Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme created by GingerReadsLainey and managed by Sam from Thoughts on Tomes on Goodreads. Each week features a new prompt in which you are suppose to talk about the top 5 books that you relate to the prompt. This week the topic is: Freebie – – Since the T5W prompts are posted a bit later than usual, you get a freebie! Was there a previous T5W topic you are bummed you missed? Now would be a good time to do that topic!
I went back through the topics from last year and naturally I ended up choosing one featured in October 2017. The prompt for October 4th was: Books Featuring Witches – – These can be “witch books” or books that happen to feature witches as characters, whether they are main characters or side characters.
So with my choice made, and five books to get through, I present my contribution to Top 5 Wednesday for the week of March 7, 2018.
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Blue is for Nightmares (Blue is for Nightmares #1) by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (November 8, 2003)
Print Length: 284 pages
The Review
Blue is for Nightmares was one of many books I read in my youth that got me excited about the YA genre. Following the story of Stacey, a junior at a boarding school, who is having nightmares about the death of her best friend, Blue is for Nightmares encapsulates folk magic, mystery, and murder which are all ingredients for a wickedly witchy tale.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 25, 2003 (Originally Published 1953))
Print Length: 143 pages
The Review
While The Crucible doesn’t fit the criteria of the T5W prompt exactly, given that it is a play and not a novel, it nevertheless deserves a spot on my list. When I read Arthur Miller’s retelling of the Salem Witch Trials way back in middle school I couldn’t have ever imagined that it would spark a life long fascination with the real life events that took place in seventeenth-century Massachusetts. All these years later I still pick up every new release recounting this turbulent time in American history and I owe it all to The Crucible.
*To read my review of The Crucible, click here*
A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness
Publisher: Viking Penguin (February 2011)
Print Length: 579 pages
The Review
While a relatively new inclusion to my ‘books featuring witches’ list, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness is a perfect recommendation for those who love witches, vampires, daemons, and a forbidden love affair. If that doesn’t have you rushing to your local bookstore, this particular novel is being adapted into a television series later this year!
*To read my review of A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1), click here*
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter #3) by J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (July 8, 1999)
Print Length: 317 pages
The Review
This couldn’t be a ‘books featuring witches’ list without including at least one of the books in the Harry Potter series. I’m including Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban because, one, it is my favourite of the series, and two, this is the book where I find everyone’s favourite witch, Hermione, goes through the first of many character growth spurts. If those reasons aren’t good enough, we also get the infamous punch scene in the movie adaptation. 10 points to Gryffindor!
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Publisher: Penguin (August 5, 2003 (first published 1995))
Print Length: 286 pages
The Review
And finally, the last set of witches that make it onto this T5W list are none other than Gillian and Sally Owens from Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. While I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I do the movie, Gillian and Sally nevertheless deserve to make it on this list as the apprehensive magic practitioners. And with that said, bring on the margaritas.
*To read my review of Practical Magic, click here*
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And those are the top 5 books that feature witches. Do you have any books that could fill this T5W? Leave it as a comment below and let’s chat about it.
