What I Got:

• Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton
• Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive by Julia Serano
• Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston
• Wild Seed by Octavia Butler
• Two zines 

What I Read:

• The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
• This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow
• Heartstopper: Volumes 1 & 2 (online comic) by Alice Oseman
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
• Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
• This Is an (Audio)book by Demetri Martin
• Six of Crows (re-read) by Leigh Bardugo
• The Perks of Being of a Wallflower (re-read) by Stephen Chbosky
• Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer De Leon
• Part of How to Drag a Body and Other Safety Tips You Hope to Never Need by Judith Matloff

I hope all of my fellow queer folks had a wonderful Pride Month! Even though there weren’t any physical Pride celebrations, I did celebrate in my own nerdy way: with the Queer Lit Readathon! The first four stories listed above were on my TBR (plus JVN’s memoir and a book of poetry by Danez Smith, which I covered in my last post), and I was so proud to have finished them in one week. I rarely ever do this, usually extending my TBR to the whole month so I can get all of the challenges done.

JVN’s book covered the non-fiction challenge, and Don’t Call Us Dead covered the poetry challenge.

I chose The Gilded Wolves (backlist title, queer friend group, rainbow cover, disabled main character) to read next because it was one of the longer books on my TBR, and it was also the one with the most mixed reviews. Unfortunately, I agreed with the majority in that the book was middling. Not great, not horrible, just kind of there. There was way too much crammed into this book, and I would’ve enjoyed the story much more if it had spanned across two books. This resulted in many issues being resolved a bit too quickly and easily. That being said, the characters were compelling and some parts of the plot kept me going. By the end, I did care about the characters and shared their grief. They could shock me by how they treated each other, and they developed interesting relationships. It felt like a less well-planned version of Six of Crows. By a few days later, I had already forgotten most of the plot and I can’t even remember characters anymore. Bummer!

This Is What It Feels Like was the group read (also a non-coming out story) for the Queer Lit Readathon, and let me tell you, it is now one of my favorite books. Rebecca Barrow tells the story of a band that had broken up because of different life experiences (teen motherhood, alcoholism, and exploring queer identity). Now, the local band contest has a lucrative prize that all three could benefit from. They have to try to put aside differences and perform together again. I am so glad that this readathon made me aware of this book, because I love a good band story, and this one was absolutely stunning in its depth.

This book is proof that good writing can tackle a lot of tough topics without feeling overwhelming or underdeveloped. I cried a few times, rooted for the girls in all of their endeavors, and related to some of their misfortunes. The only critique that I have for this book is that I wasn’t sure that the chapters from Elliot’s point of view (the father of Dia’s kid) had a significant purpose. They didn’t detract from the story, but they definitely didn’t add much, either.

Heartstopper Volumes 1 & 2 (summer vibes, graphic novel, make your own: trans rep, bi/pan main character, 5-star prediction) were so frickin’ cute. I read them online to reduce my retail therapy budget, but the bad part was that I couldn’t stop myself from scrolling down after the first one, which was the only one I’d actually planned to read. I still haven’t gotten to Volume 3 yet, but you can bet that I will soon! Nick and Charlie’s love and friendship story was the adorable, heartwarming media I needed to lift my mood. Plus, they play rugby, and Nick teaching Charlie how to play better, having faith in Charlie’s ability to learn, was the cutest thing.

In order to fulfill the challenge of reading a book with a female main character over the age of forty, I read the super hyped The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. This was also the book my sister and I read together this month. I went into this book nervous, because I was worried it had been overhyped and would not be as good as everyone said. It turned out that it was. (Man, I really gotta start listening to other people’s opinions. They’ve been right twice this month!) I got invested in the story and forgot my tentative feelings. This is the story of a former actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood who had seven husbands (as the title says), but was really in love with her best friend, who was a woman. There’s also a subplot in that the person she is telling her story to, Monique, was chosen for a reason. And let me tell you, I did NOT see the twist at the end. Actually, there were a couple twists, one of which I should have seen coming and the other which shocked me thoroughly.

My family went to our lake cabin for a few days this month, and this is where my sister and I discussed the book together. We sat on the porch swing and looked out over the lake, discussing a book that had blown both of our minds in the best way possible. This book is hyped up so much for a reason, and I’m glad I finally got myself to read it. Plus, how can you not like a book when you’re reflecting on it by a lake?

In between the two readathons, I participated in this month, I read two and a half books. The half was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which I’d started at the end of May intending to finish it before June. Well, that didn’t end up happening, so I put it on hold during the Queer Lit Readathon. After I finished, I picked it back up and easily slipped back into the narrative. I enjoyed this book, and I liked the way the narrator, a teenager with autism, told the story. It made a plot twist that should have been obvious much harder to spot, which was really cool. Plus, the chapters are numbered by prime numbers, which warmed my nerdy heart.

Next, I picked up a book my sister had given to me for Christmas in an “alishaCrate” box (her own version of OwlCrate). This book is just beautifully written, even though it is a translation. The scenery was beautiful, the characters quirky, and the plot mysterious. I am officially a fan of the “mystery that has to do with books” genre; the story exudes a love for books and a curiosity for lost truths. I also read this one by the lake, having finished the previous book during the long drive up to Wisconsin. Reading this by a lake with a cool wind blowing was the perfect atmosphere for this narrative. It is like no other book I’ve read before, full of so many layers and twists and turns that it keeps you on your toes. It’s a book that will be fun to re-read because I’m sure I will notice more and more each time.

I got Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl at a used bookstore in Fort Collins for a very cheap price because the dust jacket was gone. When I was buying it, the cashier, who was an amazingly cute hipster, said he’d read this same copy and loved the book. I loved that this book had a backstory, but I didn’t love the memoir as much as I’d hoped. Carrie Brownstein was a guitarist in the punk band Sleater-Kinney, which I didn’t really know anything about until reading her memoir. I love books about music and musicians, as we all know, and this one was super fun to read. It was not the most original or well-written memoir, but Brownstein is a very interesting person and offers a unique perspective of the punk scene as a “female musician” who is tired of answering stupid questions that male musicians never get and having her band characterized by the genders of its members. Anything that tells me more about the punk scene is going to be a fun read for me, I just wished it had been a little less cliché in how the story was told.

Onto the second readathon that brought me to the end of the month! I’ve already addressed my feelings about JK Rowling and Harry Potter in my last (very angsty) post, but I still participated in the “Visit Hogsmeade” readathon put on by G of the YouTube channel Book Roast, who also puts on the OWLs and NEWTs readathons. I mostly continued on with it because I had already made a TBR, but also because G puts so much work into her readathons and has been absolutely wonderful in addressing JK’s statements and amending her future readathons to be less HP-based. Okay, on with the books!

The premise of this readathon was that each store in Hogsmeade had a specific book prompt and you read the ones you would want to visit. The only required book was one with a map in it, because this unlocked the Marauder’s Map, which helped you get there. For the map book, I decided to re-read Six of Crows. Having Harry Potter be not as relaxing anymore pushed me to re-read two of my favorite books as replacements. I loved Six of Crows just as much this time around as the first time, and I am excited to re-read the sequel, Crooked Kingdom, sometime soon. It’s no secret that I love duologies, and revisiting the characters and world of this first book confirmed my love for this specific one. The heist was just as nail-biting and the characters were just as compelling and the narrative was just as funny and intense. Plus, I got to swoon over Kaz and Inej flirting with each other in the weirdest ways. This series always reminds me of The Raven Cycle because of its quirky friend group and the awkward, “old-fashioned” (a.k.a. no kissing or sex) flirting between two characters. I love little gestures and comments that convey affection more than any other type of romance or flirting. And there are queer characters, so it was perfect for Pride Month!

Before SOC, I listened to an audiobook by Demetri Martin, one of my favorite comedians, which let me into Zonko’s Joke Shop. His wordplay is hilarious, and listening to this book as opposed to reading it was definitely the right choice. I got to hear the timing that Martin intended for the jokes and stories, though I do wonder if there were some drawings in the book that I missed out on, as he often uses drawings with his comedy. Either way, it was a hilarious, quick, and intelligent listen.

After the giggles and heist, I made my way to Honeydukes (candy!!) by re-reading another favorite, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I’ve read this book so many times that I’ve lost count, and it never fails to break my heart a thousand times without making me feel hopeless. Though, I’m not gonna lie, I was jealous of their ability to hang out together in public and in groups. Just the fact that they went to a movie theater often Rocky Horror made me wish I could go see a movie or read at a coffee shop. This book is about trauma and friendships that become part of you forever, the combination of which makes you feel melancholy and nostalgic. Which is pretty much what I feel like most of the time during this pandemic!

The last book, which got me into Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop, was Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer De Leon, which I have as a signed ARC from meeting her in Baltimore. This is another book that was fun to read but wasn’t super original. The story follows Liliana as she transfers to a predominately white school and begins to experience and subsequently fight the rampant racism in the student body. Liliana is a Latina, a writer, a maker of miniatures, and an advocate for herself even as she deals with her father’s deportation and subsequent crossing of the border. The narrative is by no means perfect, but it successfully gets across the messages of hope and trying to make the world better even when it seems impossible. As De Leon wrote in my book, “Build bridges, not walls.” Not to mention that I connected so much to Liliana when she would use vocab words and then point out when she used a vocab word. That’s totally something I did in high school. I still do it mentally when I learn a new word!

I’m continuing with my Visit Hogsmeade TBR in July even though I didn’t get it done in the week, because I like following plans that I’ve made even if it takes me a bit longer than anticipated. (Life lesson, my friends.)

Pride Month was weird, and participating in an HP-themed readathon after The Incident was weird, but I still managed to be okay this month. Motivation was hard, so doing the readathons pushed me to read more than I would have without them. In July, I’ll be doing The Reading Rush as well as attempting Camp NaNoWriMo. Let’s see if I can do both AND find a job… fingers crossed!