#aapi queer books

[gisellelivesunderabook]

Happy Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month!! Here are some AAPI book 📚 recs!! :3

[the-bi-library]

Here are some upcoming bi Asian books! Make sure to pre-order the ones that interest you! 🩷💜💙 Books listed: Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee The Dark Becomes Her by Judy I. Lin These Deathless Shores by P. H. Low Rani Choudhury Must Die by Adiba Jaigirdar Better Catch Up, Krishna Kumar by Anahita Karthik Mistress of Lies by K. M. Enright Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao Please do let me know if I missed any books 💖

[jesncin]

IT'S GONNA BE MAY!! My queer Indonesian graphic novel about a trans moon boy going through Earth culture shock will be out this month, May 14th! Let us jam in unison to A1's Same Old Brand New You, which we can all agree is a trans anthem if we pretend hard enough.

Pre-order already if you haven't- there appears to be a discount on the HarperCollins page~ Tell your friends!!

[duckprintspress]

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with 22 Great Queer Reads!

May is wrapping up, and with the end of May comes the end of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. There are so so so many great books coming out by AAPI authors starring AAPI characters, and so – here’s a list of some of our favorites! All of these are either BY AAPI authors, have AAPI main characters, or – in most cases – both! The contributors to this list are: Shadaras, Tris Lawrence, Nina Waters, D.V. Morse, Terra P. Waters, theirprofoundbond, Annabeth Lynch and an anonymous contributor.

Not Your Sidekick (Sidekick Squad series) by C.B. Lee

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

“Eldest Daughter Seeks Her Wife” by N. C. Farrell from She Wears the Midnight Crown

Babel by R.F. Kuang

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

If You’ll Have Me by Eunnie

Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip to Love by Mira Ong Chua

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Away With the Fairies by Annabeth Lynch

Meal by Blue Delliquanti & Soleil Ho

Firebird by Sunmi

After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

Iron Widow (Iron Widow series) by Xiran Jay Zhao

The Problem with Wishes by Annabeth Lynch

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Hold Me (Cyclone series) by Courtney Milan

Sea Change by Gina Chung

Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix by C.B. Lee

See a book you can’t live without? You can buy it through our Bookshop.org affiliate shop!

You can view this list, and all our other lists, as shelves on Goodreads.

[noahhawthorneauthor]

May is dedicated to AAPI Heritage Month, Mental Health Awareness, and May 5th was for Missing Murdered Indigenous Women Girls and 2 Spirit People.

Not all of the MMIWG2S books are Queer, but the rest of the recommendations are.

The Mental Health Matters books feature characters who have mental health struggles such as depression, anxiety, and/or panic attacks, along with other disabilities.

Please check trigger warnings for all books.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌸 Queer Books for AAPI Heritage Month

✨ Good evening, my beloved bookish bats! AAPI Month, celebrating the rich histories and cultures of Asian American and Pacific Islanders, isn't over! Here are a few books for AAPI Month you can add to your ever-growing TBR stack!

❓How are you spending the long weekend and what are you reading?

✨ Young Adult ✨ 🌸 Rana Joon and the One & Only Now - Shideh Etaat @shidehetaat ❤ Forget Me Not - Alyson Derrick @whoisalysonanyway 🌸 Firebird - Sunmi @sunmi_comics ❤ Catfish Rolling - Clara Kumagai @clarakiyoko 🌸 A Bánh Mì for Two - Trinity Nguyen @thetrinitytran ❤ Wish You Weren't Here - Erin Baldwin @erinbwrites 🌸 True Love and Other Impossible Odds - Christina Li @christinaliwrites ❤ The Breakup Lists - Adib Khorram @adibkhorram 🌸 What a Desi Girl Wants - Sabina Khan @sabina_writer ❤ All the Yellow Suns - Malavika Kannan @malavika.kannan 🌸 Gorgeous Gruesome Faces - Linda Cheng @lychengwrites ❤ Kwen - Vichet Chum @vichetchum 🌸 Just Happy To Be Here - Naomi Kanakia @naomikanakia ❤ The Fox Maidens - Robin Ha @robinhaart 🌸 Gay the Pray Away - Natalie Naudus @natalienaudus ❤ The Dark We Know - Wen-Yi Lee @wenyilee_ 🌸 Fake Dates and Mooncakes - Sher Lee @sherleeauthor ❤ They Bloom at Night - Trang Thanh Tran @nvtran_ 🌸 I Will Find You Again - Sarah Lyu @sarahlyu ❤ She Is a Haunting - Trang Thanh Tran @nvtran_ 🌸 The Dark Becomes Here - Judy I. Lin @judyilinauthor ❤ Chasing Pacquiao - Rod Pulido @rodapulido 🌸 Girls Like Girls - Hayley Kiyoko @hayleykiyoko ❤ Only This Beautiful Moment - Abdi Nazemian @abdaddy

✨ Adult ✨ 🌸 Flux - Jinwoo Chong @jinwoochong ❤ Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion - Bushra Rehman @writerbushra 🌸 Your Driver is Waiting - Priya Guns @priya.guns ❤ Chlorine - Jade Song @jadessong / @chlorinenovel 🌸 Medusa of the Roses - Navid Sinaki @navidsinaki ❤ The Brides of High Hill - Nghi Vo @nghivowriting 🌸 I Will Greet the Sun Again - Khashayar J. Khabushani ❤ Exhibit - R.O. Kwon @ro.kwon 🌸 Greta & Valdin - Rebecca K. Reilly @edeka.k.reilly ❤ Your Love is Not Good Enough - Johanna Hedva @bighedva 🌸 The Emperor and the Endless Palace - Justinian Huang @justinianhuang ❤ Cinema Love - Jiaming Tang @ajiamingtang

[thevisibilityarchives]

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019), Ocean Vuong

BIPOC, LGBTQIA+

Summary: In a series of letters, Little Dog recounts love, loss, and the life that haunts and inspires him as a first-generation Vietnamese-American in Ocean Vuong’s debut semi-autobiographical poetic novel.

Full review: Since the 2010s, the ongoing “Culture War” in the United States has redefined the “Immigrant’s Story”, reframing the idea of the hard-working Bootstrapper Mythos with that of the more sinister vampiric leeching of resources. 

No longer are immigrants the proud Europeans sailing across the ocean blue with mere pennies in their pockets that they can turn into millions, but the brown-skinned Spanish speakers from beyond the border, determined to steal jobs, food, and women from the mouths of those Europeans descendants, while bringing forth waves of crime in their wake. 

This is the narrative which has driven much of the Conservative party’s rhetoric, and the very image of immigration that has taken shape over the years, despite the fact that people from all walks of life support our country and culture in various ways simply by being here. 

Melting Pots like the U.S., Brazil, and the U.K. have sordid colonial histories built upon the suffering of many, but today also support vibrant populations alive with millions bringing different languages, foods, stories, music, skills, and histories that are ultimately unappreciated in homogenous cultures. 

Ocean Vuong is one such individual. 

Born in Ho Chi Min City (formerly known as Saigon), his mother was the product of the relationship between an American soldier and a sex worker during the Vietnamese War. Through a series of unfortunate events, the two were separated and unable to travel back to the States together leaving Vuong’s family behind while his grandfather returned to the country, unaware of what became of his lover. 

Vuong tells his story through a fictionalized version of himself, spinning threads that elaborately span three generations from the chaotic and frenzied wartime days of his grandmother Lan, to her daughter Hong, to Little Dog’s own experiences upon moving to Hartford, Connecticut, and attempting to assimilate. 

In many ways, the novel is a stark reminder of the ways in which many narratives continue to perpetuate the Model Minority Myth, envisioning the lives of AAPI immigrants as a wealthy and successful group, integrating themselves into society to attend Ivy League schools, gaining employment within medical offices and tech companies, and investing heavily in cryptocurrency and EFT portfolios. 

This stereotype, which presents Asians as “studious”, and “ a group of naturally high achievers who are highly educated and highly successful”, has subconsciously wedged itself into the public perception of Asian Americans, often within the limiting context of those belonging to Chinese, Japanese, South Korean, and occasionally some South Asian groups. While some Indian and occasional Middle Eastern representation is included, often these portrayals are reserved for fair-skinned individuals, reinforcing standards of colorism. 

This stereotype places an undue burden upon those forced to bear it, creating a so-called positive lens that boxes entire groups of people into a preconceived notion of who they should be. Not all people of Asian descent are naturally adept at STEM fields, and the expectation for them to excel academically has correlated with underdiagnosed cases of learning disabilities, high incidences of depression and anxiety in teens and young adults, and out-of-touch media portrayals such as Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians. 

The life that Vuong portrays is often fraught with pain, poverty, and despair, one that mirrors the lives of the black and brown-skinned individuals Model Minorities are pitted against upon moving to the United States. Poverty, isolation, abuse, and suburban ennui all are recurring themes he writes about with painful poise. 

Still, Little Dog is able to find joy and peace in this life. There is the love of his grandmother Hong, the complex love he bears for his abusive mother, the burgeoning love for Trevor, his first queer tryst, his growing love for writing, the nail salon where his mother works, and the grandfather he reunites with.

Somehow, his story seems so fantastical, the mystic musings of a gay young man out of place and time, and yet he is one of so many. The black and brown, fair-skinned and in between, hungry and poor. Some become famed authors, others middle-class husbands and wives, and others are still claimed by the ravages of drug addiction, car accidents, plane crashes, and other misfortune. 

The reality is: Little Dog’s story is not an exception, but one fiery star in a constellation often ignored in a culture that seeks to fetishize the AAPI experience, creating a stereotype that discounts the struggles immigrants face while attempting to turn them against other people of color in the process. 

Vuong’s words are a source of power that brought him the opportunity to grow, tending a garden that has led him to various academic settings, prestigious publications, and beyond. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a love letter in spades transcending the boundaries of time and connecting us on a different level: a human one. 

Citations:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/white-u-s-immigration-policy

https://ideas.time.com/2012/09/07/the-myth-of-bootstrapping/

https://pacificasiamuseum.usc.edu/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/debunking-the-model-minority-myth/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/behind-model-minority-myth-why-studious-asian-stereotype-hurts-n792926

https://youtu.be/Cjzvvgmg1NU

[redgoldsparks]

My very last comic for The Nib! End of an era! Transcription below the cut. instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

The first event I went to with GENDER QUEER was in NYC in 2019 at the Javits Center.

So many of the people who came to my signing were librarians, and so many of them said the same thing: "I know exactly who I want to give this to!" Maia: "Thank you for helping readers find my book!" While working on the book, I was genuinely unsure if anyone outside of my family and close friends would read it. But the early support of librarians and two American Library Association awards helped sell two print runs in first year.

Since then, GENDER QUEER been published in 8 languages, with more on the way: Spanish, Czech, Polish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portugese and Dutch.

It has also been the most banned book in the United States for the past two years. The American Library Association has tracked an astronomical increase in book challenges over the past few years. Most of these challenges are to books with diverse characters and LGBTQ themes. These challenges are coming unevenly across the US, in a pattern that mirrors the legislative attacks on LGBTQ people. The Brooklyn Public Library offered free eCards to anyone in the US aged 13-21, in an effort to make banned books more available to young readers. A teacher in Norman, Oklahoma gave her students the QR code for the free eCard and lost her job. Summer Boismeir is now working for the Brooklyn Public Library. Hoopla and Libby/Overdrive, apps used to access digital library books, are now banned in Mississippi to anyone under 18. Some libraries won’t allow anyone under 18 to get any kind of library card without parental permission. When librarians in Jamestown, Michigan refused to remove GENDER QUEER and several other books, the citizens of the town voted down the library’s funding in the fall 2022 election. Without funding, the library is due to close in mid-2024. My first event since covid hit was the American Library Association conference in June 2022 in Washington, DC. Once again, the librarians in my signing line all had similar stories for me: “Your book was challenged in our district" "It was returned to the shelf!" "It was removed from the shelf..." "It was moved to the adult section."

Over and over I said: "Thank you. Thank you for working so hard to keep my book in your library. I’m sorry you had to defend it, but thank you for trying, even if it didn't work." We are at a crossroads of freedom of speech and censorship. The future of libraries, both publicly funded and in schools, are at stake. This is massively impacting the daily lives of librarians, teachers, students, booksellers, and authors around the country. In May 2023, I read an article from the Washington Post analyzing nearly 1000 of the book challenges from the 2021-2022 school year. I was literally on route to a festival to talk about book bans when I read a startling statistic. 60% of the 1000 book challenges were submitted by just 11 people. One man alone was responsible for 92 challenges. These 11 people seem to have made submitting copy-cat book challenges their full-time hobby and their opinions are having an outsized ripple effect across the nation. WE NEED TO MAKE THE VOICES SUPPORTING DIVERSE BOOKS AND OPPOSING BOOK BANS EVEN LOUDER. If you are able too, show up for your library and school board meetings when book challenges are debated. Send supportive comments and emails about the Pride book display and Drag Queen story hours. If you see a display you like– for Banned Book Week, AAPI Month, Black History Month, Disability Awareness Month, Jewish holidays, Trans Day of Remembrance– compliment a librarian! Make sure they feel the love stronger than the hate <3

Maia Kobabe, 2023

The Nib

[biandlesbianliterature]

Lesbian Gladiators, LGBTQ Jewish Books, Essential Queer Comics, and More Lesbrary Links

2023 Publishing Triangle Award Winners Announced

LGBTQ Reads: Happy Jewish American Heritage Month 2023! and Happy AAPI Heritage Month 2023!

20 Essential Queer Comics from the Past Five Years, According to a Queer Comics Creator

Literary Lovers: A Sapphic Reading List for Every Mood

Quiz: Which Queer Short Story Collection Should You Read?

... and lots more sapphic lit news at the Lesbrary!

Support the Lesbrary on Patreon at $2 or more a month and be entered to win a queer women book every month, plus $10 and up patrons get guaranteed books throughout the year!

[queersociologist]

I'm doing @queerliblib 's reading challenge bingo on Storygraph and trying to keep up with it here, too. Last year I read exclusively queer lit for pride month (not a challenge for me, it's pretty much all I read anyway) and it is fun to do it a bit more socially this year. Original bingo card on the left, my fill so far on the right.

Sci-Fi Fantasy - Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (This whole series, "Every Heart a Doorway" is very cozy for me right now, I'm burning through them. I don't usually love 'youth' fiction, but I've really been enjoying these)

Genderqueer or Genderfluid MC - Walking Practice by Dolki Min (EXCELLENT, very gory, inherently queer. Quick read. Could also have gone under AAPI MC, or scifi/fantasy)

Anthology - Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (creepy and morbid, so very delightful. honestly I love anthologies, I could recommend dozens but this was the one I just finished)

Aspec MC - Friends Without Benefits by Evelyn Fenn (Honestly, really cute. I usually prefer science fiction, horror, and fantasy so this more conventional lit was a bit out of my usual but it was surprisingly fun to read)

Comic or Graphic Novel - Fun Home by Allison Bechdel (very good, it's well reviewed for a reason. could have also gone under banned books, but I've got a different read planned for that one)

[gisellelivesunderabook]

Some books 📚 for AAPI Heritage Month!!

(I made this last year but forgot to post it :3)

[trash-soup]

Since my blog is gaining followers i figured I'd do a pinned intro

HI! I'm Sabri. I'm 29, I'm 6'4", and I'm a Hispanic Latine Genderfluid Nonbinary Pansexual (any pronouns, whatever you feel most comfy with 😊)

Everyone is welcome here except the following

DNI: Race/age/ableists, Xeno/Homo/Transphobes, Anti-Semitic/generally hateful/toxic and otherwise vile people.

On this blog, we stand for a FREE PALESTINE, Black Lives Matter, AAPI Lives Matter, Jewish Lives Matter, Palestinian Lives Matter, Latine Lives matter, LGBTQ+ Lives Matter, Indigenous Lives Matter, Genocide is condemned, Trans Women are real women, Trans Men are real men, Non-Binary and Queer people who don't fit into standard boxes are valid, Ace and Aro people are valid, all bodies are beautiful, Nobody owes you androgyny or anything else because of their pronouns or labels, and Love is love is love. Kindly fuck off if you disagree with any of that.

Things I love:

Hobbies: Gaming, reading, writing, cooking, cackling at memes, learning useless knowledge about niche subjects, singing, playing guitar, More.

Games: Stardew Valley (all time favorite), The Sims, Frostpunk, The Witcher, Age of Empires, Tsuki's Odyssey, Animal Crossing, Legend of Zelda, Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Assassin's Creed, The Elder Scrolls, More.

Books: Just literature in general, Edgar Allen Poe, the Osten Ard series, Tolkien, George RR Martin, Harry Potter(Fuck JK tho), ASOUE, More.

Music: Sara Bareilles, Nelward, Soupy Garbage Juice, The Altogether, Led Zeppelin, Classic rock/Folk rock/Folk pop/indie/Alternative, More.

Movies/TV: LOTR/The Hobbit, Harry Potter (Fuck JK tho), Twilight (look up #sabriwatchestwilight) ASOUE, Game of Thrones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Ted Lasso, Sex Education, The Witcher, Doctor who, Supernatural, Sherlock (Yes i was a Superwholock, shut up), Bob's Burgers, South Park, Pixar, Disney, Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, Poirot, More.

Youtube: Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, Dimension 20, Dropout, Gab Smolders, Crankgameplays, Game Grumps, Jarvis Johnson, Andy King, Drew Gooden, Danny Gonzalez, Kurtis Conner, Chad Chad, @strange-aeons, Sarah Z, Sam Onella, Binging with Babish, Uncle Roger, More.

Aesthetic stuff: Dark Academia, Cottagecore, Victorian, Nature, Art Nouveau, Edwardian, More.

I used to be @theactorsmind-blog and @theactorsmind-blog1, but those have long since been dead.

I've been on this hellsite since i was about 14, on and off sometimes. I was here stealing shoelaces, I've liked the color of the sky, i saw (read:Participated in) the mishapocalypse, i witnessed the great Titty Famine, I've been around for a good long while.

[rogloptimist]

book recs for aapi heritage month 🕺🕺

a bit late, but happy aapi heritage month! i’ve been getting back into reading this past year after my pandemic slump, so here’s some books that i really enjoyed by aapi authors 

the poppy war trilogy by rf kuang - this series is a fantasy based on 19th-20th century china. it’s hilariously written with some of my favorite characters of all time, and deals with some really heavy topics like colonialism, the effects of warfare, and classism in a brutally honest fashion. i have so much to say about it but that’s for a much longer post-

babel: an arcane history by rf kuang - at this point i will read this woman’s grocery list, she is such a skilled writer and genius storyteller. babel is set in an alternate 1800s oxford university, in a world which the british empire’s power is built upon magic silver. babel unpacks the intrinsic ties between academia and empire from the perspective of someone on the inside and the concept of resistance. it also really hits home to the feeling of disconnect from your native language as a bilingual/third culture kid- overall just brilliant book imo. the magic system is also really interesting (as is that of rf kuang’s other work)- she builds upon the real world to create a fantasy that is engaging, but also very representative of the motifs of her work?? idk how to explain it but 🙏rebecca🙏

you’re the only one i’ve told: the stories behind abortion by meera shah - you’re the only one i’ve told is a collection of stories about abortion entrusted to shah, a medical practitioner who works as an abortion provider. the book humanizes these people and their experiences from a variety of different backgrounds and circumstances, and is a really compelling read. 

we have always been here: a queer muslim memoir by samra habib - we have always been here is a memoir about  habib’s experience growing up as an ahmadi muslim in pakistan, coming to canada as refugees in their teenage years, and grappling with queer identity within an environment where their body and personhood was thought to have been needed to be controlled. habib discusses faith, sexuality, and love through a lens of self discovery and finding community that you didn’t know existed. 

the henna wars by adiba jaigirdar - this book is set in dublin, and follows a young bangladeshi girl named nishat. nishat has fallen for an estranged childhood friend, flávia, who just so happens to be her rival in an upcoming school business competition. and by some luck, they both have chosen to create the same business; henna tattoos. i’m a sucker for fluff so this book got me, but it also deals with appropriation and queer romance (particularly from a 3rd culture experience) quite delicately. nishat’s relationship with her sister was also so well written, and i think was one of the most compelling bonds in this book!

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar - okay i’m still in the process of finishing this book, but it has been so good so far! this is a story about two rival agents moving through a war that stretches across time, fighting tooth and nail for their own victory in a vaguely apocalyptic world. they begin a correspondence that spills into something that could change the course of time extremely literally. the writing style and descriptions are gorgeous, and the fragmented format of letters jumping across thousands of years is a really interesting reading experience. very cool book!

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong - god this man is such a talent- everything good you’ve heard about his work is true and you should go read it rn. on earth we’re briefly gorgeous is written in the form of a letter from a son to his illiterate mother, and tells a story that crosses over 3 generations with it’s epicenter rooted in vietnam. the narrator unpacks how the effects of warfare, immigration and generational trauma have shaped his relationship with his mother and his own life. i’m not doing it justice (not for any of these rlly i cannot elevator pitch books), but vuong’s writing is so beautiful and intimate yet quiet? 💃💃🙏🫶👍🙏👌💃

that’s all i have for now, if you have any recs pls do tell!! to my fellow asian/pacific islander americans, your voices and stories deserve to be uplifted and celebrated without being fetishized, appropriated or pigeonholed. have a great may! 

[5chatzi]

Okay I'm going to send you some partly-solicited recs for queer literature and classics because I have a decent amount of exposure to both~~

My qualifications include a degree in English and now being halfway towards my MLIS lol this is what I was made for

For queer lit, sometimes it depends heavily on your own orientation, like bi people want to read books with bi representation, etc. But those preferences notwithstanding, here are some generally quality titles:

Zenovia July by Lisa Bunker: A trans girl solves a cyber crime. Mystery, YA, contemporary setting, trans rep

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: a gay man who lives a boring government-worker life travels to an island in order to monitor the family of magical children who live there. Fantasy, found family, adult fiction (it has some kid's book vibes but does contain mild sexual content and mild swearing), gay representation.

Ace by Angela Chen -- nonfiction, part memoir exploration of what it means to be asexual, for the author personally and for society generally.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo -- a Chinese-American girl in 1950s San Francisco comes to terms with being a lesbian. Historical fiction, adult fiction (or might be YA?? There is what I'd call mild sexual content), lesbian representation, AAPI representation

Jeanette Winterson is a queer author whose work I generally like!(don't have specific title recs though) (I have read The Passion, and she has a couple biographies shelved in the queer library in which I volunteer. The Passion is not very explicitly queer from my memory but it is very good regardless.

For classics, here are titles that I personally Actually Enjoyed Reading and found relatively accessible:

To Kill a Mockingbird (and I also like the film-- I should have added that to my answer to your ask)

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is my absolute favourite classic novel, but I won't pretend it's for everyone, or that it's especially accessible. It's written in a heavily Modernist style that involves a quite lyrical, non-linear plot. But the prose is breathtakingly gorgeous and it has a really moving anti-war message.

Also, Orlando by Woolf as well, and this one is also queer! Features a genderqueer/trans/otherwise gendernonconforming character.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is very long, but it's a mystery, and I found it engaging. The section narrated by the character Marianne is the best, and I headcanon her as asexual or possibly a lesbian.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is what I would call poignant, and it's fairly short. Be warned that it contains some SA content, racism, and AAVE dialect that could be hard to understand.

Macbeth or Twelfth Night or King Lear are my favourite Shakespeare works to recommend. But with Shakespeare, it's better if you can see a film or live performance, since just reading the script can be difficult to follow.

Little Women!!! God, I love Little Women. Honestly not sure how that wasn't the first one I thought of.

Oh thanks so much for the thorough response!

I’ll admit most of these are wildly outside my normal genre, but I’m always willing to try new things.

I have read Macbeth in school but it’s been ages and I am pretty sure I’ve read Little Women but I can’t remember it would have been a long time ago. Oh and To Kill a Mockingbird. I think everyone has read that in school but don’t think I’ve read it since.

I’m gonna write them down and check them out and see how it goes. I pretty much exclusively read non fiction so should be interesting 😅

[illumoonated]

Thoughts about Wednesday (the show)

I wished i liked the Wednesday show more. Truly. But...

...the writing felt half-assed. The characters felt lazy. The addams family felt not quite weird enough. It seemed to be a very safe (somewhat boring) reboot that ppl are groveling over simply bc they want winclair to be canon (which, fine do your thing -- but you're setting yourselves up for heartbreak bc these writers/showrunners give zero effs about making wednesday canonically queer). The love triangle was actually painful to watch.

There was throw-away "representation" with her being asked if she was into someone a "guy...or you know, a girl?" to get woke points. Someone else pointed it out too, but the black male mayor being told he doesn't "know what it's like to be not heard" was so incredibly tone deaf it threw me off. As well as the only real POCs having a personality being the actual Addams crew.

(The siren queen bee was cool but she like immediately became Wednesday's bestie after 2 minutes of a heart to heart at a dance? Idk she felt wasted/characterized too quickly to feel impactful when she helped in the last episode. There was no emotional "oomph" to her being on Wednesday's team.) ((Also there was the aapi vampire who smiled once and had a single line of dialogue or smth...? wish we got more from her bc that's a cool-ass concept of being stuck in a place like nevermore where ppl know you're an immortal--like I was waiting for a big reveal to be pulled from this vamp being like "hey I knew your parents when they went here, oh, that fancy book you need? I have read all the nevermore books so many times I can just rewrite it for you by memory, where's your typewriter?")) Basically none of the students "banded together" for Wednesday in a believable way. They just...did....?

And if the intent was to simply get a flavor of the month moody white boi as Wednesday's love interest -- fine, but you didn't even make them likeable (not the actors' faults, bc they were clearly given no direction other than "go and be in love w wednesday for no reason bc she's MC"). And Wednesday as a character would avoid the moody bois and possessive "nice guys" like the plague (pun not intended) and would find interest in a strange/true social outcast more. (If she's gotta be with a boy make sure it's like whatshisface in Addams Family Values who is nerdy and nervous and a true social outcast that Wednesday had a real banter/challenge with instead of gross obsession/ownership like fuccboi #1 and #2. Again, not the actors' faults.)

I am so torn as an ace person bc I want her to be aroace so badly (and I believe it would be an appropriate identity for her). I also don't want to be the ace person being like "no winclair shouldn't be canon" bc I want sapphic stories to be represented but I hate how any close platonic relationships are automatically romanticized/ran away with despite how the characters feel about the other person. Again, if this is a friends(roomates) to lovers story fine. But there's zero chance that'll happen with the writing where it's currently at (I mean, they can change this but rn I don't see it happening).

TL;DR 1. wednesday shows how thirsty we all are for true queer rep/romantic or otherwise

2. the love triangle trope (esp the cishet ones) have to be damn good in this day and age to be worthwhile (the triangles in 1899 come to mind as good, current examples involving fleshed out characters with chemistry)

3. the show is trying to earn woke points without committing,

4. the addams family is mischaracterized from the source material,

5. this reboot entry is safe, lazy, and predictable from a plot, character, and worldbuilding standpoint (I was expecting far out weird/spooky shit like the Sabrina netflix series tbh and was really disappointed in how safe this reboot played it)

6. I wish I wanted winclair to be canon but i don't and I wish I did so ppl don't think i'm being "too ace" or "anti-" bc anytime platonic relationships occur between two pretty ppl the internet loses its mind and disregards what the characters actually feel about each other (reinforcing that friendship < romance)

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌸 Queer Books for AAPI Heritage Month

✨ Good evening, my beloved bookish bats! AAPI Month, celebrating the rich histories and cultures of Asian American and Pacific Islanders, isn't over! Here are a few books for AAPI Month you can add to your ever-growing TBR stack!

❓How are you spending the long weekend and what are you reading?

✨ Young Adult ✨ 🌸 Rana Joon and the One & Only Now - Shideh Etaat @shidehetaat ❤ Forget Me Not - Alyson Derrick @whoisalysonanyway 🌸 Firebird - Sunmi @sunmi_comics ❤ Catfish Rolling - Clara Kumagai @clarakiyoko 🌸 A Bánh Mì for Two - Trinity Nguyen @thetrinitytran ❤ Wish You Weren't Here - Erin Baldwin @erinbwrites 🌸 True Love and Other Impossible Odds - Christina Li @christinaliwrites ❤ The Breakup Lists - Adib Khorram @adibkhorram 🌸 What a Desi Girl Wants - Sabina Khan @sabina_writer ❤ All the Yellow Suns - Malavika Kannan @malavika.kannan 🌸 Gorgeous Gruesome Faces - Linda Cheng @lychengwrites ❤ Kwen - Vichet Chum @vichetchum 🌸 Just Happy To Be Here - Naomi Kanakia @naomikanakia ❤ The Fox Maidens - Robin Ha @robinhaart 🌸 Gay the Pray Away - Natalie Naudus @natalienaudus ❤ The Dark We Know - Wen-Yi Lee @wenyilee_ 🌸 Fake Dates and Mooncakes - Sher Lee @sherleeauthor ❤ They Bloom at Night - Trang Thanh Tran @nvtran_ 🌸 I Will Find You Again - Sarah Lyu @sarahlyu ❤ She Is a Haunting - Trang Thanh Tran @nvtran_ 🌸 The Dark Becomes Here - Judy I. Lin @judyilinauthor ❤ Chasing Pacquiao - Rod Pulido @rodapulido 🌸 Girls Like Girls - Hayley Kiyoko @hayleykiyoko ❤ Only This Beautiful Moment - Abdi Nazemian @abdaddy

✨ Adult ✨ 🌸 Flux - Jinwoo Chong @jinwoochong ❤ Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion - Bushra Rehman @writerbushra 🌸 Your Driver is Waiting - Priya Guns @priya.guns ❤ Chlorine - Jade Song @jadessong / @chlorinenovel 🌸 Medusa of the Roses - Navid Sinaki @navidsinaki ❤ The Brides of High Hill - Nghi Vo @nghivowriting 🌸 I Will Greet the Sun Again - Khashayar J. Khabushani ❤ Exhibit - R.O. Kwon @ro.kwon 🌸 Greta & Valdin - Rebecca K. Reilly @edeka.k.reilly ❤ Your Love is Not Good Enough - Johanna Hedva @bighedva 🌸 The Emperor and the Endless Palace - Justinian Huang @justinianhuang ❤ Cinema Love - Jiaming Tang @ajiamingtang