Welcome to Litsy!

(2024) Fifth in the author's “Singing Hills“ series of novellas about a traveling, storytelling cleric. There's not a dud among 'em, and this is a strong addition to the series. All five enthusiastically recommended.

A thoughtful exploration of identity, in the form of a beautiful graphic novel. Ash‘s story about finding their grandpa‘s secret cabin in the woods, and their attempt at starting a new life of their own far from family and friends had me shedding tears. 😭

A bit late, but my favourite book from April was The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo, the latest fantasy novella about a nonbinary, story-collectimg monk who travels to an ancient estate for a wedding. There are shades of Bluebeard here, but not all is as it seems! I loved this horror-tinged story, but I think We Are Okay by Nina LaCour was more emotionally resonant for me, so that's the winner in that bracket. #ReadingBracket2025

A lovely queer Canadian historical novel with just a touch of magical realism! Set just before, during, and after WW2, this book made the extremely overdone time period fresh and interesting. I loved how it centred a #nonbinary bi character and a sapphic woman, straddling a difficult line between celebrating them and being realistic about homo/transphobia / misogyny in the 30s and 40s. Queer historical happy ending!! Fuck that Landon guy though.

I picked this up for a Decolonize Your Bookshelf challenge. It‘s written by a two-spirit author about a two-spirit child who makes a ribbon skirt to wear to a pow wow. They are nervous about what others will think, but after speaking to the lake spirit and various animal spirits, they decide to do what makes them happy. It‘s a sweet illustrated graphic novel with a great message.

A wonderful collection of Trans and Nonbinary comics. Beautiful illustrations throughout the book.

For the rest of my review, visit my Vlog at:

https://youtube.com/shorts/rnmcfaxDxCU?feature=share

Enjoy!

I absolutely love this series of fantasy novellas following nonbinary Cleric Chih and their quest for stories. This installment was a bit spooky, and a great twist on Bluebeard. Chih actually finds themself right in the middle of the action this time when they accompany a young woman to her wedding at an old estate. I love how old fashioned these magical tales feel and how much they are about story itself. Beautifully narrated by Cindy Kay!

*Sigh* My second bail of the month. I'm sure this may be interesting to some people, but the first handful of "life lessons" discuss how they decide to wear their hair, what kind of glasses to buy, and what gender to select on their health monitoring app. Not exactly riveting reading for me. I guess it provides insight into the decision making of an intersex person, but that is not what I'm in the mood for now.

The Kingston Cycle comes to a close as Robin tries to work to create a fair representative government, while helping the wrongly incarcerated witches rejoin society.

God this was good, but this was such an emotionally taxing time to listen to it. I loved all the characters & the gaslamp fantasy. But I was so stressed.😅Listening to people try so hard to bring about democracy, dealing w/ corruption, police brutality. Worth it, but rough.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗