiccan Church of Canada suggested reading list:
http://www.wcc.on.ca/booklist.html

[Nerts]

AJ Drew is an awesome author. He has a book called Wicca for Men. It's a pretty good introduction to Wicca. His website/forum is at www.pagannation.com and I would recommend checking it out. There's tonnes of stuff there. Actualy it's quite like MW, but done by someone else.

I would also tell you to check out books by Scott Cunningham and our very own Isaac Bonewits. Either here in the author's section or his website at www.neopagan.net

DJ Conway is also someone who has some good books on a variety of topics that could be of use to you.

Good luck!

E.

[Paracelsus]

Everyone's got their own fave authors, for all sorts of different reasons. On a more prosaic level, try getting your books from abebooks.com, this is a bookdealers website - lots of good second hand copies, a superb way to build up a library, comparatively cheaply.

[dragoncrone]

Amazon.com?
They ship to AUS right? And you can practically find any book listed there.
As far as good authors, try going and looking in the Author's Circle section. I'm sure they all have their own sections for a very good reason. :)

Well, yes....Amazon does ship practically anywhere on the planet. The down side is they can be rather ethically lax when it comes to dealing with authors and publishers, specifically where payments are concerned...

[morningstar2651]

Pagan Diversity has a pretty good reading list (http://pagandiversity.com/reading.html) categorized by religion. Keep in mind that, if you're studying Wicca, that Wicca and Witchcraft are lumped together on the reading list.