Our Stories Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice Empowerment and Growing Up Female in America

The Bookish Mutant’s 5-Star Reads of 2022

Posted on December 26, 2022 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

2022 was a strange, messy, and transitional year for me—graduating high school, starting college, and all of the chaos in between. It’s been an unusual reading year for me too—I haven’t been able to read as much, what with college and finals throwing me off of my reading rhythm for most of the second half of the year. I didn’t have as many 5-star reads as I have in previous years (not counting re-reads, for which there were many), and that might be a consequence of how weird this year has been, but that maybe the more I read, the more selective I get with my 5-star ratings. It’s not every day that a book changes your life, rocks your world, or shifts you in some other way. But there were still several books that deserved that rating this year, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t give these truly wonderful books all my love as the year reaches its end.

(NOTE: re-reads that I previously rated 5 stars will not appear on this list.)

Let’s begin, shall we?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S 5-STAR READS OF 2022⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Wide Starlight – Nicole Lesperance

My first 5-star read of the year, and an unexpected one as well; a beautiful story of northern lights, fairytales, and family.

Read my review here!

Art Matters – Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell

An essential read for anyone with creative aspirations of any kind. Neil Gaiman never misses.

Alone in Space: A Collection – Tillie Walden

A beautiful collection of vignettes and short comics from one of my favorite creators in recent years!

The Reckless Kind – Carly Heath

Another 5-star read from a new-to-me author, The Reckless Kind captured my heart with its tale of queer love and disabled identity.

Read my review here!

The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects – Mike Mignola

Another beautiful anthology from one of my favorite artists and storytellers. The Magician and the Snake always gets me choked up.

Call Us What We Carry – Amanda Gorman

At this point, Amanda Gorman is incapable of writing anything that doesn’t immediately awe me; Call Us What We Carry is filled to the brim with creativity, wisdom, and timely insight that will surely stand the test of time.

Honorable Mentions (4.5 stars):

Today’s song:

probably the last album I’ll listen to in 2022, and it was a great one!! this definitely my favorite track

That’s it for my favorite books of 2022! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: March 28 – April 3, 2022

Posted on April 3, 2022April 3, 2022 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

The beginning of this week was sort of weird; going back to school post-spring break hit me hard on the first day (and not getting much sleep the night before didn’t help), so Tuesday was a slog. But the rest of the week was nice and slow—I’m glad that I haven’t had a lot of schoolwork this week. Nice to ease back into routine.

I had more time to read this week, and I had a good batch of books from the library—all in the 3.5-4 star range! I got some more promising books from the library this week, as well as a few from Barnes & Noble yesterday (FINALLY got my hands on Any Way the Wind Blows!), so it should be another good week next week! I haven’t really done any writing since The Sharing of My WIP, so…

Other than that, I’ve just been drawing, listening to too much Spiritualized (as usual, but now I’m freaking out that I’M SEEING THEM TOMORROW AAAA), watching Severance (A A A A A), re-watching the original Spiderman (you know, I’m something of a scientist myself…), and Death on the Nile (ehhhhh…at least Gal Gadot is gorgeous), going to Barnes & Noble, and trying to get Ringo not to bite me. He’s still in that phase.

And I hit 500 followers! I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: thank you all so much, you mean the world to me 💗

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

The Island of Excess Love (Love in the Time of Global Warming, #2) – Francesca Lia Block (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Most Likely – Sarah Watson (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America – Amy Reed et. al. (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Flamefall (The Aurelian Cycle, #2) – Rosaria Munda (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75, rounded up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

Witches Steeped in Gold – Ciannon Smart

The Conductors (Murder and Magic, #1) – Nicole Glover

Our Stories Carried Us Here – Tea Rozman Clark et. al. (anthology)

She Who Rides the Storm – Caitlyn Sangster

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Monthly Wrap-Ups

March 2022 Wrap-Up 🪺

Posted on March 31, 2022March 31, 2022 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Thursday, bibliophiles!

🫠🛟🫥🫘🩻🫧🪸🪹🪷🫶🪬🫣

Might as well make use of some of these new emojis…interesting bunch we’ve got here

And sorry for the lack of a book review this week, I just didn’t have the energy for it once the afternoon/evening came (first day after spring break, am I right or am I right).

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

The beginning of March was a bit of a slog, what with all my classes trying to cram a bunch of stuff in before spring break. I finally have that big research paper out of the way though, and we did loads of fun projects in creative writing!

My reading month was good, I’d say; very few books that I didn’t like (no 1-stars and only one 2-star!), my first 5-star read of the year, and indulging in a Smoke Thieves trilogy re-read. I finally got into Heartstopper after all these years of having it on hold at the library too! Worth the wait.

This month was also the month that I finally, finally started sharing my WIP with people! I’ve sent it to some family and friends, and…not gonna lie here, my hands were shaking whenever I put it out there, but I’m proud of myself for getting over the initial hurdle after clamming up about my writing for so many years. Baby steps.

Other than that, I went to see the new Batman (AMAZING!), re-watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show, continued with Raised by Wolves and started Severance, and went to the museum and played guitar there. They have a guitar exhibit at the Denver Museum right now, so I put on a one-man show for my dad and the security guard. The very short setlist consisted of “Trimm Trabb” and “Savior Complex.”

And yesterday, I hit 500 followers!! I’m going to make a longer post later, but for now, thank you all so much for your love and support. 💗

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 20 books this month! I thought I’d read less for some reason…it feels like I haven’t had as much time to read this month, but I suppose I did read some short books.

2 – 2.75 stars:

Jade Fire Gold – June C.L. Tan (⭐️⭐️.5)

3 – 3.75 stars:

Daughter of the Burning City – Amanda Foody (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating – Adiba Jaigirdar (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back – Elizabeth Schaefer et. al. (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Man Suit – Zachary Schomburg (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Passing – Nella Larsen (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
The Island of Excess Love (Love in the Time of Global Warming, #2) – Francesca Lia Block (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Most Likely – Sarah Watson (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
What We Don’t Talk About – Charlot Kristensen (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)
The Golden Apples of the Sun – Ray Bradbury (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

Heartstopper vol. 1 – Alice Oseman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Love in the Time of Global Warming (Love in the Time of Global Warming, #1) – Francesca Lia Block (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Heartstopper vol. 2 – Alice Oseman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
A Psalm of Storms and Silence (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, #2) – Roseanne A. Brown (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)
The Smoke Thieves (The Smoke Thieves, #1) – Sally Green (re-read) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)
The Demon World (The Smoke Thieves, #2) – Sally Green (re-read) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
The Burning Kingdoms (The Smoke Thieves, #3) – Sally Green (re-read) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America – Amy Reed et. al. (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

5 stars:

The Wide Starlight – Nicole Lesperance (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: The Wide Starlight – 5 stars

SOME POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

I made a list of Feminist YA books for Women’s History Month!
I had a fun time spewing out my chaotic thoughts while re-reading the Smoke Thieves trilogy!
I reviewed Devil in the Device, A Psalm of Storms and Silence, Love in the Time of Global Warming, and The Wide Starlight!
I had some fun with the Intergalactic Book Tag and the Book Adaptations Tag!

POSTS FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE THAT I ENJOYED:

SONGS/ALBUMS THAT I ENJOYED:

ONE MONTH UNTIL WE GET THIS ALBUM AND LESS THAN A WEEK UNTIL I GET TO SEE THEM LIVE AAAAAAAA

what a wonderfully weird little song

I would once again like to thank whoever put this on the art class playlist

I CANNOT stress enough how phenomenal this album is

ARCADE FIRE IS BACK I REPEAT ARCADE FIRE IS BACK

AND SOCCER MOMMY TOO!! so much wonderful new music coming our way this year…

DID I FOLLOW THROUGH ON MY MARCH GOALS?

Read at least 20 books: 20!
Spend some time with Ringo (of course): yep! He’s a troublemaker, but he’s a sweet little puppy. Impossible not to love.

GOALS FOR APRIL:

Read at least 20 books
Try not to spontaneously combust at the Spiritualized concert if/when they play “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space”

Today’s song:

That’s it for this month in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!