Under Fortunate Stars – 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:

Gwen & Art are Not in Love – Lex Croucher | YA | high fantasy, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Patricia Wants to Cuddle – Samantha Allen | Adult | paranormal, urban fantasy | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Lost Story – Meg Shaffer | Adult | magical realism, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The First Bright Thing – J.R. Dawson | Adult | historical fiction, magical realism, paranormal, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The Girl, the Ring, & The Baseball Bat – Camille Gomera-Tavarez | YA | magical realism, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Saints of Storm and Sorrow – Gabriella Buba | Adult | high fantasy, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

SCIENCE FICTION:

Redsight – Meredith Mooring | Adult | space opera, space fantasy, disability | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Stars Too Fondly – Emily Hamilton | Adult | space opera, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Road to Ruin – Hana Lee | Adult | dystopia, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Salvation Gambit – Emily Skrutskie | Adult | thriller, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Under Fortunate Stars – Ren Hutchings | Adult | space opera, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Catherine House – Elisabeth Thomas | Adult | thriller, historical fiction, dark academia | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
To Be Taught, If Fortunate – Becky Chambers | Adult | novella, speculative fiction | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

REALISTIC AND HISTORICAL FICTION:

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

A Bánh Mì for Two – Trinity Nguyen | YA | romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Roll for Love – M.K. England | YA | romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
If You Still Recognize Me – Cynthia So | YA | contemporary, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Some Girls Do – Jennifer Dugan | YA | coming of age, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The Loudest Silence – Sydney Langford | YA | coming of age, disability | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Stars in Their Eyes – Jessica Walton and Aśka | YA | graphic novels, romance, disability | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl – Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum | YA | romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Scatter of Light – Malinda Lo | YA | historical fiction, coming of age | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye – Briony Cameron | Adult | historical fiction, romance, disability | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Navigating With You – Jeremy Whitley and Cassio Ribeiro | YA | graphic novels, romance, disability | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Amelia, If Only – Becky Albertalli | YA | contemporary, romance | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

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!

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles!

Halfway through 2024…no! No we aren’t 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Let’s begin, shall we?

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

After how busy and hectic my sophomore year of college was, June has been a time to recharge in more ways than one. I went on a quiet vacation at the beginning of the month (Ouray and Black Canyon of the Gunnison—the latter is a very underrated national park, I highly recommend it!), and I’ve taken the rest of the month to…well, rest. I’ve tried to be on social media less and focus on art, writing, and generally nourishing my creativity. In preparation for Camp NaNoWriMo (I only ever do the July camp these days because November and April are both abysmally busy times for me now that I’m in college), I’ve decided to round out my sci-fi trilogy and write the first draft of book three; at this point, I’ve beefed up the outline like a grizzly bear before hibernation, so at least I’ll have some sense of direction…wish me luck!

My reading month started out slower, and it’s had some dips, as always, but I ended up reading loads of fantastic queer books for pride month! Predictably, one of my vacation souvenirs wasn’t something related to where we went…no, I bought a copy of The Familiar at a local bookstore (support ’em!) knowing that it would take eons for my hold to arrive at the library. Worth it. I also figured it was as good a time as any to re-read my favorite series from when I was a kid—the WondLa trilogy. My verdict? It healed my soul and reinvigorated my creativity. Some kid’s books don’t age well, but WondLa never gets old.

Other than that, I’ve just been making art, playing guitar, going to pride (so much fun!), watching Hacks, Succession (nearly finished with season 1, and all it’s done is made me fear business majors even more than I already do), and…morbidly, Apple TV+’s new show that they decided to call WondLa. I’m three episodes in, and it’s like watching a train wreck. Expect a retrospective on the WondLa trilogy and possibly a review of…whatever that show is that definitely isn’t WondLa.

On a lighter note, photos from my vacation and pride:

(The bear on the title of the post is in honor of a bear we saw crossing the road in Black Canyon. Could also represent bears in general? Happy pride.)

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 18 books this month! It’s been another relaxed reading month, and although I had a slump towards the end of the month, I read several incredible books for pride month!

1 – 1.75 stars: