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I updated my reading goal for this year, it's now 12 books instead of 30. I want to get back into reading, but I also want to enjoy myself. I know that I'm a slow reader, and to be honest I'm already proud of myself for getting through three of them. These past few years it's felt like I've gone a long time without reading anything at all, so I'm already winning!

But I also want my goal to feel more achievable, if I reach it then I'll feel more accomplished, and that'll help me keep going :)

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Reminder to Request Queer Books from your Local Library

If you're panicking about the state of the world, one of the easiest ways to make a difference right now is engaging with your library.

There is a reason that libraries are targetted by fascists. They are sites of immesurable power. Both just on their own, and also because of their patrons. So first step is, if you haven't, sign up for a library card ASAP.

Next, find out how your library takes requests (almost all libraries do), and start filling out the forms. Make it a ritual, go through queer books that interest you (here is an affiliate link for 165 queer books to get you started), and request as many as you can. It also helps if you take queer books out. Both digitally and physically.

Many libraries have a system in place where they have to rebuy the rights to a digital copy of a book after a certain amount of borrows. This is not contingent on you reading every single book you check out. No one will know if you read it or not. Though, I will admit that reading the books is also a good strategy to keep you invested in this very important discussion.

Regardless of your personal reading habits, you have space to make real change in your community with just a small amount of effort. Borrowing and requesting queer books backs up the irrefutable fact that queer stories are worth telling, and it pays queer authors for their work. I will say it until my face is blue, request queer books, read queer books, and engage with your local library.

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Trans History by Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett

An essential introduction to trans history, from ancient times to the present day, in full-color graphic nonfiction format. Deeply researched, highly readable, and featuring a broad range of voices.

What does “trans” mean, and what does it mean to be trans? Diversity in human sex and gender is not a modern phenomenon, as readers will discover through illustrated stories and records that introduce historical figures ranging from the controversial Roman emperor Elagabalus to the swashbuckling seventeenth-century conquistador Antonio de Erauso to veterans of the Stonewall uprising Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.

In addition to these individual profiles, the book explores some of the societal roles played by trans people beginning in ancient times and shows how European ideas about gender were spread across the globe. It explains how the science of sexology and the growing acceptance of (and backlash to) gender nonconformity have helped to shape what it means to be trans today. Illustrated conversations with modern activists, scholars, and creatives highlight the breadth of current trans experiences and give readers a deeper sense of the diversity of trans people, a group numbering in the millions. Extensive source notes provide further resources.

Moving, funny, heartbreaking, and empowering, this remarkable compendium from trans creators Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett is packed with research on every dynamic page.

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Guys, queers. Specifically my fellow queers.

I work at a library. We do this thing where, every so often, we weed the collection. It hurts to see books go, but it's necessary to make sure there's room in the library for new materials.

I have seen so much support for the library in text, and I've seen folks pass around those beautiful "queer your library" flyers. Keep doing that. That's great. Nothing wrong with that. But you HAVE to turn your words into action. We MUST remember to actually go to our local organizations and libraries and actually, with our own fucking hands, interact with these materials we want to see more of.

My branch is medium-sized for a library, maybe a little small. We don't have as many materials as I'd like, but we have fundamentals. Tell me why, even with all the verbal support I've gotten from my local community for the library as a resource for our LGBT+ community, every single trans biography and a good chunk of our vaguely queer theory books were on the list. This isn't a scheme to take the books off the shelves, it isn't another bigoted American governmental push. The only thing we look at when we weed is how long it's been since the last time the item was checked out.

Three years.

No one in my community interacted in any meaningful way with the few books on trans life and history we physically had on the shelves for three fucking years.

I promise you the materials you want and need are there, but this isn't a horde. This isn't a static safety net. You have to use them. You MUST use them or, in the future, maybe in three years, they *won't* be there anymore.

This isn't a vague post, there's no one person I'm hinting at or calling out. I'm not even talking directly to anyone who's directly in my line of sight. I just want everyone to hear this. Big library, small library, whatever. Doesn't matter. Please, we cannot be losing our shelf visibility like this.

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Meet the Reader

Hello 🧍🏼‍♂️

My name is Aiden! Eden is a nickname I use, and it rhymed a lot better with Readin' so that's why my blog is titled that. I thought I was being clever. Anyways!

Welcome to my little outlet where I plan to ramble about the books I'm reading. Whether you're just here to listen to my reading opinions in general or you're here to start a conversation about a specific book, I want to thank you for checking out my blog.

I follow a lot of booktubers and I've been feeling inspired as of late to find my own space to talk about my reading opinions as well. I didn't want to make videos, so, here we are. This is just something I'm kind of doing for fun. I'm not a literary student or a professional writer or anything, I'm just some guy. I set a goal at the beginning of 2025 to read 30 books. It's currently May of 2025 and... I'm on book #2. Even if I don't reach my numeric goal, a more passive goal I had was to get back into reading and to have fun with it! I hope this blog helps me achieve that.

Since I'm not really a professional of any sort, please don't take my opinions too harshly or anything. I'm just sort of here to talk.

My favorite genres are fiction, fantasy, YA and queer romance. After scrolling through my StoryGraph reads it seems I apparently have a taste for historical books as well. I'm trying to slowly explore other genres, but anything queer and romantic tends to be what I enjoy the most.

My current favorite book series is the Simon Snow trilogy by Rainbow Rowell. I'm always looking for more stories like that!

Some boring facts about me: I'm 23 years old, my favorite musical artists are Sleep Token and Hozier, I'm currently learning Portuguese and my favorite food is cheeseburger 🍔.

Thanks for checking out my blog! ✌🏻