Manny's Library

a place to share my favorite books (emma, he/him/his, late 20's) blog navigation

[mountainbaby25]

Meadows of flowers.

[mannys-library]

Have you ever read Tender Is The Flesh? Amazing book, very thought provoking in my opinion.

-D

I haven't yet! I actually downloaded it a few years ago but keep putting it off to read other books. I'll take this ask as a sign to finally start reading it, since I have time this weekend.

[mannys-library]

The Between by Tananarive Due

Dates read: May 9 2026 – May 20 2026

Length: 290 pages | 9 hr, 20 min

When Hilton James was a child, he nearly drowned. His Nana sacrificed her own life to save him. Since then, he still dreams of her ghost. When Hilton's wife, Dede, starts receiving death threats from a racist man she prosecuted years earlier, these dreams become more intense, and Hilton starts losing the ability to tell the difference between dreams and reality.

The Between was originally published in 1995 and is a neat little time capsule of Miami in 1995. The main character is a Black man who works for a rehab clinic who sees a lot of characters who are struggling with AIDS, drug addition, and grief. I loved that the book focuses on Dede's cultural ancestry and has other characters from Black and Hispanic backgrounds.

I picked this up originally for a book club but was unable to finish it in time and am regretting it badly because I obviously have a lot of thoughts about this book and wish I could have attended the meeting so I could have discussed it with others. Overall, a five-star book that I will be rereading sometime in the future and I hope others will read it and get as much enjoyment from it as I did.

Similar books:

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

The Shining by Stephen King

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

[mannys-library]

Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen

Dates read: April 24 2026 – May 6 2026

The year is 1887. Lucy returns home to see her twin sister, Sarah, after Sarah sends a number of concerning letters about her declining health and paranoia. When Sarah arrives, she realizes whatever her sister has caught is much worse than anything any doctor has seen before; Sarah's body resembles a corpse and she refuses to eat or drink except for flesh and blood. Despite whatever is happening to her, Lucy still loves and cares for her sister, and will do whatever it takes to protect her.

I love horror. I've been on a horror streak recently but this is probably the best one in this genre I've read in a long time. This book is dark and gory without going over the top. The setting and characters fit "gothic horror" perfectly. Having female characters in the lead brings up a lot of discussion of how women in this time period were so easily mistreated by doctors and husbands, their fears not taken seriously, and having to hold onto bonds between each other for love and protection.

Similar books:

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

[mannys-library]

William by Mason Coile

Dates read: April 18 2026 – April 23 2026

Ignore that it took me almost a week to read this. I read the first 30 pages on the 18th and then finished the rest of the book during my lunch break on the 23rd. This is a one-sitting, fast-paced, short horror story that all takes place in single setting with just five characters. It's a "haunted house" novel, technically, if you consider rouge AI to be a "haunting."

Henry is an inventor with severe agoraphobia. He spends most of his time working on an AI-powered consciousness he has named William. When his wife's friends come to visit, Henry decides to introduce them to William, but William goes rouge, locking all of them inside the home and torturing them with smart appliances.

Similar books:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

One Level Down by Mary G. Thompson

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

[mannys-library]

Need to make art about the fear that comes from sitting in the chasm between something old and something new

[mannys-library]

I'm leaving retail to work for a non-profit healthcare organization. There's a bit of a pay difference so it'll come with a bit of a lifestyle adjustment but nothing I can't survive. The work is easier and I'll have more days off. I'll feel better about what I'm doing. I'll gain experience that I couldn't get if I stayed at the grocery store.

Right now I'm in that little gap between my last day at my previous job and orientation day for my new job and it's filled with anxiety. For the next couple days I have nothing. I'm trying to fill my time with books and music. I think I'm the kind of person who gets frustrated with myself when I'm not being productive.

[mannys-library]

I've been working as an election official for about a year and the kind of voter suppression that exists becomes even more obvious as someone on the inside. Most of it is systematic discrimination rather than the actual laws put in place. All of our printed material is in English and we are not allowed to translate, so voters not fluent in English are often unable to vote. The precinct I am in has a long walk from the parking lot to the voting enclosure, so voters with mobility issues are often unable to vote. We have a voter in our precinct who uses an AAC device to communicate and there is no protocol for how we are meant to handle that.

Luckily the people I work with are as accommodating as possible and our goal is get a ballot to everyone who wants to vote (and provisional ballots for those who may not be eligible) and we live in a county that can afford accessibly devices like curbside voting and the ExpressVote but not everywhere has that.

Usually only about 10-20% of registered voters actually vote in elections (combined early voting and election day), and that's a high estimate. I feel sad when I think about how many non-voters are people who want to vote but have no way to do so. When I was in college I wrote about how trans people, women, and immigrants are usually the most discriminated against at the polls because they are most likely to have a mismatch between their name on registration and their name on identification but now that I actually work at the polls I realize the problem is so much greater than that and it effects everybody.

[mannys-library]

It's important to have queer community but I would argue it's even more important to be a queer person who takes up space in cishet-dominated communities. I started going by my legal name for many different reasons, and one of the most important is because society needs to be more comfortable with trans people who don't conform perfectly to binary gender expectations. I am a man and I am named Emma. There are men with women's names. There are men who look like women. There are men with breasts and vulvas. We should be allowed and encouraged to exist among other men just as we are. Nobody should be required to do a "full" transition before they are allowed to participate in cishet-dominated society. I am creating space for myself, and in doing so I am creating space for the next nonconforming trans man.

[mannys-library]

Need to make art about the fear that comes from sitting in the chasm between something old and something new

[mannys-library]

Mickey7 and Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

Dates read: Oct 10 2025 – Oct 13 2026 / April 11 2026 – April 13 2026

I picked up Mickey7 last year because I heard about the new movie, and then I watched the movie Mickey 17. The book and the movie are absolutely nothing alike. They don't even have the same title, thankfully. The book Mickey7 became an instant favorite of mine. I usually stay away from hard sci-fi with heavy worldbuilding because I don't like to read two hundred pages of exposition before the story, but Mickey7 doesn't do that at all. It's told from Mickey's point of view, and he knows just as much about the planet he's on as the reader when they first open the book.

Mickey is an "expendable" on a space colonization journey. His job is literally to die for the colony, over and over again, and then be reborn via cloning with all the same memories. As far as he knows, his consciousness transfers from clone to clone, until he learns that he's not the only current clone of himself. Who is he, really? Are memories and experiences all that make us who we are?

Antimatter Blues is a sequel/spin-off of Mickey7 that takes place a few years after the events of the first book, following the same cast of characters as they work to undo a stupid decision Mickey made in the first book. I was so excited to find out there was a sequel because I loved the characters in the first book so much. It's a brand-new adventure with different themes to explore, so I definitely recommend checking out both.

Similar books:

Exiles by Mason Coile

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

[mannys-library]

Deciding that I no longer care what other people think about me was one of best decisions I've ever made in my life. I am at peace

[mannys-library]

Many people hate me for being a gender-nonconforming trans man. That's just a fact. There is nothing I can do or say that will change their mind so I might as well keep living. As long I as I like myself, well, that's the only person whose opinion will ever matter

[mannys-library]

Deciding that I no longer care what other people think about me was one of best decisions I've ever made in my life. I am at peace

[mannys-library]

She's a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock

Dates Read: Mar 17 2026 – Apr 10 2026

Rating: ★★★★★

Jessamyn wants to be an actress. She's landed a few parts for commercials, some callbacks for smaller roles, and a few boyfriends, but nothing that screams stardom. She's just not talented enough—no, it's that she is the greatest actress in the world, and no one around her has the vision to see it. She's finally landed her star debut, Maria in The Sound of Music, but with one small hiccup: she wasn't actually cast in the show.

This character is fantastic. Completely delusional, and the epitome of an unreliable narrator. She tells the story as it happens, then in the next chapter, her own version of events where she is the hero of it all; as the book goes on, the gap between reality and Jessamyn's interpretations grow and grow. What begins as a mundane story about acting and jealousy goes completely off the rails by the final chapter.

Similar books:

Rouge by Mona Awad

What Hunger by Catherine Dang

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leedes

[estelleslibrary]

Hello! A start to a bookblr reblog game where we rate our last five reads from best to worst

1. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes

2. Leap

3. Gideon the Ninth

4. Mister Magic

5. The Weight of the Stars

@bookswithdenise @thebookverdict @the-dead-readers-society @imgunnagetyou @thelastsentencesblog (any one else+ not forcing anyone who I tagged)

[a-book-bug]

Oh this looks fun, I’m gonna jump in!

Scarlet Morning by ND Stevenson (5⭐️)

Hazelthorn by CG Drews (4⭐️)

As Old as Thyme by Alix Nicoud (3.5⭐️)

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan (3.5⭐️)

Always the Almost by Edward Underhill (3⭐️)

I’ll tag @mannys-library and anybody else who wants to join !

[mannys-library]

1. The Wedding People by Alison Espach (fantastic novel that's very different than what I usually read)

2. Dead First by Johnny Compton (loved the characters, but I had hoped for a bit more)

3. The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica (thought it was just average)

4. The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles (book club read that really wasn't for me)

5. Vigil by George Saunders (has a bunch of good reviews so I went in with high expectations and ended up not enjoying it)

Tagging @chloebookvibes @naljiahreads @rosegardendeprofundis & anyone else who sees this!

[mannys-library]

Blog Update: April 2026

So, you might've noticed I've not posted here in several weeks now. I keep telling myself I'll pick it back up eventually but time slipped away. The truth is that I've been struggling with some issues at work and because of all that stress, I haven't been enjoying reading as a hobby as much as I used to. The great news is I found a new job, I put in my two weeks at my old place, and by the end of this month I should be in a much better headspace—less exhausted, at least.

A small change, but I've decided that I'm no longer going to give a star rating to the books I've read. I'm still only posting four- and five-star reviews, I just won't put the star rating in the post anymore. My rating system is based mostly on vibes and personal enjoyment and after some reflection I've realized it really doesn't make sense. I have a couple graphics I've already made with the stars on them, so this change won't take effect immediately.

That being said, I'm also going to switch up how my graphics look. I'm going to pick my favorite quote from the book or a quote that I believe sells the book really well. My goal for this blog has always been to promote the books I enjoy to other readers, and I think this change is going to accomplish that more than a personal star rating. When I have the time I will be editing my older posts with the newer graphics.

Thanks for not unfollowing me during my hiatus. I know I'm a small fishy in a huge pond and I love being part of the booklr community nonetheless. I've built up a huge TBR, so hopefully I'll have enough to keep this blog active bi-weekly or even weekly from now on.

[mannys-library]

The Women by Kristin Hannah

(narrated by Julia Whelan)

Dates listened: Feb 14 2026 – Feb 18 2026

Rating: ★★★★★

I've been hesitant to start this one because war stories have been done so many times before and the genre is oversaturated with narratives that romanticize violence. Luckily, I was judging the book by its cover. The Women is faithful to the truth of the devastating impact of war, including the protests and political violence happening stateside during the war. It is not a traditional "hero" story; it focuses on the marginalized and underrepresented groups who suffered through the war just as much—sometimes even more than—the white men who served on the front lines.

The Women focuses on (as the title suggests) the women who served in the Vietnam War and their reality upon returning home. The main character, Frankie, joins the war because she is encouraged to serve her country and make her family proud. While the USA lost the war, most soldiers returned home to shame, but it was worse for the women who served, because many people denied the fact that women were part of the war at all. Frankie is not allowed to speak about her trauma because it makes others uncomfortable, and she is not allowed to join therapy groups because they are reserved for "real" veterans only, and she is not put on her family's hero wall because she is a woman.

The book is eye-opening to a side of history that has been overlooked. It's clear that the author put a lot of research into this book, making sure everything was accurate and that Frankie's experiences line up with real experiences the women of war have overcome.

[mannys-library]

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

Dates read: Feb 5 2026 – Feb 12 2026

Rating: ★★★★☆

The year is 2493. The Dormire is a colony ship headed for the uninhabited planet of Artemis. Its crew is made up of six clones and one AI. Some time into their journey, all six clones wake up at once, unaware of how much time has passed, stripped of most of their memories, and surrounded by the dead bodies of their previous incarnations. Only one thing is clear: a murder spree has occurred, and the perpetrator is still among them.

Six Wakes takes place aboard the ship and in the earlier lives of each of the crew. They all have a reason to be aboard a spaceship to nowhere, and unfortunately all have a reason to want to kill the others—each and every one of them is a violent criminal (at least according to the new Codicils of Cloning). It's a complicated murder mystery, but it's also an exploration of the law and politics surrounding a technology that doesn't yet exist.

Some chapters were slower than others but overall this book was fun to read and full of action. I had some personal issues with the way certain characters were written and there's definitely a lot about this book, like most science fiction, that requires a large suspension of disbelief, and I think that's why I didn't enjoy it quite as much as some of the other books I've read so far this year. It still gets four stars for being brilliantly thought out and written and I plan to read more from this author in the future.