Tag: The Girl the Ring & the Baseball Bat

Posted in Books

The Bookish Mutant’s Books for Bisexual Visibility Week (2025 Edition) 🩷💜💙

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

This past week, September 16-23, has been Bisexual Visibility Week, and today, September 23rd, is Bisexual Visibility Day! See me. I’m right here. Well, in your screen. Along with my Latine Heritage Month post, this is another one that I’ve neglected to do some years since it comes at a slightly dicey time in the school year, but I probably shouldn’t be neglecting, since it, y’know, directly correlates to my identity. Oops. A little embarrassing, but once again, no time like the present.

Every year. Every year, I swear to god. I’m much less online than I used to be, but from what I see snatches of, every other year, some discourse comes back about whether or not bisexuals are actually “queer enough” or if straight-passing bisexuals are allowed at pride, or something equally meaningless. (Also, I feel like everyone debating the latter should remember that Brenda Howard, a bisexual woman, was a key figure in creating Pride events and rallies as we know them here in the States.) Just seeing flashes of whatever’s going down on TikTok makes me lose a year off my life. But it brings up a point that I’ve often thought about when it comes to the queer community: the infighting needs to stop. Please. There’s no sense in playing the oppression olympics amongst ourselves, especially when the threats against the LGBTQ+ community at large are so much more pressing. Also, please stop being weird about bisexual people. This is coming from somebody who’s had the privilege of not experiencing any direct biphobia, thankfully, but has heard it in real life directed at friends and loved ones, as well as seeing it run rampant on the internet. All of this petty fighting is a distraction from what’s really happening: not long after they removed the word transgender from the Stonewall National Monument website, they removed the word bisexual from the “history and culture” section. As of now, they’ve since reinstated it (though the absence of trans people remains glaring…love to all my trans siblings, in light of, well, everything), but it sends a clear message: they’re bent on cutting our community up until they can conveniently erase it from American history. And we will not be erased.

To all of my fellow bisexuals: you are bisexual enough. No matter your relationship status, attraction, or partner, you will always be bisexual. Nobody can dictate your identity but you. Not the internet, not the people in your life—nobody. There is no one central bisexual experience, but every individual experience under the sun is valid, so long as you want to claim it. You’re the captain of this ship, and you are bisexual enough. And you are loved. I don’t know about you, but I’ve loved being bisexual in the nearly seven years (Jesus, has it been that long?)

For my lists from previous years, click below: 

Let’s begin, shall we?

🩷💜💙THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S BOOKS FOR BISEXUAL VISIBILITY WEEK (2025 EDITION)🩷💜💙

FANTASY & MAGICAL REALISM:

SCIENCE FICTION:

REALISTIC AND HISTORICAL FICTION:

or “dear god, how do almost all of these books have pink/purple pastel covrers?”

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Have you read any of these books, and if so, what did you think of them? What are some of your favorite books by bisexual authors? Let me know in the comments!

Today’s song:

MICHELANGELO DYING IS UPON US, LET’S GOOOOO

That’s it for this recommendations post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Books

The Bookish Mutant’s Books for National Latine Heritage Month (2025 Edition)

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

TW/CW: there are mentions of gun violence/school shootings as well as deportations/racism in this post. If those are sensitive topics for you, scroll down to the bold, underlined text to see the book recommendations. Take care of yourself!

Happy Monday, bibliophiles! Looks like I’ll be back for the foreseeable future, now that I’ve adequately got my stuff in order life-wise. As much as I can.

I’d like to take a moment before I get into this post to talk about something nobody seems to want to talk about. I hate to start this off on a somber note, but I have to get this off my chest. I was planning on coming back to the blogosphere earlier, but last week happened to be a dumpster fire like no other. On Wednesday, September 10th, Evergreen High School—the high school I attended—was the victim of a school shooting. Yet nobody seemed to care, solely because a certain conservative influencer happened to be louder and more favored by Trump, and therefore more important, than my community. Days after this tragedy hit my community, it seemed to disappear from the headlines, even when it was revealed that the shooter, like so many in this country, had been radicalized by neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideologies online. I’m livid. I’m heartbroken. I’m only just now coming down from the horrific mess of feelings that came about on Wednesday. If you take anything from this part of the post, it’s that none of these shootings are nameless. This happened in the town where I grew up, where I made friends and had crushes and went through awkward high school stages, just like the rest of you. I beg of you: remember that school shootings are neither abstract nor nameless. End gun violence now. To everyone in the mountain community that I’ve called home for so many years, I love you. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other.

If you’d like to help out, the Colorado Healing Fund is taking donations to support repairs for EHS and to help the families whose children have been affected by this tragedy. Please chip in what you can. If not, keep speaking out. Remember Evergreen. Remember every other victim of gun violence.

…

Now, then…here in the U.S., September 15th-October 15th is Latine Heritage Month! Regrettably, I never got around to making a full blown recommendations list like I usually do. September-October is a dicey time as far as getting my stuff together for school, but it is a little embarrassing, given that I’m half Latina. But there’s no time like the present.

Though I’m proud as ever of my heritage, I can’t help but find difficulty in being celebratory now, as with…well, any other specific identity-based post I’ve made in the past year. But this one feels especially raw, given how wantonly carelessly this country has treated its Latine diaspora for the past decade. It’s never stopped, but the fire has only grown greater this year, what with the inhumane ICE raids disproportionately targeting Latine immigrants. Just a week ago, the Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional (if that word means anything anymore) to racially discriminate, especially against Latine individuals, during immigration stops. Somehow, our country has come to a place where powerful people can casually suggest that the entire Latine population of the United States be fed to alligators and face no consequences. It’s hard to be celebratory when a key part of my heritage and community is under attack, continually without consequences.

But as with any marginalized community, even in times of such strife as these, we must resist the fact that our lives are defined only by suffering. Every time I learn more about my Colombian heritage, I feel fuller. More me. Even though it’s only a half of me, I feel like I’m discovering more of myself. And that brings me so much joy. Reading beautiful books by Latine authors brings me joy. Eating food from my culture brings me joy. If nothing else, we must remember that joy is an act of resistance. No amount of slander and hurt from the government will make us less Latine. They can never erase us. So I hope we can come together and celebrate what makes us fuller and celebrate the joy of community, because that can never be extinguished.

For my past lists for Latinx Heritage Month, click here: 

NOTE: I’ve switched to using “Latine” as opposed to “Latinx” from now on, as there have been criticisms that “Latinx” is more Westernized; though Spanish is a gendered language, the suffix -e is frequently used to denote gender neutrality. Personally, I use Latina to refer to myself since I’m a cis woman, but I generally use Latine to refer to the community at large. If you’re in the community, use whichever language suits you best. I’m just too lazy to change my header…oops.

THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S BOOKS FOR NATIONAL LATINE HERITAGE MONTH (2025 EDITION)

FANTASY:

SCIENCE FICTION:

REALISTIC FICTION:

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Have you read any of these books, and if so, did you like them? What are some of your favorite books by Latine/x authors? Let me know in the comments!

Today’s song:

That’s it for this recommendations post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Monthly Wrap-Ups

The Great Big Wrap-Up of Everything | August-December 2024

Posted on by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles, and happy New Year’s Eve! 2024 was…well. It sure was a year, wasn’t it? Things happened! Too many things. Man.

I’ll keep it short, because I’ve said something along the lines of the same thing for several months now. I like doing these wrap-ups, but they’re certainly time-intensive, so I doubt I’ll be able to keep up with the monthly schedule going into 2025. However, my brain does like sorting things into silly little lists with bullet points and whatnot, so I thought I would throw this together for the end of the year. Even though I was working so much, I did get to a lot of fun reads, and I didn’t want to leave them out! As I said in my 5-star Reads post, it’s been a rocky and anxious year, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t populated with good reads—and moments in general—throughout. So, for the last time in 2024, here’s a wrap-up of everything from August to December.

Enjoy this massive wrap-up!

WRAP-UP: EVERYTHING I’VE READ SINCE AUGUST

AUGUST

I read 17 books in August! I don’t think anything for the rest of the year will measure up to having two 5-star reads back to back, but either way, this ended up being a lovely month for reading. Also, before everybody comes after me for DNFing Remarkably Bright Creatures…you can’t blame me after this line was said by a supposedly 30-year-old character: “bicep day was lit at the gym today.” How do you do, fellow kids?

Book Reviews:

1 – 1.75 stars:

Shark Heart

2 – 2.75 stars:

The Prince and the Coyote

3 – 3.75 stars:

Agnes at the End of the World

4 – 4.75 stars:

Contact

5 stars:

Beautyland

SEPTEMBER

I read 15 books in September! I was so caught up in my reading schedule being disturbed (somewhat) by school starting that I didn’t even realize that I didn’t have any 1 or 2-star reads! Miraculous. Either way, between my work, I was able to squeeze in some great reads for both Bisexual Visibility Week and Latinx Heritage Month.

Book Reviews:

3 – 3.75 stars:

If You Still Recognize Me

4 – 4.75 stars:

Ander and Santi Were Here

5 stars:

The Crumrin Chronicles, Vol. 1 – The Charmed and the Cursed

OCTOBER

I read 15 books in October! Spooky season, busy as it was, another great month for books—new Crumrin Chronicles, new books from Amie Kaufman and Eliot Schrefer…oh, and I finally read Hamlet after all these years. I’ve seen so many adaptations that I just found myself going “HE DID IT!!! HE SAID THE LINE!!! HE SAID THE LINE!!” whenever I saw a passage I recognized.

Book Reviews:

1 – 1.75 stars:

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn

2 – 2.75 stars:

The Merchant of Venice

3 – 3.75 stars:

Scout is Not a Band Kid

4 – 4.75 stars:

The Heart of the World

5 stars:

The Crumrin Chronicles, vol. 3: The Wild & the Innocent

NOVEMBER

I read 14 books in November! I shouldn’t have to explain why I decided to read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet on Election Day. Jesus fucking christ. Also, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but either I’ve grown out of Rachel Caine, or I just read her better books in high school…maybe I should’ve read Ink and Bone when my taste was less discerning.

Book Reviews:

1 – 1.75 stars:

Ink and Bone

2 – 2.75 stars:

Timon of Athens

3 – 3.75 stars:

Time and Time Again

4 – 4.75 stars:

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

DECEMBER

I read 13 books in December, and rounded out my Goodreads challenge with 199 books read this year! I’d say that’s pretty impressive. December proved to have a solid bunch this month (to say nothing of the pretentious, 212 pages of nothing that was Orbital).

Book Reviews:

2 – 2.75 stars:

Orbital

3 – 3.75 stars:

A People’s Future of the United States

4 – 4.75 stars:

The Tempest

In lieu of my usual songs/albums that I’ve been listening to lately, enjoy some selections from my Apple Music Replay. It appears I’ve lost my hypothetical Welsh street cred (no longer in the top 100 listeners for Super Furry Animals…it’s been an honor), but it’s been replaced by being in the top 500 for XTC? I did listen to “This is Pop?” and “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” an unhealthy amount…

In addition, here are my Sunday Songs for each month:

AUGUST:

SEPTEMBER:

OCTOBER:

NOVEMBER:

DECEMBER:

Today’s song:

it’s finally cold enough to allow myself to listen to Victorialand! Great album to close out 2024 with.

Now, how to wrap up a wrap-up…all I can say is that I love you. My blog may not have the numbers of views and likes that it used to (even though the follower count has gone up…620 of y’all, oh my god, thank you!), but I treasure the small community that I’ve got here. I write these things mostly to write out into the world what I want to see and ramble about the things I love, but I’m grateful that, through it all, you’ve all stayed to stick it out and listen. I’ve always done it for myself and not in the service of getting more likes or views, so I’m glad that someone’s listening anyway.

I hope you all find love, solace, hope, or whatever it is you need in this coming year. In the grand scheme of things, I’m frightened (and hoping that my Canadian cousins have a room to spare up north, hahahahaha [SCREAMING]), but on the smaller scale, with the things I can control, I’m glad to be turning over a new leaf. It’ll be difficult, but I’ve built up the tools to go forward in a healthier, compassionate, and more loving way. Whoever you are, I hope 2025 brings what you need, big or small. As always: spread love, not fear or hate. Look at the stars. Keep on reading, watching, listening, and engaging with what you love. And most importantly, be kind—to others, and to yourself.

Lots of love,

Madeline