What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

The past month has included pink (March) and red (April) books. Here's what I've been reading!

A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome by Emma Southon: This was a surprisingly entertaining history lesson on ancient Rome and the way that killing of various sorts was regarded. There are plenty of wild stories throughout, not to mention details that may turn your stomach. But whether you pick this up for the Roman history lesson or the humor, it's an interesting lesson in how the concept of "murder" varies between times and places.

We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan ed. by Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma: This was a remarkable collection. Sullivan's writing itself is clear and compelling, and I found it fascinating to accompany him so intimately on this life journey of being one of the first openly gay trans men. I appreciate the immense effort that the editors put into whittling down Sullivan's diaries into something so focused and readable.

When the World Was Ours by Liz Kessler: Through the story of three best friends separated by the machinations of Hitler's Europe, we see three very different experiences of that time period: the Jewish family that got away, the Jewish family that didn't, and the non-Jewish family that gained power and prestige through Hitler's regime. The characters and their stories felt real, at times painfully so, and I think Kessler does an excellent job of helping a middle grade reader understand what it might have been like to live through that period of time.

Here for It; Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas: This was fine. I appreciated the parts that were funny and some of his more sincere reflections on life (I truly enjoyed the play in the last chapter), and I have a feeling that, while this collection as a whole felt uneven and not my favorite, there will be distinct moments from his life story that stick with me past this reading.

Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers by Chip Heath and Karla Starr: This feels kind of intentionally like an offshoot of Made to Stick, focusing narrowly on helping people really grasp any numerical information you might be trying to convey. Although I'd heard many of the analogies (or "translations") they shared in the book, such as converting the history of the universe into a single day, having them collected in one place and their principles laid out clearly was helpful.

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera: I devoured this in just a few days! There were elements of this that reminded me of The Girl on the Train, and there were definitely other tropes that made this somewhat predictable, but ultimately none of that took away from my enjoyment. I highly recommend this on audio.

Shrill: Women Are Funny, It's Okay to Be Fat, and Feminists Don't Have to Be Nice by Lindy West: The core elements that West writes about — anti-abortion rhetoric, fatphobia, online trolls, sexual assault — are certainly all still present today, and she is incisive and funny in the way she tackles these issues, and also, there are elements that didn't age well. I can see why it got such positive attention when first published, but it's probably not the first thing I'm going to hand someone that deals with any of these issues.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, and The Vanderbeekers of 141 Street
Five years ago I was reading: A Pocket Full of Rye, Womanist Midrash, Freddie Ramos Rules New York and Rick
Ten years ago I was reading: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Ragtime, and A People's History of the United States

Best of the Bunch (March 2026)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in March.

Of the 7 books I read this month, I had one 5-star read, so that's my Best of the Bunch!

Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story was, dare I say, fabulous. Tobia is a delightful narrator on audio of their own story. I appreciate that they called out upfront that there is a typical, cookie-cutter "trans narrative" and that their story wasn't going to follow that at all. Instead, what followed was a real, messy, humorous recounting of their experiences from childhood through college as they grappled with societal expectations for their assigned gender and then eventually the complex journey of discovering their own gender identity and how they could best express that. Tobia's writing is alternately snarky and soulful; even at 27, they knew how to turn a phrase and then turn around and laugh at their own seriousness. They skillfully capture how their relationship with their parents doesn't fit into neat boxes of "accepting" or "rejecting." They have an absolutely must-read chapter on tokenism and their experience being accepted as a token on campus. I loved this from start to finish and would highly recommend, especially on audio.

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Esperanza Rising, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, and Fearing the Black Body
Five years ago I was reading: Tess of the Road, Womanist Midrash, and How the Irish Became White
Ten years ago I was reading: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Under the Banner of Heaven, and A People's History of the United States

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Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

It's time for another seasonal check-in! I finished all the books on my Winter TBR. I'm still really enjoying my rainbow reading year! I'm finishing up March (pink) and planning what I'll be reading in April (red), May (orange), and June (yellow). Here are some of the books I've picked out for this season!

1. Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman

2. Butts by Heather Radke

3. Circe by Madeline Miller

4. Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon

5. Laundry Love by Patric Richardson and Karin Miller

6. Let the Record Show by Sarah Shulman

7. Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

8. Shrill by Lindy West

9. The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

10. This Is Where You Belong by Melody Warnick

What do you plan to read this spring (or fall if you're in the southern hemisphere)?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Esperanza Rising, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, It's Perfectly Normal, and Everything Is Tuberculosis
Five years ago I was reading: Tess of the Road, Womanist Midrash, and How the Irish Became White
Ten years ago I was reading: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Spark Joy, Cold Sassy Tree, and A People's History of the United States

What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

I'm continuing to enjoy my project for the year of reading books of a specific cover color each month. February was gray; March is pink. It's forced me to set aside preconceptions about a book or what I think I'm in the mood for and just read a wide variety within a specific parameter (though it turns out the pink books on my TBR are mostly nonfiction!). Here's what I've read in the past month.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson: There were elements of this that I really liked: the trial scenes, the mystery, the lush descriptions, the historical elements of Japanese internment and discrimination. On the other hand, there was wayyy too much in here about male characters and their penises. If this had been a shorter book with more mystery and less penis, I think I would have liked it a lot better.

Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson: Sanderson is a talented writer, and I enjoyed spending more time with these characters, even if this felt a little heavy-handed at times, like he was writing with an agenda. The central mystery was engaging, the characters are delightful, and I laughed out loud multiple times.

It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens by danah boyd: Through interviews and ethnographic studies of teens across the United States, along with research from other scholars, boyd looks out how teens use the social internet and what adults get right and wrong about it. I appreciate that boyd approached this topic with a scientific lens and pushed back on some of the alarmist rhetoric about kids and the internet. I think sometimes she pushes too far in the other direction, but it's nonetheless a helpful counterpoint to much of the discourse that tends to drive these conversations.

Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story by Jacob Tobia: Far from the cis-friendly, cookie-cutter trans narrative, this is a real, messy, humorous recounting of Tobia's experiences starting from childhood grappling with societal expectations for their assigned gender and then eventually the complex journey of discovering their own gender identity. I loved this from start to finish and would highly recommend, especially on audio.

The Ex-Girlfriend of My Ex-Girlfriend Is My Girlfriend: Advice on Queer Dating, Love, and Friendship by Maddy Court: I would not recommend this at all. There are a handful of gems throughout (mainly from the guest contributors), but mostly I was frustrated by the advice provided here. More than once I said out loud, "Did you even read the question?" It was disappointing.

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib: This was good, but I wanted more from it. It was short and felt disjointed; the story of their childhood was interesting, but then we make a sudden pivot to only talking about their queerness, something not really mentioned in the first half of the book, and they elide their journey of self-discovery to get to that point in a way I found odd for a memoir.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Only Plane in the Sky, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, It's Perfectly Normal, and Killfile
Five years ago I was reading: I Shall Be Near to You, The Body Keeps the Score, and Freddie Ramos Takes Off
Ten years ago I was reading: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Borderlands, Cold Sassy Tree, and The Book of Mormon

Ten Book Titles Featuring Ordinal Numbers

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

This week's topic is book titles that have ordinal numbers in them. Here are ten that I've read or are on my to-read list that have ordinal numbers, arranged in numerical order!

1. The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins

2. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

3. Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

4. Third Girl by Agatha Christie

5. Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson

6. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

7. The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

8. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

9. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

10. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

What books have you read with ordinal numbers in the title?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Only Plane in the Sky, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, It's Perfectly Normal, and Killfile
Five years ago I was reading: The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Body Keeps the Score, and James and the Giant Peach
Ten years ago I was reading: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Borderlands, The Rise and Fall of the Bible, and The Book of Mormon

Best of the Bunch (February 2026)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in February.

Of the 7 books I read this month, I had two 5-star reads:

It's OK That You're Not OK by Megan Devine

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

These were both great! It's hard to choose between them, but ultimately the one that I'd like to spread the word about more is my Best of the Bunch for this month.

I could have used It's OK That You're Not OK a while back, but I'm still incredibly grateful for it now. Devine has written a reflection of what grief is actually like, especially "early" grief (which has no timeline), without the rush to try to make the pain better or part of a greater story of meaning or growth. The distinction she made between pain and suffering was incredibly powerful for me — in a nutshell, pain is the actual pain and grief of loss, while suffering is everything that makes living with that pain harder, whether self-judgment, unhelpful comments, or lack of adequate food or sleep. As she says, grief is normal in the face of loss and is not a problem to be solved, and everyone who treats your grief like it's a problem to be solved ends up instead heaping suffering on top of your pain.

There's so much here that's helpful, including a chapter that's specifically for giving to the people who truly want to support you but don't know how, which is why I'm recommending this broadly; everyone will experience loss and grief at some point, but it's even more likely that you already know someone who's gone through a loss even if you haven't, and this book will give you the best possible window into that experience that you could ask for.

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Belly of the Beast, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, It's Perfectly Normal, and The Penderwicks at Last
Five years ago I was reading: Record of a Spaceborn Few, How to Be an Antiracist, and James and the Giant Peach
Ten years ago I was reading: Watchmen, Tell the Wolves I'm Home, and The Book of Mormon

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What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

My project for the year — to read books with covers of a different color each month — has started in earnest, which you'll see reflected above! (January was white, February is gray.) I've read a lot of fantastic books so far this year; here's everything I've read in the past month.

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez: I appreciate what Pérez was attempting to do with this book, and she does it thoroughly: This is an unrelenting collection of the many, many ways that the assumption of the "default male" has caused harm, from the medical field to city planning to the design of uniforms and tools. Unfortunately, I also found a lot to critique about her method of laying out the issues, and the limited scope of her suggestions for fixing them, so I am hesitant to recommend this to anyone.

Ask Me About Polyamory: The Best of Kimchi Cuddles by Tikva Wolf: This was a fairly quick read, a collection of comic strips about polyamory from a webcomic I wasn't previously familiar with. It was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I would hesitate to hand this to someone as a Polyamory 101 (which is what I expected from the title), but I think most of it is great for those who are polyamorous and will understand what's heartfelt and what's a joke, even if a few of the strips didn't land for me.

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin: This got worse as it went on. It suffered from two big issues: being a paint-by-numbers young adult book, complete with tropes and stereotypes, and being an example of someone writing about an identity they don't have and doing a terrible job of it. I've seen this book recommended frequently for the past decade, but I'm hoping by now there are some better options out there with genderfluid main characters.

Blood, Marriage, Wine, & Glitter by S. Bear Bergman: This was a phenomenal essay collection that found me at the right time. Bergman was able to take so many things that exist in my mind and heart and put them into concise, clear language while telling stories from his own life. If you're not queer, trans, or polyamorous, you may not resonate as much with this book — or, at least, it will be a window and not a mirror — but I found the way that Bergman approaches his relationships to be incredibly validating and encouraging.

Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee: I was impressed by Lee's ability to take something so abstract (joy) and tie to concrete elements — color, light, shape, lightness, and so on — that tend to generate this feeling in humans. I wish I'd known going in that Lee is a designer, so when she takes each concept and shows how it can apply in practice, it's largely focused on architecture and interior design, and best suited to those without young kids and with money to burn.

The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having—or Being Denied—an Abortion by Diana Greene Foster: This was my Best of the Bunch in January. The study design is brilliant, the book is very readable, the author didn't cherry-pick her findings, and she was very clear on what she was and was not trying to accomplish. I would highly recommend this book for all adults, but especially those who live in places like the United States where abortion is highly contested and policies are inconsistent across time and place.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman: This was an unintentional pairing with The Turnaway Study. I felt like Shusterman did a tighter job of world-building in this one compared to Scythe, and the plot was propulsive without feeling rushed. I appreciate that Shusterman did not — as far as I can tell — write this with a heavy-handed agenda. Instead, he's poking at all the complex, nuanced elements of the abortion debate through a fresh lens.

It's OK That You're Not OK by Megan Devine: I could have used this book a while back, but I'm still incredibly grateful for it now. Devine has written a reflection of what grief is actually like, especially "early" grief (which has no timeline), without the rush to try to make the pain better or part of a greater story of meaning or growth. There's so much that's helpful here, from practical tips and validation to a chapter that's specifically for giving to the people who truly want to support you but don't know how. I'd recommend this to anyone who's experienced loss and grief, whether recently or long ago.

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson: While this was longer than a short story, it had some of the same qualities that leave me wanting with most short stories. The language is poetic, capturing the experiences of loving and losing, of betrayal, of denial. It was well sketched and felt realistic, but I never got emotionally invested enough for any plot point to pack a punch.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: This was so much better than I expected going in. The plot twists and turns in unexpected ways so that it's not always clear who or what to root for, so unlike a book where there's an inevitable happy ending, it's not clear for good chunks of the book what a happy ending would actually be. The plot had my favorite kind of reveals, the ones you didn't see coming but which make perfect sense in retrospect. Overall, this was excellent and worth the investment of time.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Usborne Fifth Book of Puzzle Adventures, More Than Two, Lessons in Chemistry, and The Penderwicks in Spring
Five years ago I was reading: Do Better, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, and Mr. Popper's Penguins
Ten years ago I was reading: More Happy Than Not, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Girl on the Train, and Song Yet Sung