peonybookblog

[peonybookblog]

what's a book you read as a teenager that was so magical and personally profound to you it literally changed your life, doesnt matter if the book was actually well written or not. mine's probably the catcher in the rye

[peonybookblog]

His Dark Materials had its ups and its downs but at least they got to kill God in it. They don’t even get to kill God in most young adult series these days.

[peonybookblog]

are you queer? are you a huge nerd? (affectionate)

well, we’ve got AMAZING news for you. we’ve been saving some $$ and we just bought some of the most expensive ebooks in our wishlist to add to the collection - that’s right, academic, university press, nonfiction!

we want to make all kinds of queer literature, especially the stuff that’s hard for you to get your hands on elsewhere, accessible FOR FREE for EVERYONE 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 💕

check out our ‘just added’ titles in libby to see these (& more!)

and if you love what we’re doing, and want to see us do more kick ass shit like this, our annual fundraiser is currently ongoing! if you’re able to give $5, $10, $50 - every little bit helps us keep this library growing for the next year

[peonybookblog]

Pride Month Book Recommendations!

A book a day recommendations from a variety of genres and topics! Below are 30 of my favorite fiction and nonfiction queer books. This is by far not a complete list but I tried to pull from some that I haven't seen recommended as much. Happy pride month and happy reading!

Fiction

Biography of X - Catherine Lacey*

The Great Believers - Rebecca Makkai

Martyr! - Kaveh Akbar*

The Rachel Incident - Caroline O'Donoghue

The Air You Breathe - Frances de Pontes Peebles

Dogs of Summer - Andrea Abreu*

Swimming in the Dark - Tomasz Jedrowski*

Monstrillio - Gerardo Samano Cordova*

Belladonna - Anbara Salam

Written on the Body - Jeanette Winterson

The Black Flamingo - Dean Atta*

Girl Meets Boy - Ali Smith*

Loveless - Alice Oseman

This is How You Lose the Time War - Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar*

Valid: Dystopian Autofiction - Chris Bergeron*

Nonfiction

Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 - Sarah Schulman*

The Other Pandemic: An AIDS Memoir - Lynn Curlee*

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender - Kit Heyam*

The Transgender Issue: Trans Justice is Justice for All - Shon Faye*

A Short History of Trans Misogyny - Jules Gill-Peterson*

Who's Afraid of Gender? - Judith Butler*

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex - Angela Chen*

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex Obsessed Culture - Sherronda J. Brown*

Hijab Bitch Blues - Lamya H*

The Argonauts - Maggie Nelson*

Gender Queer - Maia Kobabe*

Everybody: A Book About Freedom - Olivia Laing

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches - Audre Lorde*

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures - Sabrina Imbler*

Girls Can Kiss Now - Jill Gutowitz*

*These books are all available through the Queer Liberation Library (@queerliblib).

[peonybookblog]

Hi, sorry if this is an insensitive question but I was wondering if you have books by black authors that don't center racism? It's not that I want to live a blissful life not knowing about racism, I'm dark skinned nb woc, racism is part of life. I just noticed that unless it's a romance book, every 'by black authors' book list I find will have all the books with racism being a major theme. As if being a black author means publishing will only sign if you write about racism. I want to read something different, happy and humorous, fantastical, scry, whatever. I don't want every book I read from black authors to be about race the same way I don't want every book by queer authors I read to have homophobia. I got some recommendations before and all of them were like "hilarious book where author talks about racism they faced in a funny way", I feel exhauated. I know different books have to exist but I can't find them when I google.

sorry I'm so charmed by the idea that asking a white bitch for book recs about Black people doing something other than experiencing racism might be insensitive

anyway you're right like!!! a lot of authors of color only get to crack into publishing if they're willing to write about their suffering and be lauded for that and like, cool, bless up for writing that but would be cool to pay attention to stuff that's not all pain and suffering!!

I'm going to caveat to say that some of these will contain, you know, References to racism, especially if they take place in the real world, since Black authors and Black characters are gonna acknowledge that, but I'm not gonna rec like. The Hate U Give where that's The Point, yknow? also a lot of these are still rather dark and grim as novels because of who I am as a person and what I like but I hope will still be helpful. check the content warnings for everything I recommend ever.

ANYWAYYY

gotta shill for Akwaeke Emezi right out of the gate as usual: their most recent novel, Little Rot, is a pitch black thriller that starts with a Nigerian couple breaking up in Lagos and proceeding to have the most evil and deranged weekend anyone has ever had. truly almost content warning in the book for this one, BUTTTTT racism is like. the least of anyone's worries. girl, there are hitmen.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is another Nigerian novel that's more of a dark comedy about a dutiful older sister who's been cleaning up her impulsive and beautiful younger sister's dead boyfriends for YEARS. shit comes to a head when little sis sets her eyes on a man her older sister likes (who's also her boss!!! gag!!!).

Helen Oyeyemi's novel The Icarus Girl is a quietly creepy horror about a young mixed English girl who visits her mother's Nigerian family and comes back with a commanding, powerful imaginary friend that no one can see, who starts causing terrible things to occur once the family is back home. I was blown away by how well Oyeyemi wrote little Jessamine's POV; really nailed the smart, lonely, anxious child perspective.

Darknesses by Lachelle Seville is a WILD paranormal indie pub that i read earlier this year that's soooo messy and so entertaining. I think I described it as feeling like reading through someone's blog about their OC's? it was a hoot. the basic premise is that a young Black woman named Oasis, physically and mentally scarred from escaping a cult, is working at a bookstore in New York City when she meets another gorgeous Black girl who claims to be in love with her... and also to be an incarnation of Count Dracula.

if we want some high fantasy I really, really love NK Jemisin's Dreamblood Duology, which is set in a fantasy version of ancient Egypt and revolves around a class of priests who utilize the magic of dreams. political intrigue ensues!

love of my life Janelle Monáe curated a collection of short stories called The Memory Librarian, where each story is written by a different author and is inspired by the world of Monáe's album Dirty Computer. Danny Lore's story Nevermind, based on the music video for Pynk, is my #1 favorite thing.

also if we want some nonfiction I truly adore all of Samantha Irby's essay collections so much; there aren't a lot of writers who consistently make me LAUGH laugh but she gets me. her most recent, Quietly Hostile, has some top notch shenanigans re: having to go to the hospital for a very stupid allergic reaction at the height of COVID social distancing.

you may also find inspo here (I know I did!!)

and here (I'm especially intrigued by Meet Me at the Crossroads)

[peonybookblog]

I wonder what would it be like to live in a world where it is always June? Would we get tired of it? I daresay we would, but just now I feel that I could stand a good deal of it, if it were as charming as today.

L.M. Montgomery excerpt from a diary entry dated 30 June 1902, featured in The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery

[peonybookblog]

My May reading wrap-up! I'd like to also give a shout out to Private Rites by Julia Armfield because up until the last fifteen or so pages I thought it was going to be the best book I'd read all year, but then I hated the ending SO much it kind of wrecked it for me.

My top three reads, as decided by StoryGraph by uncertain metrics since I had other 4 star reads that could have filled the third slot:

Galatea by Madeline Miller - this is a short story (novelette, perhaps?) but like. It rocks. Miller is a great writer. Not much else to say there! Glad I chanced upon it on Libby.

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman - very British humor, very lovable and nontraditional detective characters. I've been enjoying the series a lot and have a hold on the next one at the library!

Strange New World by Vivian Shaw - I thought this would be a trilogy, honestly, but here's book 4! I think it's getting a little abstract, but I still love the characters and the plot kept me interested.

[peonybookblog]

Finished it last night and liked it!

New Vivian Shaw!!! Happy Tuesday to me specifically!

[peonybookblog]

my best tip for anyone trying to get back into reading is to remember that you can read books to avoid other responsibilities in ur life and it can become a vice if you play your cards right

[peonybookblog]

New Vivian Shaw!!! Happy Tuesday to me specifically!

[peonybookblog]

hitting return early on libby when there's people waiting and feeling like a benevolent queen distributing alms to the poor

[peonybookblog]

happy pub day to Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness & a special thanks for taking this opportunity to support the Queer Liberation Library!

[peonybookblog]

reading poetry forces you to ask wrenching, necessary, impossible questions, like "is the author stupid? or am I?"

[peonybookblog]

all these excellent books come from some random penguins house?

[peonybookblog]

i do think theres something sad about how largely only the literature that's considered especially good or important is intentionally preserved. i want to read stuff that ancient people thought sucked enormous balls

[peonybookblog]

Knowledge Wins - Public Library Books are Free, American Library Association (1918)

[peonybookblog]

My (belated) April reading wrap-up! April is National Poetry Month here in the U.S., so I made an effort to read a little more poetry than usual. My favorite reads were:

War of the Foxes by Richard Siken - I never actually read Crush, but Siken's work is so often quoted and such a staple of queer poetry that I wasn't surprised by how much I loved this little collection. Very self-aware, referential, and beautifully written.

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mothar - I didn't like this as much as I liked This is How You Lose the Time War but that would have been a really high bar to clear. It has fairies, family, and fun with language, and it's also just a really pretty physical book. Plus, the copy I read included a preview of her upcoming short story collection which seems like it's going to be incredible.

The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf - a really engaging and informative account of Alexander von Humboldt's life, and his influence on scientists and writers for generations to come. I listened to the audiobook version and enjoyed it immensely. What an absolutely wild time to be alive (1769–1859).