Skipper's Reading Corner

25 • they/them Chronic hater who reads books and (sometimes) enjoys them!

[skippy-reads]

Welcome Welcome!

I'm Skipper, but you can call me Skippy or Skip! I'm 25, a butch lesbian and a lover of books, even when they're bad.

I have so much fun writing about terrible books and I'm tired of only subjecting my friends and instagram mutuals to my anger, so now it's being inflicted on my good friends here on Tumblr! :)

If you have recommendations, send an ask! I'll read just about anything

[skippy-reads]

See Instagram 'Reads 2023' highlights from Skipper (@good.ol.crungle)

My reading wrapped for 2023!! Worst, best, and most boring!!

[skippy-reads]

See Instagram 'reading 2024' highlights from Skipper (@good.ol.crungle)

Check out my book reviews from 2024!! 💕✨😻 Worst, Best and most boring!

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

enough of this "androids who dream of being human" shtick. more androids who love being androids, and are lowkey sorry for humans bc that shit sounds exhausting

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

android who uploads into a new body every couple years and is *horrified* that humans can't change their forms. it's been through several "human" style bodies and that was fine but now it's experimenting. plus port standardization means it can change limbs and accessories easily. there's a booming market in pop-in pop-out functioning ears claws fangs tails u name it, and isn't it so so sad that human never get to experience that? that they are stuck in their *shudders* Meat.

mostly the android in question tries not to think about how scary it must be, to be human. it prefers to focus on its plans for its next chassis (it's leaning towards an eagle or lizard model, or possibly something with tendrils...)

[nudityandnerdery]

[christinaroseandrews]

This guy knows what he’s talking about. He’s one of the lead writers for Leverage and if you ever watch the series on DVD, do yourself a favor and listen to him talk about how the scripts got written. Some of the advice he has is stuff I use all the time: 1. Don’t introduce an important plot person or thing after the first half of the story. 2. Always tie up loose ends. 3. Introduce important things in the middle of unimportant things. 4. If you have to infodump, find an emotion to tie it to and it will seem less like infodump and more like a motive rant. Seriously this guy knows how to write.

[systlin]

If any of y’all didn’t know, there’s a free online library, aka

https://openlibrary.org/

and I found like, twelve ebooks I’ve been wanting to read on there, and blasted through like three of them during the course of a boring-ass shift.

[skaldish]

Guy there are books on magic on there.

[systlin]

There’s books on EVERYTHING there!

[eudevie]

Wouldn’t this be bad for authors though? or is this like a normal library where they get /some/ money?

[systlin]

It’s like a normal library. Libraries can upload ebooks there and let people check them out through openlibrary if you have an openlibrary account, or it can point you to nearby libraries that have physical copies of the book for you to go and check out. If you check out books via openlibrary it counts towards the count of books checked out from the library that uploaded the ebook, and they can use it in their reporting and funding and stuff.

There’s like 150 libraries partnered with openlibrary so far.

They also have copies that you can check out if you are print-disabled.

[systlin]

You can also ‘sponsor a book’, which means you pay the cost of the ebook you want openlibrary to acquire, and then they can add it to their collection and let people check it out.

[skaldish]

That means…one person pays for it once and it’s available to everyone.

[thebreakfastgenie]

The way it works with most e-libraries is that they only own a certain number of electronic copies. So if one person paid for a book/the library paid for one copy, one person can check it out at a time, just like physical books. So it functions the same way as a physical library but more efficient and accessible! 

[blueinthefaceangel]

Books with  Butch Leads

This list is for thirsty butches and femmes who need to read a good book. You’re Welcome.

All the Pretty Things Rae D Magdon

Departure from Script by Jae

 Second Nature by Jae

Backwards to Oregon by Jae 

The Cain Casey Series by Ali Vali

Homecoming By Nell Stark

The Princess and the Prix by Nell Stark

Micky Knight Series by J.M Redmann

 Emma Victor Book Series by Mary Wings

Winds of Fortune by Radclyffe

The Color of Love by Radclyffe

Above All, Honor by Radclyffe

Blind Eye Mystery series by Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall

A Royal Romance by Jenny Frame

Unexpected by Jenny Frame

Royal Rebel by Jenny Frame

Heart of the Pack by Jenny Frame

Courting the Countess by Jenny Frame

Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon

Crybaby Butch by Judith Frank

 The Harder She Comes: Butch Femme Erotica by D.L King

Sometimes She Lets Me: Best Butch Femme Erotica by  Tristan Taormino 

Back to Basics: A Butch-femme Anthology by  Therese Szymanski 

A Touch of Temptation by Julie Blair 

Playing Passion’s Game by Lesley Davis 

Built to Last by Aurora Rey 

Butch Girls Can Fix Anything by Paula Offutt 

Goldenseal by Gill McKnight 

Heart of the Game by Rachel Spangler 

Choices Book Series by Skyy

[residentevil7]

Idk if this book counts because i dont remember if the protagonist ever says she’s “butch” but her presentation and behavior are pretty in line with butchness so i’m suggesting it.

The Dyke and the Dybbuk by Ellen Galford is great!

also Blackmail, My Love by Katie Gilmartin is awesome!!

[blueinthefaceangel]

Ohh more books to read.!! Awesome!! To be fair 25% of the books on my list ,the protagonist doesn’t explicitly say that they are butch but present themselves as butch. Sometimes I think the author feels scared to say that the character is butch but still present themselves as such.

[stonefemmepositivity]

just crying about this lovely butch archive i just stumbled across & the fact there’s a stone section <3

[marxism-transgenderism]

Wishing people read more of Leslie Feinberg’s books other than just stone butch blues

[marxism-transgenderism]

@postirony​

A great place to start is hir 1992 pamphlet Transgender Liberation: A movement whose time has come. It’s a shitty PDF but it’s short.

What I recommend reading most of all is Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman. While SBB is more popular, this book is basically hir magnum opus which ze wrote throughout hir life, combining autobiography, historical analysis, and theory. Seriously read this book.

Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba is a collection of hir articles on gay and trans rights in Cuba before and after the revolution and Lavender & Red is a much larger collection of hir articles—including those in the first book—about gay and trans people throughout the 20th century. There’s also Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue, which is a collection of hir speeches but sadly I can’t find a PDF of this one.

Lastly, if you want something besides history, ze also wrote another novel called Drag King Dreams which I haven’t actually read myself but I’ve heard is pretty good.

[saffronlesbian]

[id: a screenshot of a reply from @/postirony saying: “which ones in particular? i’ve only read SBB and i’m looking for something to read.” /end id.]

[marxism-transgenderism]

Hey if you’re going to like this, esp if your cis, please reblog it as well.

The main reason I’m upset hir other works aren’t as well known, aside from them being very good books that more people should read, is because I see a lot of terfs try to claim SBB. To the point where I’ve even seen some anti-terf people, mainly non-lesbians, say that the book is transphobic cause the only thing they know about it is that terfs like it.

Which, to begin with, you have to be real stupid to miss the multiple trans women in SBB, Ruth only being the most obvious, and the parts where Jess is literally persecuted by 70s era radical feminists. Hell, the free PDF version on hir website also includes a piece on the campaign to free CeCe McDonald. But also, as you can probably tell by hir pronouns and just the titles of hir other books, it’s flatly ridiculous for terfs to claim either SBB or Leslie.

People need to know Leslie Feinberg as the transmasculine Jewish lesbian revolutionary communist that ze were.

[skippy-reads]

Books that are better together!!!

[skipperbobipper]

Embrace Me, O Sun | Skipp

Get more from Skipp on Patreon

[skipperbobipper]

Get more from Skipp on Patreon

25 - they/them - Writer - Poet - Lover boy

There we go!! All the chapters and poems I have!! Potentially more to come, but please support me if possible!

[skipperbobipper]

1 | Skipp

Get more from Skipp on Patreon

My tech set up is so slow, and so jury-rigged but here's chapter one!! There are 5 chapters total, and also all the poems I still need to upload

[skippy-reads]

The Theme of Spontaneity and Love: a Micro essay

Migrations • Courtney McConaghy

When Franny and Niall first meet, their attraction to one another is apparent, palpable. Neither of them are able to think of anything but the other, and it leads them to do rash and perhaps even unwise things.

They marry each other on the third (or perhaps second) day of knowing each other after following, observing and bantering. They buy champagne, bread, and have a friend who's ordained and everything. Six weeks pass and the feeling is beginning to set in, one of dread and uncertainty. Did they really get married so soon after knowing each other? Could this be a mistake that may kill one or both of them?

Franny seems to think so, but she's the type of self destructive force that doesn't care one way or another.

But Niall wants her, still. He holds her tenderly, asks her if she feels as though she's caged in his embrace, agrees to go with her somewhere, anywhere, together.

What I love about their relationship is that it teaches us that infatuation and attraction are feelings just like sadness and anger. They make us act out of character; they decide things for us. By choosing to stay together, another emotion takes hold of the decision making: love.

[skippy-reads]

•Reading Wrapped 2024•

Books read: 65

Below the cut will be my top 5 Best, Worst and Most Boring Reads!! Enjoy :)

Best:

Exquisite Corpse • William Joseph Martin

I was initially hesitant to read this, because I had a few hangups on the premise. I support queer people making art of their experiences in whatever way they decide it needs to be made, and I'm a sucker for splatterpunk. I fucking LOVE this book. I can't really articulate why I love it so much, sometimes it's borderline campy with it's gore and shock value, and sometimes it really punches you in the gut and makes you have sympathy for absolute monsters like Andrew and Jay. I adored every page of this, and can't say much more about it. I also can't stress enough, READ THE TRIGGERS, my dm's are open or you can find them online, and THEN read it. Unless you know you have a high threshold, I would discourage going into this blind. I'm not your mom though, if you want a campy, nasty gorefest, this is a GREAT book.

I've Been Thinking of Ending Things • Ian Ried

This was put on my list by a YouTuber I watch consistently. Someone had asked his favorite thing on Netflix, and he said this movie, though he liked the book better. After consuming both, I have to agree! The book is a lot sneakier, the sense of dread and confusion hit me harder in the mystery department, whereas the movie just feels chaotic and more on the Thriller genre. Maybe theyre meant to be taken in together and not independently, but having read the book THEN watching the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed both, but the book is just. Better. I can't talk much about the plot because it's just that kind of story, but the audiobook was so good!!!

Migrations • Courtney McConaghy

Judging by the reviews, this book is very polarizing. It seems that you either love it or hate it, and that all hinges on if you like the protag and relate to/sympathize with her. I love Franny and subsequently loved her story here. Migrations is about a woman finding her will to live again after a life of mental illness and trauma over the backdrop of a suicide mission to Antarctica for some birds. Franny is a complicated woman who makes reckless decisions but her internal dialogue reveals a bleeding heart that just WANTS LOVE AND AHH. A lot of the 1-star reviews for this book were about the lack of 'scientific realism' and to that I say, "go read a non-fiction then." Migrations is about characters and relationships and experiences, it tells you exactly the right amount of information without overloading you with details. The prose especially was so SO good; despite a book set primarily on frozen oceans or otherwise cold climates, I always felt warmed by the simple way the story is told.

Dykette • Jenny Fran David

I am at the perfect time in my life to read this. This was EVERYTHING I wanted the Ashley Herring Blake books to be, Blake WISHES she wrote this. She wishes she could capture true sapphic connection, deconstruct gender and sexuality in the unique way that lesbians do it, giving femmes the spotlight they deserve, she WISHES. Dykette has particularly interesting things to say about femme lesbians and their place in the lesbian ecosystem. It's funny, it's sexy, it's modern and contemporary, it makes actual efforts into representation of different kinds of lesbians. This is the first book I've ever read that has a he/him lesbian *as a main character* as well as a black they/them lesbian!! All contained in a quirky slice-of-life, set over the course of a Christmas getaway with an older butch/femme couple. I legitimately believe that every sapphic owes it to themselves to read this if you want a fun time.

The Honeys • Ryan La Sala

You all here already know how much and why I love this book! Check out the review I wrote for it in my other posts!

Worst:

Actually only 4 this year!! Teehee

The Last House on Needless Street • Catriona Ward

Dumb. Dumb book. I had issues with it from the very beginning, because spoiler, this book does a complete 180 at about the halfway point. It *starts* with a serial killer who's kidnapped a girl, and has a cat, with a side story about the little girl's sister hunting her down, taking justice into her own hands and riding into the sunset with her in tow. Lauren/Lulu is our girl in question, and the extent of her injuries and scars are described in shocking, grotusque detail. It's really the only horror in the whole book if you don't count "mental illness scary" as horror. It's revealed that the cat, Olivia, is an alter in Lauren's head, that Lauren has DID and uses Oliva to cope with the abuse. It's revealed even later that Lauren AND Olivia are alter's in THE KILLER'S head, Ted, and HE has DID as a result of his mother's extreme abuse. Why does Lauren look like a melted candle with no function in her legs?? You'd have to ask Ted and the stupid British woman that decided to write this. I wish I could get into everything I hate about this book, but at that point, it would just go on skippy-reads. The only enjoyment I really got from this was any chapter narrated by Olivia, just because I like her and the interjection of gay christian cat antics.

The Patient • Jasper Dewitt

I wish I could go back to whatever video or forum post or even human person who recommended this to me and personally UN recommend it. I'm already tired of the 'reddit story turned book' genre, if you can call it that (yes, I've read Penpal. No, it did not impress or even entertain me) but The Patient pairs that genre/trope with an utter disgusting amount of ableism towards mentally ill people. I wanted to stop reading at every moment, every time a new chapter started, I had to convince myself to keep going and finish it, only through pure stubbornness did I manage. Nothing anyone does at any point makes any fucking sense, nobody makes the decisions that a normal rational person would do, and the ENDING ugh GOD. Knowing what the story is, what it's about, how it ends, I can confidently say that The Patient was a waste of my fucking time. I can only recommend this book if you have ~4 hours to kill and literally nothing else in the world to do. Even still, I may choose to stare blankly at a wall than pick this up again.

Piercing • Ryu Murakami

There's a chance that my opinion of it is skewed bc this was my only form of entertainment while getting my entire chest stabbed continuously for 3 hours, but this was such an annoying story. Unnecessarily grotesque and near constant depictions of child abuse, both physical and sexual, thats being shoved right into your eyeballs while Things Kind Of Happen around two extremely mentally unwell characters. And, no, the mentally ill people are not treated as people, surprising I know. The actual story taking place is interuppted by far too many flashbacks, all of which are the child abuse I just mentioned. Chiaki and Kawashima both take great care to remind us of how unstable they are, how terrible their childhoods were and the horrible things they want to do to each other, that's it, that's the book. Yes, the whole thing, it doesn't even have a proper ending or resolution, the PURPOSE of Kawashima's actions and the story as we know it doesn't even get resolved. It just ends. There were things I liked about it, it kept my attention (a feat in and of itself for an ADHD+dyslexic reader) and I did feel the dread and fear when I was supposed to, but the book as a whole was just not very well executed.

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date • Ashley Herring Blake

Check out my review of this one on this blog! It sucked oh it sucked so bad!

Most Boring

Joyland • Steven King

I'm sometimes tempted to put this in my Bad category, but there were significant parts that I did enjoy. This story can't seem to decide which is more important, the horror aspect or the slice of life. We slip and slide around between the two, so the pacing sort of goes from "dumb teenager going through dumb teenager things while working at an amusement park but it's the 70's so I guess it's cool automatically" to "boring murder mystery with a blink and it's over resolution." I liked the mother character and her son, weird that he's randomly psychic but it IS Steven King, so I'm not that surprised, and a disability rep that I didn't find horribly offensive, but my opinion on that front doesn't really mean all that much, so take that as you will! Overall, bland but palatable. I liked Misery better.

You've Lost a Lot of Blood • Eric LaRocca

I liked LaRocca's other book, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, my only actual complaint is that the characters are a little cartoon-y and it's too short, but this one? Oh my God. Not a single character feels like a human being. It sort of benefits being Half Fake, in that the story itself is a book written by our MC, and that story is boring and I didn't care for it. The book in the world I live in written by Eric LaRocca, is kind of funny in some aspects. The main character feels like if James Somerton wrote a book and then someone else wrote a book about that. A highlight was the protag in the MC's fake story, the older sister character, and her arc with her little brother. It had set up, climbing action, and pay off, but we're intentionally left without a satisfying resolution, which was kind of fun. LaRocca could've done better with the rest of the book, though.

Haunted • Chuck Palahniuk

I knew what this was going into it, and it makes sure anyone else would too, upon the second chapter, Guts. I love this genre, but there's nothing that kills me more than when an author just doesn't know what they're doing. This particular work by Palahniuk and also the works of Aron Beauregard are my examples of how NOT to do splatterpunk, just collections of short stories that check off all the grossest and most disturbing things while neglecting to tell an actually compelling story. By the end of Haunted, I was reading the goriest stories I'd ever laid eyes on, and begging for it to just end before I died of boredom. Also, I hate when stories have SA just for shock value, especially the likes of which are present here.

First to Die at the End • Adam Silvera

Where do I even begin. What a boring, tepid, unremarkable, sometimes actively infuriating read. The audiobook made it so much worse, both actors for Valentino and Orion sounded like auditory cardboard, and sometimes the writing is so bad, so cliche I feel like I'm owed one smack on Adam Silvera's head. It would be a hilarious hate-read if I didn't love the first book and its characters so much. I literally don't even remember how it ends specifically, because I just can't get the part where Valentino died at exactly 9:11pm out of my fucking HEAD. Orion's haunted by the events of Sept. 11 (yes, really) because his parents were lost in the trajedy. It's his only personality trait besides his heart condition and that he writes as a hobby. The specificity of such a prominent character trait made me wonder if Silvera had such trauma. I had to investigate, but no, he didn't. He was just in New York when 9/11 happened and was troubled by the what-if's. How tragic, I won't be reading anything by him again unless the madness (morbid curiosity) takes me again.

Into the Drowning Deep • Mira Grant

Seventeen Hours. 448 pages. 38 chapters. This book dragged and slogged like nothing else I've read thus far. Usually I'm fully onboard with mermaids, if a book has mermaids, I'm there. Most of the first half is establishing the many side characters that are going to die in stupid ways anyway, and precisely none of them are interesting enough to carry even a single page. The biology jargon just slides off my brain, the final twist was so incredibly stupid, it felt like Grant just woke up in the middle of the night and wrote it down without thinking of how to fit it into the story at all. I was entertained by the poaching couple because they were hilarious. They'd be much funnier if Grant didn't feel the need to remind us every single time who they are and what their motivations are, and if the person who read this to me didn't put on such a terrible Australian accent. I had some issues with the disability rep here that I'm not gonna get into bc it's not really my place, but I wish Grant could've been more creative with naming the three sister characters. Hally, Holly and Heather? Really? I couldn't keep these names straight to save the life of me.

Honorable Mentions

My Husband • Maud Ventura

Weyward • Emilia Hart

Waif • Samantha Kolesnik

I'll See You Again • Jackie Hance

Pitbull: The Battle over an American Icon • Bronwen Dickey

Black Water Sister • Zen Cho

Your Emergency Contact is having an Emergency • Chen Chen

Raptor Red • Robert T Bakker

The Only Good Indians • Stephen Graham Jones

[skippy-reads]

Episode #2:

The Honeys • Ryan La Sala

Final Rating: 8.5/10

This is NOT a spoiler free review!

Disclaimer: Citations will be blurry, but im trying to be steadier handed when taking these. Tangents, if theyre here, will be in pink.

Woof, this summer has been rough for me. I'm so glad that this book managed to find me on this particular summer. It was a welcome breath of fresh air and humor, compelling story and excellent prose. The only reason this isn't a 10/10 is beause I'm just not all that fond of books for teens or stories where theyre the main characters, BUT I gave it an extra half point for being so darn good in spite of it.

So lets get into what made me give this my highest rating so far!

Our story hits the ground running, as chapter one begins with our main character, Mars, being attacked by his twin sister, Caroline, who tries to kill him in his sleep with various stuff around his room. Wow, what a way to start! Caroline ultimately dies in Mars' fight for his life, being crushed underneath him as they both fall from the second story indoor staircase of their big ass manor.

From there, we piece together who Caroline is over the course of her funeral, and learn more about Mars' parents, his upbringing, and his relationship with his sister.

Carolines funeral is attended by a strange group of girls that Mars immediately recongnizes as The Honeys, a group of all girls who attend an upper class summer camp every year called Apsen. Caroline was grouped with these girls and attended Aspen yearly, though later we learn that she attended in the winter too. Mars doesn't attend Aspen, and the story about why is drip fed to you over the course of the book at an excellent pace. Each time I learned a new detail, it slapped me across the face and genuinely turned the previous plot points on their heads from the added context.

At Caroline's funeral, he's forced to lie about her own injuries to save face for his politician mother, as well as the circumstances regarding their twin's death. Mars knows that it wasn't brain cancer, but what else could it be? When Mars meets again with the Honeys at the funeral, strange things quickly start to happen around them. He resolves that to find out what happened to his sister, he'll need to go back to Aspen, and so our plot begins!

Marshall Matthias III

No story is truly good without a good protagonist, and Mars is GREAT. I don't even know where to begin, really.

They're genderfluid, gay, into math and numbers, pragmatic, and driven. When we first meet Mars, it's immdiately after a massively traumatic event, the loss of a treasured sister, and she's understandably not at her highest point. Most of what we learn about Mars' character is through dialouge, how she talks to people and navigates situations.

I wish i grabbed pictures of my top ten funniest Mars moments. He is HILARIOUS, extremely quick witted, sometimes a little awkward, but confident. The book is generally very entertaining, but Mars brings something really specific to the table in the way she interacts with the other teenagers shes forced to live with. I like that shes a fighter, isn't above throwing punches if punches are due. I like that when she knows she's right, she stands the fuck up and talks. Near the end point of the book, it's not about exposing Aspen's corruption, greed, and transphobia, it's about being left alone so she can figure out what the fuck happened to her sister. Sure, once the seedy underbelly of the hive is discovered, his priorities shift, but by that point, the story has fallen into such chaos that it's not really up to her what's important anymore.

The Honeys

Technically, theyre our antagonists at the beginning and for most of the book. Sure, Mars really likes them, but he only really admires them because they represent something he isn't (a pretty girl. There's a reason im going to be favoring she/her pronouns for Mars).

Maybe it's just because I'm jaded like that, but I'm not so easily offput by girls being girls, even if they're weird. The book really wants you to think they're creepy though. After we know what they look like, sort of, and can assume they wear the fem equalvilant of Mars' camp outfit, the only thing left to describe is the eery way the girls interact with each other.

They travel in packs, either holding hands or linked by the pinkies. Once, during a campfire gathering with everyone, Mars describes them as difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins, as their legs are crossed over each other in a line.

The leader, Bria, was sweet to Mars at the funeral and invited him back to Aspen personally. I don't quite remember if they invite Mars to Cabin H specifically, their HQ, or if she just assumes that there's an invite to the cabin, but she goes either way and is welcomed with open arms. As soon as they recongnize Mars, all the girls treat her like she's one of the girls. They're the nicest and most accepting of Mars' gender that we've seen, maybe even in Mars' whole life.

I was struggling to feel any sort of negative emotion towards them at all! They're being nice to Mars! She gets support, someone to listen to her. A big point at the beginning with the funeral was the utter lack of actual warmth in the Matthias household. With parents who view children as extensions of themselves, representatives of their skills as parents and leaders. Her parents werent UNsupportive, per se, but they definitely resented her for 'choosing' to be trans+gay rather than behave like a good man should.

As a result, Caroline was the unwilling golden child. Her and Mars strayed apart, Caroline sought refuge in Aspen and the Honeys while Mars found comfort in the solitude.

The Trans Rep

It's excellent. You may have already seen from the above citations what I'm about to say, but either way, I'm talking about it.

Mars being genderfluid would be one thing, but she's not just generfluid, she's transfemme. I think, too often, we have trans/nonbinary representation that plays it too safe. Nonbinary characters are robots, aliens, characters who "dont care" about gender, "don't care" about how you refer to them. Mars herself even calls herself fluid, and says her pronouns are 'any' at two points in the book.

But the above screenshots provide more than enough contrary evidence that Mars not only experiences dysphoria but has a really specific idea of her gender presentation. She didn't want to shave her head, she did it as a sacrifice, to prove to her parents that she didn't care about discarding feminity.

She's never happy to be associated with masculinity, but RELISHES any oppurunity to express feminity. She layers on lipgloss as a point of defiance when she beats all the boys at fencing, further has to stand her ground when said boys prove to be sore losers and try to make it her problem.

The transphobia is perfect, what a weird sentence to type but what I mean is that I believe that Mars is visibly transgender, and that the we're seeing an accurate represenation of how the world reacts to her. She has to litereally fight to have bare minimum respect as a person. I was on the edge of my seat during those chapters, and could feel the ostrisization Mars was experiencing. I felt the same frustration as Wyatt and other camp staff tell her that she "just needs to give the 'other' guys" a chance, even though THEY are the ones not making space for HER.

Halfway through the book, I just wanted Mars to blackmail the camp organizer into letting her stay with the Honeys, and we actually get that!

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Honey's is an impeccably written horror. The prose slaps, the plot slaps, the protagonist slaps, the ending is amazing, exactly what I wanted from it. I strongly recommend this book to anyone wanting a good suspenseful horror novel with good trans representation!

[skippy-reads]

Skippy Watches • 001

Orange is the New Black

Spoilers for the end of episode 7 season 3

When Norma kills her 'false prophet,' she takes life into her own hands, rises past the meek servitude that Guru Mack accuses her of and does an action all her own. Without realizing it, the very act that's locked her in prison has set her free.

She rises above Red's own domineering persona when it's revealed that she has a whole free afternoon to herself. She floats away on a cloud, reminded that she has people waiting for her.

Again, without realizing it, she starts her own cult by revealing her magic to her followers, but the "magic" is her calm and gentle presence. Red tells this to us when she says, "is this your magic?" after Red vented about losing her power in the kitchen.

Norma "blesses her followers" by giving them touches of all varieties. A touch to the forehead of one follower, a gentle cradling of Gina's jaw. These touches are only magical because Norma is the one who does them, and Norma possesses a gentle, soft, affectionate presence. She boops Leanne on the forehead, a silly and playful gesture to illustrate that, yes, even this touch is holy because it is done by Norma.