Misery by Stephen King
I found this terrifying and realistic! I’ve been abused, and manipulated. And I know people like Annie exist in fandom. I also have many medical issues and often need to put my life in Dr’s and nurses hands. This has an evil nurse in it. Normally I avoid such books. I couldn’t stop reading though. It was so engaging while terrifying me senseless. It’s relatable to my own worst realistic fears. I was hooked the entire time. The characters were believable and fleshed out.
The Ghost Next Door by R.L. Stine
Major TW for fire and I was in a house fire in 2012.
This is so well written and plotted. The characters have depth. There’s foreshadowing and emotion. There was so much to it.
I’m disabled (always have been) and there is some talk of disability in it (not a major part) and having been in a house fire, these 2 things make it mean a lot when I say this book gets all the stars from me. I’ve hated books because of how they dealt with disability or characters that were just in a traumatic fire situation. I loved this book!
I think it’s the only Goosebumps book that’s made me sob.
Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin
A thought-provoking and action-packed superhero story! Has mystery, dealt with social issues, wonderful art and characters. This might make me get into superhero’s!
Tastes Like Candy by Ivy Tholen
I loved this slasher! The slow start didn’t bother me, we were getting to know the characters. It was funny at times and nostalgic (and made me feel old relating to the mom about growing up in the 90s lol). The deaths were creative and heart-wrenching because I cared about the characters. I did not guess the killer! The book punched me in the feels and made me cry. It’s a slasher with depth. This is why I love horror.
When Aidan Became A Brother by Kyle Lukoff
A wonderful children’s book about a trans boy who gets a little sibling! It is own voices. It celebrates a child who understands their gender identity isn’t the one they were assigned at birth. Aidan picked his new name, clothes, changed his bedroom into one that felt right. Aidan’s mother got pregnant and he loved helping pick clothes for the baby, paint the nursery, and helped with the baby’s name. People asked Aidan if he wanted a brother or sister. He didn’t have an answer. He’s just worried about being a good big brother. His mother explains no matter who the new baby turns out to be, they would be lucky to have Aidan as a brother. It’s so sweet!
Transmuted by Eve Harms
As a deformed trans person myself this hit so many feels! The feelings of dysphoria, of being fetishized, of being looked at like a freak, of feeling like a freak. The way people treat you. I loved Isa. It’s one of those books I wanna gush about but am at a loss for words. A transgender body horror story. Highly recommend!
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
Based on a true story. Neighborhood kids, and her aunt, hold a teenage girl captive and brutally torture her. It’s a very hard read. Not for the writing, but the content. It shows just how we’re all capable of such evil. How decent people can be capable of evil deeds, and sometimes that includes doing nothing. How adults don’t listen to children. This book will have you sobbing.
Growing Up Trans: In Our Own Words edited by Lindsay Herriot and Kate Fry
This book is so very much needed! Trans youth in their OWN words! Tips, book recommendations for further reading … I highly recommend this. I don’t know what else to say other than please read it.
Golem girl by Riva Lehrer
An autobiography. Born in 1958 with spina bifida she wasn’t expected to survive. Her parents and doctors are determined to “fix” her, sending the message over and over again that she is broken. Telling her she’ll never have a job, a romantic relationship or an independent life. She tried her best to be a good girl and a good patient in the quest to be cured.
Then everything changes when as an adult she is invited to join a group of artists, writers and performers who are building disability culture. Their work is daring, edgy, funny, and dark—it rejects tropes that define disabled people as pathetic, frightening, or worthless. They insist that disability is an opportunity for creativity and resistance. Emboldened, Riva asks if she can paint their portraits—inventing an intimate and collaborative process that will transform the way she sees herself, others, and the world. Each portrait story begins to transform the myths she’s been told her whole life about her body, her sexuality, and other measures of normal.
She is also Jewish and queer. This is an amazing autobiography and I listened to it, she narrates it. I loved listening to it and I listened to it via Libby and HAD to buy myself a physica copy. I know I don’t pick up everything as well via audio so I want to read it. And then listen to it again.
This is one of those books I wish everyone would read! I loved listening to her and learning her story. I need more memoirs like this, by disabled people.
The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz
It takes place in retro-futuristic America. Clara is an AI repair tech and a wanderer. Sal is a fully autonomous robot. Older than the law declaring her kind illegal due to ethical concerns. At best, she’s out of place, at worst, she’s vilified. She continues to run a tea shop previously owned by her long-dead master, lost in memories of the past, struggling to fulfill her master’s dream for the shop as she slowly breaks down.
They meet by chance, but as they begin to spend time together, they both start to wrestle with the concept of moving on…
A F/F retro-future sci-fi asexual romance. A story about artificial intelligence and real kindness and about love. Also the HUMAN is the asexual one, not the robot.
It was such a sweet romance! I wanted to hug Sal so badly. I was crying at the end. If you want a sweet f/f asexual romance, pick it up!
Literary Stoner 