For Audiobooks I read The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green on my commute to Indianapolis, Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates, Anderson in Bloom by Jennifer Dugan, Masha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by @tourmaliiine, and Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H 📚
I chose Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H to fulfill the “book recommended by a friend/bookseller/librarian” category of the Trans Rights Readathon. It is the second book I have read for the 2026 Trans Rights Readathon. I’ve been saving the memoir for this purpose since hearing about it in a video by Alex on Pucks and Paperbacks.
I love memoirs so this one was an easy sell to me. I appreciated how the memoir weaves between childhood and adulthood and between the memoirist life and the life of figures in the Quran. As with most memoirs I read I chose to listen to the audiobook of Hijab Butch Blues. It is a well preformed audiobook and was legible at the various speeds I listened to it at (1x to 1.5x).
The memoirist ventures into queerness are tender and vulnerable. The various family of birth and found family members round out a cast of dynamic personalities. To meet my goal for the March period of the readathon I need to finish one more book.
Thanks to Alex for an excellent recommendation! Happy reading everyone!
Kind: A Romance Where Nothing Bad Happens by Hannah Leigh promises that “nothing bad happens.” It delivers. That is not to say there are not stakes in the novel. Both main characters undergo tremendous character growth and face difficult, complicated choices that they help each other navigate.
The main characters, Drew and Ellis, aren’t quite opposites but do approach life in very different ways. I appreciated the ways they complimented each other and encourage each other’s growth. The book is often humorous and spicy. Recommended for a cozy day’s read.
My first read in the Trans Rights Readathon is Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline. It fulfilled the category of “a book by or featuring trans elders, or a trans history book.” I highly recommend the audiobook which you can find at the Queer Liberation Library or another library near you! Remember you can read books by and about trans folks year around 🏳️⚧️💖🏳️🌈
When given the opportunity to check out the audiobook for Jennifer Dugan’s Anderson in Bloom, I jumped on the chance. I have previously written about my take on the book itself here, so I will focus on the production, quality, and my enjoyment of the audiobook in this review.
I found the narrator did an excellent job conveying the emotions and nuances of each character. The audio quality is great and good at various different speeds (I tried 1x, 1.25x, and 1.5x). I found my enjoyment of the book increased with this relisten to the book. I recommend this book in print, audio, or ereader format for lovers of Sapphic romance, celebrity memoirs, and second-chance romances.
The trans rights readathon is coming up from March 17-31, though the reading challenge on Storygraph goes through the end of the year. Below is what I’m hoping to read by the end of the year. My goal is to read three of the picks by the end of the readathon itself.
Official StoryGraph Challenge Prompts
1. Transmasc and Trans Man Representation: An author and/or main character who identifies as a trans man or on the masculine side of the trans experience, which can include people who view their gender along the expansive nonbinary spectrum.
Extra Challenge: This year, we encourage readers to read a transmasc book by a BIPOC author.]
Harry’s Pick:Most Ardently by Gabe Cle Novoa. This one has been on my tbr since it came out. While my physical copy is currently with a friend, I found the audiobook at my library.
2. Transfemme and Trans Woman Representation: An author and/or main character who identifies as a trans woman or on the feminine side of the trans experience, which can include people who view their gender along the expansive nonbinary spectrum.
Extra Challenge: This year, we encourage readers to read a transfemme book with multiple trans characters for this prompt.
Harry’s Pick:Woodworking by Emily St. James was one of my five star reads last year and I decided to make it a reread for the readathon though I’ll be trying it in audiobook format this time around.
3. Nonbinary, Agender, Genderqueer, and Other Gender Expansive Representation: A work by an author and/or featuring a main character who exists outside of the gender binary. This includes nonbinary, agender, genderqueer, genderfluid, and other gender expansive identities. For some people, this may mean identifying as both masculine and feminine; for others, it means being neither masculine nor feminine; and in some cases, this means identifying as a midpoint (or multiple shifting midpoints) between masc and femme.
Extra Challenge: This year, we encourage readers to read a gender expansive rep book with diverse body representation for this prompt.
Harry’s Pick: How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva just came out in 2026 and I have an advanced reader copy that’s burning a hole in my ereader. I’m hoping I enjoy it and can get a physical copy from my local romance bookstore HEA Book Boutique who had it on display last I checked.
4. Intersectional Trans+ Representation Outside Your Own Experience: A work by an author and/or featuring a main character who falls under the greater trans umbrella, including trans men, trans women, nonbinary, and other gender expansive identities, and who ALSO holds another intersectional identity, such having a different racial or cultural background than your own, or a disability you have not personally experienced.
5. 2Spirit, Indiqueer, and Indigenous Gender Expansive Representation: A work by an author and/or featuring a main character who holds a gender identity or cultural role outside of the gender binary, and which exists outside of Western definitions of transness and/or queerness. Please note that these identities and terms are specific to the culture in which they originate. Examples include two-spirit identities in Native and First Nations cultures, hijra in South Asia, waria in Indonesia, and other indigenous identities that predate Western colonization. For this prompt, we do not require the author or character to self-identify as trans, but we DO require that the author be writing from their own cultural experience (in other words, no white authors telling 2S stories, etc.). Please be mindful of the language you use for each of these books as these identities and concepts do not always map one-to-one with Western LGBTQIA+ labels, and existed long before Westernized ideas of gender and sexuality.
Harry’s Pick:Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. Ever since finishing The Death of Vivek Oji (also by Emezi) I have been wanting to read another book by the author. I love the cover and it’s what grabbed me over other options by the author.
6. Trans Joy, Love, and/or Resistance: The annual International Trans Day of Visibility is a day to celebrate trans joy, love, and resistance. Please use this prompt to read a work celebrating trans life.
7. Trans Youth and/or Imagining Trans Futures: A work featuring Trans youth or imagining trans futures. This can be speculative fiction or sci-fi, a Young Adult/Middle Grade/Children’s book, or any work celebrating trans youth and/or the building of a better world for trans people.
Harry’s Pick:Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H is yet another book I intend to take in in audiobook format. I started it once but ran out of minutes before I finished listening so am going to start again.
I hope you consider joining the readathon! Happy reading!
As a trans man a lot of typical men-only or man-centric spaces in person are pretty limited for me. I don’t pass particularly well these days – not that passing needs to be a goal. But this means I am not subject to that sort of “locker room talk” that is associated with the men only spaces that are taking a spotlight right now with the actions (or inaction) of a certain medal-winning-podium-standing men’s sports team. I tend to avoid men-only online spaces that aren’t specifically for trans men.
All this is too say that the rhetoric in this books was not that I am often exposed to. Though having worked with teenage boys in the past it is sadly not unfamiliar. This book was read for my day job at the recommendation of a colleague. I found it difficult to stomach at times but an important read. It was well-written and compelling. Worth the time and the emotional and mental labor if you are feeling up to it.
Full disclosure: I almost didn’t post this review as I am nervous about the kind of negative attention it could garner from certain corners of the internet. But fuck it.
When I was in undergrad I did a year long assistantship where I help work on a database of graphic novels about history. The librarians attached gave me pretty free reign on what I read and catalogued, but they called dibs on the March books and Mouse, which meant I read a lot of cool comics on the Labor Movement, World War II, and various feminist waves. Someday I’ll do a list of my favorites.
This is all a roundabout way of saying I’ve been waiting to read March. I thought I was way behind, but it’s never too late to read this excellent, groundbreaking series of books. Especially if you’re lucky enough to find them at your local library like I did. Thank goodness for libraries.
While I knew some details and the general story of the various protests of the Civil Rights Movement and, I knew very little about John Lewis’s life or the specific history of SNCC. This series gave me a lot to think and reflect on especially in these ever unprecedented times. On a stylistic note I found that the art style was striking and effective with just enough detail to give the reader the scope and context of the images without being overwhelming. I enjoyed the way the lettering would blur or twist when the characters couldn’t hear what was going on or stopped paying attention.
Overall, I highly recommend this series and recommend reading it in print if you can though I check out a preview of the comiXology version and found it well-formatted.
A fun, quick read! This book came recommended in a video by Alex from Pucks and Paperbacks about different hockey books. I read it as part of a readathon where one of the bingo squares was reading a book under 200 pages. This books comes in way under and is a delight to read.
The book primarily takes place in DC and I appreciate a book where the city becomes a focal point to the extent it is almost a character itself. I’ve never been to DC (my only east coast visit was to Boston back in the 2010s for Nerdcon) and I felt like I got to peak at both the local and tourist sides of the city. The youth center scene was my favorite hands down and reminded me fondly of my own time working at a youth center with a large LGBT+ population.
Overall, I recommend this book if you need a quick read that is a feel-good romance with discussions of hockey, community, and SPICE.
Hedgehog Harry 