I read two books recently that I can't stop thinking about.
One was called Notes on an Execution, and it dealt with a serial killer who is awaiting his execution, but it mainly focuses on the women in his life. It just made me very thoughtful because, as someone who has consumed quite a bit of true crime, it just made me rethink how we talk about killers as monsters. I am NOT saying what they do is not monstrous, and I am not excusing terrible people, but the reality is, when we label them as monsters, we allow ourselves to forget how human they are. We are allowed to say "Oh, they were just Evil." Then we don't truly have to deal with the dark side of what people are capable of. It's almost like we wipe them of responsibility in some ways. I also loved how the focus was on the women, how he himself is almost like a side character in this story. They were all so real and so alive, and that just draws even more attention to the horrible things this horrible man has done.
the other was Dear Mothman.
Noah is a trans boy who has recently lost his best friend Lewis who was the only other transboy in school. Lewis was obsessed with Mothman when he was alive and was determined that he was real. After Lewis dies, Noah decides to start writing to Mothman, talking about his deep grief, his struggles in school, his trans identity, his queerness. Eventually, even trying to prove Mothman is real, and trying to find him. The line drawn between queer identity and the otherness of Mothman, the monstrousness, the reality of being feared by others for just existing was .. very well done. there were a few times that it got a bit repetitive, but that made sense since he starts treating his letters almost like diaries, and it was still very impactful.
yes, this is sort of related to books. 
