Twenty Things I've Read - And Watched! #1

Okay, slight change of plan for the next 6 months. I'm aiming to watch YouTube more so this feature is now becoming Twenty Things I've Read/Watched. A massive thanks to Debbie for recommending the awesome Ash Hardell, and to Ash for the incredible book The ABC's of LGBT+ which has introduced me to a bunch of awesome YouTubers who you'll probably be seeing pop up in this feature a fair bit now.

As mentioned in week 1, there are some sites which could quite conceivably fill this list between them EVERY WEEK as they constantly produce amazing posts - and I find it way too hard to single them out! So instead, I will just list them at the start of each post. If you're not reading the following, you are REALLY missing out.

Safe Space
Media Diversified
LGBTQ Reads
The Pool
Teen Vogue 

Addition: Given the current political climate, I would strongly suggest also reading EVERYTHING Celeste Pewter tweets; she is incredibly insightful and her tweets on US politics have helped me figure out which things going on are reasonably worrying and which are absolutely terrifying.

I love Amy's June recap. She's definitely one of my favourite new bloggers for a long time; her reviews are short, to the point and packed full of information.

Brilliant piece in SELF magazine from the incredible Eliel Cruz, "I'm a Bisexual Man and No, It's Not Just a Phase." 

Great response from Wintersong author S Jae Jones to the question "Why did you choose to write a European story instead of something Asian?"   

I'm super-excited for Amelia Fang by Laura Ellen Anderson - she's started a fascinating blog here looking at the process of creating it! 



Fabulous piece on The Bookshop Around The Corner about Independent Bookshop Week 2017. 

A couple of awesome lists - Caitlin White for Bustle, with 14 July releases to look forward to. (It's US-based, but includes the incredible Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard, under the US title Fragile Like Us.) 

And Kayla Whaley for B & N with 50 crucial feminist YA novels.

Saundra Mitchell's awesome takedown of the terrible Kirkus review of Jennifer Mathiue's outstanding Moxie is a must-read. 



I mention the #ZoellaBookClub in the videos section below - I like the line-up, but wish there was a bit more diversity in it. I absolutely love the book club picks Beth came up with in response, which I think is an AMAZING line-up of books!  

There's a great BuzzFeed quiz here - which romcom leading lady are you? I got Bridget Jones and my friend Caitlin got Kat Stratford; both of these are dead on!

On Amy Poehler's Smart Girls blog, Parks and Rec star Natalie Morales came out in this wonderful essay. 

And finally (before the new video section) this is an adorable thread of cute dogs, started by the fabulous Ruby Elliott! 



As mentioned earlier, the new Zoella Book Club selections have been picked! This page here links to Zoella, and the authors she's teamed up with, discussing why they chose their books. 

And speaking of book clubs, ultra-talented Anna James and the awesome Eric Karl Anderson have teamed up to create the Anna & Eric Book Club. If you're looking for adult books to discuss, this looks amazing! 

I love my friend George's fabulous Queer Readathon TBR video! 

And I really enjoyed another book blogging friend of mine, the amazing Lily, doing an awesome Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag. (Great taste in books; I totally agree with THUG as best of the year so far!)  


Sexplanations on Polyamory is awesome! 

I also thought this Alayna Fender/Chandler video, Asexuality and Having Sex, was wonderful! 

And this Riley Jay Dennis video about transitioning and facial feminisation surgery is a long one but an INCREDIBLE watch. 

And I've been binge-watching Carmilla yet again as I realised I've only ever seen the first 2 seasons, but I had to rewatch to get ready for seasons zero and three (which I'm coming to soon.) If you haven't seen this AMAZING LGBTQ+ webseries, start here!