Weirdly, as bookish as I have always been, I only ever read this one once in my childhood, and didn‘t have a particularly clear memory of it... it‘s better than I remembered, and I‘m pretty surprised I wasn‘t more into it as a kid. #readharder2018

You guys! This is one of the most adorable, heartwarming YA romances I‘ve read in a long time. On par with Rainbow Rowell (one of my all-time favorites) for lovability of the characters and authenticity of voice. Kevin & Morgan are amazing, and even as I knew all along they‘d get their HEA (because, I mean, YA romance), the plot still had me nervous for them and cheering for them. So, so good. #readharder2018 #romance #YA #lgbtqia+ #magic

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. So often, “addiction fiction” is filled with a lot of melodrama, graphic depictions of people hitting rock bottom, etc. This felt more real - yes, there was some “typical” drama (mostly in the Alex storyline), but at the end of the day, this was a story about someone learning how to live in the world as herself. It felt universal and realistic, rather than voyeuristic or sensationalized.

#24in48 #hour42challenge #bestcoverworstcover

Knitting and audiobook time! #24in48 #notgoingtomake24butstillgoinganyway

I am basically never a fan of audio books, but this one absolutely begs to be heard instead of read - Rakoff‘s voice (both written and spoken) is so distinctive, it feels important to hear the author tell you himself how this book is meant to sound. It‘s especially poignant given his death in 2012 - this was his final work, and I‘m glad I let him read it to me. #24in48

#24in48 day 2!!!

And now for a change of pace... #24in48

First finish of #24in48! This book is so great! Carrie‘s voice is so vivid, it feels like she‘s with you, and for a brief time, you get to live in a world where Carrie isn‘t gone. I cried when I closed it, not because of the place where it ends, but because I had to return to the world where she isn‘t. If you are a Carrie fan, this one‘s a must.

It‘s here, it‘s here! A lot of non-reading stuff to do today, so not sure if I‘ll make the full 24, but it can‘t hurt to try, right? 😁 #24in48

Reading Michelle Alexander‘s recap of the Populist movement and backlash of the 1880s and 1890s, and I can‘t help but feel frustrated - it is plainly apparent from the first 30 pages of this book a huge problem is the elite‘s use of racist bullshit to divide the lower economic classes and prevent the upset to the status quo that would occur if the “99%” actually United politically.

On a lighter note, I am loving this book so much, especially the excerpts from 19 year old Carrie‘s diaries. Even an amazing writer like Carrie Fisher was 19 and in a bad relationship and writing bad poetry about it once! #readharder2018

November 2016 in a nutshell, huh?

I already knew the US prison system was horrible, but these statistics are downright frightening. I alternate between desperately wanting to do something and wanting to give up on the whole system and move far, far away.

2017 was a rough reading year for me. Didn‘t finish nearly as many books as I usually do, didn‘t finish Read Harder... the election and politics knocked me for a bad loop, and I definitely retreated to numbness for a while. With the new year, I resolved 2018 would be different, more focused and intentional. So here goes - back to Litsy, back to reading instead of retreating into bad TV, back to being a connected human. #readharder2018 #resolved

I'm at the part where Douglass makes it north, and writes about how he assumed all northerners were poor, because he'd been taught to believe that true wealth was impossible without slavery, and it made me wonder - what inhumane features of our economy are we clinging to because we wrongfully believe they're a "necessary evil" for wealth building? What could we change if we put human decency first?

"If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse."

Some photos from the #womensmarch in DC yesterday... (if you want to see more, my instagram is full of pics right now, I'm @ steph_hashes_tags there too!)

Tonight I'll be driving down to D.C. to stay with a friend so we can both be a part of tomorrow's Women's March on Washington, and I can't think of a more fitting way to spend the drive than with this audiobook...

You know how you avoid a book because you know you don't want to stop doing that bad habit that you know you shouldn't be doing but you are doing anyway? This is that book for me. Here goes...

"For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever."

"But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it."

I love it when I can knock off #readharder2017 challenges for free!

There is just nothing like this one...

I am convinced that if Jane Austen and JK Rowling had a book baby, the result would be this book. Loving it so far!

Someone's ready for #ReadHarder2017! #femalesuperhero

The beginnings of my #ReadHarder2017 collection!

A hell of a start to #reading2017. I've been sitting on this book for six months, and I'm glad I waited for the right time to read it. Beautiful, contemplative, and exactly the sort of thing I wanted for the start of the year. What I love most is how the book raises questions instead of handing the reader answers - it's a great way to make space for your own personal meditations on voice and life and meaning. A must-read.

Finished this AMAZING book just in time to close out #ReadHarder2016 - Skloot does an expert job of interweaving scientific history with the Lacks family's personal story, and takes something incredibly academic and turns it into something deeply human. I could not have loved this more. What a fantastic way to close out 2016.

Guys!!!! How amazing is this book?! This was my first Oyeyemi, and she has literally ruined me for other authors. I'm serious - I basically inhaled the entire book over Christmas weekend and haven't been able to read anything other than comics since, because I know nothing I pick up is going to match her beautiful, precise prose and complex-yet-somehow-still-likable characters. Everyone should be reading Helen Oyeyemi, immediately.

So I just finished May God Have Mercy, and I found it both compelling and disturbing - a fairly heartbreaking look at the many and varied ways the criminal justice system can fail a person. My inner nerd does wish the book had included at least a few chapters giving a larger context to the various players' experiences, rather than only focusing on telling the one story, but it's a good read nonetheless.

A revised #TBR in honor of our new "president" - Other titles: When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot; May God Have Mercy by John C. Tucker; Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi; Freedom is Not Enough by Nancy MacLean; Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Valentin DeLandro; In Doubt by Dan Simon; and Black Panther Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze. #getintersectional

"There is no them without you, and without the right to break you they must necessarily fall from the mountain, lose their divinity, and tumble out of the Dream. And then they would have to determine how to build their suburbs on something other than human bones, how to angle their jails toward something other than a human stockyard, how to erect a democracy independent of cannibalism."

You guys. This series is BA. NA. NAS. In the best possible way.

So, this is happening...

I read this book earlier this year & have started in on the TV adaptation. While the show is solid, they've kept a few characters' names, the main idea of "animals hate us & want us dead now," & NOTHING else. I get that changes have to be made to make a discrete story work as an ongoing series, but this has about as much in common with the book as the Daredevil TV show does with the Thor movies - technically the same universe, but that's about it.

Time to catch up on a classic...

Interesting concept, well-written, and compelling. For some reason, it didn't quite envelope me the way my favorite books tend to do, but overall I'm glad I made my way to it.

An older book, and a really good one! Courtesy of a coworker (I love working with nerds!)

I liked this book a lot - the writing was strong, and it had a really authentic New York feel to it. The main character was fundamentally likable without being a Mary Sue (a tough task when writing a "fresh-faced recent grad journeys to the big city" type story), and, even though it was more of a character exploration, there was just enough plot to keep things moving forward. Overall, 3/4 ⭐️.

Such good writing, I'm really enjoying the descriptions in this one!

Almost forgot I read this one - it was a quick and engaging read, and I really liked the structure of it all, although I do think the structure kind of limited the potential for deeper/more nuanced character development. With that said, if you're looking for fast, clever, present-day sci-fi, this is for you!

Almost forgot I read this one - it was a quick and engaging read, and I really liked the structure of it all, although I do think the structure kind of limited the potential for deeper/more nuanced character development. With that said, if you're looking for fast, clever, present-day sci-fi, this is for you!

As always, RR knocks it out of the park. I am now fully convinced she is the best on the market for writing relationships - her characters are vivid and likable, and their interactions are authentically rendered and compelling. Loved this one!

For some reason, this book never really sunk its claws into me - I'm not sure whether it's because I just happened to be in a reading lull or what, because in theory it was squarely in my favorite wheelhouse, but I never quite connected with the main character (who is kind of the only character, come to think of it). The book is well-written and cool, and I'm glad I finished it, but it's not making my top 20 list for the year.

"Perhaps struggle is all we have because the god of history is an atheist, and nothing about his world is meant to be. So you must wake up every morning knowing that no promise is unbreakable, least of all the promise of waking up at all. This is not despair. These are the preferences of the universe itself..."

This book is just so good I can't even. Creepy, atmospheric, well-paced, clever, and unique. I loved the characters, and the story, and the last third was so amazing I didn't read it, I inhaled it. It's got all the things I look for in good horror - original world-building, enough similarity to real life to feel like it actually could happen, and ambiguity about the identity of the real villain. A must read.

Well, heck.

On the one hand, I love the idea of the Serial app and thinks it's a great way to "force" yourself to read classics you'd otherwise skip... On the other hand, I am going to be reading War and Peace for. ev. er.

Really enjoyed this one! Josie is a great character, and the art compliments the story perfectly - the whole thing has a very retro/noir feel, while at the same time turning lots of common tropes on their head. I also love that the volume contained a complete arc. There wasn't any edge-of-the-seat cliffhanger to frustrate me, but there are enough open questions that I'm really looking forward to the next volume!