Ruthelizabethreads

A copy of In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado lies on a duvet with sea plants all over.

TBR challenge update
Books left to read: 18
Days left in 2025: 91
Confidence I will finish: 5/10

Starting this today, have heard so many good things.

#diversebooksky #booksky

The cover of Son of the Morning: A Novel by Akwaeke Emezi

Just got an email to let me know that I have early access to read and review Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi.

This is my most anticipated book release for the rest of 2025 and feel so lucky!

#diversebooks #booksky

A photo of a page from a book. It reads: 2023 (January - October) snapped back at me. 'Who will pay for the twenty years we have lost?' An awkward silence fell between us. 'Who are we without a past or history?' I asked myself. Yousef, who was studying to be a psychoanalyst, was the first WANN writer to be killed in the genocide by Israel, on 14 October 2023. He was killed by an Israeli missile strike on his family's home in the northern town of Beit Lahia

There is something uniquely sobering about reading a collection of writing by young Gazan authors and hoping at the end of each story that their update will tell you that they survived to the book being published.

Yousef Maher Dawas didn't.

This is from We Are Not Numbers, a book I recommend.

The cover of We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza's Youth, edited by Ahmed Alnaouq and Pam Bailey

"Actual death is when you don't stand up for what is right"

From a degree in surviving assaults by Basman Derawi in We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza's Youth

#booksky #diversebooks

The cover of Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Brown. It shows a young Black woman in profile above a collage of skyscrapers and brightly coloured palm leaves.

Has anyone read Patsy? Starting it today with a blank slate of opinions and looking forward to it.

TBR challenge update
Books on TBR: 25
Days left in 2025: 117
Confidence I will finish it: 8/10

#diversebooks #booksky

A golden retriever is curled up asleep on a mustard and white duvet.

Found this little croissant on my bed.

A copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith sits on a wooden sideboard. The cover shows a painting of an elegant child with regency era clothes on sitting in a chair. Her eyes are red and there is red liquid dripping from her mouth and hands.

Trying to read my entire physical TBR by the end of 2025
Books remaining: 26
Days remaining: 119
Confidence I will do it: 6/10

This might be the most fun book I've read this year. I love dark comedy and I love Pride & Prejudice.

Wee username update and name reveal for anyone who I communicate with regularly!

I want to work towards writing about disability one day and this is the first baby step.

A slightly clumsily sculpted low clay pot painted in a plaster colour with sunflowers up the sides is sat on a wooden bookcase. It is filled with bookmarks, the ones visible at the front is a landscape art work, a red bookmark which reads "books gift magic: and a postcard of a Knight in armour with a huge progress pride flag behind them.

I made a little bookmark holder to sit on my TBR shelf. It is very wobbly but I am rather fond of it.

#booksky

Another update to the map - Four months later and protests are still happening 🏳️‍⚧️

(Green markers for completed demos, red for upcoming)

www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/e...

141 protests and events and counting!

Keep following and supporting @whatthetrans.com for updates

Thank you!!

A photo of A Feminist History of Violence by Françoise Vergès

Trying to read my entire physical TBR by the end of 2025
Current total: 27
Days left in year: 126
Confidence I will finish: 7/10

I have re-picked up this book to round out women in translation month - an intersectional book which packs a lot into a short number of pages.

#booksky #diversebooksky

I have a letter in this book. Pre-order your copy of this book because of the letters written by everyone else.

The cover of Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

The first 150 pages were slow paced, with learning Chinese history fascinating enough to keep me going.

I cried for at least 85 of the last 150 pages, the gentle building was clearly meant to destroy me later.

#booksky #diversebooksky

Feeling super impulsive and noticing it is in a cycle.

Of course it's ADHD, apparently traits can get much stronger depending on hormone levels.

Do I even have a personality, or is it just a jigsaw puzzle of my disabilities? 🤣

The cover of The Moon Glow Bookshop by Dongwom Seo, translated by Shanna Tan

If anyone else has read this, please let me know! I've not been this lost since I studied philosophy in uni 😭

I fear I am the problem, time travel notoriously confuses me.

(I am reading an e-arc to review)

#booksky

The cover for Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

I'm trying to read my whole physical TBR by the end of 2025.
Current total: 28
Days left in year: 130
Confidence that I will complete it: 6/10
Just starting Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien (please lemme know your thoughts, I've heard nothing about it)

I topped up the oil in my car today! There was about 8 steps leading up to it and my ADHD made it really interesting to get the motivation for all of them, but now I feel like a strong independent woman.

The first book Longlist for the Polari prize with books by Curtis Garner Jason Okundaye Sacha Coward Sanah Ahsan Amy Twigg Mae Diansangu Eleanor Medhurst Hanako Footman Ciara Maguire June Thomas Crossed out to show they've withdrawn

The Polari prize Longlist with books by Olumide Popoola Robert Hamberger Dean Atta Andrew McMillan Rhian Elizabeth Jane Traies Crossed out to show they've withdrawn, and books by Karen McLeod and Avi ben-zeev circled to show they've made statements confirming they'll stay on.

Update: 16 of 24 authors and 2 judges have now withdrawn.

First Book:
Curtis Garner
Jason Okundaye
Sacha Coward
Sanah Ahsan
Amy Twigg
Mae Diansangu
Eleanor Medhurst
Hanako Footman
Ciara Maguire
June Thomas

Main:
Olumide Popoola
Robert Hamberger
Dean Atta
Andrew McMillan
Rhian Elizabeth
Jane Traies

The cover of Overspill by Charlotte Paradise.

Disability Pride book recommendations day 3:

My favourite book of the year so far, featuring PTSD. The writing is beautiful and careful and it's a story of rediscovering yourself in the safety of strong friendships.

#booksky #disabledbooksky

Government Avoids Welfare Reform Bill Defeat After Last Minute PIP

News is swirling around about the chaotic concessions and bill push-through yesterday.

But what are the actual changes and how will they impact you?

Our Welfare Policy Officer, Ken Butler takes you through it all in this piece👇
www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/governm...

A photo of the cover of Terms and Conditions by Lauren Asher. The cover also reads, "dreamland billionaires"

Book recommendations for Disability Pride month day 2:

This is one from a pretty popular billionaire romance series, but it also has dyslexia rep! I enjoyed the specific details around accessibility woven into the story.

#romancebooksky #disabledbooksky #diversebooks

The cover of Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement by Ashley Shew

Book recommendations for Disability Pride month day 1:

This book manages to be a great introduction if you are new to disability activism and also have some fantastic content I haven't read elsewhere.

#booksky #disabledbooksky #diversebooks

The cover of Talk Data to Me by Rose McGee. A white man and woman face each other, their hands almost touching. The desk in front of them is covered in mathematical notes, models of planets and things you would expect to see in an academic setting.

Talk Data to Me is a very geeky new enemies to lovers romance.

Honestly, it was a little too long and too physics heavy for my taste. But it was fun nonetheless, and I would read more by Rose McGee in the future.

I received an e-arc to review.

#booksky #romancebooksky

A photo of a large, wooden bookshelf. It looks a little like a fireplace with carved lines and angles throughout. It only has two shelves, but is about three foot tall and a little wider than it is tall. It looks old and bespoke for where it was first built for.

Managed to get this absolute bargain of a bookcase at the weekend for £25!

Is it practical? Not particularly, but it's secondhand and oh so pretty!

#booksky

Ooh exciting! Love Hypothesis is one of the only other Ally Hazelwood books I've read, so that's ideal!

Was it good? I've enjoyed other Ali Hazelwood, apart from maybe Bride which was not as strong for me

A photo of a large stack of 15 books on a sideboard. The books are: Pigeonholed by Gary Younge Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K Le Guin The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T.Qureshi Persuasion by Jane Austen Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 'Til Death by Busayo Mutaluko Loveless by Alice Oseman (the graphic novel) Deep End by Ali Hazelwood In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke We are not Numbers by Ahmed Alnaouq and Pam Bailey The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis Ordinary Saints by Naimh Ní Mhaoileoin

So I was doing a challenge to finish all the books I own by the end of the year. Pretty sure this haul wiped out that goal.

Any ideas of which I should read first? (Full list in alt text)

#booksky #diversebooks

If anyone has 15 minutes to complain about transphobia to the BBC today, please do! I have filed my report:

www.bbc.co.uk/contact/comp...

I have officially caught up with all my Net Galley book reviews.

The temptation to request a bunch more is looming over my evening.