archie

it took me a while to get through this as it's the longest book of poetry i've read since starting to read poetry recently, but it has a great premise for an anthology & is a solid collection although not all of the poems really spoke to me. there were only a handful that really shined through for me, but the way they flowed together raised the rating a lot for me & i liked the ability to sit down for a minute & read one or two poems or sit down for an hour & get through a good chunk of them. really appreciate having words from all sorts of queer people compiled into one larger body of work & was a wonderful experience working through it the past 2 months

i've only tried one recipe from this book so far & it was the melomakarona cookies, they took way longer than i anticipated but it was very worth it & the time spent baking them makes them even more enjoyable! i'm excited to try more dessert recipes & want to try some entrees as well :-)

i like how the book is broken up into the different countries/regions of the middle east with subcategories for each region as opposed to clumping all these distinct flavors together into one

i've only made the quinoa chaufa from this book but it was one of the most delicious meals i've made in a long time & will for sure be a staple for me

living in a rural area & not having access to many ingredients along with not being able to eat red meat really narrows down the number of recipes i can make & stay true to but ill be taking lots of inspo from these flavor profiles in my cooking going forward

side note, i saw another reviewer say that the translator made an error & every time a recipe calls for “lemon” it should actually be “lime” so that's something keep in mind if you pick this one up

im new to learning chess but in looking for puzzle books to practice with i haven't come across any like this one!! most only deal with checkmate while this one makes you slow down & focuses on mid-game strategy, which has been very helpful for me as i'm too quick to move a lot of the time & don't always think things through

don't think there was a single word out of place or a single sentence that felt clunky. brings up lots of questions about human nature & blame & isolation & what can happen when all your physical needs are met but emotional needs are not. pretty quick read but felt very long (in a good way) as i was immediately invested in the characters & knew exactly the kind of world they were living in, what the town & house looked like, etc

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up - was rly excited for this & i did enjoy a lot about it but not as much as i expected to. think compared to hell followed with us i just wasnt as invested in the world the story was taking place in & think it would've benefitted from more world building. will always enjoy queer trans autistic characters being represented & the twists & turns of the story was rly well done

twirling my hair & kicking my feet

this was really sweet & had a lot of momentum, i ripped through it. there were a lot of eye-roll parts of it as far as story & dialogue & the vocabulary used goes, but if u don't think about it too much & let it be a silly little romance book its a really enjoyable read

edit: also ! there's no hate crimes or homophobia in this which is just Nice. sometimes gay media doesn't have to be about having an awful time bc ur gay !

prior to this year i hadn't read consistently for pleasure since middle school, & i ended up reading 102 books :-) a little more than half of them were graphic novels/manga but i'm still very proud of tht! i got more into nonfiction & still wanna push myself to read more nonfic that's out of my comfort zone like longer research-based stuff. i also read some poetry & listened to a few audiobooks & am proud of the variety of genres i picked up this year! here's my list of titles read each month if anyone is interested ⭐️

january
1. slapstick - kurt vonnegut
2. hell followed with us - andrew joseph white
3. boyfriend materiel - alexis hall
4. raybearer - jordan ifueko
5. legend & lattes - travis baldree

february
6. heartstopper, volume 1 - alice oseman
7. heartstopper, volume 2 - alice oseman
8. heartstopper, volume 3 - alice oseman
9. heartstopper, volume 4 - alice oseman
10. nick & charlie - alice oseman
11. i was born for this - alice oseman

march
12. i'm glad my mom died - jennette mccurdy
13. redemptor - jordan ifueko
14. solitaire - alice oseman
15. this winter - alice oseman
16. seven days in june - tia williams
17. the complete chi's sweet home, part 1 - konami kanata

april
18. red, white & royal blue - casey mcquiston
19. venomous lumpsucker - ned beauman
20. paris: the memoir - paris hilton
21. the magic fish - trung le nguyen
22. the ocean at the end of the lane - neil gaiman
23. bloom - kevin panetta & savanna ganucheau

may
24. gender queer: a memoir - maia kobabe
25. we both laughed in pleasure: the selected diaries of lou sullivan - lou sullivan, ellis martin, zach ozma
26. taproot - keezy young
27. saga, volume 1 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
28. saga, volume 2 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
29. saga, volume 3 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
30. saga, volume 4 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
31. saga, volume 5 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
32. saga, volume 6 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
33. saga, volume 7 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
34. saga, volume 8 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
35. daisy jones & the six - taylor jenkins reid
36. shubeik lubeik - deena mohamed

june
37. saga, volume 9 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
38. saga, volume 10 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
39. akira, volume 1 - katsuhiro otomo
40. akira, volume 2 - katsuhiro otomo
41. nausicaä of the valley of the wind, volume 1 - hayao miyazaki
42. pageboy - elliott page
43. akira, volume 3 - katsuhiro otomo

july
44. akira, volume 4 - katsuhiro otomo
45. akira, volume 5 - katsuhiro otomo
46. yellowface - r.f. kuang
47. homie - danez smith
48. nausicaä of the valley of the wind, volume 2 - hayao miyazaki
50. akira, volume 6 - katsuhiro otomo
51. the song of achilles - madeline miller
52. nausicaä of the valley of the wind, volume 3 - hayao miyazaki
53. a history of my brief body - billy-ray belcourt

august
53. how y'all doing? - leslie jordan
54. long shot - kennedy ryan
55. all boys aren't blue - george m. johnson
56. kindred - octavia e. butler
57. finding me - viola davis
58. true biz - sara nović
59. a court of thorns & roses - sarah j. maas
60. a trans man walks into a gay bar - harry nicholas
61. uzumaki volume 1 - junji ito

september
62. maestros - steve skroce
63. lakelore - anna-marie mclemore
64. gender explorers - juno roche
65. queer: a graphic history - meg-john barker
66. crying in h mart - michelle zauner
67. crush - richard siken
68. stay true - hua hsu
69. sensory: life on the spectrum - bex ollerton
70. moomin volume 8 - lars jansson
71. the new queer conscience - adam eli
72. moomins and the great flood - tove jansson

october
73. moomin volume 1 - tove jansson
74. comet in moominland - tove jansson
75. finn family moomintroll - tove jansson
76. yours cruelly, elvira: memoirs of the mistress of the dark - cassandra peterson
77. sheets - brenna thummler

november
78. war of the foxes - richard siken
79. delicates - brenna thummler
80. lights - brenna thummler
81. the spirit bares it's teeth - andrew joseph white
82. time to shine - rachel reid
83. convenience store woman - sayaka murata
84. trans power: own your gender - juno roche
85. queer nature: a poetry anthology - michael walsh
86. paper girls, volume 1 - brian vaughan
87. paper girls, volume 2 - brian vaughan
88. paper girls, volume 3 - brian vaughan
89. paper girls, volume 4 - brian vaughan
90. paper girls, volume 5 - brian vaughan
91. paper girls, volume 6 - brian vaughan
92. self-made boys - anna-marie mclemore

december
93. i kissed shara wheeler - casey mcquiston
94. maus 1: a survivors tale - art spiegelman
95. an absolutely remarkable thing - hank green
96. as the crow flies - melanie gillman
97. maus 2: and here my troubles began - art speigelman
98. golden rage - chrissy williams
99. saga, volume 11 - brian vaughan, fiona staples
100. spectators, volume 1 - brian vaughan, niko henrichon
101. heartstopper, volume 5 - alice oseman
102. its lonely at the centre of the earth - zoe thorogood

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up - i didn't know what to expect with this one & it definitely wasn't that, zoe thorogood did an excellent job with the art & the story is strong concept-wise but some of the writing & character development left something more to be desired. still really enjoyed reading this & do recommend it if you like graphic novels & dystopian tales but be warned there is a fair amount of gore

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up - very sweet & i loved the ending, i listened to the audiobook & enjoyed the reading but also think it made it feel more YA than it would've had i read it. not a bad thing that it's more YA than i thought but isn't my personal cup of tea

overall, a lovely book & good fiction intro to topics of gender, neurodivergence & ethnicity

although he talks about his family with more fondness than i do mine, it was a bit surreal hearing him lay out those unnecessarily tense conversations about nothing important with relatives & it sound exactly like every conversation i've had & been an audience to with the italian side of my family. i always felt a little insane growing up around them but maybe it's just an italian american kind of neuroses

i listened to the audiobook & it is beautifully read & the text was written with so much grief & love & thoughtfulness, it is tough to have so many conflicting emotions & find a way to put them into words so concisely but michelle achieved that. i saw japanese breakfast open for alex g in 2017 without knowing much about them outside of the music & i really enjoyed experiencing this book, it is emotional to now know some of what michelle was going through in the years leading up to the show i saw

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up - hmmm idk i started out enjoying it, the writing isn't great but 95% of the time it's readable & i like the concept but the execution just wasn't there when i got about halfway thru, feel like a lot of the plot twists/major info came as multiple page monologues from supporting characters which is fine to do but repeatedly doing that gets old. also vague SPOILER AHEAD the riddle was sooo cheesy

very helpful in understanding my attachment insecurities with others & myself, i recommend this for anyone regardless of relationship structure & sexual or romantic orientation. there's a lot to be gained in your inter & intrapersonal relationships from the information & questions shared in this book