#Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir

[queerographies]

[Tomboy][Liz Prince]

Autobiografia narrata per aneddoti, Tomboy segue Liz Prince dalla primissima infanzia fino all’età adulta, esplorando le sue tribolazioni e i suoi desideri – in costante evoluzione – rispetto all’essere femmina, qualunque cosa ciò significhi.

Da bambina e da adolescente, Liz Prince era tutto fuorché femminile: mai in tutù rosa, mai intenta a giocare alle Principesse con le amichette. Ma non si può dire nemmeno che fosse “uno dei ragazzi”, come imparò ben presto a sue spese, quando l’allenatore della squadra giovanile di baseball la esiliò a bordocampo senza lasciarle mai sperimentare il brivido del monte di lancio. Liz stava da…

[e-b-reads]

Books of the Spring (April-May 2024)

I started this back in June but then life got busy again...books of the summer will be out soon, but for now: here's some books I read way back in April and May that I think other people should read too!

Maniac Magee (Jerry Spinelli): I think I read this when I was a kid, but long enough ago that I forgot most of it. Anyway, picked it up at a thrift store to put in the camp bookshelf of free books to borrow/take, and wanted to (re)read it first. It's good! A good book for kids (or adults) to read. Silly and exaggerated in the way good middle grade fiction is, but also about racism and family and having a home. Sweet, and a good way to get you thinking.

The Right Sort of Man (Allison Montclair): Yet another first in a historical mystery series, this one following a pair of women who have started their own business in post-WWII London - a matchmaking agency. Except they also keep getting caught up in solving murder mysteries. I enjoyed it; the dialogue and actions are snappy and funny, but the characters also have and acknowledge real struggles (they go to therapy! unusual in a 1950s-set book but handled realistically). I have now read through the latest published book and look forward to more.

Tomboy (Liz Prince): A graphic novel memoir of the author's gender experiences. Not earth-shattering, but I have long enjoyed a book that makes me feel less alone in my own experience of gender. Obviously I'm not exactly Liz Prince (for one thing, based on the illustrations, she's maybe willing to wear skirts as an adult but wasn't as a kid? And I am the exact opposite) but a lot of what she had to say struck home for me. And it's good for books to exist that showcase a small part of the diverse ways people are.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Moniquill Blackgoose): This one has done some of the rounds on tumblr for sure, but I did enjoy it, and posted something about it here. An interesting fantasy world that's obviously this world but with alternate history where the Norse colonized the Americas. (And the dragons, that's different too). I don't usually reach for YA fantasy anymore, but I will be looking for the sequel to this one when it comes out.

[dakotadanger]

Who doesn’t love a good gendery graphic memoir? Tomboy is about the childhood of Liz Prince, a tomboy trying to figure out her relationship with her gender. It’s got highs and lows, it’s hilarious, and the characters are great. I love stories about how people discovered/explored their gender, and this is a good one. Tomboy also shows that everyone has a relationship with their gender even if they’re not trans.

[rockislandadultreads]

Lesbian Books to read this PRIDE month: a list

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

In this graphic memoir, Alison Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

It's first the story of two women in the 1980s, of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women-of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth, who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.

Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

Lushly written with rich and vivid characters, SANTA OLIVIA is Jacqueline Carey's take on comic book superheroes and the classic werewolf myth. Loup Garron was born and raised in Santa Olivia, an isolated, disenfranchised town next to a US military base inside a DMZ buffer zone between Texas and Mexico. A fugitive "Wolf-Man" who had a love affair with a local woman, Loup's father was one of a group of men genetically-manipulated and used by the US government as a weapon. The "Wolf-Men" were engineered to have superhuman strength, speed, sensory capability, stamina, and a total lack of fear, and Loup, named for and sharing her father's wolf-like qualities, is marked as an outsider. After her mother dies, Loup goes to live among the misfit orphans at the parish church, where they seethe from the injustices visited upon the locals by the soldiers. Eventually, the orphans find an outlet for their frustrations: They form a vigilante group to support Loup Garron who, costumed as their patron saint, Santa Olivia, uses her special abilities to avenge the town. Aware that she could lose her freedom, and possibly her life, Loup is determined to fight to redress the wrongs her community has suffered. And like the reincarnation of their patron saint, she will bring hope to all of Santa Olivia.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned; the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa—a large, silent house now bereft of brothers, husband, and even servants—life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers. With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the “clerk class,” the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life—or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

[waterloggedsoliloquy]

Cecil’s Nonfiction Recommendation List

in the efforts of keeping this as small a post as necessary, I’m going to forgo synopses or else both you or i will be here all day. should a book’s title interest you, if you like you can send me an ask and i’ll give you a rundown + any relevant content warnings!

Memoirs 

-Raised on Ritalin by Tyler Page -Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough -Hyperbole and a Half and Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosch -My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness by Kabi Nagata -Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from my Bipolar Life by Ellen Forney -They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson -The Loneliness of a Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine -Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast -Choose Your Own Disaster by Dana Schwartz -The Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote

Art and Science

-What If? by Randall Munroe -Yellow: The History of a Color by Michel Pastoreau -The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair -The Big Orange Drawing Book by Ed Emberly  -The Anthropology of Turquoise by Ellen Meloy -Werner’s Nomanclature of Colors (Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralology, and the Arts) by P. Syme

Books About Books

-Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling by Phillip Pullman -On Writing by Stephen King -Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer -Understanding Comics, Making Comics, and Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud -Comics and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative by Will Eisner -Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc -Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar and Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates  by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein

[scarletwelly-boots]

Books Read 2020

I started off really good this year, what with quarantine and all. And then I got sidetracked by reading one hundred and forty-nine fanfics (and counting) (mostly Destiel; CW can kiss my ass). 

I read 30 books this year, which I thought was bad, but apparently I only read 24 last year, so not awful. I did the Popsugar reading challenge for the fifth year. There were 50 categories this year, so 60% isn’t too bad. So without further ado, let’s get started under the cut.

1. The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea, Maggie Tokuda-Hall (a book that’s published in 2020). This book, y’all. My god. It has it all: pirates, queer relationships, genderfluid characters, an intense plot. This book was so good. I definitely recommend this book. Pirates!!! And gay!

2. Somebody Told Me, by Mia Siegert (a book by a trans or nonbinary author). I don’t know how Siegert identifies, but I know they use they/them pronouns. This book was... okay but frustrating. A bigender teen, Aleks/Alexis, has a traumatic experience and moves in with their aunt and uncle, who is a newly converted Catholic priest. I liked the queer rep, but sometimes it felt like the author had these assumptions or prejudices about the Catholic church. Some of them were right, granted, and I’m not a practicing Catholic anymore so I don’t know why it pissed me off, but it bugged me anyway. So I guess if you don’t mind it seeming like the author did little to no research on Catholicism, then it’s a good book.

3. All the King’s Men, by Nora Sakavic (a bildungsroman). Who, me? Rereading my gay comfort trilogies during quarantine? It’s more likely than you think. Love the All for the Game trilogy. This is the third book in the series. It’s the best book in the trilogy. It is a series about a college sports team who play a made up sport called Exy, which is basically a more violent version of lacrosse. I’m not a huge sports fan, but the way she writes Exy matches had me on the edge of my seat. The team is made up of all “at-risk” students, the main character being a kid on the run from his mob boss dad. Trigger warning for the series for violence, sexual assault/rape, abuse, drug use, I may be missing some things. It was so good though.

4. Captive Prince, by C.S.Pacat (a book with a map). Back again with the gay comfort trilogies. This is the first book in the Captive Prince trilogy, and whoops, did I say love All For the Game? Love this series more. It’s awesome. It’s fantasy and gay and romantic. But the romance isn’t even the central part. Laurent is my favorite asshole. Damen is so sweet and sassy as fuck. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Seriously. I can’t do this series justice.

5. The Foxhole Court, by Nora Sakavic (a book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club). First book in the All for the Game series. What are you still doing here? Go start this trilogy!

6. Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (a book that passes the bechdel test). This is such a good book. It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. It’s basically a retelling of Cinderella, and if you’ve seen the movie version with Anne Hathaway, the book is way, way better. 

7. Loki: The God Who Fell to Earth, by Oscar Basaldua (a book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it). God, I cannot WAIT for the Loki show. Anyway, this is a new comic about Loki (obviously). I love anything with my disaster wife in it, so 100% I recommend it. 

8. As Drowning Men Clutch at Straws, by EA Roisin (a book by an author with flora or fauna in their name). Okay, so. Roisin is an Irish name that means rose, and EA Roisin is my (unpublished) pen name. In my defense, the manuscript is 186 pages long and it felt like an accomplishment when I finally finished rereading it for the first time since I finished it in 2015. Do I recommend it? I’ll let you know if it ever gets published.

9. Red White and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston (a book that won an award in 2019). I’m still rereading this book. I got interrupted because my sister wanted to read it and then I got a new book for my birthday. But this is, far and away, my FAVORITE BOOK. It’s so beautiful. It was very romantic (once they stopped “hating” each other), and gay. The premise sounds far-fetched: First Son of the United States falls for the Crown Prince of England. But, guys, it’s soooo gooooood. Highly, highly, highly recommend. 

10. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, by Hank Green (a book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics). This is the sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. This was just as great as the first, but I spent a good chunk of the book vibrating with anxiety. The stakes were way higher, and I don’t think I’ve been scared while reading a book since reading Jade Green (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor) in junior high (which was fucking terrifying, btw). But I definitely recommend it!

11. Crush, by Richard Siken (a book with a pun in the title). Guys. I read this book almost every year, because it’s quick and gorgeous and the title is accurate because it absolutely crushes me. This is a collection of LGBT (more specifically, gay) poetry, and OH MY GOD. This is in my top five favorite books. I read it all the time. This is the book that made me fall in love with poetry, back in high school.

12. The Raven King, by Nora Sakavic (a book with a bird on the cover). The second book in the All for the Game series. Trigger warnings for All the King’s Men apply to this one, too. 

13. 1014: Brian Boru, by Morgan Llewelyn (a fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader). If you know me, you know I’m a complete Irish history nerd. This book is about a very important battle that took place in Ireland, and the last great High King of Ireland, Brian Boru. High Kings are mostly just an elected title, who get paid via taxes from provincial kings and chieftains, but Brian was the only one who saw as close to a united, free Ireland as it got until 1921 (although since the island is split between the North and the Republic, it’s still not totally unified). I recommend if you like history.

14. The Magnolia Sword, by Sherry Thomas (a book by a WOC). Oh. My. God. So this is a retelling of the ballad of Mulan. Mulan is a very important story to me anyway (tomboy as a child, genderfluid, bisexual as fuck), and this retelling was so good and interesting. It also features one of my favorite tropes, Surprise Gays. I highly, highly recommend.

15. My Own Ways Through This Life, by Chris Viau (a book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads). Okay, so it miiiight have a four-star rating because of me and my camp family all rating it, but it counts. This is a mixed media autobiography by one of my camp friends. He has written at least three books, and all are available on Amazon. This is the only one I’ve read so far, and it was really interesting. I definitely recommend it. 

16. Insomniac City, by Bill Hayes (a book you meant to read in 2019). This book was beautiful and heartbreaking. It was a Christmas gift from my brother. It’s a memoir about Bill’s time in a relationship with Oliver Sacks, a famous neurologist. It’s sweet and melancholic and funny. Huge recommendation.

17. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens’ Agenda, by Becky Albertalli (a book about or involving social media). Still such a wonderful book. Better than the movie, I’m telling you. It was really good, and I definitely cried. If you liked the movie, read the book. It’s different in several ways. I think if you’re thinking in terms of trueness to the book, the movie was maybe not as good, but they’re both good as their own standalone things. But I highly recommend both.

18. Loki: Agent of Asgard, by Jason Ewing (a book that has a book on the cover). This is such a good series. It’s a great characterization of my disaster wife.  I love this graphic novel series. I love how they depict Loki, how he finally gets a goddamn redemption arc. It’s a really fun read. Check it out.

19. Kings Rising, by CS Pacat (a book with a made up language). This is pushing it, since they never actually speak in the made up languages on paper. But UGH. Third book in the Captive Prince trilogy, and hands down the best. Laurent and Damen finally let go of the goddamn longing and actually do something about it.

20. The Deep, by Rivers Solomon (a book set in a country beginning with C). This is pushing it, because it’s about mermaids (basically), but I think they’re in the Caribbean. I loved this book. It was so interesting. It’s based on a song by clipping., Daveed Diggs’s group. The premise is the wajinru (the mermaid people) originated as the infants from pregnant Africans that died and were thrown overboard during the slave trade. So like, it’s a pretty heavy book. But it’s heartfelt and sweet, too. Also more Surprise Gays, which came at an excellent time (November, post-Supernatual finale) for me. I highly recommend.

21. Written in the Stars, by Alexandria Bellefleur (a book you picked because the title caught your attention). I just finished this book tonight and it was so. good. It’s basically a modern, lesbian, fake dating rendering of Pride and Prejudice. And let me tell you, if there’s one thing I love more than Pride and Prejudice, it’s lesbians. It’s really really great. I highly, highly recommend. 

22. Running with Lions, by Julian Winters (a book with a three-word title). Thanks to All for the Game and movies like Handsome Devil and Boys, I have discovered that I have a huge thing for queer sport stories. So this book was really, really good. It’s got friends to enemies to friends to lovers, which is great. It’s got soccer, which is way more homoerotic now. And it’s got gays, which is really why I picked this book up. But it’s well written and the story is interesting, too. I definitely recommend.

23. The Prince and the Dressmaker, by Jen Wang (a book with a pink cover). Oh my god. AHHHHH!!! This book is amazing. It’s a graphic novel, so it’s a quick read. It’s fantasy and feels a little Cinderella-y, but that’s not the best part. The queer relationship is amazing, but that’s not the best part. The prince is genderfluid! Like me! And his mask name is Sebastian! Like me! (Okay, so my name is Bastien, but close enough) This was so so so good. I got it at a convention in February, and I was practically vibrating with excitement as I read it. I highly highly highly recommend. 

24. Girl Crushed, by Katie Heaney (a book by or about a journalist). I think I’d have liked this book better if it wasn’t so...similar to my life. The main premise is the main character is getting over a sudden and painful break up, after being dumped by her long-term (maybe first? I can’t remember) girlfriend. The ex has the same initials as my ex and acted very similarly, so maybe I ended up picturing her when the character came up in the book. The ending pissed me off. It was very gay and that wasn’t the entirety of the book, so maybe you’ll like it more than me. It was just too true to life for me and opened up some old wounds I didn’t want to open up. The author is an editor at Buzzfeed, so that’s how it fits into this category. 

25. Date Me, Bryson Keller, by Kevin van Whye (your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge--a book published this year). This might be my second or third favorite book, goddamn it’s that good. It’s queer, obviously, and sort of fake dating? Bryson is dared to date someone new each week. He’s assumed to be straight, so all the people he dates are girls until Kai asks him. It’s really sweet, and there’s some issues with coming out to your family that don’t always sit well with me, but overall it was really good and it ends well. I definitely recommend.

26. Loki: Where Mischief Lies, by Mackenzi Lee (a book written by an author in their 20s). AAAHHHH!!!! Fuckin.... Okay, y’all know I have feelings about Loki. He’s my spouse and I love him to death. This book was so, so good. Loki gets sent to Victorian London to solve a mystery and meets a group of humans who know about Asgard and basically keep Midgard in order for Odin. Loki is canonically pan and genderfluid (as he should be), and Theo is a sweetheart. I wrote a 10k fic coming out of reading this book (Phantom Limb by Irishavalon on AO3, check it out.). I seriously recommend!

27. Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo (a book by an author who has written more than 20 books). I read this with my third graders at the beginning of this year. Such a good book. I read it as a kid too. The movie is great but as always, book is better. Recommend.

28. Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant, by CS Pacat (a book with more than 20 letters in its title). This was a reread of a short story that comes after the Captive Prince trilogy. Charls, the cloth merchant, was such a great side character in the CP trilogy, and telling the story from his perspective was great. It doesn’t have to be read after the other CP short stories, but at least the trilogy should be read first.

29. Fence vol.1, by CS Pacat (a book from a series with more than 20 books). I’m pushing it with this category. I read the first volume, but this is a comic book series, so the 20 books is more issues. This is very good too. It’s another gay sports story, and is probably going to be enemies to lovers, but they’re still enemies by the end of volume 1. Still recommend. 

30. Prince’s Gambit, by CS Pacat (a book with a main character in their 20s). Book 2 of the Captive Prince trilogy. Very very good. 

[kindareallyobsessed]

Read in August ✨

Graphics

The Sculptor - Scott McCloud

My Friend Dahmer - Derf Backderf

The Best That We Could Do - Thi Bui

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong - Prudence Shen

Last Look - Charles Burns

Be Prepared - Vera Brosgol

When I Arrived at the Castle - Emily Carroll

Y: The Last Man (Book #1) - Brian K. Vaughn

Sarah Scribbles #1, #2 & #3 - Sarah Andersen

Thornhill - Pam Smy

In Real Life - Cory Doctorow

Luisa: Then and Now - Mariko Tamaki

Black Hole - Charles Burns

i love this part - Tillie Walden

Book Love - Debbie Tung

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea - Guy Delisle

Tomboy : A Graphic Memoir - Liz Prince

Super Mutant Magic Academy - Jillian Tamaki

The Prince and the Dressmaker - Jen Wang

The Handmaids Tale: A Graphic Novel - Renée Nault

Stranger Things: The Other Side - Jody Houser

Children Fiction

Sulwe - Lupita Nyong’o

Nightlights - Lorena Alvarez Gomez

I Need A New Bum! - Dawn McMillan

Be Kind - Pat Zeitlow Miller

YA / Middle Grade Fiction

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

Freak the Mighty - Rodman Philbrick

One Crazy Summer - Rita Williams-Garcia

Adult Fiction

Anne of the Island - L.M. Montgomery

Poetry

Say Her Name - Zetta Elliot

Non-Fiction

Beyond the Gender Binary - Alok Vaid-Menon

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck - Mark Manson

[biandlesbianliterature]

This is part 3 of 3 of the bi and lesbian books that I’ve read and loved! Click here to see the full list at the Lesbrary.

If you like what we do here and want to see more of it, buy us a coffee on ko-fi, or support this tumblr & the Lesbrary on Patreon for $2 or more a month and be entered into monthly book giveaways!

Romance & Erotica:

Rescued Heart by Georgia Beers (review)

My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris(review)

A Pirate’s Heart by Catherine Friend (review)

Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman (review)

Roller Girl by Vanessa North (review)

The Long Way Home by Rachel Spangler (review)

Macho Sluts by Patrick Califia (review)

Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica edited by Sinclair Sexsmith (review)

Comics:

Heathen, Volume 1 by Natasha Alterici (review)

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (review)

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars by Michael Dante DiMartino

Motor Crush Vol 1 by Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr (review)

Darlin’ It’s Betta Down Where It’s Wetta by Megan Rose Gedris (review)

Spectacle Vol. 1 by Megan Rose Gedris

As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman (review)

Kim Reaper: Grim Beginnings by Sarah Graley (review)

The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg (review)

Goldie Vance Vol. 1 by Hope Larson (Author) and Brittney Williams (illustrator) (review) (as well as Vol 2 and Vol 3)

100 Crushes by Elisha Lim (review)

Girl Friends: The Complete Collection by Milk Morinaga (review of volume 1, review of volume 2)

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata

Sugar Town by Hazel Newlevant (review)

On Loving Women by Diane Obomsawin (review)

Aquicorn Cove by Katie O’Neill (review)

Space Battle Lunchtime Volumes 1 & 2 by Natalie Riess (review)

America Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Gabby Rivera

Revolutionary Girl Utena manga by Chiho Saito (review)

Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, and Shannon Watters (review)

Supermutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki (review)

Jem and the Holograms by Kelly Thompson and Sophia Campbell

Heavy Vinyl, Volume 1 by Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva (review)

Citrus, Vols 1-3 by Saburo Uta (review)

Charm School Book One: Magical Witch Girl Bunny by Elizabeth Watasin (review)

Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess Vols. 1-3 by Jeremy Whitley (review)

War of Streets and Houses by Sophie Yanow (review)

↓ Click through for Memoirs and Nonfiction! ↓

Memoirs/Biographies:

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison (review)

The Family Tooth by Ellis Avery (review)

When We Were Outlaws by Jeanne Cordova (review)

Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote (review)

Hunger by Roxane Gay (review)

Prairie Silence by Melanie Hoffert (review)

First Spring Grass Fire by Rae Spoon (review)

Gender Failure by Rae Spoon & Ivan E. Coyote (review)

Before the Rain: A Memoir of Love & Revolution by Luisita Lopez Torregrosa (review)

Licking the Spoon: A Memoir of Food, Family and Identity by Candace Walsh (review)

Nonfiction:

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker, illustrated by Julia Scheele (review)

Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme edited by Ivan Coyote and Zena Sharman (review)

Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire by Lisa M. Diamond (review)

Inseparable: Desire Between Women In Literature by Emma Donoghue (review)

Queers Dig Time Lords edited by Sigrid Ellis and Michael Damian Thomas (review)

Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943 by Erica Fischer

The ABCs of LGBT+ by Ash Hardell (review)

Kicked Out edited by Sassafras Lowrey (review)

The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman (review)

Dear John, I Love Jane edited by Candace Walsh and Laura Andre (review)

If you like what we do here and want to see more of it, buy us a coffee on ko-fi, or support this tumblr & the Lesbrary on Patreon for $2 or more a month and be entered into monthly book giveaways!

This is only part three of the list! Click here to see the entire list at the Lesbrary, or check out Part 1: Fiction & Poetry, and Part 2: Young Adult, SFF, and Horror.

[chadsuke]

Books Read in 2022:

Knights of the Old Republic Vol. 1: Commencement by John Jackson Miller (2006)

Knights of the Old Republic Vol. 2: Flashpoint by John Jackson Miller (2007)

Knights of the Old Republic Vol. 3: Days of Fear, Nights of Anger by John Jackson Miller (2008)

Knights of the Old Republic Vol. 4: Daze of Hate, Knights of Suffering by John Jackson Miller (2008)

Knights of the Old Republic Vol. 6: Vindication by John Jackson Miller (2009)

Knights of the Old Republic Vol. 7: Dueling Ambitions by John Jackson Miller (2009)

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser (2001)

Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks (2000)

Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince (2014)

[ID: Covers of the aforementioned books. End ID.]

[kayleewilhite]

I genuinely enjoyed this class. We hit some heavy topics sometimes, but you can’t sugarcoat everything in life. This class felt real and it felt relevant to today’s society. The class helped me open my eyes to the people who are using their voices to make a difference. It made me question how I want to use my voice and what I will decide to use it for. My favorite book that we read by far was “Tomboy”. I’m not sure why this one stood out the most among the books that we read, but maybe it was because I could relate somewhat to what Liz went through. I was not a tomboy to the extent that Liz was, but I do remember hating that I was in this stereotypical girl image and “acted like a girl.” It really upset me that boys thought they were stronger and smarter than me, and sometimes I even believed them. As I grew up, however, I realized that it doesn’t matter what gender you are or how you want to present yourself, it’s all about how you treat people. I had never read a graphic memoir like this and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the art and the storyline. I want to read more graphic memoirs in the future and share them with the people around me. I would say this class helped me grow in ways I could not imagine. I learned more stuff about people in the margins in this class than I ever did in real life. Which truly helped my perspective and broadened my views of the world, and I’m grateful for that. I believe I became a better writer by realizing all the different ways to write and use my voice. There are so many ways to express yourself and because we looked at some of the ways to do so, I feel like it will be easier for me to express myself in the future. This was a great class and I would take it again if I had the choice.

[cheshirelibrary]

14 Diverse Graphic Novels About Coming of Age

[via Electric Lit]

From an Iranian girl rebelling against the oppression of post-revolution Iran to a “tomboy” refusing to conform to gender norms, these graphic bildungsromans blend gorgeous artwork with the written word to create a diverse multiplicity of narratives telling of the confusion, joy, and hardship of growing up.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Nylon Road: A Graphic Memoir of Coming of Age in Iran by Parsua Bashi

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

The Persepolis series by Marjane Satrapi

Town Boy by Lat

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Tomboy by Liz Prince

Skim by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki

Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

The Arab of the Future Series by Riad Sattouf

Snapshots of a Girl By Beldan Sezen

Mis(h)adra by Iasmin Omar Ata

a + e 4ever by Ilike Merey

Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home by Nicole J. Georges

[susreviewsbooks]

Tomboy by Liz Prince. The second book in my graphic memoir kick. This story is about Liz discovering herself and her gender. There is a trigger warning for bulling so be warned. I felt that at times Liz was just talking about how she’s “not like other girls” and talking about how “no one understands her”. That was my only issue with the book. Otherwise, it was enjoyable. Again I don’t feel comfortable rating people’s lives and experiences so we’ll be skipping out on a star rating for this.

[surejaya]

Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir

Download : Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir More Book at: Zaqist Book

Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince

Growing up, Liz Prince wasn't a girly girl, dressing in pink tutus or playing pretty princess like the other girls in her neighborhood. But she wasn't exactly one of the guys, either. She was somewhere in between. But with the forces of middle school, high school, parents, friendship, and romance pulling her this way and that, "the middle" wasn't exactly an easy place to be. Tomboy follows award-winning author and artist Liz Prince through her early years and explores—with humor, honesty, and poignancy—what it means to "be a girl."

Download : Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir More Book at: Zaqist Book

[referenceforreadingguide]

References

Bibliographic details:

Main Title: Gemini bites

Author: Ryan, Patrick

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2011.

ISBN: 9780545221283 (hbk)

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

City Library

Young Adult Fiction

Call no: YA RYAN

Main Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Author: Green, John, Levithan, David

Publisher: Speak, 2011.

ISBN: 9781921656231 (pbk)

9780142418475 (pbk)

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

City Library

Young Adult Fiction

Call no: YA GREE

Main Title: Lily and Dunkin

Author: Gephart, Donna

Publisher: New York Delacorte Press, [2016].

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

Library at the Dock

Fiction

Call no: GEPH

Main Title: Growing Up Queer in Australia

Publisher: Black Inc, 2019.

ISBN: 9781760640866 (pbk)

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

City Library or Kathleen Symes Carlton Library

Non-fiction

Call no: 306.766

Main Title: Queer, there, and everywhere : 23 people who changed the world

Author: Prager, Sarah

Publisher: New York Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

ISBN: 9780062474315 (hbk)

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

Kathleen Symes Carlton Library

Young Adult Non-fiction

Call no: YA 306.766 PRAG

Main Title: No straight lines : four decades of queer comics

Author: Hall, Justin

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books, c2013.

ISBN: 9781606997185 (pbk)

1606997181 (pbk)

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

North Melbourne Library

Graphic novel

Call no: GRA NOST

Main Title: The ABC's of LGBT+

Author: Mardell, Ashley

Publisher: Tantor Audio, 2017.

System Details: Format: MP3

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

Library catalogue

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(The ‘cloudLibrary’ application will need to be downloaded to your laptop in order to play. You will be prompted to download a different application depending on your device.)

Main Title: Tomboy : a graphic memoir

Author: Prince, Liz

Imprint: San Francisco, Calif. : Zest, c2014.

ISBN: 9781936976553 (pbk)

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

East Melbourne Library or North Melbourne Library

Young Adult Graphic Novel

Call no: YA GRA PRIN

Main Title: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Author: Albertalli, Becky

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, 2015.

System Details: Format: Adobe EPUB

Requires: cloudLibrary (file size: 5.7 MB)

ISBN: 9780141356105

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

Library Catalogue

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(The ‘cloudLibrary’ application will need to be downloaded to your laptop in order to read. You will be prompted to download a different application depending on your device.)

Main Title: As the crow flies

Author: Gillman, Melanie

Publisher: Iron Circus Comics, 2017.

ISBN: 9781945820069 (pbk)

Access details:

Melbourne Library Service

Kathleen Syme Carlton Library

Call no: YA GRA GILL

[bridget-oh-blog]

Tomboy : a graphic memoir

Growing up, Liz Prince was not a girly girl, she didn't dress in pink tutus or play pretty princesses like the other girls. But she wasn't exactly one of the guys either and never managed to gain acceptance on the boys' baseball team. She was somewhere in between. But when life gets in the way and middle school, high school, parents, friendship, and romance complicate things, "the middle" proves not the easiest place to be.

If you’re after a witty, funny and thought-provoking graphic novel, ‘Tomboy’ is your book.

[boyfear]

there's a book I own called Tomboy, n its a "graphic memoir" about growing up with gender role expectations placed on you as a girl, and its really good! but my level of connection with it has fluctuated over the ~3 years ive read it

cause its been like: 

straight but not super femininity rejecting (%60) > lesbian but not femininity rejecting (5%) > lesbian and very femininity rejecting (50%)