may: 20

it's been a while*, but i think i only read one book in may:

detransition, baby, by torrey peters (from my bookshelf - my friend nora sent me this one, and i loved it.  a fictional story of a trans woman who detransitions back to living as a man.  he gets a cis woman pregnant, and then has to confront fatherhood.  i wouldn't recommend this to a teenage reader (there is some pretty explicit sex-y stuff), but i'd highly recommend this to others - it was a situation that happens but that i hadn't conceived of, and the complexities of it were super interesting and nuanced.  the story is so well written, too, and the author is trans herself.)

*both since may ended and since i only read one book in a month

april: 17, 18 & 19

catching up on my posting!  in april i read: 

gods of howl mountain, by taylor brown (from my bookshelf - i liked the setting (mountains of north carolina during prohibition - we follow a bootlegger), but this didn't blow my mind nor have i thought about it a lot since i read it.  i liked it but didn't love it!)

smoketown, by mark whitaker (ooh, i loved this one, a story of black pittsburgh in the first half or two-thirds of the 20th century - the pittsburgh courier newspaper, sports, music, how black pittsburghers lived in the city.  i have been talking about and recommending this a lot since i finished it, and if you have any interest in the subject area, i would HIGHLY recommend it.  i listened to the audiobook, which was well-narrated.)

dear edward, by ann napolitano (this was fine.  it had gotten a fair amount of hype when it came out but it didn't blow my mind.  a decent beach read, i'd imagine, but nothing special!)