Love a dark fairy tale. This one has depth, siblings not overshadowed by love interest and I loved it so much.

Rio became an autoread author after If We Were Villains. Wasn't as keen with Graveyard Shift but this brought me back to their writing. Suzanne flees her 'perfect' married life and takes to the road, meeting a duo who get by day to day flogging vintage wares across the southern US. The protagonist is escaping not only her marriage but her childhood, embellished by her late rockstar father's antics. Good stuff.

Informative and interesting, as it delves into the use of words and phrasing in cultish groups at varying levels.
Not sure why there's so much vitriol on gr (though the repeating 'we'll discuss x more in y section' and the author's immunity to cultish behaviour is a bit tiresome). It's a pop sociology book, not pretending to be academic. And it does what it sets out to do - discusses the language used in cultish circles.

This shifted my whole mood for the week i was listening to it but it's also so important. What happens in a 'non-violent' abusive relationship? And how do perspectives, both external and within, change when the relationship is queer/between two women? Machado's writing/cadence is so engaging on top of it all.

Loved the second Sworn Solider novella. Not quite as much as the first, but I am mushroom biased. Some amazing characterisation and world building, especially the first hand look at Galatian culture through Alex's sardonic viewpoint.

A really fascinating book about queerness, identity, and family, asking the question 'What changes us?' Pregnancy is a topic I usually struggle with in media, but Maggie tells it so directly 'this happens, this is how it felt' it's easier to navigate.

I love the movie and it's taken me this long to read the comic. Both have their pros and cons - I wish the movie could've fleshed out the minority focus more, I wish the comic had more Gordon (Stephen Fry) but both are brilliant.

Rivers is an auto read author for me. I never come away unscathed from their books but they are always ALWAYS worth it. Haunted homes, haunted families, haunted mother/child relationships - yes.

Something I sorely needed to read. It kind of lays out that yes, these people committed awful acts and yes, you can be hurt/upset/infuriated by that (I listened to the audio and went for long walks, which helped). A lot of reviews are salty and expect more from the text, but I think it's good that she sort of steps away from giving a definitive 'this is how to go about it' and instead talks of her own and others thoughts about the whole dilemma.

I love this book. It was my most reread during middle school and rereading it now, 17 years on, hasn't changed it all that much. I'll hopefully be meeting Juliet at a convention soon, so the revisit was comforting. I've not yet read any of her other work so aiming to read some more before then.

My co-worker described this as 'Heathers on crack' and I can't explain it better than that.

Loved this. Sometimes a little too fast paced, but a really cool novella.

I wasn't sure I was ready for a more 'general fiction' work from Emezi but this was great. Not my usual reading but I loved it, and the themes and prose (as always) were strong.

Love Butler's work. Rough to read but always important.

Picked this up because it was the most interesting title on the Stella Shortlist. An incredible collection of essays around the meat industry, and hugely confronting.

Loved this novella. Gothic mushroom based horror? Yes please. Plus the queer element is excellent.

Read them in the wrong order but loved all of these Wayward Children novellas as usual. Lost in the Moment and Found was particularly challenging for themes. But love, as always.

Really loved this one. Cool technonoir, and equity based communes (on of the main settings)are always interesting to me. All I'd want is more. The action rolls well, but I just want to know about the communities it touches on. There feels like a few gaps otherwise, but still, loved.

Reread. Hopefully catching up on the rest this year.

I love the narrator. I love the idea. I love half the dialogue and description. But something just doesn't pull it through. I got 80% the way through and just...don't care to finish it.

Always love a feminist retelling, and this one had a self awareness, with a kind of isekai quality that was fun. Wasn't what I was geared up to expect, more YA than the serious adult fantasy I thought, and while the overall was lukewarm for me, I'm excited for the next novella.

Haven't put that much thought into dating as a queer trans masc, but love that this shows the journey of it. Fear of rejection from men is always up there, but seeing the journey through coming out, dating and the doubled hazards of grindr, along with the stress of validation and the eventual happy ending made this such a good read.

Really cool adventure, loved how it blends short story with an ongoing narrative.

Interesting premise, and I love most of it, but it gets distracted and poorly executes some side concepts.

A trans man in a '78 manga. Not really something you read for the narrative, but was interesting to see an older, less common(?) media with any sort of rep, especially featuring an affirming medical professional 😅

Sibling pointed this one out to me, what I'm hoping will be a good intro to read more of her work and similar, a short collection of essay/speeches from a Black, lesbian, feminist poet.

Bookfest Day 2: not as impressive a haul, but I'm happy with what I did find.

Bookfest Day 1: found a few good books, have previously read Crimson and the Dubliners section of James Joyce

Mildly confusing throughout, but storywise it makes sense, and the way it all came together in the end was excellent. Excited for Nona and Alecto.

So good after reading Secret History, was worried about there becoming a dark academia formula, but while there's big parallels this was incredible itself. Painful, but managing to make me feel more than Tartt's novel, ESPECIALLY in that final Act.

Some of the action and narrative were rushed, I'm guessing to centre the romance more but would've loved to see it extended to fully explore the story itself. Enjoyed regardless.

An incredible collection of essays, written by queer people about their experiences, using cinematic horror as a parallel. Some mirrored the horror themes more closely, but regardless all the personal stories were interesting and came from a background of love for the genre.

Genuinely enjoyed this one. Don't think it needed to hinge of Peter Pan so much, but it does grab the attention. The dynamics made for an interesting spin, but did eek a little on the age stuff. And obviously the approach to queerness I loved immensely.

Went to the Byron Writer's Festival this past Saturday and it was incredible. Got to get books signed by both Bruce Pascoe and Gary Lonesborough, and sat in for a Gender Fluidity panel with Yves Rees and Dylin Hardcastle. Would recommend all of them, plus got access to the anthologies pictured, though i didn't get to see Mykaela Saunders, ed. of This All Come Back Now. And bought Unlimited Futures because of Claire G Coleman's contribution.

This was recommended by a regular at work. I fully understand why, the prose is interesting and there are definitely some stand out paragraphs, but if you're in it for an engaging story/world it's...alright?? Am definitely interested in reading more Hemingway now, but it won't top my reading list, possibly just because my taste deviates.

Realise I didn't review this. Worth reading, but it won't give you trans joy as I expected. It works through the author wrestling with oppressive social media spaces and dated popular media (that we grew up consuming despite the accompanying dysphoria) to eventually take a step back and try to approach transness with joy, even online, without the negativity of TERF twitter and Boys Don't Cry 'nostalgia'.

Wasn't sure about a novel from someone I'd grown to know as a poet, but this was excellent. A queer, Arab, Australian and muslim coming of age + extending into later life, it covered a lot of issues of family, friends, and finding your place in life. Definitely recommend.

Been considering getting this for a bit. Excited.

One of the first books this year that I didn't love at first but was well worth finishing. I'm actually invested and while I'm only planning on reading the Transitions trilogy for now, I think I might check some earlier Drizzt novels eventually.

In love with this. Had speculative aspect I did NOT expect after Red White and Royal Blue, and had so much queer love and references to intersections of queer history.

Forgot about the pacing of children's chapter books, but happy to have read this one. A great adventure story and while again, would have loved more immersive world building, it's a great children's tale, offering language and lore. Excited for the series to continue.

The Word for World is Forest was excellent, loved it in the same vein as Huxley's The Island. @RamsFan1963 can understand why it's your favourite LeGuin.

Refigured tbr for NAIDOC week. Also put a hold on Dark Emu audiobook but it'll be 2 months before I can read that one.

Mini tbr for July, partway through Malice and Ariadne but they're big so need to get my motivation up.

Should be require reading in Aus schools. A 'fiction' on the stolen generation and general colonisation of Australia, very blunt but well written. It shifts halfway through, a different perspective but a great way of teaching the risks and repetition of invasions.

A story with an Australian sex worker at the fore - the author herself being a sex worker- navigating her thoughts on social issues, including the nsw bushfires, the pandemic, and how her works influences her.

Two good books of women taking back their own (in some form). While break your glass slippers is a little too basic/made of platitudes it still sends a strong message, especially for the younger audience. And Galatea is brilliant, though sad, with a feeling parallel to the Yellow Wallpaper - and Miller's specific style of writing making me want to read Circe again.

Started this one thinking I had to read it before Young Mungo. They're not connected at all (so far as I can tell) but I did love it even through the pain. A fractured, working class family in Scotland just getting through life. Made me remember reading Angela's Ashes/'Tis

Been loving everything VtM lately and this was excellent. Was excited for Erika Ishii narrating. First and last story were great, second was fine. I think I just personally hate the heavy handed 'this man is an asshole!!!' trope. Would love to find some more Vampire the Masquerade style novels/stories.