this post brought to you by my second-nearest library, only a 4-mile walk away (which i've done literally hundreds of times round trip now), which has a good comics and audiobook library
i definitely forgot a ton of smaller ones i read
no content warnings listed because most of them have a lot
My Favorites
Locked Tomb series
by Tamsyn Muir
Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth, plus one more yet unpublished book
irreparably altered my brain chemistry. gay and fucked up, surprising depth for how goofy it can be, i'm obsessed.
has one of my favorite narratorial voices ever. constantly experiments with genre and style. fantastic audiobook performance.
cons: written by a homestuck fan (derogatory), so it's full of memes (derogatory).
Everything else by Tamsyn Muir
Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower
"what if a fairy tale was dark and twisted 🤪" but actually fun and engaging. fantasy book about a captured princess who finds herself far out of her depth and the reluctant fairy chemist she meets along the way.
Undercover
a lot of what i said about the Locked Tomb series applies, but this time it's a short standalone sci-fi mafia story. less room for experimentation but i enjoyed it.
Singing Hills Cycle
by Nghi Vo
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, When the Tiger Came Down From the Mountain, Into the Riverlands, Mammoths at the Gates, The Brides of High Hill. Ongoing.
centers around a cleric recording stories they hear, which take up a bulk of the books. the stories involve myth and fantasy but have an arresting immediacy and intimacy.
main character's extremely endearing despite not being the focus. they and others outside the framing device are mostly (but not universally) well-developed, even setting aside how they're characterized through their storytelling.
also it's queer in basically every way possible, since so many stories are told by so many people. overall feels very loving and willing to discuss the full breadth of the human experience.
Spear
by Nicola Griffith
"what if Percival from Arthurian legend was a 1000% feral lesbian who narrated like Shivers from Disco Elysium?" wow, excellent question, bestie. turns out it fucks, hard. please read this one.
cons: audiobook narrator is tragically british.
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
by Kate Beaton
a memoir of the author's time working in the Albertan oil sands, about what capitalism quietly steals from communities, individuals, the environment.
one of my favorite books of all time now. complex and sharply rendered. in all sincerity, should be taught in high school literature classes.
Fun House
by Allison Bechdel
nothing to say that other people haven't. i don't like the concept of "essential reads" but this would be one.
side note: i bought Dykes to Watch Out For at a chicago bookstore and the girl at the counter got so excited when she saw what i was buying........... cute..........................
Crawl Space
by Jesse Jacobs
funny little book, very colorful, i really liked it
Honorable Mentions
Priory of the Orange Tree
by Samantha Shannon
liked the protagonists, there were lesbians, some of the setting was neat, but it's nothing groundbreaking.
Neutral Mentions
When I Arrived at the Castle
by Emily Carroll
i like Emily Carroll's work but this one wasn't didn't draw me in.
The Mimicking of Known Successes
by Malka Older
"What if Holmes and Watson were lesbian exes in space?" turns out it doesn't make much of an impression.
the setting's interesting, Jupiter framed with a network of intersecting artificial rings / train lines, plus the last of the dead Earth's flora and fauna, and a project to reintroduce life to earth.
the main duo's dynamics work, I liked them well enough. the mystery's got one neat twist. it's not why you'd read this. it takes swings at themes and messages, but muddles them.
The Water Outlaws
by S.L. Huang
pulpy fantasy / martial arts / exploitation / revenge retelling of Water Margain. lots of magic and gore. every featured review has the words "feminist," "queer," or "eat the rich," which are true enough but might give you the wrong impression of the content.
fairly large chunks of narrative and prose and dialog fell flat for me, but i still found myself attached to the main characters.
The Jasmine Throne
by Tasha Suri
i keep trying to read The Jasmine Throne and keep bouncing off. seems cool, been described to me as a queer indian take on the fantasy genre, but it introduces so many pov characters you barely get to know, plus it's relatively dry and slow.
Dishonorarble Mentions
Earthsea Series
by Ursula Le Guin
an interesting and vivid story, drenched in sexism. even in the books that center women, they have no agency. read 3.5 books before i had to tap out. i know her later works are different. no clue when the change happens.
Ringworld
by Larry Niven
read ringworld without encountering outdated racial language challenge: failed after 1 page