Fave 2018 LGBTQ Reads (So Far)

It's only the end of May, but 2018 (aka 20gayteen) has already shown up with a good number of solid LGBTQ YA and middle grade novels, as well as a handful of excellent picture books. I've been keeping up as best I can, and here are my favorites of the bunch (so far). First on…

On (Still) Being a Beginning Runner

A couple Sundays ago I drove an hour and a half to run a 10K in 23-degree weather. It was the morning after we hosted 16 people for Friendsgiving at our house, during which get-together I had drunk two generous glasses of wine and eaten four desserts. I had a painful twinge in my ankle;…

On the Timeliness of The Nowhere Girls

It's not often that I can't decide on a rating for a book, but Amy Reed's The Nowhere Girls is proving to be a challenge. There is a whole lot to appreciate about this book, that's for sure. I know I would have loved this book when I was in high school, and I'm excited for teen…

Review: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Warning: spoilers ahead. On to my second trans* book of the year: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children.  The Book Our MC is Gabe, a high school senior and total music nerd who has just landed his first radio show (at midnight, on local radio). He's very close to his neighbor, John, an older man with an…

Review: Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

So I haven't blogged in an eternity a while thanks to grad school, but I've been all in a stew over this book, so here we are. Warning: spoilers ahead. The Book I read this 335-page novel in one day. In fact, I stayed up late to finish it, and I never do that because…

Review: Queer Virtue by Rev. Elizabeth M. Edman

Elizabeth M. Edman is an Episcopal priest and a lesbian. These two aspects of her identity are stitched into her very soul; they are vitally important, essential aspects of who she is as a person and how she moves about in the world. In Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People Know About Life and Love and…

Bookstagrams & Summertime

I'm officially finished with my second semester of library school, so to celebrate, my girlfriend and I went for a little vacation at a nearby lakeside town. We stayed at this bed & breakfast called the Allyn Mansion, which was possibly the coolest place I've ever spent the night (and I've spent the night in…

Review: The First Bad Man by Miranda July

There are very few books that I would classify as "weird," but Miranda July's The First Bad Man is definitely one of them. My partner, to whom I read this book aloud, was over it by the time we were halfway through; it was too strange for her. I, on the other hand, found it…

Review: My Age of Anxiety by Scott Stossel

Scott Stossel is an anxious human. He is quite possibly the most anxious human I've ever had the good fortune of "meeting," if you can call it that. Scott has multiple, extreme phobias: in particular, vomiting, flying, and public speaking. He suffers terrible anxiety-induced digestive problems. He has had too many panic attacks to count.…

Review: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely

With All American Boys, Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely have written a moving, timely story about police brutality toward young Black men in America. I listened to this book as an audiobook, and it was outstanding. This story is really two stories: the interconnected experiences of Rashad Butler, a sixteen-year-old Black boy who is beaten at a convenience…