These aren't all the books I have read, but most of them. If you want to see the other books I have read, you can go to my Storygraph or Goodreads, though I haven't posted any reviews there and I won't continue to add more books on either of these sites.

TBR

• Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts
• Stargazer by Laurie Petrou
• Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
• Evenings & Weekends by Oisín McKenna
• The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

August 2025 Reads

⋆ The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government (2004) ⋆

By David K. Johnson

Date: 09.08.25

I found this on goodreads while accidentally typing Lavender People (I was misremembering the name to Milo Todd's book 'The Lilac People') and the name immediately caught my eye. I find that a lot of America's homophobic history that took place during and after WWII is mostly forgotten and I personally love learning about it and discovering new things I hadn't been taught before. This is a very important read, and so is The Lilac People!

⋆ Evenings & Weekends (2024) ⋆

By Oisín McKenna

Date: 05.08.25

I don't remember who or what recommended this book to me, but I did start reading it somewhere earlier this year before I hit a major reading slump because of work. But I stopped before even hitting fifty pages. Let's just say that I'm happy that I decided to pick this book up again. Full review coming soon!

Read Full Review!

July 2025 Reads

⋆ The Lion Women of Tehran (2024) ⋆

By Marjan Kamali

Date: 29.07.25 | Time: 6hrs

I picked this book up because it was under the 'Readers also enjoyed' section on Goodreads for one of my favourite books (Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu). From what I can remember, I haven't read a book set in Iran before, and it was definitely an interesting read! It talks about the political history of Iran, from the 1950s to the present. It also talks about class differences, and political activism. An important read.

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⋆ Happiness Falls (2023) ⋆

By Angie Kim

Date: 24.07.25 | Time: 7hrs

Definitely have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. But I don't think I can rate it more than I did, even though it did have a lot of good things, just because the bad things overshadowed them most of the time.

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⋆ Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh and L.A. (1977) ⋆

By Eve Babitz

Date: 20.07.25 | Time: ? (about 4-5hrs)

First book I've ever read by Eve Babitz. I once saw this book in Christopher Russels Youtube video about NYRB's, and I already wanted to read it because of the title but for some reason I didn't come around to it. Then I saw it again in a TikTok book recommendation video, and I decided to finally read it. I definitely want to read something else by Babitz.

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