Hello my friends, and happy belated Trans Joy Thursday. I have been extremely under the weather since Tuesday and it has honestly taken me out! I've been chugging tea and soup like they're both an Olympic sport. But alas, I'm back at work today for my long weekend and wanted to reach out to you all this week to let you know what's going on, my absence, and to nerd out and talk books!

Today also is a great day to be a Wisconsin sports fan BECAUSE THE BREWERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES! (FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 44 YEARS!) They swept the Dodgers and are moving on and I'm so very excited to watch this team play. They're truly something special.

Now that I've let my sport side show, let's get into this week's trans joys, shall we? Aside from being sick (boo) I have also been in the majorest of reading slumps - as in I have not finished a book this month. I am still reading To Our Untamed Core (Our Q4 book club pick) as the chapter breakdown we discussed in Discord, and on here last week, and I'm also still plugging away on Thirst, the book from my Unhinged Reading Challenge: Queer Spooky Edition. (For reference, I was hoping to do one of these books a week - sigh.)

In work-related news, I just got the approval to create a little free library at my main office for our community members who use the building, so that's exciting. We're working on all the logistical boring stuff now, but I did get the approval! So that's very exciting for me. (And I get to offload a lot of books in the process to keep it stocked - truly a win/win. lol)

In some other exciting bookish news, I just scheduled our first Beyond The Rainbow chat for January 2027! I have began looking ahead for next year as to give you all as much notice as I possibly can. I'm still very much in the planning stages for both the Beyond The Rainbow chats and the Quarterly book club selections, so please tell me what's on your 2027 radar for LGBTQIA+ books/authors you'd like to see here! I do think I have our Q1 book club pick tentatively selected, but not set in stone. I'm always open to your feedback, too. I'd like to keep it a healthy combination of fiction/nonfiction to appease everyone and also broaden our horizons, too. Let me know on Discord or in the comments your thoughts/opinions. I'll also definitely share more about the confirmed 2027 chats as it gets closer to the end of the year.

Over on Discord, we're also discussing our inaugural Read-A-Thon and there's a current poll going (with about 24ish hours left) asking what weekend you'd like to host it - Go make sure your voice is heard on that poll, because that will decide when we're having it! There will be some bingo activities and prizes, so make sure you're also on the Discord server, too, as it's exclusively being held over there. Once the weekend is finalized, I'll make sure I post about it to keep everyone in the loop. :) I'm very excited.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend ahead of you. Collaborators, I will see you on Tuesday. Thank you all so much for being here. I am looking forward to watching us grow and I'm thankful you all are here.

With all my trans joy,

Sawyer Cole

Happy Friday, mis internet amigxs!

Latinx Heritage Month 2026 has ended and you're STILL here reading Latinx Books. Kudos to you for reading Latinx books 365 days of the year and being a member of Bien Leidos Book Club! Thank you for being here and supporting me, but, most of all, thank you for committing to support Latinx books all year long.

If you want to be the first to the book chisme and receive early Latinx book releases every month, or just want to support me as a creator now that Latinx Heritage Month is over, then please consider upgrading your membership to a paid tier.

Since we're in fourth quarter and I know everyone is already scrambling to meet their year-end reading goals, I wanted to re-introduce you to out Bien Leidos Latinx Book Bingo Card to keep you motivated to read a wide variety of Latinx books throughout the remainder of the year (I'll be polling for 2027 squares soon, so keep your eyes peeled!).

I've updated our bingo card aesthetic with elements from Manuela Guillén's profile artwork I commissioned a while back and use here on Bindery. None of the categories have changed, just the aesthetic.

Also, I'm in the final stages of planning some giveaways for Bien Leidos members that get bingo and will get up a submission form soon. These goodies will be EXCLUSIVELY for YOU as a token of my thanks for being here and helping build the Bien Leidos community.

If you are looking for recommendations for any category, I made videos at the beginning of the year highlighting books in every category earlier this year. You can find them on YouTube. Video 1 and Part 2

If there's a particular category you need more recommendations on, then please let me know in the comments!

NONFICTION & DECEMBER FICTION BOOK CLUB UPDATE

I'll be posting on social media soon, but a reminder that our November book club selection is Beginning, Middle End by Valeria Luiselli. We'll be reading all November and celebrating all the Latine Excellence at the National Book Awards.

As many of you know, I'm facing a number of personal challenges right now, so I'm changing our November - December Nonfiction book, as well as our December book format. Instead of dictating a book, I'm challenging you to fill in an additional bingo square (or 2 or more!) before the end of the year by selecting a book in a category you haven't filled in yet on your Bingo Card. I'll be doing the same and reading along with you. We'll be checking in during sprints nights and on Discord regularly about books we selected and why.

I appreciate your patience with me as I continue to adapt to a new reality as well as for being a part of this strong community uplifting Latinx books. I am forever grateful for each and every one of you.

xo,

Carmen