Booksology I’ve been doing reader-athons twice a year for over 10 years. In the early days, I did these things on my own, sharing my progress on social media and cheering others on. But that has changed over the years. First, I convinced my roommate to do it. That roommate now celebrates Dewey’s 24-Hour Book Club Day as enthusiastically as I do. Then I had another friend stay over so I could start working with him at 5am. This time, my roommate’s girlfriend joined us for a day and another friend stayed for 5 hours.
It was a great day full of snacks, books, and good company. It was raining, so it was a perfect day for reading. I love that reader-athons have become more social for me these past few years, but it means I’ve read a little less than in previous years. Also, I went to bed a little early, which affected the page count. I woke up at 5am and went to bed around 2am.
But enough about atmosphere, let’s talk books! First, I finished Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove, which I was halfway through. I always recommend starting your bookathon halfway through the book. Because you don’t have to get used to a new book at 5 in the morning. It was so much fun! It has a mostly episodic feel, mostly narrated by the ship and its onboard medical AI, but also features a few Sapphic perspective characters and non-binary characters. If you like gritty sci-fi or classic monster movies, give this movie a try.
Next, I picked up “House of Beth” by Kelly Cullen. This is bisexual modern gothic, and I really enjoyed it for reasons that are hard to talk about without spoiling it. As a content warning, this piece has a main character with Harm OCD. That is, she frequently has intrusive thoughts about hurting or killing people (including children). If that’s not an issue for you, I highly recommend this. I read it quickly.
Then I wanted a graphic novel that I could read through quickly, so I read Toxic Summer by Derek Charm. It’s a story about two gay teenagers who take up lifeguard jobs during the summer to check on the blokes at the local beach. However, when they arrived, the beach was contaminated with toxic waste. This is a kind of scooby dooAn adventure in style, exactly what I expected, but I found it quite forgettable.
One of the books I was really looking forward to was I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call by Jamison Shea, the sequel to I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me. I read the first volume last year and loved this sapphic YA horror book called “Wild Eldritch Ballerina.” Unfortunately, I felt there was no need for a sequel. i am darkness It really dragged on for me. I don’t know if I would have felt differently if I had continued reading. I still recommend Volume 1, but it may be stronger on its own.
I finished the readerathon by starting reading A Game in Yellow by Hayley Piper, which I’m still reading. I regret that I didn’t start reading it earlier in the reader-thon. Because this is a surreal, sapphic erotic horror novel, a heart-melting book perfect for an early morning read.
I still have a ton of short queer horror books in my library, like Coup de Grâce by Sophia Ajram, which I shared earlier, and Graveneye by Sloane Leon and Anna Bowles, so I’m thinking of doing a solo mini-book club for Halloween to get more of my TBR through. But even if I don’t make it, there’s definitely Dewey’s 24-hour book club next.
