Welcome to Litsy!

Okay, so, complicated feelings here because shared-ish personal experience, and also books for/about teenagers often don't hit right for me lately. I think it'd have been pretty important to me 10 years ago, and it feels honest and messy in a way teenagers often are. This is kinda... a theoretical pick. An I-know-it'd-be-a-pick-for-someone-not-quite-Present-Me.

As I kinda feared, this is *very* teenage and I am not at a point in my life where I find that very interesting... I guess we'll see how this goes.

Didn't manage to post yesterday, due to a nasty flu, but I feel better today - another joy for #5JoysFriday 💛

1. Yesterday we had a very successful book table. All books sold 📚💸
2. Tasty vegan food with a new friend 💛
3. Me is Blåhaj🦈
4. Róka stealing my book? 🦊
5. Surprise gift package from my bookish bestie 💛💛💛

@DebinHawaii

This was easy. My only five star read in May. This book is just amazing and will stay with me for a long, long time.

#Bookofthemonth #botm

1) Thursday was a holiday and I slept soooo much. Secco clearly was confused 😁
2) Watching @VaniBarelyReads playing Pokémon and playing it again myself
3) Felix Ever After gave me queer joy 🌈🏳️‍⚧️
4) Could cross off the first square of my Summer Bingo ☀️
5) Customers at our shop and working there 📚
#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

Wow, this book! It just blew me away. Felix felt so real, even when I wasn't reading the book he was there with me. More than once I had to close the book, because my emotions run wild. Kacen states that this a very personal book, and it shows. On each page. It also shows how much pressure there is on young people. We olf folk tend to smile at what teenagers have to go through, forgetting how it feels to have the whole world on your shoulders.

#SpringSkies Day 5 #InvolvesArt 🎨
These quiet YA books both feature queer teens who express themselves through painting
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#ReadAway2024 When I first started this book, I found the teenage characters annoying. But they were just behaving like teenagers and by the end of this very enjoyable book Felix and his friends had grown up more than just a little. Felix is a 17-year-old trans boy who knows he‘s not a girl but is not quite sure he‘s a boy. As he questions his gender identity, an even bigger question becomes apparent: does he deserve to be loved? It‘s a (cont)⬇️

This story and these characters, are everything and more than I‘d hope they‘d be. Addressing so many current issues in a natural way that ring true to the story being told. I could write a ten page essay about this book. This was an instant classic for me and I want to assign this book to every person on earth as required reading. Felix is complicated, real, flawed, evolving. A force and a delight. And on my 3rd read through, it still holds up!

What a beautiful YA story of Felix discovering love, friendship, identity and growing as an artist. Felix does confront some serious bullying so know that going in. However, overall this is truly excellent, heartwarming YA contemporary that I‘m glad I finally picked up. I highly recommend- 5⭐️

#transrightsreadathon

Day 2 roundup. Finshed and loved Felix ever after. Great characters, details trans life with warmth and compassion. A very positive story, beautifully written
I love Felix ❤️

Started Trans which is a mind blowing, tough read but in a good way. It has me questioning my own beliefs and knowledge. It's an enlightening and stimulating read so far.

https://www.instagram.com/linking/fundraiser?fundraiser_id=2433288023490684

#TransRightsReadathon

I‘m excited for this event as much as I am sad that an event like this is so vital. I‘ve seen a lot of buzz on Instagram and I‘m glad for those who have shared it here. Attacks against trans people are skyrocketing in the U.S. and elsewhere and we must bring awareness about and fight for trans rights. I also want to shout out a YouTube event, Trans Girl April. I will post a link to an announcement video⬇️.

#transrightsreadathon #transliterature

This is another one off @xicanti ‘s #auldlangspine list that‘s been on my TBR for quite awhile. And I am so, so very glad I picked it up this month. I‘m a sucker for a good coming of age/figuring out who you are story. Felix goes through a lot and I loved the way art played a big part in helping him work through it. I could not put this one down once I started and cried lots of happy tears at the end. All the love for this one! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

🌞

#ManicMonday #LetterF @CBee

📚Felix Ever After, the Flatshare
🖊️Lucy Foley, Cornelia Funke
🎬Father of the Bride II, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Frequency
📺Firefly, Friends
🎤Fleetwood Mac, Fitz and the Tantrums
🎶Fred Astaire by Jukebox the Ghost, Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg

F‘s a tough letter, y‘all. I give so many Fs.

Book: do I go with FELIX EVER AFTER, my most recent F beloved? Or Ann-Marie MacDonald‘s FALL ON YOUR KNEES, though I haven‘t reread it in years? Or do we take the series route and plug Hiromu Arakawa‘s FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST?

Author: Matt Fraction

Movie: Frozen

Band: Flogging Molly

Song: don‘t make me choose between Fire (Barns Courtney) and Fire On the Side (Tori Amos)

#ManicMonday

This made me so happy! One of the best novels about trans youth I‘ve ever read, and one of the best love stories I‘ve read in a long time. #BBRCYeahBabyFriendOfDorothy #LGBTQBookBingoAudiobook #Pantone2022AbundantGreen @LibrarianRyan @Kenyazero @Clwojick

Each time I read a little further in the story I keep recalling “Are You There God? It‘s Me, Margaret” by Judy Blume. I think it‘s element of not knowing oneself and feeling intense pressure to be, or do or act in some unknown way that one feels@ everyone but oneself knows how to do.

I fell in love with Felix and this book. 😍

A beautiful story of learning to love yourself and not letting anything stop you.

#pridebookrec #yaday
A fantastic and lovely multi award winning book.
This is a charming story mixed with the harsh reality of what trans youth go through in the US.
The book is filled with vivid descriptions of art, and complex and human relationships.

Wonderful book about identity and learning to love yourself

I DON‘T WANT TO ANALYZE FELIX EVER AFTER. I JUST WANT TO SCREAM ABOUT HOW IT TOUCHED MY VERY SOUL. THANK YOU. 5 STARS. #gaymay

Great book about learning who you are and loving yourself. Loved it!

It's a YA romance narrated by a trans boy dealing with bullying, abandonment issues, academic pressure, and falling in love. Not my usual thing -- the angst, the drama, the Feelings -- but I did appreciate the perspective. It's another from the list of books that Texas representative Matt Krause wants removed from schools and libraries, so it gets a pick from me for representation and for pissing off the morals thugs.

Read #bannedbooks !

This book makes you feel happy, proud and make you fall in love. This is the first transgender book I have read. I discovered lots of emotions that I couldn't articulate before.
The friendship here shown is more beautiful than love.
I love how the author has shared peach of their life to help us, to understand the commotion of their life.
A must 📖.

Felix is a high school senior grappling with his gender identity, being abandoned by his mother, and an anonymous bully. But the biggest challenge that he faces is his own doubts about his self-worth. Can he get out of his own way for long enough to let love in? 4⭐️

Started a bit rocky for me, had to get into the groove, but by half way I was all in.

Read Harder Challenge 2021: Read A Romance by a Trans or Non-Binary Author

YA love triangle with malevolent intentions shrouded in the anonymity of social media. I definitely had a lot of de ja vu while reading remembering lots of similarities between Becky Albertalli's Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Reading YA books set in a very urban setting just gives me anxiety because of how comfortable kids/teens are at using public transportation...

An incredibly endearing book about living through transgender transition. This deeply personal story is told from the POV of a high school student and his/her physical, psychological, & emotional changes in a loving and deeply moving way as he/she navigates through it all. Well written and touching.

Meet Felix - a 17 year old artist living in New York, dreaming of getting into college, while juggling the normal teenage drama of friends, family, love and school. When an anonymous student starts bringing up Felix‘s past, Felix must get to the bottom of not only who and why, but how this will change everything. Highly recommend.

🎨🎨🎨🎨

Felix is trans and still learning more about his gender identity while trying to fit into his school and wanting desperately to be loved. There‘s some great stuff in here about identity and being ok with not having it all figured out. I really enjoyed this.

Who would like to join me in group N and read YA books with LGBTQ+ protagonists? Tagged book is one I have in mind, along with Sweet and Bitter Magic.

Sign up here! https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/5080444aead2ca0ff2-l...

#lmpbc

While I really appreciate LGBTQIA+ representation in fiction, this is still, at its heart, a teen romance. It's a cute story, and I'm glad to have read it, but all the angst and drama isn't really my thing.

One of my new favorite reads of the year! Such a powerful story of figuring out your identity and embracing it in the face of discrimination. It also touches on the different forms of love from family, friends, and yourself.
I can't even describe how much I loved this one! Everyone needs to read it, it's just wonderful 😭💖

THIS BOOK IS OUTSTANDING!!!! Felix Love has never been in love. He‘s attending art school and hoping for a college scholarship, but bullying and intolerance at school because he is trans cause terrible hurt and a desire for revenge. Deals with identity, intolerance, self-love. https://cannonballread.com/2021/09/felix-ever-after-elcicco/

And Felix makes…101.

I finally grabbed this one…and inhaled it. I guess I was afraid it wouldn‘t be as good as people said. But it is 💯%. Great themes of identity, worth, friendship and love. Well done, Kacen Callender.

Already love this book

I just loved this story and Felix too. I haven't read hardly any books about transgender, definitely need to read more.

This is the first book I‘ve read by Kacen Callender, but it won‘t be the last! They have created a character who you can‘t help but root for, even through the angst teen drama moments. Felix is questioning many things: his identity, sense of self, self-worth, and how it feels to love and be loved in return. As a mom to a teen, I wanted to give a big hug to the full cast of characters in the story. And a curfew. 😂 #ownvoices #pride #lgbtqia+

These are two of my #currentreads and I am enjoying them both!

We push open the restaurant building's glass door, out into the yellow sunshine that's a little too cheerful and bright.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

GO READ FELIX. RUN DONT WALK. I LOVE THIS BOOK. 10/10 😍🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💕

This is a fantastic book and an important read for all teens and adults, too. I did find Felix to be annoyingly self centered at times, but I‘ll forgive him.

A great YA contemporary a lot of difficult race & gender topics in a hard-hitting way. The character diversity is magnificent and the narrative is beautiful & moving. Felix is a great character with a host of thoughts & feelings presented in an incredibly raw way. Following his identity journey was emotional & heart-wrenching in several parts. Kacen Callender gives the reader a lot to learn here & I am glad that I was able to experience it.

Spent a solid 6 hours #audiostitching to this character-driven novel. Despite being a bit heavy handed toward the end, I really enjoyed Felix‘s story.

I don‘t normally read YA - this was for book club. But I think this does what it sets out to do really well. It‘s cute.