TLDR; go get a damn library card (please. Pretty please. And thank u 👉👈)

Story time

I was a cryptic pregnancy 😱😱 My mother didn’t find out till 7 months in and I was also born prematurely… at 7 months. As a young single mother, she needed a fun, cheap, and easy way to keep me entertained. Introducing the library! Not only do I have a plethora of fond memories there, but it also gave my mom the ability to be a better mom and be more present (by giving her breaks and entertainment for her two young children).

Growing up I had always utilized my library card, even after we worked our way out of financial struggle.

Now that I am a (broke) adult the library continues to support me. I don’t spend much on myself, I repair my old clothes, make my own coffee at home, I use all the coupons I can find, ect. But the one thing I do like to splurge on is Spotify. Unfortunately bc of this lovely economy, I’ve had to give that up temporarily. Bit of a first world issue but I was honestly really struggling with not being able to listen to music without wifi. But yet again incomes the library to save my ass. Specifically hoopla!! I just found out that if u have a hoopla account, u can download and listen to music offline?? For free???

Honestly considering abandoning Spotify… (Esp cuz all of their ai slop and rumoured price increases)

Anyways, all this to say SUPPORT UR LIBRARY!! THEY CAN SO SO MUCH FOR U!! I could go on for hours abt all of the resources they provide but this post is already getting long…

(Ps, if u can’t make it to ur library in person u can apply for a digital card online)

My coworkers and I were participating in this today at lunch soooooo.. WRONG ANSWERS ONLY- who’s a good boy?? (Fictional bookish)🤔😂

I’m a hardcore Questie. Before PB I just kind of entered the void and found books at random, often having to do some serious digging to finally find something to read. PB has really helped me find books, primarily via Quests!

I’m also absolutely ✨obsessed✨ with badges. I’m in more Quests than I can count, and I love working my way up to different badge levels 😍

That being said I’m struggling to organize my reading around said Quests/Badge collecting.

I recently created something in my Notes App where I’ve broken down:

1. Which quests I’m actively trying to earn my first badge in
2. Which quests I’m working towards getting silver, gold, platinum, etc.
3. Which quests I’m actively prioritizing in April

For those who also read in a Quest-driven frenzy, are there any other methods you use to organize or plan? Or just advice in general? I’m not a fan of excel and my brain struggles to make sense of it so I won’t be doing that 😬 but open to other suggestions!!

So imagine you're in a mostly-male room and women's month comes up. One says, I would love to support women, but how? I simply can't think of anything. One says, I just think there aren't more women partners because being a partner requires a lot of sales. (I'm sorry what) One says, I've heard Sheryl Sandberg is smart, ladies you should read her book.

Once I woke up from the rage induced blackout too much time had passed, so I come to you lovely readers. Lean in, with all its good and bad, is really written for young(ish) women trying to climb the corporate ladder.

What recs do you all have for 'baby's first feminism' that's aimed more at the men currently seated at the table? There must be something but I'm drawing a blank.

I've made sure to make note of all the books that have been recommended so far (although my TBR is literally in the hundreds so I haven't gotten to them all yet), but I wanted to make this post to consolidate all future recommendations.

If you've requested a book before and want to add it again just to be doubly sure, go for it! If you were hesitant about making a whole post yourself, the comments section of this post is for you.

All I ask is that the detective (amateur or professional, we don't separate them here) be queer in some way - and that means any identity under that 2SLGBTQIAP+ umbrella! If you could also leave a non-spoiler reason why you are recommending it for this quest, that would be delightful!