iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by abgushte

Tim Banks: VibeRel Advocate @elchefe.me · 10/09/2026

For my birthday last week, i got engaged to @abgushte.bsky.social 🥰🥰🥰

A handwritten birthday card in flowing black ink on cream paper reads: “Happy Birthday, my love. You are the flame of my heart and the center of my universe. Let's get married,” followed by a small hand-drawn heart.

A close-up of a hand resting on the open birthday card, its fingers curled to display a ring on the ring finger. The band is crafted from deep blue lapis lazuli inlaid in polished titanium, catching the light against the handwritten proposal text partially visible beneath.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I did not realize this was originally a Draco/Hermione fanfic (the 2nd time I have been tricked!!), but it was still a 10/10 masterclass in silly banter enemies-to-lovers. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½. #booksky 🌶️📚💙

The covers of the Dearly Beloathed duology “The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy” and “The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy” by Brigitte Knightley

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I did not like the premise being based on the Mozart siblings as children for various reasons. Once I realized that the story is like a Studio Ghibli movie and it’s not that deep I enjoyed the book a lot more. I think this would have been more impactful as a short story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️¼. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of Marie Lu's The Kingdom of Back

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Lighthearted survey of common folklore traditions with a focus on the UK. Author goes beyond collecting silly, contradictory bits of folklore by introducing a direct line between folklore traditions and social media culture/trends: both are a means of social control. ⭐️⭐️⭐️¾. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of Household Lore by Liza Frank

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Overall positive with some mixed feelings. Not enough room to share all the pros/cons but loved the world building, badass characters, and epic religious prophecy with a satisfying ending. Did not like a couple of major characters/their arcs. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 🪐📚💙

All 3 books of Rebecca Roanhorse’s Between Earth and Sky Trilogy laid out on the floor: Black Sun, Fevered Star, and Mirrored Heavens. Text overlays indicate positive overall with some mixed feelings. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

**Left box (positives):**
- super interesting and original world building
- epic religious prophecy kinda like Dune ngl
- very diverse indigenous characters most of whom are badasses
- overall the ending was not disappointing

**Right box (criticisms):**
- sometimes the actions/motivations felt over explained and therefore forced
- Naranpa was a lil whiny b and then she became kinda cool but also weirdly useless
- weird Iktan fan service
- why does Okoa exist except to be thrown in the trash
- at many times felt like watching a very slow train wreck but then would go back on the rails

A text overlay also thanks Instagram user @whitandprose for recommending the trilogy

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I enjoyed the prose a lot, but if I have to read about hands balled into fists one more time I’m gonna throw the book across the room. Difficult to see/place the world—expecting more apparent Ethiopianess in the details. Plot predictable and relationships/stakes didn’t make sense. ⭐️⭐️. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of Tigest Girma’s debut novel “Immortal Dark”

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Like binge watching a juicy Netflix documentary. The only reason I didn’t finish in 1 sitting was because I had to recover some sleep debt (woke up at 2am that morning to catch a flight). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½. #booksky #lisajewell 📚💙

The cover of Lisa Jewell’s novel “None of This Is True”

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Telling a black person they are coming off as aggressive is poor form btw

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ but not a series for me at this time. Juvenile humor and Princess Donut notwithstanding, I can’t really do post-apocalyptic death games right now. #booksky 💙📚

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

DCC is a critique of capitalism/corporate greed + being a cog in a system that you benefit from but only at the expense of others. The 1st book sets the theme of being powerless to change that brutal system unless you build your power by using the tools of your enemy & becoming the thing you hate.

The cover of Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

…the exploitation of humans and the environment (which animals also need to survive).

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I love it! We’ve been using a normal at home circuit to recharge the battery since we don’t drive a ton during the week, which means it charges about 1% every hour but that works pretty well for us. Charging at home means the extra electricity is still less than gas. Plus no oil changes ever again!

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Whimsical and fun, and very meandering and disorganized in that Sachar way. The biggest issue is that all the characters are pretty flat and one-dimensional like cartoon characters, so it’s hard to be invested in the story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️¼ #booksky 📚💙

The cover of The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

What a fucking weird quirky dark little book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½. #booktok 📚💙

The cover of The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

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Reposted by abgushte

Tim Banks: VibeRel Advocate @elchefe.me · 20/05/2026

I love being able to share the mat with @abgushte.bsky.social as she is on her jiujitsu journey. I do my best not to stick my nose in unless she asks me, and when she does, it’s a treat to share a part of me that I love with a woman a love so deeply.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

An agonizing little treat! A fun mixture of wuxia and gong’an genres that kept me turning the page, but an excruciating experience of impatiently wanting everything to resolve quickly and neatly while being made to watch everything unfold chaotically. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of The Fox Wife, a novel by Yangze Choo

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

There was also a DD scheme in NJ several years ago where stores stopped throwing out their donuts for the day and just cycled them to different stores to sell as “fresh” 🤢

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Krispy uses centralized kitchens to make donuts for a region but they will also sell them on site at the kitchen’s storefront (the app indicates locations making fresh donuts with a “hot now” icon). DD doesn’t use KK kitchens or sell hot from their own kitchens…they will also sometimes flash freeze.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

I couldn’t participate in independent bookstore day today because I had to buy a new car and it left me with like $-50 in my bank account lol. But it’s my first new car and an EV at that! Thank you @elchefe.me for negotiating great terms for me!! ❤️❤️

A photo of a silly tall woman in shorts and a white tank open mouthed grinning next to her new black Hyundai IONIQ 5 in a parking lot. Her hands are placed on the hood and roof, declaring “this is all mine!”

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

This is one of my all time favorite authors because I can’t help but fall into their stories. Isekai is not a favorite trope of mine, but it’s very tongue-in-cheek, and the world building and characters never disappoint. I am only sad that it will take so long to get book two. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 🪐💙📚

The cover of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I’m a little over halfway through This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me and all plans are cancelled tonight. I will be finishing this book before I go to bed even if it kills me (lol), which it will because I will die from excitement for book two. I’M DEVASTATED I MISSED THE BOOK SIGNING IN AUSTIN.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Gothic horror, but make it cozy. Very excited to read more from Harrow! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️¾. #bluesky 📚💙

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

I admire and appreciate the thought experiment of this book (especially given the time period and point in Le Guin’s career) but am left frustrated at so many amazing but abandoned opportunities to examine the themes deeper. I did, however, love the author’s introduction! ⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 🪐💙📚

The cover of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness”

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Poor editing to the point of distraction and having to go back and reread sections. I really dislike the ongoing deus ex machina device, and of course it ends on a bombshell cliffhanger—but I’m still giving it 3.75 stars because I mostly enjoyed myself. ⭐️⭐️⭐️¾. #booksky 📚💙

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Checking the local queer bookstore: Spoiled Milk is a gothic paranormal murder mystery set in an all girls boarding school in 1928 and was released a week ago under Doubleday which is under Penguin — does that count?

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

I am less in the know on upcoming 😅 I just have a bunch on my TBR list

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

I loved VE Schwab’s Shades of Magic series so this was disappointing.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

I really liked the concept of women (specifically: lesbians) using vampirism as a means to freedom from becoming a husband’s possession but falling victim to the rot of immortality and becoming just as toxic as the patriarchy they were trying to escape. But the book was a slog tbh. ⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of VE Schwab’s “Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil”

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

He was right about everything: integration has failed. I wish he had lived to see the Black Panthers and have a chance to examine his own misogyny. In spite of that, he owned his flaws and demonstrated an open mindedness which hold up his legacy rather than tarnish it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley.

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Reposted by abgushte

Tim Banks: VibeRel Advocate @elchefe.me · 22/02/2026

Saturdays are for snuggles with the boys 📷: @abgushte.bsky.social

Two grapplers engage in a floor-level philosophical debate, with one making a very convincing argument using their arms. The bearded scholar in the leopard-print rashguard with hair piled magnificently atop their head like a curly crown appears to have won the discussion, as their sparring partner can no longer form counterarguments. In the background, a third philosopher contemplates their life choices in the fetal position. The mats are dark, the stakes are high, and someone is definitely tapping soon

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu training session on dark foam mats. In the foreground, a muscular nonbinary person with a gray beard and curly hair pulled up into a bun is wearing a black and leopard-print rashguard. They are kneeling over a second person who is on their stomach, pinned face-down to the mat with their back taken — a dominant BJJ control position in which the person on top wraps around their opponent from behind. The person on the bottom is wearing a black rashguard. Natural light streams in through large windows in the background, where a second pair of practitioners can be seen on the mat, one curled low over the other. The overall atmosphere is that of an active grappling class.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Haunting, beautiful, transformative. The story takes place 1 year after all the white people in America suddenly walk into the nearest body of water and drown themselves. Many folks feel the ending is flat and abrupt, but I thought it was quite poetic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. 📚💙 #booksky

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

BUT THE PART WHERE HE PULLS HER UP TO HIM BY HER FRONT CORSET STRINGS 🫠🫠🫠 #wutheringheights

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

When BIPOC give white latecomers the side-eye and gatekeep resistance movements, the historical events outlined in this book are a big reason why. White people who complain about not feeling welcomed to the party need to read this book immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 📚💙

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Added some of these to my TBR and picked up Sky Full of Elephants at the store today 📚💙

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

I actually started reading it last year but quit because the end of part 1 has a lot of tragedy and it was getting to me emotionally 😭 but I’m so glad I stuck it out this time.

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Reposted by abgushte

Pearlmania500 @pearlmania500.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Oh she’s BROKE broke

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

700 pages of “my god The Big Dragon Boss is coming and he will destroy us all” and 100 pages of actual The Big Dragon Boss Battle plus aftermath. I don’t like that ratio but I loved the journey, the lore, and the characters (except the designated asshole). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½. #booksky 🪐📚💙

The cover of The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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Reposted by abgushte

Mikki Kendall @karnythia.blacksky.app · 22/01/2026

I understand the impulse to distance yourself from American history. I do. But the atrocities are the actual normal for many communities. And until we confront them as part of a baseline societal flaw and address why they keep happening, they will not stop. They will just continue to shift targets

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

A sweet, slow burn romance with pretty standard high stakes political intrigue marked with heartwarming community and relationships. There is an agonizing twist at the end, but I’m optimistic that the story will remain strong as a trilogy rather than a longer standalone. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½. #booksky 🪐📚💙

The cover of The Serpent and the Wolf by Rebecca Robinson.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Gusting winds of 29mph in the Bahamas but still making a little reading nook to treat myself ❤️ Once I finish this one I’ll try Priory of the Orange Tree which I DNF’d last year because it was depressing, but now I’m in vacation mode so that means absorbing myself in it again will be just great???

On a background of a cloudy Bahamas resort grounds through a slightly open patio door, an identified figure sits with their feet propped on a hotel chair and covered in a white down comforter. A book is open in their hand, and on a nearby table lies a bookmark and a to-go cup of coffee.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

*Dreamy sigh* All the tropes I love woven into an exciting plot that never tires. I have heard the second book is a hot mess rushed by the publisher, but I’m gonna try to plow through it anyway! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 📚💙

The original cover of Quicksilver by Callie Hart showing a brooding male with dark wavy hair covered in tattoos and a silver liquid falling from his left eye.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Part 2 takes up over half the book and is a very necessary story-within-a-story(-within-a-story) that goes on forever. The fishing parts didn’t fit smoothly but still accomplish a decent open & close to the story. I just really hated the hokiness… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ still because it was pretty epic. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of “The Fisherman: A Novel” by Josh Langan.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

A solid YA mythical fantasy adventure with a heartwarming family and a cozy enemies-to-lovers + marriage contract romance. A wholesome read for sure. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Even as a satisfying revenge fantasy, the story made me explicably angry and outraged, especially as it’s rooted in historical facts. And yet I still came away feeling connected to Abitha, Samson, and Mother Earth. Also: another paperback destroyed by my greasy hands 🤣 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️¾. #booksky 📚💙

The cover of Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by (Gerald) Brom. The illustration by the author is a painting of a woman with long red hair in a flower crown sitting astride a broom with the legs of a goat peaking out under her loose, torn chemise. She has holding the skull of a goat in her lap that is wearing a matching flower crown. An image of a full orange moon takes up the entire background with the witch centered in the foreground.

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abgushte @abgushte.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

According to Seuss The Cat in the Hat was just subversive, not about specific political figures. Other Seuss books are truly depicting political figures or concepts, e.g. Yertle had a Hitler mustache in the original art.

Playground satire
Even The Cat in the Hat had a political edge. In Jonathan Cott’s 1983 collection of interviews, Pipers at the Gates of Dawn, Seuss said in response to the suggestion that some of his books are subversive: “I’m subversive as hell! I’ve always had a mistrust of adults… Hilaire Belloc, whose writings I liked a lot, was a radical. Gulliver’s Travels was subversive, and both Swift and Voltaire influenced me. The Cat in the Hat is a revolt against authority, but it’s ameliorated by the fact that the cat cleans up everything in the end.” Spiegelman finds a precursor to the cat’s red-and-white striped hat in the headgear on the bird Seuss drew to depict the US in his political cartoons.

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Reposted by abgushte

👻ZH00000GE LIANG 臥龍 / 伏龍 👻 @shuchancellor.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

The youth don't even know how to use an abacus anymore, we used to be a proper dynasty 😪

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