Good morning, all, and happy Monday!

A couple of months ago, I started this weekly book challenge hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook called #5OnMyTBR, and I really enjoyed the exercise. It occurs every Monday when they post about 5 books on their TBR. You can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it.

This week’s theme is Magic. I am probably going to cheat a *little* bit and use some of the books from my October TBR, because I love witchy reason so most of them are magical anyway.

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1. Magic Lessons, by Alice Hoffman

• Why I’m Excited: I love Practical Magic, both book and movie. I watched the movie as a child and read the book as an adult, and it shaped my decision to follow the faith. Alice Hoffman is a genius, bittersweet with a beautiful world that builds on real life. Also, this was my BOTM pick.
• Magic?: It is in the name. This is more of a borderline urban fantasy magical realism, but I happen to like that style a lot so I’m counting it as a magical system.

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2. A Deadly Education, by Naomi Novik

• Why I’m Excited: Naomi Novik is an amazing writer, and most of what I have read of hers to date has hit all of the right magical notes for me. This seems different, but even better: a school of magical kids where screwing up means death. I love this premise (big fan of watching Buffy, and more recently The Order & Deadly Class), and I have no doubt she will write it excellently.
• Magic?: These kids are all magic, and all lethal. Win win.

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3. The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig

• Why I’m Excited: I have been seeing a ridiculous amount of good reviews for this, and I am a sucker for any fantasy world set with/near/in libraries.
• Blurb: “Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life.”

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4. The Book of Dust, by Phillip Pullman

• Why I’m Excited: This is a prequel to The Golden Compass, one of my all-time favorite books from childhood. It has been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to read it, but there never seems to be time.
• Magic?: The world of The Golden Compass is filled with magic – in this alternative universe, every person has an animal soul companion called a daemon, and dust is this particle of consciousness from which angels are born. Oh, and the Northern Lights lead to Heaven.

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5. The Dark Archive, by Genevieve Cogman

• Why I’m Excited: Another book set in a library, how can you beat it? In this case, the Invisible Library series is premised on multi-world librarians who travel between worlds and save (namely, steal) rare and one of a kind books and manuscripts. There are dragons and Fae and neither are corny, and the librarians are all fluent in a million languages. How do I sign up?

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That’s all for this week, folks! Come chat with me – any thoughts?