Reader? I Hardly Know Her!

Teo | He/They I guess this is a reading side blog?? Or idk maybe just a place to put opinions that I don’t want anyone to see lmao

[fish1bites]

So I’ve not really been reading or doing anything creative really. I went back to uni this February after a year away - started a new degree - and it’s really been kicking my butt. I forgot how much school sucks 😭

But ive just remembered I have this side blog!! So maybe I’ll get back on it a bit

[fish1bites]

Playlist #2 - ‘Walking in the Sun ☀️’

A playlist of songs that feel the way sunlight at 8am feels.

Open Qobuz

[fish1bites]

Playlist #1 - ‘Not Here Ta Fuck Spiders’

Made for a friend of mine <3 Aussie accents only; punk, rock, alt pop, or whatever else

Open Qobuz

[fish1bites]

Ok so I’ve been making playlists on this new music streaming platform, but none of my friends have the app yet so I can’t share them 😭 so imma post them here, maybe someone will find em

[my-2nd-account]

Another thing to be grateful for in the Heated Rivalry show is that Shane and Ilya are the same height (Hudson is even a little taller than Connor) because the book was constantly shoving it in your face that Shane was so short compared to Ilya and his skin was so smooth and hairless compared to Ilya and he was just so smol next to Ilya and it pissed me off. They even changed "I cannot stop thinking about this short fucking hockey player" to "I'm always thinking about this slow fucking hockey player" so #thank you Jacob Tierney

[fish1bites]

Reading log 2026

To be reblogged every-time I read something new this year

[fish1bites]

Book 1: Absolute Martian Manhunter vol.1

started 03/01/2026, finished 05/01/2026

Oh my god what an incredible graphic novel. I loved the every page of this thing, the art was gorgeous and used so evocatively as part of the story. I've been keeping up with Absolute WW for the past few months and thought I'd read something else while waiting for the new issue and I'm so glad I did. Genuinely intrigued by the story and the way Darkseide's influence is wrapping around the world so uniquely in this one, feels very different from the other absolutes I've read so far (in the obvious ways but also) in tone and scope. I can't wait to see what happens next, but will probably hold off till volume 2. These really are comics I wanna have hard copies of, they're so stunning.

[fish1bites]

Book 2: Absolute Batman vol.1

started 08/01/2026, finished 09/01/2026

I will say, this shit goes hard. Very bad ass comic. I often found myself just staring at the page and how fucking sick it was.

I find the writing,,, slightly less to my taste than i do with Absolute WW & Absolute MM. The writing itself is making some clear political commentaries, but then seems to make clashing choices at almost every opportunity?? Unfortunately in a way that feels less self aware, and more clumsy. That's fine, I'm not expecting accurate political praxis from a comic that somehow inexplicably has twileks.

For a comic that's so dark in tone and themes, I find that the humour is baked-in to the art. Its almost unavoidable, what with Brick!Bat being the way that he is. Even in the tensest moments, the sudden absurdities (like the Bat Mack Truck, or Bruce's hairy chest poking thru his suit when he uses the Bat Axe, or the way bruce is invincible to a comedic degree) give you something to hang on to without taking away from the intensity. I find that, the absurd aspect of it is almost the most realistic aspect of the story - you notice the craziest tangential things when the world is falling down.

Not sure I'll buy the next volume, but I'm hoping to catch up with it before I read AWW 15.

[fish1bites]

Book 3: Absolute Green Lantern vol.1

started 12/01/2026, finished 12/01/2026

I really enjoyed this one!! I've been waiting for my local comic shop to get it in stock, and it did not let me down!!

I was not aware of Jo Mullein's character before reading this, but I'm really loving her. She feels like the perfect personality for this story. I also really like how so many GLs are randomly living in this town in the absolute-verse?? And that Hal is just randomly like,,, very pathetic??? Very silly

I truly love the character designs, they strike me as very grounded but purposeful, and I especially love Jo's design (the hair in particular is just mwah). The timeline of this story also sticks out a lot to me, the whole story taking place over 48hrs? maybe less? in comparison to say Absolute Batman or Martian Manhunter where you can feel the spread of time.

This comic genuinely got me so interested in GL, which I was not expecting??? I'm so pulled in be the allusions to lore that I do not know. They talk a lot abt "understanding" in this story - as a watsonian term for knowing the GL lore essentialy - and truly I wish I understood. Defs looking into GL comics after I finish my current read (the comic shop had Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow on the counter for upselling purposes and it sniped me fr)

[fish1bites]

Book 4: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

Started 13/01/2026, finished 15/01/2026

Ladies and gentlemen, Her 💕

Holy shit what a story!! I’m so deeply deeply in love with this book. I read it as the compact and I would highly recommend that format. This story had me crying in public more than once. Bilquis Evely is such an incredible artist, and the colour by Matheus Lopes took it from interesting to breathtaking, some of these pages were so gorgeous I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I’m aware there’s a lot of controversy around Tom King, and tbh I think a dude who unapologetically brags about being in the Iraq war and the CIA is objectively a piece of shit and I won’t be reading anything else he’s written. However, I only learned abt this after the fact so it really did not inform my experience of the writing. The writing in this specific case unfortunately being utterly incredible. I loved this story from start to end, and it genuinely provided a catharsis I needed to process a lot of feelings about the political and human state of the world.

I’m super excited for the Supergirl movie in 2026 to see how they adapt it, and I’m interested in how they’re gonna fit Lobo in there??? It’ll be interesting to see what aspects of this book they’ll focus on, especially considering how upset ppl got over Jarhanpur in the Superman movie 😬

[fish1bites]

Book 5: Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Started 12/02/2026, finished 15/02/2026

I am not immune to gay men kissing.

I binge watched the show a couple weeks ago and am now deeply deeply obsessed. Reading the book, I was shocked by how closely the show adapted it’s source material, so much of the dialogue was kept almost exactly the same and things only deviated further into the book or surrounding a particular character.

Somehow, despite knowing every plot point because I had already watched the show, I was still super invested and giggly throughout the whole read. To be honest, I think the show has significantly better writing/direction and the casting choices feel like a distinct upgrade from the book-descriptions. The book feels so so clearly written by an ao3 writer that at times I struggled to keep track of what was actually from the book and what I had read in fanfic.

Still I had a great time reading it, and I’m so glad it exists so that the show can as well! I’m planning on reading the rest of the series after this.

Also!! Watching the show made me desperate to watch an actual live hockey match, so here’s some pics of my friends and I watching our local women’s team absolutely destroy today (6-2, because we’re winners baby!! Go Lightning!!)

[majorasfemme]

in honor of black history month 2025, i’ve put together a list of books written by black sapphic authors for you to read in the month of february

non-fiction essays/memoirs:

all about love: new visions by bell hooks

black lesbian in white america by anita cornwell

sister outsider: essays and speeches by audre lorde

mouths of rain: an anthology of black lesbian thought by briona simone jones

blues legacies and black feminism by angela davis

does your mama know?: an anthology of black lesbian coming out stories by lisa c. moore

fiction:

the color purple by alice walker

loving her by ann allen shockley

the gilda stories by jewelle gomez

in another place, not here by dionne brand

pomegranate by helen elaine lee

the summer we got free by mia mckenzie

these letters end in tears by musih tedji xaviere

dead in long beach, california by venita blackburn

girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo

young adult:

escaping mr. rochester by l.l. mckinney

this ravenous fate by hayley dennings

faebound by saraa el-arifa

so let them burn by kamilah cole

where sleeping girls lie by faridah àbíké-íyímídé

adult:

honey girl by morgan rogers

the deep by rivers solomon

sweet vengeance by viano oniomoh

come back (love concealed) by terri ronald

house of hunger by alexis henderson

short stories:

the secret lives of church ladies by deesha philyaw

additional info:

-> “why wasn’t this book listed?” probably because it wasn’t black sapphic-centric, the author isn’t a black sapphic themself, or i just simply haven’t heard of it! so feel free to add on if it meets those two criteria

many of these books require trigger warnings, especially some of the older ones that are more likely to feature racial struggles of the time. please do your due diligence and search for tws if you want to read them!

please feel free to add onto this list in the rbs or comments! happy black history month

[izunias-meme-hole]

The Absolute Universe In a Nutshell

Absolute Wonder Woman: A Good Soul who was raised in hell and is living her best life

Absolute Flash: Fast Kid on the run from the government

Absolute Martian Manhunter: FBI Agent and his alien buddy combat the Darkseid of humanity

Absolute Green Lantern: Epic Divorce Woman gets pulled into an eldritch horror story

Absolute Superman: Illegal Alien is living his worst life while fighting a corporation

Absolute Batman:

[fish1bites]

Reading log 2026

To be reblogged every-time I read something new this year

[fish1bites]

Book 1: Absolute Martian Manhunter vol.1

started 03/01/2026, finished 05/01/2026

Oh my god what an incredible graphic novel. I loved the every page of this thing, the art was gorgeous and used so evocatively as part of the story. I've been keeping up with Absolute WW for the past few months and thought I'd read something else while waiting for the new issue and I'm so glad I did. Genuinely intrigued by the story and the way Darkseide's influence is wrapping around the world so uniquely in this one, feels very different from the other absolutes I've read so far (in the obvious ways but also) in tone and scope. I can't wait to see what happens next, but will probably hold off till volume 2. These really are comics I wanna have hard copies of, they're so stunning.

[fish1bites]

Book 2: Absolute Batman vol.1

started 08/01/2026, finished 09/01/2026

I will say, this shit goes hard. Very bad ass comic. I often found myself just staring at the page and how fucking sick it was.

I find the writing,,, slightly less to my taste than i do with Absolute WW & Absolute MM. The writing itself is making some clear political commentaries, but then seems to make clashing choices at almost every opportunity?? Unfortunately in a way that feels less self aware, and more clumsy. That's fine, I'm not expecting accurate political praxis from a comic that somehow inexplicably has twileks.

For a comic that's so dark in tone and themes, I find that the humour is baked-in to the art. Its almost unavoidable, what with Brick!Bat being the way that he is. Even in the tensest moments, the sudden absurdities (like the Bat Mack Truck, or Bruce's hairy chest poking thru his suit when he uses the Bat Axe, or the way bruce is invincible to a comedic degree) give you something to hang on to without taking away from the intensity. I find that, the absurd aspect of it is almost the most realistic aspect of the story - you notice the craziest tangential things when the world is falling down.

Not sure I'll buy the next volume, but I'm hoping to catch up with it before I read AWW 15.

[fish1bites]

Book 3: Absolute Green Lantern vol.1

started 12/01/2026, finished 12/01/2026

I really enjoyed this one!! I've been waiting for my local comic shop to get it in stock, and it did not let me down!!

I was not aware of Jo Mullein's character before reading this, but I'm really loving her. She feels like the perfect personality for this story. I also really like how so many GLs are randomly living in this town in the absolute-verse?? And that Hal is just randomly like,,, very pathetic??? Very silly

I truly love the character designs, they strike me as very grounded but purposeful, and I especially love Jo's design (the hair in particular is just mwah). The timeline of this story also sticks out a lot to me, the whole story taking place over 48hrs? maybe less? in comparison to say Absolute Batman or Martian Manhunter where you can feel the spread of time.

This comic genuinely got me so interested in GL, which I was not expecting??? I'm so pulled in be the allusions to lore that I do not know. They talk a lot abt "understanding" in this story - as a watsonian term for knowing the GL lore essentialy - and truly I wish I understood. Defs looking into GL comics after I finish my current read (the comic shop had Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow on the counter for upselling purposes and it sniped me fr)

[fish1bites]

Book 4: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

Started 13/01/2026, finished 15/01/2026

Ladies and gentlemen, Her 💕

Holy shit what a story!! I’m so deeply deeply in love with this book. I read it as the compact and I would highly recommend that format. This story had me crying in public more than once. Bilquis Evely is such an incredible artist, and the colour by Matheus Lopes took it from interesting to breathtaking, some of these pages were so gorgeous I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I’m aware there’s a lot of controversy around Tom King, and tbh I think a dude who unapologetically brags about being in the Iraq war and the CIA is objectively a piece of shit and I won’t be reading anything else he’s written. However, I only learned abt this after the fact so it really did not inform my experience of the writing. The writing in this specific case unfortunately being utterly incredible. I loved this story from start to end, and it genuinely provided a catharsis I needed to process a lot of feelings about the political and human state of the world.

I’m super excited for the Supergirl movie in 2026 to see how they adapt it, and I’m interested in how they’re gonna fit Lobo in there??? It’ll be interesting to see what aspects of this book they’ll focus on, especially considering how upset ppl got over Jarhanpur in the Superman movie 😬

[i-will-write]

[neuehell]

I told myself that if I ever need anything to paint I should pick the first photo I see on my dash and paint it and this was the first one so I committed.

[muppetshow2026]

you can hate whatever muppet you want but if you hate slimey the worm im legally allowed to kill you

[flip-this-table]

He’s just like, a lil guy…how can you not like him

[victorieschild]

The more I work in retail, the more it becomes clear to me that I’m the glove by which corporate keeps its hands clean. Management makes decisions, which I then must enforce among my customers (my customers being predominantly elderly or homeless).

Management decides we’re not making enough money, and I must enforce a mark up (lie to people’s faces and pretend something isn’t $20 more expensive, at no extra cost to us - call it a ✨deal✨ when we “discount” it down to more than the original price), and then guard their capital against those who can no longer afford it (aka guard products from being shoplifted by people who obviously genuinely need it). Management decides we don’t have enough brand loyalty, so I’m the one who has to con customers into joining a predatory loyalty program.

And at first, I hate it when customers get mad at me when I enforce these things. “It’s not my fault our bags we used to sell for 20¢ are now $3!! Management decides these things not me!!” But after 2 years working here, I’m realising: I’m the person pushing the button, aren’t I? I’m the person charging them, upselling them, spending my effort and time fulfilling store policies I disagree with. I’m the person who has to exploit these people, on behalf of a regional manager who sits in an office and looks at numbers and makes my store manager sit in a 2hr zoom meeting about how we’re not reaching KPIs (forgetting or not realising or fully disconnecting that those KPIs are the dollars of poor, elderly, or vulnerable people) who then gets upset at me for not working harder for my minimum wage and shitty hours and no benefits. I’m lying to people, I’m degrading myself by acting against my principles, and I’m doing it for nothing, for the privilege of having less than the bare minimum.

In this way I feel myself exploited, not only for my labour, but for my soul. The moral exhaustion, that should rightfully be theirs for these decisions, is shunted onto me as I slog through their work. They will never have to feel the ethical consequences of their actions, that’s what they pay me peanuts to bear for them.

[fish1bites]

Reading log 2026

To be reblogged every-time I read something new this year

[fish1bites]

Book 1: Absolute Martian Manhunter vol.1

started 03/01/2026, finished 05/01/2026

Oh my god what an incredible graphic novel. I loved the every page of this thing, the art was gorgeous and used so evocatively as part of the story. I've been keeping up with Absolute WW for the past few months and thought I'd read something else while waiting for the new issue and I'm so glad I did. Genuinely intrigued by the story and the way Darkseide's influence is wrapping around the world so uniquely in this one, feels very different from the other absolutes I've read so far (in the obvious ways but also) in tone and scope. I can't wait to see what happens next, but will probably hold off till volume 2. These really are comics I wanna have hard copies of, they're so stunning.

[fish1bites]

Book 2: Absolute Batman vol.1

started 08/01/2026, finished 09/01/2026

I will say, this shit goes hard. Very bad ass comic. I often found myself just staring at the page and how fucking sick it was.

I find the writing,,, slightly less to my taste than i do with Absolute WW & Absolute MM. The writing itself is making some clear political commentaries, but then seems to make clashing choices at almost every opportunity?? Unfortunately in a way that feels less self aware, and more clumsy. That's fine, I'm not expecting accurate political praxis from a comic that somehow inexplicably has twileks.

For a comic that's so dark in tone and themes, I find that the humour is baked-in to the art. Its almost unavoidable, what with Brick!Bat being the way that he is. Even in the tensest moments, the sudden absurdities (like the Bat Mack Truck, or Bruce's hairy chest poking thru his suit when he uses the Bat Axe, or the way bruce is invincible to a comedic degree) give you something to hang on to without taking away from the intensity. I find that, the absurd aspect of it is almost the most realistic aspect of the story - you notice the craziest tangential things when the world is falling down.

Not sure I'll buy the next volume, but I'm hoping to catch up with it before I read AWW 15.

[fish1bites]

Book 3: Absolute Green Lantern vol.1

started 12/01/2026, finished 12/01/2026

I really enjoyed this one!! I've been waiting for my local comic shop to get it in stock, and it did not let me down!!

I was not aware of Jo Mullein's character before reading this, but I'm really loving her. She feels like the perfect personality for this story. I also really like how so many GLs are randomly living in this town in the absolute-verse?? And that Hal is just randomly like,,, very pathetic??? Very silly

I truly love the character designs, they strike me as very grounded but purposeful, and I especially love Jo's design (the hair in particular is just mwah). The timeline of this story also sticks out a lot to me, the whole story taking place over 48hrs? maybe less? in comparison to say Absolute Batman or Martian Manhunter where you can feel the spread of time.

This comic genuinely got me so interested in GL, which I was not expecting??? I'm so pulled in be the allusions to lore that I do not know. They talk a lot abt "understanding" in this story - as a watsonian term for knowing the GL lore essentialy - and truly I wish I understood. Defs looking into GL comics after I finish my current read (the comic shop had Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow on the counter for upselling purposes and it sniped me fr)

[ssatorussuguru]

green lantern reading guide i made instead of studying for bio

[fish1bites]

Reading log 2026

To be reblogged every-time I read something new this year

[fish1bites]

Book 1: Absolute Martian Manhunter vol.1

started 03/01/2026, finished 05/01/2026

Oh my god what an incredible graphic novel. I loved the every page of this thing, the art was gorgeous and used so evocatively as part of the story. I've been keeping up with Absolute WW for the past few months and thought I'd read something else while waiting for the new issue and I'm so glad I did. Genuinely intrigued by the story and the way Darkseide's influence is wrapping around the world so uniquely in this one, feels very different from the other absolutes I've read so far (in the obvious ways but also) in tone and scope. I can't wait to see what happens next, but will probably hold off till volume 2. These really are comics I wanna have hard copies of, they're so stunning.

[fish1bites]

Book 2: Absolute Batman vol.1

started 08/01/2026, finished 09/01/2026

I will say, this shit goes hard. Very bad ass comic. I often found myself just staring at the page and how fucking sick it was.

I find the writing,,, slightly less to my taste than i do with Absolute WW & Absolute MM. The writing itself is making some clear political commentaries, but then seems to make clashing choices at almost every opportunity?? Unfortunately in a way that feels less self aware, and more clumsy. That's fine, I'm not expecting accurate political praxis from a comic that somehow inexplicably has twileks.

For a comic that's so dark in tone and themes, I find that the humour is baked-in to the art. Its almost unavoidable, what with Brick!Bat being the way that he is. Even in the tensest moments, the sudden absurdities (like the Bat Mack Truck, or Bruce's hairy chest poking thru his suit when he uses the Bat Axe, or the way bruce is invincible to a comedic degree) give you something to hang on to without taking away from the intensity. I find that, the absurd aspect of it is almost the most realistic aspect of the story - you notice the craziest tangential things when the world is falling down.

Not sure I'll buy the next volume, but I'm hoping to catch up with it before I read AWW 15.

[fish1bites]

Reading log 2026

To be reblogged every-time I read something new this year

[fish1bites]

Book 1: Absolute Martian Manhunter vol.1

started 03/01/2026, finished 05/01/2026

Oh my god what an incredible comic. I loved every page of this thing, the art was gorgeous and used so evocatively as part of the story. I've been keeping up with Absolute WW for the past few months and thought I'd read something else while waiting for the new issue and I'm so glad I did. Genuinely intrigued by the story and the way Darkseide's influence is wrapping around the world so uniquely in this one, feels very different from the other absolutes I've read so far (in the obvious ways but also) in tone and scope. I can't wait to see what happens next, but will probably hold off till volume 2. These really are comics I wanna have hard copies of, they're so stunning.