The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill (A) A trans man goes back to his rural Illinois hometown and visits the local bookstore where he worked in high school and gets transported back to 2009 and his pre-transition self. He leaves the store and it’s 2020s again. He tries to help his pre-transition past self while figuring out his present.
I saw this listed in The Book List, which is a free publication at the library, under "best reads" or "hot books coming out (no pun intended) in 2025" or whatever...and at no point in the summary did it mention it was a trans man. It just said something vague about a guy who finds himself back in the past after entering the bookstore. Now I'm wondering if any librarians are going to get an earful about the subject matter from a, ah, more conservative reader.
The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks (Re-read) (B) I read this eighth grade, and I remembered liking it then, despite not being a genre I usually like, and then I read his Running with the Demon series in high school/college…and later found out they somehow are connected to Shannara now…been meaning to read the whole thing, so when I found them at a library used book sale for free, I took advantage! I don’t think I liked it as much as in eighth grade, but I did appreciate the metaphors far more this time. The plot is basically Lord of the Rings (which I have read and hated), but easier to read.
Funny...I read the entire Sword of Shannara series when I was about the same age as when you read them, and I loved them. And then I all but forgot about them. Perhaps I'll leave the books in the past...
