From the shelves - March 2025

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Late winter got me on a little bit of a graphic novel kick: it started with Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, which I tore through in about a day and can't recommend enough. This intimate diary of becoming and realizing is painful at times but overall a gorgeous memoir of overcoming gender dysmoprhia 

Are You My Mother? by Allison Bechdel has been on my list for years - I'd shelved it, checked it out for others, added it to booklists, but still never read it! And this one tore through me in about a day and a half. 

I had picked up Contact by Carl Sagan this winter when I realized I'd never actually finished the book. While there are many reviews elsewhere, if you need a little space escape it's a great option.

I often consider my time at a legendary independent bookstore to be more meaningful than any formal education! The folks that work in indie bookstores are intrepid, creative, determined, amazing people who tend to go on to do great things. A former colleague at said indie store took me to a shop owned by a former indie colleague of hers...and what a shop! Grand Gesture Books is Portland's only romance-only store and if you're in town you need to go see Katherine. She is will find your perfect love stories, armed only with answers to a few piercing questions. Out of the armful she chose for me, I took home Gothikana by RuNyx and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (I know, late to the party!)

For fun: I've been seeking out a new tarot deck for a while now, and the Murder of Crows Tarot selected me at Weird Sisters/Two Rivers.

Some fun, to distract from the perils of modern air flight - Liarmouth: A Feel Bad Romance, audio version, as expertly narrated by the one and only John Waters. Like the most beloved ratty old security blanket! Or, if dread (and perhaps anti-socialization armor) is more your speed for dreadful flights (me!) Books of Blood is always a classic.

On my list:  Unmasking AI by Joy Buolamwini; Hungerstone by Kat Dunn