Hi friends! I'm combining my weekly wrap up with my end of month wrap up since they're so close together this go around. Hope you don't mind the extra long missive!

Here's what I read overall this month. Honestly, looking back at my tracker I'm surprised I read this much, given that I lost several days to the cold from hell and also the COVID booster shot. Shout out to the WNBA playoffs - after the Mystics got eliminated I still watched, but with a book in my lap because I was just rooting for everyone. I've starred my five favorites. Books marked with a * were gifted to me.

ONE YELLOW EYE by Leigh Radford*

LUCY, UNCENSORED by Teghan Hammond and Mel Hammond*

⭐ BUZZARD by Inez Ray*

THERE IS NO ANTIMEMETICS DIVISION by qntm*

WOLF WORM by T. Kingfisher*

ESPIRITU by Aiden Thomas*

⭐ PUNISHED by Ann-Helen Laestadius*

⭐ DAGGERMOUTH by H.M. Wolfe*

NOBODY'S BABY by Olivia Waite*

⭐ THE FOUR WIVES AND FIVE DEATHS OF RICHARD MILFORD by Nafissa Thompson-Spires*

ONE WORD, SIX LETTERS by Adib Khorram*

WESTWARD WOMEN by Alice Martin*

⭐ NOT WITH A BANG by Temi Oh*

CITY OF OTHERS by Jared Poon*

On Deck for November

I'm carrying over THE GHOST BRIGADES by John Scalzi. I started a couple of books at the end of the month and couldn't get into them, so I decided to do the Scalzi because he's always a winner for me. Other books added to the TBR possibilities this month are:

SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN by John Wiswell

THE DISAPPEARERS by Marlon James

HONEY by Imani Thompson*

A WALL IS ALSO A ROAD by Annalee Newitz*

MOTHERSUCKER by Kim Bohyun*

UNFINISHED BUSINESS by Claire Osongco*

Weekly Reviews

Here are my thoughts on what I read this past week.

One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford* - A tense, painful study of grief and love in the face of zombies. Radford invites us to think about how far we would go for love, and to try to parse when exactly that drive becomes selfish. Layered in with that is a question of scientific ethics - when does breaking the rules actually become the ethical thing to do? Main character Kesta is deeply unfriendly, even mean sometimes, and she takes you with her on her descent into madness.

Buzzard by Inez Ray* - This is a story in the long tradition of reproductive health dystopias, blended with elements of evil mega-corporations and inescapable surveillance. Often, though, those novels ignore queer people and people of color, and here they are the main characters. I also appreciated the detail and care that is in the medical scenes - the reality of pregnancy and abortion care is central to the story. Also, give me more books starring angry, menopausal women, please. (PS - this is published by Bindery's own @Michael LaBorn!)

Lucy, Uncensored by Teghan Hammond and Mel Hammond* - This is a YA about a trans high school girl hoping to go to theater school with her best friend, and trying to figure out how she wants to present her identity to the world, if at all. Personally speaking, the college Lucy is interested in is based on my alma mater, a very tiny women's college, and that was just so much fun for me. I really appreciated how Lucy and the authors showed all the (ridiculous) arguments around whether trans students should be allowed at women's colleges, and how that environment can be both a safe space and a site of battle. I also liked where in the coming out timeline Lucy is - she's out, but it's still fairly new and tender. Lots of big feelings, which is the best thing about YA.

I also had one DNF - Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall*. I thought this would be a slam dunk for me despite never having read Moby Dick. I mean, make it queer and set it in space and I'm sold. But I got to about 75% through and there had been absolutely zero character development. Even the main POV character was one note. Also the narrator kept harping on about how horny this story was and it just wasn't, even though they were indeed all sleeping with each other.

One Good Thing

Honestly, it's been hard to find a good thing this week. I've been trying hard not to get too stressed out about Tuesday's election. This is the first year in a long time that I've been doing community organizing work instead of canvassing/get out the vote, and I'm panicking about it. I feel good about what I'm doing, but it's tough to feel like you've done enough.

ANYWAY, it's been another week of sports to the rescue. This past weekend, the Golden State Valkyries won their first ever WNBA championship. The Valks have only existed for TWO YEARS and they just won the whole thing. Player Tiffany Hayes said to the crowd that this is what happens when you invest in women's sports. And she's right. Give people a team, make that team welcoming and accessible, and people will turn up and turn out.

Anyway, I dogsat for a friend last weekend, so you're getting a dog photo instead of a cat photo this week.

Plum the pit bull absolutely not wanting to take a selfie with me.

Our November theme is BUILDING COMMUNITY. Community is a central part of feminism, so we wanted this month's theme to reflect that, whether it's fiction or not! Leave your suggestions below and we'll vote on our November book of the month later this week!