Finally caught my 2024 read list up-to-date! 26 different joy reads seems pretty alright for also tackling my final year of graduate school!
My top 3 (in no particular order) were:
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Light from Uncommon Stars
so-so“You lose a body part and all of a sudden you‘re so eager to show off what extras you have.”
This book was far more focused on the military strategy than I was anticipating, but it was very well written with interesting and complicated characters.
Its queerness almost sneaks up on you. Beyond the say gex, there‘s a nuanced story around self identity and relation to gender presentation and physical body that was profound and complex.
Life got ahold of me and I forgot to update, but I completed #PortlandBookWeek with a blackout #BookstoreBingo! Bookish was my last stop on the whirlwind 24 bookstore tour and I couldn‘t have picked a better way to end it.
The tagged book + The Ballad of Perilous Graves were my audiobook companions for it and honestly neither one roped me in like I hoped. But the journey was a thrill and reward in itself!
4 days and 20 bookstores (so far)
#PortlandBookWeek #BookstoreCrawlBingo #BookstoreBingo #BookstoreCrawl
Wallace Books was my fourth stop for #PortlandBookWeek #BookstoreCrawlBingo and honestly my only regret is I didn‘t have them stamp the bingo square for “your favorite independent bookstore.”
But, I did pick up a cookie cookbook from 1970 for a dollar! “Cookie Originale” by Marilou Dyer.
Shout out to the owner of Laurie‘s Books for suggesting I stop at Wallace Books on my way back to Portland… because I have officially discovered one of the most underrated treasures in the city. Wallace Books is a house full of books… literally. One of the workers joked with me that “some of the stacks have become load bearing.” It‘s the kind of place I want to get lost for hours, without it feeling overwhelming.
Spoke & Word was my #PortlandBookWeek #BookstoreCrawlBingo stamp for “in its first 2 years of operation.” I already can‘t wait to go back! ✨🌈 (Also I just had to pick up the “cracked spines expand minds” sticker! 📚💗)
Second #BookstoreCrawlBingo stop for #PortlandBookWeek was White Rabbit, which conveniently shares a space with Black Ink Coffee & Tea. I ordered a Spring Honey Latte (bonus points in my book for any coffee shop that has decaf espresso) and enjoyed browsing their gifts and board games as well as their books.
Tagged book is the audiobook I listened to on my drive there!
Laurie‘s was my first stop of Bookstore Crawl Bingo where I picked up my BINGO card and first stamp. The owner informed me that the local bookstore was 42 years old! My favorite part was this bookend they had featuring banned books.
#PortlandBookWeek #BookstoreCrawl #BookstoreCrawlBingo #BookstoreBingo
I‘m a little late to share, but Portland is having its inaugural book week this week and let me tell you I was unprepared for how much dopamine participating has brought me. ✨📚
#PortlandBookWeek
Love when a book leaves me wanting to read more.
It might be time to dust off my German and do some reading auf Deutsch for the first time in nearly a decade.
Finding references to such rich queer history feels like a treasure. I‘ve never been so engaged in a book‘s Author‘s Note before. I‘m grateful for how thorough Kip Wilson was and how Wilson brings history to life anew.
“She hadn‘t realized just how heavy her mask had been until she discovered what it was to live without it.”
This cozy palate cleanser I picked up has me reminiscing about all my witchy reads growing up. I think my queerness ached to find others who felt different before I even knew what I was seeking myself.
The quote goes on, “To be at Nowhere House was to put herself in very real peril, so why then did she feel safer than she ever had before?”
“Our fight may be bloody, but it isn‘t one we have to fight alone.
Thank you for fighting with me, now let‘s get to work.”
A quote from the author‘s note at the start of the book. Deeply about queerness, but pertinent toward life and healing in general. ❤️
“Perks of refusing to play by the rules: you don‘t have to choose between the boy who‘d torture a man to death with you and the boy who‘d welcome you back with pastries after.”
📷: Gabrielle Ragusi
📷: 辞客ck on Weibo
“What is it about gender that matters so much to the system anyway?”
…I‘m barely 30min into the audiobook and I‘m hooked.
This novel feels like a cool drink of water after abandoning Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. I kept listening to Dunn‘s novel thinking it would get better, and I only got more and more uncomfortable.
Hearing the way the authors speak to gender from different genres decades apart is soothing and incredible to witness.
“Also I haven't lost an ounce of the passionate desire to beat him over the head with a large stick. And surely that was a sign of true love.”
31 books read in 2022
…not bad for a year spent studying in graduate school. I‘m glad I still find fun books to escape in, even when I should be spending a little more time actually hitting the school books!
Another dog sitting moment, featuring a sneak peak of a book I‘m marking up as a Christmas gift to a loved one. ❤️🎄
Another dog-sitting week! My favorite time to enjoy some new books, and I finally downloaded my sorority sister‘s new novel Called to the Deep. Also, lots of dog walks means lots of time to listen to audiobooks like the Feeling of Falling in Love by Mason Deaver. 🐕💗
Dog sitting and one of the dog moms has the entire Heartstopper series! I know what I‘m up to for the weekend! 💕🌈🐾
“He (Frederick Funston) may have served his country best by dropping dead on the eve of his appointment as commander of the US Forces in the First World War.”
Sick burn by Rebecca Solnit. 🔥
I just discovered #LittensDressedInBlood but I had to jump on the bandwagon to share one of my previous local libraries for Day 25. Nothing beats having your library connected to a maritime museum on the water so you can watch the sun set over a historic tall ship while reading. 📚
I am LOVING this book so far but my gosh I can‘t stand the main character‘s boyfriend. She‘s such an incredible and intelligent protagonist, why is she with the most judgmental, manipulative and chauvinistic man?! I‘m to the point I actually needed to vent about him. Is this just me? Am I missing something cultural? Because dear lord this queen deserves better!
“She always says that if you keep children going until they‘re exhausted, feed them, and put them in bed, then it doesn‘t leave them with any time to stick themselves with knives or fall down wells. So now that I‘m all grown up I march myself around for hours and I haven‘t fallen down any wells yet.” Proud to say I‘ve also avoided falling in any wells! #adulting
I can‘t thank @MeganAnn @Michael_Gee & @Reggie enough for sharing their insight and these novels with me the past 4 months. Reading these queer experiences with your commentary had me feeling joy, nostalgia, anger, sorrow, love, and so much more- and I never felt alone for the ride. Thank you so much for your picks, and while I wish mine wasn‘t filled with such toxic characters, I‘m glad you all devoured it as quickly as I did!
pickFinally finished my last #LMPBC book, ending with this pick by @MeganAnn . I can‘t express how magical it feels to receive such an incredible book with so much heartfelt commentary already inside. I felt like I was experiencing this story surrounded by friends and I absolutely devoured this novel and experience. Thank you Megan (again) for your patience with my belated reading. I had no idea what like was going to throw at me these past 4 months!
pickWow. This was gorgeous and heartbreaking and resonated and #LMPBC (round 11) Group Q‘s commentary kept me grinning and feeling seen and understood like Kim Fu masterfully shares and understands the queer experience. It wasn‘t always a joyful ride, but it was a beautiful one and one I would absolutely recommend anyone reads. Thanks for this great pick and it‘ll be in the mail soon!
In response to @TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday questions this week:
1. Who is your favorite Greek/Roman god?
Artemis 🌕🦌🗡
2. What was the last book you read about mythology?
The tagged book, based off One Thousand and One Nights
so-soA book about art, the African-American experience, salt marshes, & the color fuchsia.
Hang out until page 200 for an unexpected paragraph that almost (but not quite) makes the shuffled narration worth it.
Finally finished this last night and getting it mailed to @MeganAnn today! Sorry it‘s belated, but thank you for the kind patience as I had to wait a few weeks to comfortably read after my concussion. I‘ll get caught up before the end of May!
pickA novel about a queer curvy woman named Noni who travels abroad to seek pleasure? Did someone write my biography?!
I was expecting an Eat, Pray, Love vibe but got mostly the Love portion. Which I wasn‘t mad about. There‘s sex. Lots of it. It‘s a smutty beach read for fat bisexual women and honestly, the world needs more of that! Sometimes a book just exists about, and for, pleasure.
My physical TBR stack is just piling up and I‘ve had an absolutely intense month that started with an April fool‘s joke of an interstate car accident and severe concussion that literally messed up my vision, focus, and memory. I‘m trying to keep up with everything, especially my Litsy Markup Postal Book Club reads, but I feel like I‘m barely making a dent even though all I want to do is read!
These were my top 5 choices for my book pick for #GroupQ in #LMPBC Round 11. I waited all month to finally decide, but bought the tagged book today. I‘m excited to start marking it up in March!
Haven‘t even finished my current reading event (shoutout #24in48 ) and I discovered my next one! This book club consists of groups of four where you read a book, mark it up with your notes/thoughts/etc, and then mail it on to the next person! After 4 months your book will return to you lovingly marked up! Check out @suvata for sign ups and more information! Or join Group Q with me if you‘re interested in swapping LGBTQIA+ reads! #LMPBC
1:50:54.33 into the #28in48 #readathon and starting out with the #24in48GroupRead on audiobook! I couldn‘t wait and started Felix Ever After a few days early - and I‘m loving it so far! Can‘t wait to keep reading and join in the discussion! Happy reading everyone!
pickThis was a sweet YA romance which gave me an innocent ‘Nick & Norah‘s Infinite Playlist,‘ but K-Pop edition, vibe. It was fluffy and somewhat predictable, but I liked the characters and their development. There‘s a passion alongside the ease of this novel that just makes you want to enjoy the same things. I found myself cooking bao to eat alongside Lucky and picked up my guitar (for the first time in years!) after finishing the book.
@Alfrazier21 absolutely knocked my #ElfSwap package out of the park! I can‘t wait to read both of the novels and enjoy all of the treats! This may be one of the best swaps I‘ve ever received. Thank you so much! ❤️
My package from @Alfrazier21 for @Avanders #ElfSwap arrived this week! I can‘t believe Christmas is so soon, but I‘m excited to be able to open the box next week!
🙏🏻 Time to learn more about myself.
🙏🏻 Added yoga teacher certification to resume.
🙏🏻 Acceptable to stay home all weekend.
Just signed up for @Avanders Christmas book swap! This swap has a quick turn around (matches sent 11/27 and send-by date of 12/18 or earlier) and the sign up closes tomorrow Nov. 25th!
Info and sign up at: https://forms.gle/XWwVtzq6f6KfgvmH6
#ElfSwap #LitsySwap #LitsySwaps #Swap #Swaps #LitsyHappenings
Photo is from @hellokarilynn on IG.
bailedI lasted exactly 4 minutes and 27 seconds before I deleted the audiobook. The narrator is British/Indian/Australian... and it‘s horribly jarring to hear her butcher Arabic as she‘s supposed to be narrating a Palestinian American character. I still want to read the book seeing as I identify as a queer woman and have lived in Palestine and walked the very streets this book opened in, but I couldn‘t palate this narration a second longer.
pickI loved listening to this audiobook. It was raw and beautiful. The characters are all deeply flawed but felt achingly real even if they weren‘t always likable. And revolving around a sexually liberated somewhat-queer woman in a poly situation was incredibly refreshing. Well written, dark, and captivating.
pick5⭐️s for this incredible novella set in a dystopian future that felt slightly akin to the Handmaid‘s Tale. A western, but with queer librarians instead of cowboys. My only complaint is that there isn‘t a whole librarian series set in this world yet!
Saw @mariaku21 post this, and had to share! I discovered the podcast Hot & Bothered this spring and it‘s made my appreciation for the romance genre significantly grow. 2020 is definitely the year for a guaranteed happy ending. Anyways, my title is Surrendering The Billionaire‘s Forbidden Wife... which is a lesbian erotica just begging to be written!
I had 5 weeks off work due to the pandemic during which I had all the time in the world to learn whatever I wanted. And instead I chose my first day back to work to compulsively decide to start Yoga Teacher Training. 🧘🏻♀️
“I have no need of a friend who thinks me good enough to share his bed but not his name.”
Listening to this audiobook while whipping up some macaron batter way too late at night. There is undoubtedly magic in meringue, and even more so in strong independent women.✨
“We are the stars,” he answers, as though it is the most obvious of facts afloat in a sea of metaphors and misdirections. “We are all stardust and stories.” ✨📚
