Mel The Bookworm

[REVIEW] The Windweaver’s Storm(TJ Young and the Orishas Book 2), by Antoine Bandele

A Black woman's hand(my hand) holds up the Kindle cover of The Windweaver's Storm up against the cloudy blue and white sky. The cover shows a teenaged black boy and girl pointing at a giant female figure made of lightning and fire in the distance.

(Buy this book!) One of my most anticipated new reads for 2022 is finally here and let me say the important part first– it did not disappoint! When we last saw teenaged magic student Tomori Jomiloju Young, he had survived remedial magic summer camp, traveled to the spirit realm, made a bargain with Olokun himselfContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Windweaver’s Storm(TJ Young and the Orishas Book 2), by Antoine Bandele”

[READING CHALLENGE] Read Disabled Writers!

A poster featuring the striped Disability Pride Flag in the background. The text, highlighted in yellow and green, says "July Reading Challenge: Read something by a disabled author."

(To skip straight to a booklist, click here.) I’m super late with this month’s reading challenge, but it’s here, fellow readers! First of all, how are you all doing? I took last week off from reading and blogging because I am TIRED. I’m also in that lovely part of reverse culture shock where I absolutelyContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Read Disabled Writers!”

[Hear Me Out] The Handmaid’s Tale Is Not The Book We Need To Read Right Now

A series of tweets reading: "Parable of the Sower" was a book that could read the room and explain how to navigate it, too. forget "Handmaid's Tale," that's for people who plan to give up. I'm not willing to be a handmaid, as if that's an option for Black women anyway. I'm willing to learn how to shoot and make acorn bread, though."

(To skip straight to the books, click here.) So on Friday, despite widespread public disapproval following a leak back in May, the US Supreme Court overturned 1973’s landmark Roe vs. Wade ruling, rescinding the constitutional right to an abortion. Naturally, there’s been immense public outcry from many of us with uteruses, both virtually and inContinue reading “[Hear Me Out] The Handmaid’s Tale Is Not The Book We Need To Read Right Now”

[REVIEW] Hold Me, by Courtney Milan

A Kindle lies on an outdoor restaurant table on a very sunny day, in front of a tall iced latte. The screen displays the cover of Hold Me, which depicts a very attractive half-dressed couple making out.

(Click to buy this book.) Courtney Milan is a romantic genius and let me tell you why. Hold Me is a pretty standard romance novel in a lot of ways. The premise plays off of how normal it has become to have long acquaintanceships, friendships, and even romantic relationships online without ever meeting each otherContinue reading “[REVIEW] Hold Me, by Courtney Milan”

[REVIEW] Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans

(Click here to buy this book.) I am once again asking publishers, editors, and readers to let Black women write beyond sadness in America. Please? sigh This collection of poetry from a queer Black woman starts strong. It’s put together very well in a technical sense but it all feels kind of by the numbersContinue reading “[REVIEW] Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans”

[Reading Challenge] Read #BlackJoy for #PrideMonth

(To skip straight to a booklist of Black Pride and joy, click here.) Y’all knew this was coming, right? I’m not an ally, I’m an accomplice. In the roughest, toughest parts of my non-ambiguously Black nerd femme life, my gay, lesbian, trans, and non-binary fam have always jumped in the trenches with me, helped meContinue reading “[Reading Challenge] Read #BlackJoy for #PrideMonth”

[REVIEW] Anne-Marie The Beauty, by Yasmina Reza, translated by Alison L Strayer

A very plain photo of a book laying on a piece of cardboard. The book has the words Anne-Marie The Beauty printed on it in green and purple brushstrokes.

(Buy this at Bookshop.) (I am aware that something awful happened this week, as it does every day of every week in America, and that everyone is talking about it. I do not have the emotional bandwidth to discuss it outside of a few safe small places offline, and so I am choosing to loseContinue reading “[REVIEW] Anne-Marie The Beauty, by Yasmina Reza, translated by Alison L Strayer”

[HEAR ME OUT] It’s About Damn Time We Had A Trans Batgirl

So the other day while I was trying to do the opposite of doomscrolling by finding positive things on the internet, I came across the image above, shared by everyone’s favorite cosplaying drag queen, Dax Exclamation Point. I haven’t read a Batman comic in ages, although for years that was the only DC book IContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] It’s About Damn Time We Had A Trans Batgirl”

[Reading Challenge] AAPI Writers With A Twist

(Check out the booklist here.) We’re a two weeks deep into AAPI Heritage Month and I’ve already scrapped two other versions of this reading challenge in order to go with this one. I think that non-Asian Americans are slowly familiarizing themselves with some Asian cultures. Indian, Chinese, and Japanese Americans have always been recognized, ifContinue reading “[Reading Challenge] AAPI Writers With A Twist”

[REVIEW] A Woman Is No Man, by Etaf Rum

A photo of the paperback classic edition of A Woman Is No Man. The cover is black and red and depicts the a silhouetted hand dropping a book into another hand.

(Buy this book here.) This book is all about lovelessness, and I wasn’t really ready for it. When Isra is 17, a man from New York comes to Palestine to marry her. She has hopes, dreams, and an overwhelming desire to be loved, but when she returns to the US with her husband her innerContinue reading “[REVIEW] A Woman Is No Man, by Etaf Rum”