Tarot novels?

I'm thinking it's the "gotta sink low so you can rise above" requirement in novels so something actually happens, redemption, etc. And you remembered! Of course not in a good way, but you did remember. But my husband has exactly the same problem with American Beauty (the movie) because the main character was despicable. So I do understand.

Certainly we live in a world where adults take advantage of children in many, many ways and turning that perspective into entertainment, well, I can see your point.

However, I have continued to read Skibbins' other novels in the series and he goes into a bit more of the main character's background and why he's crusty, at least. I don't think it explains the self-congratulatory part but perhaps it is some reflection by the character that he has not sunk so low as others.

I just finished The Rose Labyrinth and while not about tarot, it has a lot of Hermetic references with focus on the legacy of John Dee. The nasty characters are more the usual kind with bad designs on good people.

Best wishes!

Hedera said:

I have no objection to crusty hippies whatsoever (in fact, I consider myself one); I do object to people who congratulate themselves on how noble they are for not taking advantage of a 14-year old girl who has just seen her mother horribly murdered.

Yes, he *even* turned down the blow job she offered him!
What a shining pearl of a man!

I don't know, scenes like that just made me feel sick to my stomach.

Edit: I suppose my real problem is with the writer, coming up with characters who do stuff like that, and somehow thinking that that's ok.

Click to expand...

This is a decade old but still has a ton ton ton of books

http://web.archive.org/web/20000606144138/www.geocities.com/~ninalee/tarot/tarlit.htm

Are you into a "Bodice Ripper" romance? Lol. Because there is this old, out of print romance titled "The King of Cups" about fortune tellers and the Borgia family. Silly really, but funny because they use Tarot cards. I'll try to find the author if you're interested

I just remembered a novel that i loved:

Holy Fools by Joanne Harris

http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Fools-Novel-Harris-Joanne/dp/0060559128

It's not about tarot, but the protagonist reads tarot... even though she's in an abbey.

It's a great book! I read it in two days because it's a real page-turner!

If you want funny fiction,
try "Miriam the Medium"
by Rochelle Shapiro...
about a Long Island housewife
who reads tarot mostly over the phone...

Made me laugh out loud!

Cara

Scion said:

Promethea is GENIUS. Issue 12 is the most explicitly, ingeniously tarotical of all of them, but Alan Moore is a practicing Thelemic magickian and knows his Agrippa and Crowley. The series is essentially a Hermetic Magick 101 course taught as a 32 issue comic. there are quickie tours of the Suits and the Sephiroth and the Ptolemaic spheres at various points. The Goetia show up as characters! And if you think that the fact that there are 32 issues is an accident, think of the Tree of Life and you'll get a sense of how smart Moore is.

Click to expand...

Thank you Scion I just got volume one from the library my son went straight for it.. it look good can't wait to read it

Andromeda Klein is OUTSTANDING!!!! I was peeing my pants reading it. If you like tarot or the occult it is such a good read

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, maybe it's too common or obvious? but certainly worth some attention. In the first book, the tarot is referenced quite a bit towards the end.
I also had a blast with Andromeda Klein. I listened to the audio version and the narrator was hilarious. highly recommended.

Lleminawc said:

I wasn't hugely impressed by Kate Mosse's Sepulchre.

Click to expand...

I liked this story for its suspense, character development, the plot, the switching between times, etc. But not how she used Tarot as a story device. I don't like stories that present Tarot as the big scary monster in the room, and that was how it felt to me in that one, that it was more likely to scare people away from Tarot than interest them in it.

So if you can relax about how Tarot is presented and just enjoy the story, I recommend it.

I find the Skibbins books a lot more fun and supportive of Tarot as not scary.

Great! Thank goodness this thread was revived. Due to lack of restraint, I just ordered Little, Big by John Crowley.