books – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW]Once Upon A Marquess, by Courtney Milan

The Kindle cover of Once Upon A Marquess depicts a young white woman in a Victorian dress sitting in a grassy field. The Kindle lies on a speckled ceramic table, nest to a saucer with a blue ceramic cup of milky coffee and a half-eaten scone on it.

(Buy this book here!) Read time: 2 minutes After her father’s death and her brother’s disgraced exile, Judith Worth is tasked with caring for her three younger siblings and keeping the family name in good, if socially lowered, standing. When a challenge to her hard won domesticity arises, there’s only one person she can turnContinue reading “[REVIEW]Once Upon A Marquess, by Courtney Milan”

[REVIEW] Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman

The Kindle cover of Dungeon Crawler Carl, depicting a burly man in boxers and a Persian cat running from a fiery explosion, lies on the ground next to a city water department manhole cover.

(Buy this book here.) Read time: 4 minutes One minute Coast Guard meathead Carl is rescuing his absentee ex-girlfriend’s prize Persian cat from a tree in the middle of the night. The next, every building on earth is smashed flat and at the behest of an alien voice, Carl and Donut(the cat) are forced toContinue reading “[REVIEW] Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman”

[Hear Me Out] A Year of Deeper Reading

Read time: 13 minutes (To skip to the booklist, click here.) I’m still here. Fellow readers, I almost quit the internet last year. And last month. And last week. And about an hour ago. Rest assured, this isn’t some “goodbye, cruel virtual world” post. You’re stuck with me for the virtual moment. But like many,Continue reading “[Hear Me Out] A Year of Deeper Reading”

[Last Year In Books] 2025 In Books: What I Read In The Midst of The Weird

Scrabble tiles spell out Happy New Year on a black background dotted with sequins

Read time: 12 minutes Man, 2025 was a weird year. The weirdest thing, perhaps, is that I’ve been saying the exact same thing for the past five years. You know how history speaks of the Renaissance, the Dark Ages, the Enlightenment? Fellow readers, I fear that future generations may refer to our era as TheContinue reading “[Last Year In Books] 2025 In Books: What I Read In The Midst of The Weird”

[REVIEW] On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder

On Tyranny, a small tan academic paperback folio, lies face up on a shelf clogged with other books. Someone has written "Gird Your Loins" on the cover with a sharpie.

(Buy this book here.) This book has been everywhere since last year’s election in the US–indie shops, TikTok diatribes, little free libraries and coffee shop share shelves with snarky messages inked on the cover. Something about the idea of a little book of twenty short lessons on how to stem the tide of tyranny, basedContinue reading “[REVIEW] On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder”

[REVIEW]Several People Are Typing, by Calvin Kasulke

The black and white Kindle cover of Several People are Typing leans against a laptop screen displaying an empty Slack chat. The cover depicts a series of Slack chat bubbles with odd emojis of wolves, weather, and death symbols interspersed throughout.

(Buy this book here.) Read time: 2 minutes Gerald is trapped in his work Slack chat. Literally. While his body sits dormant in his New York apartment, his consciousness has been fully uploaded to the worst thing about every remote job in America. If he doesn’t find a way out, he’ll be in danger ofContinue reading “[REVIEW]Several People Are Typing, by Calvin Kasulke”

[Last While In Books] Rest Well, Miss Major

Two books lie inside of freshly opened cardboard box; the memoir of dearly departed trans activist Miss Major, Miss Major Speaks, and the womanist essay collection All the Black Girls Are Activists.

Apparently it’s literary awards season in the bookish world, fellow readers. That certainly snuck up on me, as did autumn and the fact that 2026 is only three months away. This literary news round up will focus mostly on that, but first there’s some sad news to share. And now on to awards season. OneContinue reading “[Last While In Books] Rest Well, Miss Major”

[REVIEW] 107 Days, by Kamala Harris

The Kindle cover of Kamala Harris' memoir, displaying only the words "107 Days" in plain text, sits next to a wide bowl of Caesar salad and a glass of beer.

[Buy this book here] Read time: 5 minutes On July 21, 2024, Kamala Harris was informed that President Joe Biden was dropping out of the race, choosing not to seek re-election. With only 107 days until the vote, Harris accepted the support of the Democratic party and ran a frantic, flawed, and hopeful campaign oppositeContinue reading “[REVIEW] 107 Days, by Kamala Harris”

[HEAR ME OUT] The Film Adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk Travels Well Until the Last Two Minutes

[Buy the book this film is based on here] Read time: 7 minutes Last night, I saw the screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk. While I read the book years ago, it’s one of those novels that I remember the plot and themes of, but not many of the deeper details. I knewContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] The Film Adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk Travels Well Until the Last Two Minutes”

[REVIEW] Miss Major Speaks, by Miss Major Griffin Gracy and Toshio Meronek

My Black lady hand holds up a paperback copy of Miss Major Speaks. The cover depicts Miss Major at her most glamorous, sometime in the 1960s. The book is held up in front of a row of laundromat washing machines. Gotta get those pages in whenever you can, right?

(Buy this book here.) It’s always weird when someone tries to use demographic as an emblem, rather than a descriptor of experience. It’s reductive and robs us of genuine relationships and the understanding our own history(because like it or not, marginalized history is everyone’s history.) It makes small, unremarkable people too big in our minds,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Miss Major Speaks, by Miss Major Griffin Gracy and Toshio Meronek”