I absolutely love oddities and curiosities, especially their history, authenticity. I went into this book having never watched the show. The Witch’s Door overall felt like the authors ARE the main attraction.
When I read books about oddities and curiosities that’s exactly what I want to read and see with beautiful photography. Compared to others, this book is more focused on memoirs of the authors, which was slightly boring and off putting. That’s cool that you think you’re so cool, but what about the cool stuff?
I know I would have loved this book if it focused more on esoterics of the objects rather than the authors.

I just lost interest everytime I tried to pick this up. Perhaps it works for other oddity lovers, and I just wasn’t as interested in the topic as I thought I was.

I tried to read this book several times to no result. I couldn't connect, and no matter how interesting the topics seemed to be, I lost interest after a bit. I think there is something about the writing style that didn't work for me, but I ended up losing track of what I was reading,

I requested to read this book based on title and cover alone -- I actually didn't know who Ryan or Regina were, and I had never seen Oddities.
Well, now I can saw I've watched almost every season.

The Witch's Door is part memoir and part interesting facts about interesting objects. I love weird and unusual antiques so I also loved reading Ryan and Regina's stories. I found the personal, autobiographical chapters to be insightful and entertaining.

Plus, there are pictures. I love when these type of books include pictures. Honestly, I could have used even more.


Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really wanted to love this book. I liked it, certainly, and there were a number of interesting stories, but it was less creepy than I expected, and much, much more of a personal memoir than I thought it would be. It is not that the authors aren’t interesting, but I have to say… I don’t know if I fully get the hype around collecting and they didn’t really change my mind!

I was excited to read this book, because oddities, curiosities, and the like are some of my favorite things and a whole book about them promised to be fun and interesting. I unfortunately didn't get that. This is more of a memoir than a book version of a cabinet of curiosities, and coupled with the fact that I didn't realized I am already acquainted with the one author from a favorite show, Oddities, and I really disliked him then, for me this book was set up for disappointment. A lot of the reason I didn't like this book is the same as why I didn't like Ryan when he was on the show - he has a general air of condescension and superiority that drives me up a wall and the whole book is written in that tone. Coupled with the fact that I just generally didn't find his life as fascinating as he does, I could barely make it through this book. Just not for me.

Going into The Witch's Door I wanted to love it as a lover of all oddities and all that is esoteric, it could have been a guide into the history of oddities and the esoteric items the authors had come across and brought into their collection. Instead, we received a memoir that came across as dismissive of the history of the items, and of the real lives they are tied to in the past and focused instead on the lives of the authors and how 'interesting' they are.

I want to tell you that I enjoyed this book, but I did not, it was deeply uninformative, did not hold my attention, and read like the memoir of those who are disconnected from their own privilege and wealth and instead see themselves as upstart oddities 'collectors' while not providing the context on the items the entire book is meant to be about. Picking this up I wanted to learn more about the weird and strange items they had handled in their lives, not about their personal lives and romance, or how they dated famous individuals.

I cannot recommend this book despite the editing and writing being well done as it does not contain the contact that both the blurb, cover, description, and advertising are promising. If you want a memoir this may be a book you would enjoy, but if you want to learn more about oddities and the history behind them this isn't the book you should be picking up.

I received an advance review copy of this book, and I am leaving this review voluntarily and all thoughts and opinions are wholly my own and unbiased.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great collection of stories surrounding the authors and their collections of oddities. The book was overall interesting, and a easy read.

This was an interesting memoir that incorporated photographs nicely. As someone who doesn’t have an oddities flea market near where they live, it was nice to step into this world via the author’s first hand experience.

A collection of oddities and the stories behind them, more of the collectors' memoirs than expected. I thought this would be more of a visual catalogue of the collection. I love unique collections and wunderkammern, but this book is mostly black and white images and relating memoirs about the authors' lives and the hunt for various objects. The small section of larger-scale color images of some key anatomy objects were the strength of book, but only a few objects were given this level of visual treatment. Even the carvings and symbols on the witch's door are only shown in black-and-white--I assume this was a decision about printing costs more so than design. But I did like the other design elements aim to evoke antique book illustrations.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

I really wanted this to be more about the oddities themselves, but I also was pleased with how easy to read the memoir was. I didn't know this author or the show going in to this book, but I still enjoyed the stories about a life made around oddities and curiosities. I still wanted this book to be mostly about the artifacts and whatnot themselves, but there was just enough of what I wanted to still make this a fun and entertaining (and interesting) read.

Although, some of it is creepy. Like, the dolls? and also now that I know how shrunken heads are made?

This book wasn't quite what I'd been expecting, but I did still enjoy it for the most part. I absolutely loved all the information about different kinds of oddities and the collectors and their collections. I love archeology and found the difference pieces with some culture reference to easily be the best part. My biggest complaint was that this wasn't the largest part of the book.

What I wasn't expecting was how much this just felt like "look how cool, unique and rich we are" from the authors. I really liked understanding the how and why Ryan got into collecting, but it also felt like at every turn we were being reminded about their awesome connections and access to money. They didn't just buy a beautiful house in Connecticut, they bought a HUGE house in an EXTREMELY high end expensive neighborhood... Just so unnecessary and shouldn't have been such a large focus of the book.

I wasn’t familiar with the authors but the book title and description caught my eye. If you like oddities, you will enjoy this book. There is a lot of information about the authors as well as the oddities. The dolls creeped me out!

Thank you to the authors, Chronicle Books, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This book introduces you to the world of oddities that has been curated by Regina and Ryan Cohn, creators of the Oddities Flea Market. This is a look at their life collecting and some of the items that have been a part of their collection.

I will admit, I didn’t really know a lot about either Ryan or Regina. I only recently started following Ryan after seeing someone share one of his posts, so I had no knowledge about the show Oddities, which he stars in, or that they were the creators of the Oddities Flea Market. I know of the Oddities Flea Market because there is one somewhat close to where I live, but I haven't been yet. I do find oddities fascinating though so when I saw Ryan advertise his new book I knew I wanted to read it.

This talks about multiple big collections that they purchased and what happened before, during, and after. The stories were very interesting and I learned a lot about curiosities and the trading of them. I also really enjoyed learning about all the different kinds of curiosities that are in people’s collections.

I think my only real complaint is that in some of the stories they expect you to be familiar with their lives and will sometimes refer to collections or things, that I assume were on Oddities or on their instagram, but since I am new to this couple I wasn’t getting the full context but I understood enough that it didn’t impede me enjoying the story.

Overall, this was a fascinating look at oddities and the collecting of them. I learned a lot and it makes me not feel as bad about being drawn to weird items that some people just don’t understand.

A great book for anyone who loves spooky stuff. The two authors share stories about how they ended up with some interesting artifacts. I wish there were more photos or stories about particularly pieces from their collection vs a traditional memoir.

In this spellbinding and entertaining memoir, Regina and Ryan Cohn, founders of Oddities Flea Market, take us on a fascinating and specially curated tour of their most macabre and mysterious objects, art, and artifacts, sharing their incredible history and stories.

Thank you Chronicle Prism for making this book available to read now on Netgalley! I enjoyed reading this book. I didn’t know anything about oddities before reading this book. I’m not going to start collecting oddities myself because it’s not something I’m interested in but I still thought it was interesting to read about.

An incredible book for the lover of the strange and the unusual. Not only is it filled with great stories - but also photographs of incredible oddities and curiosities!

Enter the world of the macabre …
Honestly, I had a lot of fun reading this book . Perfect for horror enthusiasts and also for the upcoming season, this is definitely a must read for any fan who loves the oddities flea market. The book is filled with anecdotes and personal experiences,and it made me love the Oddities Flea market all the more as I got a behind the scenes look at their buying process as well as the stories behind some of their most interesting finds. They even share their love story,which was such a personable touch.
Regina and Ryan have this electric dynamic that makes them just bounce off one another in a titillating tete-a-tete. They are a great team and they showcase that in the book.
As they travel around the world from Peru to Alabama to the catacombs and beyond, they take us on a tour of all the different things people have collected,and believe me,nothing is too weird.
From skulls wrapped in underwear ,to haunted objects and 19th century gynecological intstruments ,and even shrunken heads.
This book is a delight and a must read for anyone curious about weird objects in history or superfans of The oddities flea market

“The Witch’s door,” by Ryan Matthew Cohn and Regina M. Rossi

The book was cool, but it had a lot more long history parts than I was expecting. 2 out of 5 stars.

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

An engrossing and quirky deep dive into the world of oddities that most people don't see or even know exists. Photos are gorgeous and I enjoyed getting to know Ryan and Regina as they collected their wares.