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Great debut novel set in a slightly dystopian world where you get another shadow if you are convicted of a crime or hurt someone. Shadesters have reduced rights, wish extra time for healthcare and pay more for everything.

Kris (a shadester) and Beau (a NoShad), a lesbian couple, have a baby with a sperm donor and Beau dies during the birth. Kris and is left to raise the baby, who has a second shadow, on her own.

#lgbtbookbingo2024

“Had she been paying attention, she would have known it hadn‘t happened overnight, that it took a million tiny stabs to bleed democracy dry.”

That hit home a little too hard.

US friends, please VOTE!! I cannot as I‘m here on a visa but I‘m very concerned about the future of the country.

#hyggehourreadathon (from last night!).

I started this book about grief. It was on my StoryGraph recommendations and I plowed through about a third of it yesterday.

Beautifully written and devastating depiction of losing your wife at a vulnerable time, during childbirth. The main character struggles as a new mother, alone.

It‘s got a dystopian flavour, and is lgbtqia. Definitely up my alley, thanks StoryGraph algorithm.

#lgbtqbookbingo2024

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Love this series! It‘s so cute and heartwarming. A great prequel, even if I knew exactly what was going to happen.

Before Legends & Lattes, Viv the orc is flighting with the Ravens against a fearsome necromancer and is injured in the battle. This is the story of her convalescence and maybe of a few fights along the way.

Worth a read if you like cosy fantasy with lgbtqia themes.

#lgbtqbookbingo2024
@Kenyazero

Oooo!

So tempted but I got a kindle Paperwhite in 2021 and it still works great.

Also the price tag 😱 $279.99!

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I think this is an important book, the messy emotions and queer family structure highlighted are all true, but I struggled with it a bit. Accepting the decisions the three of them had come to was … I didn‘t really believe it.

I saw myself a lot in Ames, their trauma, struggles with dissociation. It was hard to sit with and see on the page. I‘m not trans, but as a queer person I struggled a lot.

#readyoukindle
#lgbtqbookbingo2024

Sat inside Book Trader Cafe for a bit in this glass portion and read my kindle. Feel a little silly reading a kindle in a bookstore but no one seemed to mind!

Another used bookstore! Grey Matter Books in New Haven, CT.

There‘s so many here it‘s great. 😊

#WhereAreYouMonday takes me to my current home city of NYC! I love reading about where I live or where I‘m going to travel.

The familiarity of the place and feeling you get when you have a deeper understanding of a place is something I love.

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!!

I‘m in the US so without my family this year but we‘re going to do a zoom Thanksgiving meal tonight.

Also happy indigenous peoples day to everyone in the US!

😂 Yes as someone who lives in NYC this is correct.

Beinecke Rare book and manuscript library is to die for!!! 😍

Amazing bookstore cafe in New Haven, CT!

Picked up some nonfiction that‘s been on my list for a while.

Back on the train for an hour on the way to New Haven!

This has been on my kindle for a while so started it this morning!

I want to participate in #10beforetheend but struggle to pick books in advance! 😂 I tend to read whatever takes my fancy at that point in time.

I‘ll choose from my incredibly long TBR (physical and kindle) and maybe have to do the occasional Libby book that I put on hold from my TBR that been meaning to get to.

I‘m committed to reading a book a week though to hit my goal of 52 this year.

Hope that‘s okay! @ChaoticMissAdventures

Staying at a place called the mermaid inn so the backdrop seems fitting but totally unrelated to the book.

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Historical fiction surrounding Lefcadio Hearn, a (real) man of Greek and British descent, who was influential in the introducing the western world to Japan through his writing. The book is a description of his life by three women who loved him.

I felt it left out the most interesting parts and was too meandering. Just not for me.

Bank sq books in Mystic CT had moved but I found another bookstore!

No other books like this 😂

Too bad it‘s closed this early.

Love a little free library! This one is in Mystic CT!

#littlefreelibrary

Great view of the city while leaving!

#nyc

Train reading! I think I sat on the wrong side for the view but at least I have a window.

Delayed post but here‘s what I got from the Brooklyn Book Festival! Two free books (the poet X and the sweetest fruits), one indigenous (birdie), one in translation (exposed) and one from an author I want to read everything by (Little rot)!

Going away this weekend so hopefully I get through some books! I‘ve got The Sweetest fruits and my kindle with me. 😊

Who doesn‘t love a story about a murderous robot with a conscious?

Murderbot is a SecUnit sent on intergalactic space missions with the humans who hire the spacecrafts. But unlike the other units, which must obey every command, Murderbot can think for itself. It just chooses to help so it will remain undetected.

In this shortish novel, the first in the series, we‘re introduced to Murderbot and it‘s thinking.

Great story, entertaining scifi.

If anyone is interested in this short story I just reviewed, it‘s available for free from the publisher! 😊

https://subterraneanpress.com/goblins-greatcoats-ebook/

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Free ebook short story in the same world as Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, very entertaining for 22 pages!

#readyourkindle @CBee

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Such rich language and the grief really comes through from the page. Had to read it across multiple sittings because my heart would ache for both the main character and Laila.

Worth a read!

(Messy kitchen but I bought myself flowers!)

#lgbt
#trans
#lgbtbookbingo2024
@Kenyazero

September wrap up from StoryGraph!

A great trio of books that I enjoyed a lot! Station eleven was by far my favourite. Probably contender for best book this year for me.

On track with my reading goal, although this month was a bit behind. I‘m aiming for a book a week, so 52 total and I‘m at 39! Exactly 75% of the way through.

Update on #lgbtqbookbingo2024 #lgbtq @Kenyazero

Planning on reading Giovanni‘s Room for published before 2000 and need to find a aro/ace book!

Anyone have any suggestions?

#asexual #aromantic

Bit of a rainy day but the Brooklyn Book Festival is on!

Great as always, even in the rain. Came home with 5 new books for the TBR pile!

Starting this while I want for the rain to settle a little.

Planning on heading to the Brooklyn Book Festival when it does! Anyone else coming??

It looks dark on my balcony but it‘s not that bad 😂

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Sitting out on the balcony, luxuriating in the words I just read. I loved this.

A pandemic sweeps across the world leaving very few left alive. This story is about the interconnections between the characters both before & after Day Zero. All connected to one man, who dies in the first chapter, and who never experiences the pandemic.

Luminous and beautiful. It‘s a story of how you touch the lives of others. I‘m so glad I read this.

#WhereAreYouMonday #WhereInTheWorldAreYou @Cupcake12

This novel takes place in a number of places - Toronto (my hometown!), NYC (where I live now!) and LA as well as around the US side of the Great Lakes. The part I‘m currently lot reading is set in Toronto though. I love reading about places I know or reading about a place before I travel there. Getting a feel for the area.

Loving this read, it‘s just my cup of tea.

Finished this little guy!

I‘m getting better at crochet but it still a work in progress. (He‘s a little lumpy 😂)

I learned to knit as a kid but took up crochet as a challenge to learn something new during the pandemic.

#litsycrafters

Note: I randomly tagged a book, this was from a kit!

Borrowed from a friend!

I‘ve been really excited about reading this for a while!

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Funny and feel-good, but in a chaotic real life kind of way. I usually stay away from books described as funny because they‘re cringeworthy, but this isn‘t like that at all.

Definitely literary, more about the characters and their development than the plot. It‘s about a brother and sister who live together in New Zealand. Their lives, their loves, and their family.

#lgbtqbookbingo2024
@Kenyazero

As someone with this exact tattoo, mine is also after the Oscar Wilde short story, this is hilarious. 😂

#LGBTQBookBingo2024 progress! I‘m going for a full card this year.

@Kenyazero
#lgbtq

August wrap up from StoryGraph, best one for me was Bear 🐻 (tagged).

Keeping up a good pace, I‘ve already met my reading goal for the year (oops). So I doubled it. Let‘s see if I can hit 52!

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Picked this up from a neighbour on Buy Nothing on a whim and I‘m glad I did!

An interesting story set in a bookshop, with regulars checking out coded books leads to a bigger mystery!

Cosy, and just what I was in the mood for.

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Sequel to The Mimicking of Known Successes, a novel I read after taking a @CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian quiz, this is a queer science fiction novel about an Investigator, Mossa, and a scholar, Pleiti, who are once again investigating something mysterious on their home space colony, Giant.

Life on earth as we know it has changed drastically and everyone evacuated. Living on platforms above the gaseous planet, things are *mostly* harmonious

Based on a real not-so-distant future possibility of a company trying to de-extinct Mammoths (Check out Colossal.com if you‘re interested); this crime novel was entertaining!

A murder happens at the famous site where you can view de-extinct species. Cash has her first high level assignment and uncovers a lot more than she bargained for.

As a geneticist, some of the science behind it wasn‘t explained exactly correctly, but still a fun read.

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Really liked this #CampLitsy24 pick! The descriptions of the island and ferry were beautiful in a sad kind of way; the sisters‘ trauma and poverty is palpable.

Not much happens in their lives until the bear comes to the island, you could feel the monotony of their day to day, trying to get by. The sisters respond differently to the bear and their world changes.

Thought provoking - I‘d recommend this one to fans of literary fiction.

Dropped off at a local #littlefreelibrary! I hope someone else enjoys it more than me 😆

Starting this finally for #camplitsy24!

Plants in the background are my coleus plants in the outdoor planters. They‘re something new I decided to try this year, and I like them! 🌱

I bought a new game on my switch and had been playing that pretty seriously for the last 5 days so no reading at all. Just work and video games 😆

Sometimes you need a mental break.

Trying this as an audiobook! Wish me luck 😂

⭐️⭐️💫

I‘m sorry #camplitsy24. I did not understand this book at all, although I feel like I got everything that happened in it - even the politics and scientific ramblings. But I wasn‘t captivated by it. Why was it a script partway through? What was the author trying to do?

It was definitely better for me than All Fours but I‘m still not inclined to give it a high score. It had a great premise & things I love in a novel! But it missed the mark.

July wrap up from StoryGraph!

#storygraph #wrapup

Next up for #camplitsy24! I can‘t believe it‘s August this week. 😱

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Took a break from Camp Litsy to read this novel set in the same universe as The Girl with all the Gifts.

Dystopian zombie apocalypse, with a twist.

Entertaining as a scientist to read this from the perspective of a scientist studying the pathogen!

Lots of inaccuracies around how pathogens colonize, but whatever. I decided to suspend disbelief and just enjoy.

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I‘m sorry #camplitsy24 but this was not for me! I wanted to stick it out for the sake of the discussion though. Sometimes I love a books ending. This came full circle but didn‘t impress me.

Outdated stereotypes about bisexuality and a self obsessed narrator whose privilege and mid life crisis I just couldn‘t relate to.

It was a quick read at least 🤷🏻‍♀️

Caught my Hazel taking a nap #catsoflitsy

Also counts for #lgbt2024 @Kenyazero

My TBR list! #nytbest100 #nybest100