#but ALSO.... idk if you're in book headspaces right now so apologies if not

[variousqueerthings]

I was tagged by @oh2e for some books and texts I’ve been reading recently

Before We Were Trans (Kit Heyam): I finished this last night and I am so happy that this exists. A challenge to the existing frameworks of what we call Trans History, purposefully intersectional and broad in its exploration

Brand New Ancients (Kae Tempest): This came out before Kae did, so ignore the name there. A beautiful story in poetic form, you can see it was intended to be read out loud. Reconsidering mythologies and gods

Shikhandi And Other Tales They Don’t Tell You (Devdutt Pattanaik): A queer exploration of Indian mythologies and religious stories. I have a lot to learn here, and I’m so glad this perspective exists

I Sexually Identify As An Attack Helicopter (Isabel Fall): A short story that sparked a lot of conversation about how we forcibly out creatives, genuinely an interesting set of questions about what happens when queer gender rights are appropriated by militaristic society

The Prophets (Robert Jones Jr.): Rethreading queer lines that were broken under slavery, centres two enslaved men on a plantation, while creating queer cultural roots through space and time

Detransition Baby (Torrey Peters): A story about a detransitioned trans woman (now cis man) who accidentally gets a woman pregnant and tries to find a way to queer parenthood. I’m pleased I read it and definitely recommend, but there were elements that I struggled with. The detransitioned character was so worth following

Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer): Recommended to anyone who’s feeling climate doom, especially to get us out of an individualistic headspace and into anti-colonialist allyship with one another. Also plants. Remember to thank them

A Bright Room Called Day (Tony Kushner): Can’t believe I never read (or watched) this play before, considering it’s Kushner and I was a baby theatre gay, but I found it very healing in our times + Kushner’s musings in the 1994 afterword, thank you @mimsyaf

Between The World And Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates): A letter to his son. I don’t even know what else to say, go read it

Thanks again for the tag, I feel like if there’s one thing I actually have had the energy to do it’s read a lot (ngl it’s been a coping mechanism/avoidance tactic at times) and I always want to !!!! about it. I noticed with this list I’m currently drawn to books about creating/recreating threads; historical, mythological, political, communal. I’m very much feeling the potential power of finding similarities, allyship, and family, rather than cutting ourselves off into individual causes and clear-cut hierarchical identities. Some of these books were for me to find myself in and some of them were about listening. I think that’s an important balance too.

hon mention: The Peregrine, JA Baker

tagging (and no pressure whatsoever, I don’t know if you’ve had the spoons for books): @hunkydorkling , @le-red-queen , @an-sceal , @elsonambulo , @pohjanneito , @likethegardensofbabylonn