After reading These Wild Houses I was excited to read more of his stuff, and this one is a solid collection of poems. There is a lot of searching for home, hinging on family trauma, queerness and a loss of homeland. But it also shows pockets of queer love between.

Definitely enjoyed this one more than Earthlings, the sense of alienation is more grounded(?)

A beautiful queer speculative piece, centred around two elder trans characters with access to transformation magic. Decent world building and character depth given it's a pretty short novella. Eager to read more of the Birdverse short stories.

A solid collection of 2S and indiqueer stories. Each had a different approach to the speculative, and with concepts of family, queerness and place.

1st read of the year! Majorly different from the previous two, since it splits more definitively into more stories to create more perspectives within a human centric community. Still as interesting, and the world building is still incredible.

Visual recap of the books I own that I read in 2021! Happy New Year.

The single horror read I managed this month. Not what I was expecting (based of Seanan McGuire stuff) but interesting nonetheless. It was a very slow lead up, but established the characters well, with a strong environmental message throughout. The end was a little too abrupt, I just wanted to see the continuation of the main relationship to a fuller capacity.

A very intriguing horror collection, more contemporarily known simply as Wormwood. The horror regularly focuses on pregnancy, childbirth and reproduction, but as always there are a few stories dedicated to Ghost/ Steve from Lost Souls and other vampy, horror gay feels.

I wasn't sure where this was going for a while; it's tagged fantasy, but it took a while to get to that. Its not disappointing in the build up at all though; you are confronted with a lot almost immediately, and that never really ease, following beautiful, haunting writing the whole way.
I kind of found myself wishing it would just finish at the end of the second part, but that also wouldn't have completed the overarching message of the novel.

Second Dishonored novel, loved this one as well, but again feels like you have to have played the games to keep up with it fully.

BUT it still gives a lot more depth to one of the more interesting characters in the games, and fills the space around him in an accurate and engaging way. And I love all the pieces of lore and fragments that preface each chapter.

Last of the borrows I got for their HIV/AIDs portrayals. All well worth reading.

This got me trying to listen to Madonna again. My [redacted] had Madonna albums, and I remember being like 8 singing to Like a Prayer. But the version of Madonna I had from her was heavily sanitised, kind of the way Hozier's Take Me to Church got christian co-opted. So it was this weird nostalgia, as well as a learning experience, to see her centred as the queer icon she is.

Took me a bit to get into, but after the first quarter I was invested in Simone's story.

Sort of spoiler(??) I didn't feel too much about the resolution. I feel like the bully could've somehow been explored more, or maybe the author hadn't thought that much about wrapping up the novel, because much of it felt rushed. Nowhere near enough to ruin the main narrative and the message of it all, but I was left wishing for a little more detail.

This one threw me for a bit cause I'm used to memoirs being more chronological (note: I don't read that many) but as a collection of varying short stories and letters to loved ones, it was better for it. It kept constant interest without the filler of a timeline check list, with the stories each leading to a greater example about the life and experiences of a queer black boy, and expanding to encompass other queer family members.

Don't really have much of a review for this one. Just definitely worth reading, especially considering how it tackles the issue of complacency, even in an assumed utopia.

I loved this so much, first off.
Obviously queer found family gets me, and I was pretty much in love with the Wayfarer crew instantly. Maybe introduced a little too likeable somehow, but honestly on finishing it I don't even care. They each got rounded out through the book, and now I'm super curious about how the rest of the series progresses.

Definitely an interesting experiment, but it often lapses into that metaphor/logic loop It mostly seems to ask the reader to consider a probability method of thought, instead of pattern recognition, which is important for sure, but it's pitched by a guy who comes off as an armchair philosopher - which might be the point - but even the wording of the introduction kind of adds to that tone.

Super mixed feelings. CSA warning. A really interesting story moving through a woman's childhood to adulthood that just becomes more absurd but...makes sense?

Enemies flirting across a time war. Beautiful.

Interesting novella with a cool concept. As always with cool concept, I'd love to see it expanded, but will definitely look into more LaValle.

Definitely not as strong as Borne, but I can see where it leads from/into City of Saints. An awesome piece, just under-formed and under-edited.

Adored this one, as painful as it was throughout. I wasn't expecting too much since I've seen such pretty divided reviews on it, but personally it's one of the best I've read in the last few months.

Decided to give this a go since I couldn't get through House of Leaves my first attempt to read it. I enjoyed it, and while it definitely reads a little like an appendix of the larger works it's taken from, it is an interesting snippet of story of itself, and gets me interested in attempting the main work again.

Made me think of Annihilation, but this one had me hooked from the outset. Read in two days, would've been one if I'd had less to do.

Zoned out in a couple places, just because there are pockets of army tactics being discussed and 'political intrigue' and they just don't stick when I'm reading, but the rest is incredible as always, and a growing list of characters that help me tie in events to the games.

Following a young 2Spirit character navigating life inside and outside his home. Very physical book, in both the sexual encounters that come up a lot, but also the amount of physical interaction with his family, which is written in a really poetic way, entwining stories and histories with physical touch.

A few ok stories. But at least half still had a dependence on sexual assault and super trope junk. For a 2011 collection?? On the other hand, a significant amount of queer rep worth reading in between.

Goddamit.

My first read past Vol. 4 and I love it. Obviously going to have a soft spot for Petrichor (and a bone to pick with Klara, wtf) invested in Hazel's story but also wondering where child Sophie's at. Just a good comic overall.

'I am dirty on the inside because I did bad things with --'
'LYING'

Been one of my favourite series for a while, but haven't gotten past volume 4 before. I now have 9 volumes (7 from the library) and planning to read them in increments of 3.

Feel like this could've gone somewhere different. It's set up as though it's going to be less history, more manifesto, but even the near history (2019) feels written as...history. the manifesto itself is the last sixth of the book, and while understandably US centric it still feels like more could've been said in a broad sense, after the /Euro/centric history lesson, which makes up at least half the book. Still worth reading but need to follow up.

Will probably go back and read these ones after I've finished with the audiobooks. I don't know if it's the story itself that fell short (I like the growth of Bots character with Miki) or that the narration doesn't quite sit right?? Maybe if someone else voiced side characters, idk. Will see with the next one!

Took me a bit to find the rhythm; I haven't read a novel in verse for a while, and this one was significantly more poetic in the 'dark academia' sense than previous ones I've read. Plan to go back and read Autobiography of Red, but my library doesn't currently have it.

Took a few goes to get through and brought up a lot of interesting theory, linked to movies and media, and approaching some Christian concepts from a different angle.

Started this one knowing it was part of a series(?) - for once, so now I'm kind of interested how the next ones follow on from this narrative. It packed a lot into a short book, really beautifully. And the characters were complex enough to be engaging, given how brief it was.

An amazing audiobook, and amazing characters and a lot of heavier content. It lulled in places, feeling overly packed sometimes, but I do think that also contributes well to the character of Astra.

Another creepy, Dahmer inspired work. While it still had its gorey moments, this one seemed focused more on streams of consciousness, how they changed while the character was on different substances, and in relaying his past crimes and planning his next.

After seeing Kiernan in the afterword of Self Made Man, I had to go back to the comics I read of theirs, probably just out of high school. Love revisiting them, and will probably reread the novelisation eventually.

The alternative title to Are You Loathsome Tonight, I had to get this version, as a trans man reading a trans man (not actually the story's theme but nonetheless). A variety of stories, some gorey, horror erotica and some just horror, or haunted queerness, etc. Definitely makes me want to read Drawing Blood. I kind of like it more that it isn't a cohesive, on theme collection. And Caitlin Kiernan's afterword kind of completes it perfectly for me.

Still loved this one and the method of storytelling, but the direct, dry descriptions, especially in the layouts of rooms, kind of threw it off a little. But that also might just be the 'show don't tell' ground into me, because it does work with the character and how their thought process would work. The friendship(?) between the bot and Art is excellent though.

Wasn't sure how I'd take to a full novel after the two collections of shorter stories. But this one gave more scope to the whole, got to see more of the major characters i love (game wise) and the different circles, of royalty and such playing at their own games. Plus seeing Geralt's character in a more rounded way, thanks to more POVs

I love the movie so much, and was told this was scarier. I think it kind of evens out for me; the story of this one comes out more sinister, but the visuals of the movie make up for what is missed.

I've been watching the anime with a friend, and now she's lending me the manga up to where we've watched. It's a really cool style and while the anime seems to add a bit of characterisation, I think I enjoy both equally.

Speculative history with magic, folk stories and monsters. Terrifying but incredible, need to look up more of Clark's work now.

Another short one that I loved. The speculative was super interesting and the way it blended concepts of folk tale, tech and aliens(?).

Socially awkward murderbot.
Idk its just so good and the premise didn't seem like much but it gave SO MUCH. And it's a relatively short audio/book. Excited to read the next ones.

Finished this one on the train. Love a non-binary mc, and a robo dragon. All the fantasy elements were really cool and the world building, at least of the main city, was so good. End confused me a little but worth it.

Borrowed this off my little sibling cause it's their thing at the moment. Also gonna watch the anime alongside it, and it's cool so far? Mostly introducing characters so waiting to see where it goes.

Tbr for the month. Figure I'd upload here. Its a pretty loose set, aiming to get through the library books, Royal Assassin and Blood of Elves. Plus I have audiobooks and kindle reads to get through. What's your most anticipated read for February?