in my hobbit era

Cris | 26 | they/them | queer | Italy | bachelor's degree in history | currently working on my master thesis in historical sciences | aspiring hermit in the woods | (studyblr/bookblr sideblog)

[extremelyrottenflesh]

Touching grass is not enough; I need to travel far over the misty mountains cold.

[the---hermit]

Currently rereading my notes of the discovery of mankind by david abulafia, and after reading "Columbus read a lot but also believes everything he read was true" and the only thing i can think of now is what would happen if he came back to life and went on facebook

[the---hermit]

I didn't just hand-made a small notebook out of old paper instead of actually working on my thesis, i am not procrastinating rereading 2+ notebooks of notes, I am not scared of rereading 339 pages of notes I have handwritten in the past few months, I just really needed a place to write down notes about the notes I am about to reread, i am fine, this is grand, all's good, don't worry about me.

[the---hermit]

Trans Rights Readathon book recommendations:

The readathon finishes on the 31st of March so here's a few trans+ book recs for anyone who wants to squeeze in at least one book on trans+ identities, with trans+ characters or written by trans+ authors!

Non fiction books

Genderqueer by Maya Kobabe (graphic autobiography by a non binary author)

Life isn't Binary by Alex Iantaffi and MJ Barker (imagine trying to deconstruct binaries from all aspects of your life, not just from sexuality and gender. This book tries to help you with that and includes some journaling prompts for reflection too!)

A Short History Of Trans Misogyny by Jules Gill Peterson (very dense book despite being quite short but absolutely necessary as a read)

A Quick And Easy Guide To Queer And Trans Identities (little graphic novel doing exactly what the title says. Info is pretty basic but it's a lovely starting point for people trying to understand themselves and the community, plus there's illustrated snails educating you about this stuff, what do you want more?)

Queer As Folklore by Sacha Coward (not only focused on trans and genderqueer identities, but it's super interesting to dive into the links between myths monsters and queerness, so I added it to the list anyway)

Fiction books

Deadendia by Hamish Steele (it's a graphic novel series with 3 books out, the mc is transmasc and we also have a non binary character who I love! I still have to get my hands on the 3rd book but what I read so far is so good)

Monk and Robot duology by Becky Chambers (A Psalm For The Wild Built, A Prayer For The Crown Shy) (features an agender mc and is honestly one of the best things you will ever read in your life)

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White (amazing horror dystopia featuring religious trauma and queer rage, mc is transmasc)

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White (historical horror where the horror is misogyny, it will make you angry as fuck but it's so good. mc is transmasc but there is also a transfem character)

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White again (contemporary thriller with a trasmasc mc as well as non binary rep. The main focus is a bloody family feud in a small conservative American town. Emotionally challenging as a read but so worth it)

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw (non binary character in a short but very cool fantasy novella, the less you know the better with this one imo)

Sworn Soldier series by T. Kingfisher (What Moves The Dead, What Feasts At Night, What Stalks The Deep) (series composed of short horror books featuring a genderqueer mc. These are absolutely amazing. The horror is good and it's contrasted super well by a very fun narration 100% recommend it)

She Who Became The Sun by Shelly Parker Chan (the famous Mulan inspired book. Tho I would describe it as a historical fantasy set in China. Genderqueerness is a fundamental part of the story with an afab mc who grows up dressing as a boy and then a man, describing themselves as not exactly one or the other. And on the other side we have an eunuch whose identity as "not wholly male" is central to their character. Now that I write about it I should reread this and get to the sequel as well...)

Walking Practice by Dolki Min (horror scifi with a genderfluid alien mc)

The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (slow paced scifi set on a planet where people's sex is not fixed. It is a super interesting take on gender)

(bonus) Libri in italiano

Trilogia Esplicita di Fumettibrutti (tratta l'esperienza personale dell'autrice e della sua identità trans)

Non Sono Unə Femminista Io? di Emmanuel Beaubatie (piccolo saggio riguardo il rapporto tra femminismo e identità trans+)

Questioni Di Un Certo Genere della collana "le cose spiegate bene" de Il Post (lettura fondamentale, da informazioni e spunti riguardo tantissimi aspetti delle identità trans e genderqueer, ed é specificatamente scritto per un pubblico italiano (anche per chi non ne sa proprio nulla sull'argomento)

Gender is Over di Isa Borrelli (libro sull'essere non binary scritto da unə autorə non binary)

Rivoluzione Non Binary di Lou Ms.Femme (lettura piú introduttiva rispetto alla precedente ma comunque ottima, sempre di unə autorə non binary)

From my own tbr

Books I have not read yet that are on my radar:

Who's Afraid Of Gender by Judith Butler (non fic on gender and genderqueer identities)

Before We Were Trans by Kit Eyam (non fic on history of trans+ people)

Orlando by Virginia Woolf (fiction with a genderfluid mc)

Trans Rites: an anthology of genderfucked horror by v. f. Thompson (fiction)

Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud by Thomas W. Laqueur (non fiction)

You Weren't Meant To Be Human by Andrew Joseph White (horror with transmasc mc)

Stag Dance by Torrey Peters (short stories by a trans author)

I have a tbr focused blog where I store all interesting books I want to keep in mind for future reads and I def have more trans books there @boooks-and-tea

[the---hermit]

Youtube just tried to feed me a pride book recs video of someone with fucking h*arry p*otter in the back of the video, so i am reblogging this trans book recommendations I wrote for the trans rights readathon.

[the---hermit]

May 2026

The past month has gone without me properly realizing. I have mainly worked on a book I hated for my thesis but that is fortunately done. I did get a lot of time in the garden as well as reading on the balcony. I ate a lot of berries and spent time with the dog. So honestly despite everything I can say I have been a happy hobbit.

[the---hermit]

May 2026 reading wrap up

In the past month I read mostly non fiction books and most importantly I fully read The Three Musketeers which became one of my new obsessions. After listening to the audiobook I ended up buying a physical copy and I also got the sequel which is now my most anticipated summer read!

Books I finished last month:

At the Mountains Of Madness by HP Lovecraft

Le scoperte dell'America nella coscienza italiana del Cinquecento by Rosario Romeo

Cose spiegate bene: Cinemino? By Il Post

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Ben Venga Il Piacere by Giorgia Fasoli

A Proposito Di Peli by Elena Beatrice and Daniele Lince

Cattivi Selvaggi by Olga Maira Zannoni

Il Pensiero Incoraggiante by Rick DuFer

The Fall Of Natural Man by Anthony Padgen

[the---hermit]

April 2025 reading wrap up

I am posting this one month too late but better late than never. In April I ended up pausing a bunch of stuff for a reread of The Priory Of The Orange Tree which I have not finished yet but I am having a great time with. I also gave my first and so far only 5/5 stats to Tapum by Leo Ortolani, a graphic novel on world war one which I was not expecting to make me feel this many emotions. It was truly an incredible read.

April 2026 reads:

House Of Frank by Kay Synclaire

Chasing The Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar

Nuovo Mondo: Gli Italiani (1492-1565)

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Tapum by Leo Ortolani

White Teeth Red Blood: Selected Vampire Verses

Ammutinate: Guida Pratica Per Rispondere Agli Stereotipi sul Femminismo by Eve Cambreleng and Bianche Sabbah

Among The Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon

[the---hermit]

This whole week has been a compilation of me helping insects and small critters out by showing them their way out of windows and rooms, moving them (a snail) out of the road, and the way the universe thanks me is by making the last insect i helped out of my room bite me??????? How dare you? I was being so nice it was totally unnecessary?

[the---hermit]

I am currently reading a short non fiction on reflections on middle earth stories and how they can be applied to our modern life with a touch of philosophy here and there. And I was not 100% convinced with this, but now this guy just compared chatgpt to the one ring, and you know what? Yes, you are right it is evil and people underestimate it, but most importantly we should throw it in a volcano asap.

[the---hermit]

I am not at all specialized in the history of christian religious orders, but I have studied history for long enough to be able to point out a jesuit before the book even introduces them as such.

[the---hermit]

Last minute cancellation of my tutoring lesson this week !!! I am so glad about it i can get a bit more work thesis done and i do not have to walk in the sun

[the---hermit]

Mi sta venendo una cotta per te

Oh no anon, non é mai andata a fine bene sta cosa ripensaci

[the---hermit]

Here we go again with the very coherent and not at all questionable theories of early modern european men:

Some people are resistant to rationality and therefore savages

These savages live without laws, justice, no actual marital rituals (shock), they do not practice friendship nor commerce

They live in the woods and on mountains

We really gotta teach them how to live like "real men"

At least we should avoid having them disturb civil people (because if you didnt get it these people who live isolated from us and all the land we are stealing do not have our societal structure and rules, so they are bad, and they are not minding their business like we are doing while stealing their land and forcing them into our cultural structures)

Also did i tell you they are actually really fucking dangerous because "those who are asocial are also lovers of war" unlike us who are not conquering and colonizing these people in the land where they have always lived peacefully. We are the only guys who truly believe in peace and friendship and if they do not start believing in peace and friendship like we do we should probably colonized them harder, enslave them and kill them.

Did i tell you are are the good guys and they are bad and ignorant and savage? Actually never mind we arent the good guys we are the best guys

[the---hermit]

26|06|2026

When I said I would try to be in snake mode as much as possible I was not lying. I won't lie I also need some time inside to cool off because it has gotten so hot too quickly for me. The other good news of the week is that after procrastinating for ages I finally texted my tattoo artist, and I am so excited!!

[the---hermit]

Book haul, very nice pins and one of the many books I have not bought (yet).

23|05|2026

Day out with my mom, we had breakfast in my favourite queer café, went to bookshops and had a delicious lunch! I visited my grandma on the way back home, went to say hi to my brother and the doggo and finished my day with some reading (I did in fact read in one sitting one of the shorter new books I got).

[the---hermit]

I ended up reading 3/4 new books I got (I am not counting The Musketeers as I have bought the physical copy after listening to the audiobook, so it did not go in my physical tbr list). I basically read one book a day so I decided to write a little update despite all three non-fiction books being Italian.

Book I got on Saturday:

A Proposito Di Peli by E. Beatrice and D. Lince : a unique non fiction book on body hair and how society influences feminine bodies because of them. The book in a mixture of reflections, personal anecdotes and a play in which an heterosexual couple slowly crumbles because of the wife's personal choice of not shaving her body hair anymore. I have never read a book structured this way but it was a very intense read despite being so quick. It forces you to reflect on how society has conditioned us and how far we are from getting to where we should be in terms of this topic. Why do people care so much about other people shaving or not shaving, is it really a choice, how hard it is to take the choice of not shaving if you are perceived as female even if you truly don't want to shave. It was honestly a great book and it spoke a lot to me. I also like how it didn't try to find answers it was just the authors holding a mirror to society and themselves and reflecting (pun very much intended) on the subject. 4/5 ⭐

Ben Venga Il Piacere by G. Fasoli : a short guide to female sexuality written in a feminist lens with the primary goals of informing and empowering. It did a decent job and I liked how it took its time to work against the taboos of masturbation as well as menopause and generally sexuality as people get older. I think it failed a bit in its attempts at being inclusive. There was a quick intro to queer identities in the form of a list and a couple of attempts at not passing for a book only aimed at cishet women but it didn't really succeed in that in my opinion. For starters it didn't use inclusive language for the majority of the book, so people who have a vulva/vagina but aren't women don't really get included in the picture which is a shame. Especially from this publisher I was hoping for a bit more of that. It tried to be inclusive of people who are not only attracted to men, but the language always felt a bit clunky when the author could have simply used gender neutral terms. Also despite sounding more open to non heterosexual sex I think the author struggled a bit with it. I appreciate the attempt but again there were some passages and choices that didn't necessarily need to reference straight sex specifically and still did. Again not a bad book, it just could have used a bit more work and revisions. 2.75/5 ⭐

Cattivi Selvaggi by O. M. Zannoni: a very accessible essay on indigenous populations in Brazil, the stereotypes they are associated with in western culture, an attempt at deconstructing such stereotypes and quick deep dive on their recent history. I particularly appreciated how the author took her time to explain how colonialism and how both the people and the land have been used and usurped of their rights since the modern era, with a major focus on recent decades. It is a great starting point to talk about these topics and the author also dedicated a few pages on giving ideas on how one can contribute to spread these informations and of indigenous voices. 3.75/5⭐

The Three Musketeers by A. Dumas : I have ranted about this book enough in the past few weeks, but it became one of my new favourite classics. It was fun and lighthearted and I couldn't stop listening to the audiobook. 4.5/5⭐

Twenty Years Later by A. Dumas : the sequel to The Three Musketeers, the only unread book that remains in this pile of new entries of my shelves. I cannot wait to start reading it but before that I want to finish a couple of my half read books first!

[the---hermit]

Me, a book and my water bottle vs 31+°C

[the---hermit]

Book haul, very nice pins and one of the many books I have not bought (yet).

23|05|2026

Day out with my mom, we had breakfast in my favourite queer café, went to bookshops and had a delicious lunch! I visited my grandma on the way back home, went to say hi to my brother and the doggo and finished my day with some reading (I did in fact read in one sitting one of the shorter new books I got).