atthelibrarywithmegan

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

This year’s Trans Rights Readathon starts on Friday! It is running 2 days longer than it has in the past. It ends on March 31st, the Trans Day of Visibility. I was a little bit behind putting my tbr together so a lot of what I wanted to read, I’m long a LONG Libby waitlist for. We will see what I am able to get to!

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

The first round of nonfiction/books by Black authors about Black history has arrived! I’m jumping into Read This to Get Smarter first and I’m already really enjoying it! One thing I love about it though is that I feel like I am reading it in Blair Imani’s voice because I watch her videos so often. It’s like an audiobook without being an audiobook. 😅 Also, am I about to become a book annotating girly? I need the best book annotating pen recommendations if you’ve got them!

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

Reading diversely is one of the best things I ever started doing as a reader. While I read Black authors all year long, I feel it’s important to place emphasis on them during Black History Month. The US govt. is trying to erase Black history, and we can’t let that happen. The best way we can do that is by reading Black authors and listening to Black creators and learning the true facts of history (not just what we were barely taught in school). I’m expanding my tbr for this month by adding in some non fiction titles. I don’t normally read non fiction, but it’s something I want to do, something I need to do. I have already started a couple of these and I can’t wait to immerse myself in all of the different worlds and learn more.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

💖 Upcoming Sapphic Books Releasing in 2025

🩷 Good afternoon, bookish bats. By now, you know how much I love a sweet sapphic romance. Here are 20 upcoming sapphic book releases keep on your radar in 2025!

💖 Which ones are you adding to your TBR?

🩷 Roll for Love - M.K. England 🩷 Single Player - Tara Tai 🩷 But Not Too Bold - H. Pueyo 🩷 Love Points to You - Alice Lin 🩷 Dream On, Ramona Riley - Ashley Herring Blake 🩷 Ready to Score - Jodie Slaughter 🩷 Hammajang Luck - Makana Yamamoto 🩷 Idolfire - Grace Curtis 🩷 Amelia, If Only - Becky Albertalli 🩷 The Incandescent - Emily Tesh 🩷 Murder by Memory - Olivia Waite 🩷 The Mercy Makers - Tessa Gratton 🩷 Aunt Tigress - Emily Yu-Xuan Qin 🩷 The Starving Saints - Caitlin Starling 🩷 Advocate - Daniel M. Ford 🩷 Kiss Me, Maybe - Gabriella Gamez 🩷 Marisol Acts the Part - Elle Gonzalez Rose 🩷 All-Nighter - Cecilia Vinesse 🩷 French Pressed Love - MC Hutson 🩷 Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame - Neon Yang

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

I'm already seeing advice from people in the US to purchase queer books and other banned or "controversial" books on paper as a way to combat the wave of government censorship that is coming. While this is a good idea (it is! absolutely!), it's not accessible to everyone, and truly, we're not going to be able to consumerism our way out of this one.

If you can buy the books, do. Whether you can buy the books or not, borrow them from your library.

Borrow the paper versions. Borrow the ebook or audiobook versions. Request the titles you want that your library doesn't have. The more a title circulates or is requested, the better librarians are going to be able to defend keeping it if and when it's ever challenged.

Use libraries like @queerliblib too. The more members they have, the better they'll be able to fundraise.

Your community resources depend on you using them. Borrow the books before they go away.

InB4: Piracy is not the solution here. We're trying to keep community resources available, not make sure individual people can read individual books. Different problems.

The books are still available. Borrowing them from your library and returning them on time and in good condition will help keep them that way.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

Really hoping I can bust out the rest of The Stardust Thief in the next few days before the month is over. I'm over halfway through it, I just have to commit to listening to it while I do other things instead of having the tv on in the background.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi | Book 3 of 2025

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, and Inklore for providing me with copy.

While I did enjoy this book, and will be reading the third book when it comes out, I did have a few issues with it. Some of the pacing felt quite off, particularly the intimate scenes. There were three scenes, all relatively mild to me (think mostly fade to black/some on page); but each one felt ill timed. All three came after something big and distressing had happened, or was supposed to happen. I actually found myself trying to read them as quickly as possible so I could get back to the rest of the story. I also wish that it had been a longer book. Faebound was well over 300 pages, and this sat at just under 300 (at least on the eARC). I feel like there could have been a lot more explanation to certain things or things could have just been fleshed out a bit more. All of that being said, I am curious to see where book three takes us. Now, all of that aside, I did enjoy the story!

You begin by following Yeeran back to the Waning Tribe where she hopes to deliver news that will help the fae, elves, and the Forever War. She comes across our new, slightly mysterious, character, Alder, one of the Nomads (wandering elves) who may be who they've been looking for all along. Lettle and Golan end up topside, searching for secrets that may uncover the answers to the curse. Rayan and Furi try to search out the threat that has infiltrated the royal court, as well as a deep betrayal. Mind you, all of this is going on while trying to navigate their own romantic relationships, new places in court, and their relationship with the Lightless.

I personally really enjoy the queer normativity of this world. There's even a character guide in the back providing pronouns and little blurbs about each person.

Some bits of this were quite predictable, but I still found it enjoyable enough to finish the book. Overall, decent enough book and I'll continue with the series.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

My current reads!

Audiobook 🎧: The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

Physical book 📖: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Ebook 📱: Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi (eARC)

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

Just a reminder:

In Oregon (I’m not sure about other states), as long as you have a home library and hold a card there, you can get additional library cards in other counties/cities through the library passport program.

I hold 5 library cards for my county, surrounding counties, and with the @queerliblib. I plan to get more where I can.

Libraries don’t just have physical books to check out. They have ebooks and audiobooks, DVDs, magazines, electronics, games, audiobooks on CD, music on CDs, and so much more. Many libraries also hold community events. Go to those and support your local libraries.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

The Colour of Revenge by Cornelia Funke

Book 2/30 for 2025! This is the final conclusion for the Inkworld series. I wasn’t one who read the original trilogy as a preteen/teenager. I didn’t even know it was a book until after I’d watched the movie. I found all three books second hand and read them in the end of 2024. They helped me get out of a month’s long reading slump. As soon as I found out there was going to be a spinoff book, I called my library and requested it.

This story didn’t focus on Meggie, Mortimer, Elinor, and other characters we came to love in the original trilogy. It follows Dustfinger, the Black Prince and our old foe Orpheus. Orpheus is as full of himself as always and seeking revenge on all our friends in Ombra once and for all. You go along with Dustfinger and The Black Prince to avenge all those Orpheus has done wrong and see if he finally gets what he deserves. The Black Prince and Dustfinger not only learn a lot about themselves but also about their friendship.

This was a perfect conclusion to the story and I’ll be waiting for it to come out in paperback to complete the series on my own bookshelf.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

My first read of 2025 was The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor. It is a middle grade fantasy graphic novel that explores themes of grief, loss, loneliness, and abandonment. It also explores finding where you belong and healing and accepting others. Even if you’re not middle grade age, I feel like this would be a good book to help process grief and loss. Sometimes I think we forget that middle grade isn’t only for middle grade readers. I think this would help one process grief even more so than one written for adults because it’s a graphic novel. Things are in much easier to process terms and I’d definitely recommend.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

In November, one of my favorite accounts on instagram put this resource together. It is a Google Sheets spreadsheet that is organized by children’s, middle grade, young adult, and adult book resources.

It is pay what you can, but I highly encourage you to pay even as little as $1 if you truly do not have extra funds. She put in a lot of work for this resource and we shouldn’t expect people to do work like this for free.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

Hey, you should definitely click the l i n k and get your copy.

[atthelibrarywithmegan]

Even though the holiday season is over: Quit buying books from Amazon.

bookshop.com has hundreds of indie online bookstores. Support library sales. Borrow books from the library/libby/hoopla. Buy from local indie bookstores.

Here's your daily reminder that bookstores keep the love of reading alive — but they also keep neighborhoods beautiful. They are places to gather, to celebrate stories, to find community.

Please do your holiday shopping at your local independent bookstore, if you are lucky enough to still have one.