Even with one evening of reading less (Ju-jitsu class on Tuesdays) I still somehow managed 19 books - phew! Starting May I might take classes twice a week, let's see how that'll go and what it'll do that my reading (rational thought: you might have to quit some buddy reads. Irrational answer: no)

#bookofthemonth #boftm

This was the first book I finished for the #Transrightsreadathon 2025 and might as well be my Book of the Month March. The title can be translated as The Missing Words of our Hearts. And the title fits the book perfectly. So much heart, so much soul went into this story and it shows on every page. Seen and unseen struggles, communication, transphobia, racism. It's all there, but it still is a beautifully told love story.

Here's my #BookSpinBingo Board for March. Two Bingos, which I'm quite happy about. Also finished both my #BookSpin and my #DoubleSpin. But yes, I'm WAY behind with my reviews. I hope I'll get some time to catch up soon.

@TheAromaOfBooks

Happy #5JoysFriday 💛💛💛

My joys this week were:

1. The event our library held for the Week Against Racism
2. Tasty vegan lunch
3. Spending a day at home
4 & 5. The tiny things that made me smile

@DebinHawaii

It's the end of March already! Well then, here's my #BookSpinBingo list for April 🐰 🐤

@TheAromaofBooks - congratulations to your new home! 🏠 🎉

These are my #Roll100 books for April. I've actually already read A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo, which was number 36 on my list 😅
Looking forward to both other books. 24 is called The Future is Non-Binary and the other one is a YA about growing up in two different worlds.

@PuddleJumper

Not the tagged but, but close enough because it's the second volume to that one.

I think this book was even more fun and more entertaining than the first one. Minna was an awesome character and I would've loved to see more from her. Once again, the story made me laugh out loud, took me away from reality and gave me a place to stay, when I was sick of adult life.

The third and last book in the Coughli trilogy. Just as Joe, we start to wonder who is up to kill him and why. Can he (we?) trust the people around him (us)? I maybe should've skimmed through the previous novels to get allt he details, but the book is readable without deeper kowledge of the previous books. Loved Joe's son and wonder what happened to him after this book ends. Dark, bloody, and lots of trigger warnings. Mafia stuff, you know.

Post 2/2

Saturday 3/15/25 - General meeting of the Queer Fraction of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Because queer joy is resistance ✊

First person I run into: Superhuman. You these people you just click with? They is one of those. I felt like 17 again.

Many great people, good talks about the state of the world, informative presentation and vegan food. I so, so needed that. 🏳️‍🌈

A highlight in my 2025 so far

Happy belated #5JoysFriday 💛
This time I'm doing two posts, because last Saturday was too big to just be a number here. So this is post 1/2 with my normal joys 💛

1. Going to the cinema with @VaniBarelyReads and having a tasty dinner afterwards
2. This chalk drawing
3. Going to Zurich with @VaniBarelyReads and having Starbucks drinks. Again.
4. Remodelling the bookstore. Again.
5. Vegan carnival cookies from my aunt 💛

@DebinHawaii

Best time of the year to read this - Yes! Of course, I was head over heels for this. It's all I needed and more. Maybe loved it even more than the first part? Perfect in so many ways, I barely know where to begin. Listened to the audiobook and it was the perfect choice as well 🍀🍀🍀 Happy St. Patrick's Day 🌈

One of the earlier works of Han Kang, and I'm not sure if there's already an English translation. The German title can be translated as: Your Cold Hands

This story is filled with symbolism, at least to me it felt like that. And I'm glad I didn't read this book earlier in my life, because it deals with eating disorders and assaults. So trigger warnings for this. Kang shows us how superficial society can be and how that destroys us in many ways.

Happy #5JoysFriday 💛💛💛

My joys have been simple.

1) spending time in the sunshine
2) family walk in the woods, discovering flowers
3) while enjoying the Merlin app
4) book mail is best mail
5) redecorating the children's book nook

@DebinHawaii

Not the tagged book, but the third and last part of the trilogy.

It's fun, it's cute, it's romantic. I enjoyed all three parts of the series and was happy to be back with the characters. It's one of these books you will have a Happy Ending, so it surely was something I needed right now. Something fluffy to forget my own troubles for the lenght of an audiobook.

Yay for my latest #bookhaul

I was informed that I'ma a Queerfeminist Cyborg and That's Okay might be out of print, so I didn't expect to get a copy. But I did! It's one my March #roll100, but I'm not sure if I can fit it in this month.

And then I received an early Christmas gift from @VaniBarelyReads ❤ Isn't she a beauty? The book and Vani herself 💕

Love it, love it, love it. Maybe my favourite part so far? Those two are just so... Well, I loved how they danced around each other, screwed things up, but still worked it out in the end. And I really want a book with Piper, please? The news, that there's a fourth book in the series just made me utterly happy. Count me in!

Just as with my other Omnibus volume, I'm going to split this one up. For my #DoubleSpin I've read the first story, and have to say, even though it's interesting and makes me curious about the books, without the first volume of the series, it would leave me unsatisfied. Planning to read the next part in April.

@TheAromaOfBooks

Happy #5JoysFriday 💛 Finding joy is an act of resistance💪

1. My dad and I had a delivery to make, so I got paid for traveling around in this beautiful weather
2. Lunchtime shopping with my boss to find new stuff for the bookstore
3. Running into those carnival revelers after missing the main event
4. Had my first Ju-Jitsu class
5. I was stacking the best seller shelf, but refused to add JD Vance's book, so I put a book about penguins there

I heard the audio book read the by author herself, and I was deeply impressed. I loved the insights into Razias life and how she grows up. How she finds herself between two cultures that both are a part of her. It feels to me like it deepened my understanding of Pakistani and Islam culture, at least I really hope so. But oh, the book was over way to soon! I just sat there and thought: “Oh... no... not now!“

#queerbc @PuddleJumper

Not the tagged book, but I was surprised to find some books by Gottsched in the Litsy database. The title can be translated as “Pietism in a Whalebone Gown“ and it's a funny, but quite mean play about -well- pietism. I especially liked the descriptive names, they more than often say everything you need to know about that character. I really want to read more forgotten classics by female authors, so I can prove all those wrong who say ⬇

I was looking forward to meet all of the character in the Locked Tomb series again, but I guess I was waiting for Nona again. She captured my heart the first time I read the book, and now she did it again. She made me laugh, she made me want to hug her, she made me very emotional. That's just Nona. And of course I understood more about what's going on than the first time around. Tamsyn Muir, I'm ready for Alecto now.

I'm giving this a pick because of Anya and Bond. Gotta love her chapters. But more than the other volumes before, this one triggered my inner feminist (who's not hiding that much anymore). Sure, the setting is heavily based on Cold War times, but Endo sure does change quite a bit. So I'm a bit annoyed by all that “good housewife“ and “cooking“ stuff. And that Endo also plays the female vs female card now, is just... 😩

#MondayMood

Realising how much of my behaviour is ADD driven. And currently in decision paralysis because I should choose my Books of the Month and I just can't. But at least my courage is up again, inspired by all the people rising their voices.

@Deblovestoread

Translation: Tinder. Attacks, inroads, remains

Ever since I've hit my teens, my parents told me to read Meienberg. Now I've adopted this book from my mum and so she finally made it possible for me to read something by Meienberg.

And I totally see both my parents in these texts. Essays that are anti-war, pro humanism and really cynical. My dad met Meienberg in Zurich once and had a couple of beers with him. I'm not surprised they got along.

Not my cup of tea, even though there were some scenes I really enjoyed. Like the combined girl power at the end. But all in all it couldn't convince me. I didn't felt the chemistry between the MCs at all. Sure, they're cute together, but went from 0 to 100 in like half a page? Also, what's up with that guy who has like a ton of ex-gfs while being what? 20?

And here I am with my March #BookSpinBingo board and another Omnibus. Like with the one by Dan Abnett, I'm going to read in steps. For this first round I'm going to read the short stories set before book one.

My #DoubleSpin is another chunkster, that's why I've avoided reading it for a long time. But I'm glad I'm finally back in that world.

@TheAromaOfBooks

Not that easy to see, but my next roll in #BookishMonopoly brought me to "series vol 2". I had to think a little about this, until I realised that the next step in that giant of a book is the second Eisenhorn novel. So here we go!

@AkashaVampie

So many good books in February ❤️ Welcome, March 🍀

Happy #5JoysFriday 💛 My joys this week:

1) meeting with my bestie ❤️
2&3) travelling with @VaniBarelyReads ❤️
4) browsing the toy store with @VaniBarelyReads
5) actually feeling alive in the evenings, instead of just being dead 💪

Tiny bonus: two times of gender euphoria 🏳️‍🌈

@DebinHawaii

Soft pick. The story itself didn't grab me, even though I liked the idea of the Jedi Council mingling with normal people. There were many scenes that made me laugh out loud, but all in all there were just way to many characters. Whenever I stopped reading and picked the book up again, I had to look up who's who (except for the obvious ones). Guess I'm not that much of a Star Wars fan after all? 😭

#StarWarsBuddyRead @BookwormAHN

A more feminist version of “Goodnight Mister Tom“ with a pony instead of a dog. A book that crashed me in the best way possible. I barely managed to read the first chapter, but I had tears in my eyes when I saw how Ada and Jamie grew. And not only them, but also Susan. How this family grows stronger and stronger, and proves that family is not only made by blood. Highly recommend, especially now.

#bookishmonopoly @AkashaVampie

Who doesn't want a piece of Han Solo? Or Boba Fett? This comic was fun and a relaxing read (compared to what else I've been reading). It's just nice to lay back every now and then and enjoy how other people mind their own problems. Nice artwork, good Star Wars feeling all the way through. The story moves fast and things explode.

Joining @Deblovestoread at #MondayMood

Hope your name is Heidi - Heidi Reichinnek

We take a breath
Then we move on
Today was not an ending
But a begining

(After Germany's elections yesterday)

🫶🫶🫶

Really excited for I'm A Queerfeminist Cyborg, Han Kang is always a hit, and how the f* am I'm going to translate Nr. 90? I don't even know what the German title means 🤣

#roll100 @PuddleJumper

A book for all Gravity Falls fans. I can't really decide on the age group this was intended for. Some lines are rather grown-up, some pages seem more for a child like audience. It drags a little in the middle, but it gets better at the end. Nicely made, eclectic and of course very much Bill Cipher.

No big words today (Germany is voting for a new government and you know...). So here's my #BookSpinBingo for March.
Happy moving @TheAromaofBooks

I might as well post that now, since I'm not going to finish any of the other books. But I managed one #BookSpinBingo anyway, yay!

@TheAromaofBooks

It's all just BLEH at the moment. So I felt like I need to buy a book for some happy feelings. That's why I preordered this and now I'm excited and my mood slightly better. See, books help. Buying books helps too.

Happy #5JoysFriday 💛 This week has been... A week. So I'll go for the tiny joys.

1+2 - Secco, Rossa & @VaniBarelyReads
3 - A friend made me vegan cocoa 😋
4 - The tiny car family is growing
5 - Valentine's day at the library 📚

@DebinHawaii

I'm not quite sure what to do with this story. At some point I got some tiny Catch-22 vibes, because of the way the narrator talks about warfare. Oh yeah, I did not expect to deal with so much war and fighting. The novella is only 93 pages long, but I still had a hard time getting into the setting and the plot. The ending was interesting enough, though.

🔥 🔥 🔥

Such a beautiful story. Coming-of-age in Poland's 1980ties. Life was so different there back then. The book doesn't care about the reader, Ludwik tells his story to Janusz, not us. We're not important in this narration. Beautifully written (a very good translation), so I could hear Ludwik's voice the whole time. Feel his pain, his longing and the acceptance of how things turned out.

Translates as: 50 amazing Swiss Women

And yes, all those women in this book are amazing. They stood up for their rights, for others, their dreams. They were laughed at, ignored, hurt. But they never gave up. Some are long gone, some are still alive. Some I knew, most of them were new to me. But I'm impressed and amazed by them all.

#BookSpin @TheAromaOfBooks

Translates as: In the most beautiful colours

As soon as I layed eyes on this book, I knew I was going to love it. And yes, I did. Maybe even a tiny bit more than expected.
It's a cute and fluffy romance between two trans boys, written by an author who's trans himself. So he knows what he's writing about. And it shows. So beautiful 💖

#roll100 @PuddleJumper

How could I restist? 😆 I think Pinterest really got me. And yeah, me eating ice cream all year round is a thing. Love the third one 😉

@TheBookHippie

The first part of this huge collection is done. Read the first two short stories as my #DoubleSpin this month. Both stories are good and very Warhammer-ish, but too similar if read directly after each other. The first story is set before Xenos, the second one after. The stories are recommended for fans of Eisenhorn, especially since we learn how he lost his hand in the second one.

@TheAromaofBooks

How can Angie Thomas's books just get better and better? So glad I listened to this as an audiobook. It has all the vibes, all the depth and all the pain. Honestly, I, once again, felt ashamed to be born as a white person. Seriously, there's so much going wrong in this world, but this book still sends out a huge message of hope.