#m/m book recommendations

[genderkoolaid]

Just wanted to let y kno that people are accusing you of being a zionist and all that? Idk if its true but im assuming it isnt

I support Palestinian liberation, think the government of Israel is absolutely committing a genocide (& is awful in many other ways), and that Western nations are invested in Israel to help further their own imperial goals in West Asia. However I also think this situation is not 1:1 comparable with Western colonial states like America & I'm concerned with how many people (largely white, large Western people) have taken an extremely black and white view of this issue where "says nuance is important" is synonymous with "denies Palestinian oppression." There is a real and bipartisan antisemitism issue here & a lot of people are not taking seriously enough how antisemitism & the legacy of Jewish oppression shapes this issue in ways which make it fundamentally different to talking about White Christian colonization of America.

I am an anarchist & have no attachment to any state's existence. My only hope is that the war ends & a way is found to have everyone in that region (including Palestinians who have been forced from their home and current Israeli citizens) living safe, fulfilling lives in a community which is free from the control of imperialism and other forms of injustice.

[bones-clouds]

books i read in 2024:

"if were villains"

m. l. rio

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

genre: dark academia, thriller, mystery, mlm

synopsis:

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail - for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.

As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

[queerromancerecs]

Queer Romance Recs!

is officially open! (Although still new and I am sure there will be issues we discover as we go along.)

This is a blog for readers of queer romance and queer romantic fiction to submit recommendations so that others can discover the treasure trove of queer joy out there.

How does it work? Well, you can follow the blog to receive recs, and hopefully occasionally reblog anything that might strike your fancy, and likewise read anything that looks interesting to you. You can also submit recommendations. All you have to do is follow the format guidelines.

Some quick answers to some possible questions you might have:

Queer means LGBTQIA+. Exclusionists can make their own sad little space.

Romance in this case can mean the genre of Romance (which has certain expectations, like a Happily Ever After or a Happy For Now ending) and other types of fiction with a strong romantic element involving one or many of the main characters. Yes, erotic romance counts.

This means f/f or m/m romance novels, and it can mean a bestselling fantasy or sci fi series with a queer mains and some sort of love story in there. It means gay and lesbian and trans and ace love stories. It means nb stuff. It means aro stuff. It means genderqueer or genderfuck or agender. It means yes polyam too.

And in fact, right now, with the current affairs being what they are, if you have some trans love stories you adore, I'd love to have them recced here.

It also does not just mean written works. Graphic novels and webcomics are welcome! Maybe we can include tv shows or movies in the future but the link part might be tricky? It's possible, anyway.

This blog was originally an idea to help support indie and self-published creators (since a lot of queer creators tend to take that route) but you are welcome to rec traditionally published works too. And original and free stories as long as they are not fanfiction. The more the merrier! This blog is about spreading joy and community support (and a bit about defiance tbh)!

Queer Romance Recs

...but yes this is brand spanking new and there will be a few bugs at the start. Please be patient. :)

[deadpresidents]

can you recommend any bios on putin?

Sure. I haven't read a ton of books about Putin/Russia, but there are four books in particular that I have and felt were really good.

•Putin by Philip Short (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) This 2022 title is the most recent book I can personally recommend and the only one published since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Short also wrote two other great books on autocrats that I'd suggest checking out -- Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare, and Mao: The Man Who Made China.

•The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin by Steven Lee Myers (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) Myers, who has been reporting from around the world for decades for the New York Times, published this book in 2015 and it reveals a closer and more-detailed look at Putin the person than outsiders have ever had before.

•The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) Born in Russia and now an American citizen, Gessen, who is now known as M. Gessen is a prominent critic of Putin's rule. They examine how a relatively low-level, seemingly unimpressive KGB operative somehow rose to become Boris Yeltsin's hand-picked successor and one of the most powerful people of the 21st century.

•Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser (BOOK | KINDLE) I make a point of getting every book written by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, whether it's something the married couple has written together or the many books they've written on their own. Published in 2007, after Baker and Glasser finished serving as chiefs of the Washington Post's Moscow bureau in the early years of Putin's first stretch in the Russian Presidency, this book focuses on how Putin impacted a Russia that was rapidly undergoing drastic changes in the 15 years since the Soviet Union collapsed and the backsliding from the delicate form of democracy that Boris Yeltsin had attempted to implement after the end of the Cold War.

[figcatlists]

Bleak and disturbing science fiction reading list

A list of science fiction novels and short story collections with dark themes and gloomy settings. The selection includes dystopias, post-apocalyptic and climate fiction, as well as unsettling sci-fi horror. See the full list on my website for more titles and links to Goodreads and Wikipedia.

[airyfrasc]

The Mask of Mirrors, The Liar’s Knot (by M. A. Carrick)

A friend bought me the book The Mask of Mirrors for Christmas and I swear I didn’t emerge from it for three days straight. This is a SUMPTUOUS non-traditional European fantasy with some of the richest world building I’ve read in a while. The magic, the cultures, the history, the fashion, it all felt so tangible that I could mentally pop myself into Nadezhra pretty much from page one. It had the twisty-turny, political intrigue-y plot that really appeals to me - without the intense violence you might find in other series that often get recommended for their politically-driven plots. Secret identities, characters that make you feel things, a queer-norm society, truly detestable villains… I loved this book. So I had to draw the three main characters obv.

I was so shocked that I couldn’t find the sequel in stores anywhere! Had to order online, and gotta say, it was equally good or better than the first… The character moments in The Liar’s Knot felt like releasing a breath you’ve been holding for hours. You’ll know what I mean if you read it ☺️

Anyway, this series deserves way more hype than it has. I read a LOT of SFF and this one stood out to me as truly fantastic. If you love secret identities, slow (SLOW) burn romance, a puzzle-like plot, tarot, and general luxuriousness for your brain…. I beg you to pick up The Mask of Mirrors.

[samduqs]

now that I have reread tsh and iwwv I can't stop thinking if Bunny and Richard deserved what happened to them

[autogeneity]

highly dissatisfied with the, idk, cognitive tools and frameworks available to me. feels desperately lacking. also thinking about this... maybe I need to read more philosophy again...

[skepwith]

Book Rec: The House of the Red Balconies by A. J. Demas

A. J. Demas's latest m/m romance is a sweet low-angst slow burn set in her ancient-Mediterranean-like world. Hylas is a shy, socially awkward forty-something who's been hired to build an aqueduct on the island of Tykanos. Not knowing Tykanos is famed for its teahouses, where "companions" (read: courtesans) entertain guests with conversation and music, he rents a room at the House of the Red Balconies.

Zo is his beautiful neighbour, a companion in his twenties with a chronic illness. Their attraction builds gradually, with Hylas used to repressing his desires because of his cultural background and Zo convinced the kind, quiet man has no interest in him. There's some mutual oblivious pining, but it never strains the characters' credibility. Add in the found-family vibes among the companions at the House of the Red Balconies and you've got a warm, feel-good read.

The book's treatment of Zo's chronic illness felt true to life, showing his frustration without letting him get bogged down by his limitations. Thankfully, there was no sudden cure or "heroic" pushing through, like I've read in other books. I was so happy for him when he figured out different accomodations, often with Hylas's help.

The attitude to sex work was also refreshingly matter-of-fact. The companions are something between courtesans and geisha, respected for their conversational skills and able to decide whether or not to sleep with a given client, usually after many visits. Yet it is still sex work, and like any job, has its ups and downs. Sex with tedious clients is shown to be irksome and boring, but not, thankfully, traumatising. Because Tykanos's economy depends on the teahouses, there's no shaming of the companions (except by one particular boor who everyone hates), and they take a surprisingly active role in local politics.

Demas has written half a dozen books in this fictional ancient Mediterranean, so the setting is rich with diverse cultures and complex international relationships. You don't need to have read any of her other books, but if you have you'll find Tykanos is snugly located within the wider political setting, even though the book's action all takes place on the island.

The novel is on the short side at 63K, and though it felt like the right length for the story, I couldn't help wishing I could spend more time on dreamy Tykanos.

[queer-ragnelle]

hello, do you know where to read/find blessed bastard?

hello, anon.

unfortunately, blessed bastard by ruth p. m. lehmann is out of print, and can only be purchased used online. i got my copy on amazon, as my local library didn't carry it, nor could they order it, and thriftbooks has no copies either.

however...i really love the story and wish for more people to enjoy it. this book was lehmann's last publication (at age 85!) before she passed away in 2000. considering her life-long dedication to medieval literature and love of storytelling, i don't think she would mind if i...made it more readily available.

would anyone be interested in a pdf of blessed bastard? what other rare books are you seeking that i might provide?

[thebookhoard]

Title: If We Were Villains

Author: M. L. Rio

Pages: 422

"Oliver Marks has just served ten years for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day of his release, he is greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, and he wants to know what really happened a decade before.

As a young actor at an elite conservatory, Oliver noticed that his talented classmates seem to play the same characters onstage and off - villain, hero, temptress - though he was always a supporting role. But when the teachers change the casting, a good-natured rivalry turns ugly, and the plays spill dangerously over into real life.

When tragedy strikes, one of the seven is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless... "

I've read this book almost in one sitting, after months of it lying on my to be read stack (or how I call it - my pile of shame). I did guess most of the plot points right, but that didn't make the book any less enjoyable, rather the opposite (it's always a small success to see that I've interpreted something correctly). It is a modern Shakespearean tragedy in five acts and if I had to describe it in one word I think I'd choose: bittersweet.

If you like theatre and tragedy, you should read the story about Richard, Wren, Meredith, Alexander, Filippa, James and Oliver.

Quotes:

"Far too many times I had asked myself whether art was imitating life or if it was the other way around."

"For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me."

"You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough."

"Anything can feel like punishment if it's taught poorly."

"How tremendous the agony of unmade decisions."

[chaoticearthling]

currently reading ☁️☁️☁️

[deadpresidents]

What have you been reading since the last time you posted your latest reads?

It's been a few months since I updated my latest reads, so I'm probably going to forget a few titles, but here's what I've been reading since then:

•The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Pancho Villa: A Revolutionary Life by Paco Ignacio Taibo II and translated by Todd Chretien (BOOK | KINDLE)

•The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship That Saved Yosemite by Dean King (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day by Garrett M. Graff (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk by William Stadiem (BOOK)

•The House Divided: Sunni, Shia, and the Making of the Middle East by Barnaby Rogerson (BOOK | KINDLE)

•Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson by James Marcus (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•The Founders' Curse: James Monroe's Struggle Against Political Parties by Brook Poston (BOOK | KINDLE)

•Decade of Disunion: How Massachusetts and South Carolina Led the Way to Civil War, 1849-1861 by Robert W. Merry (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•The Age of Reconstruction: How Lincoln's New Birth of Freedom Remade the World by Don H. Doyle (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Power and Glory: Elizabeth II and the Rebirth of Royalty by Alexander Larman (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulos with Lisa Dickey (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•The Devils Will Get No Rest: FDR, Churchill, and the Plan That Won the War by James B. Conroy (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Ballyhoo!: The Roughhousers, Con Artists, and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling by Jon Langmead (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•The Rivals: William Gwin, David Broderick, and the Birth of California by Arthur Quinn (BOOK)

•The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives by Adam Smyth (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity by Michael Cook (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•The Thought of Pope Benedict XVI: An Introduction to the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger, Third Edition by Aidan Nichols (BOOK | KINDLE)

•Avignon and Its Papacy, 1309-1417: Popes, Institutions, and Society by Joëlle Rollo-Koster (BOOK | KINDLE)

[neuronerdo]

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente is my all-time favorite book that no one has every heard of. It's about space, but it's also about grief, and it's about cinema, but it's also just a father and a daughter and everything that could possibly go wrong in that equation. It's a murder (?) mystery in that someone has died, but the characters make it so the concept of "murder" goes a little bit fuzzy around the edges.

It's also, for what it's worth, batshit insane. I love the worldbuilding because it reeks of someone having a baffling idea and devoting their entire novel to it. Valente commits to the bit at every turn, leaving no moment untouched by creative decisions that should logically fail and yet never do. I think it has to do with her tone-- the whole book is written in such a "duh" voice. Of course the moon is the modern Hollywood. Of course there are kangaroos on Mars and whales (?) on Venus. Of course Pluto and Charon are linked in a celestial dance by an organic bridge of tree limbs and flowers. Of course, of course, of course.

It's also the type of book where every character talks circles around what they actually mean. Every page is a treasure hunt, and trust me when I say that the hunt is entirely map-less for the first two thirds. But who likes their quests easy? It's only satisfying if you work for it.

I suppose my main point is that you should read it. It is a book that makes me happy and I would regret it forever if I didn't give you the chance to read it too.

[lesbiancolumbo]

How much of the homoeroticism in Mikey and Nicky do you think was intentional from Elaine May? Also do you have any recs for videos or writings that talk about her process in writing/directing the movie? Ideally ones featuring her own voice/perspective if they exist. (Btw I hope your pain passes soon — you’re one of my favorite film blogs to follow, and I’m sorry you’re going through this!)

similar to my husbands answer, i don't think it was intentional in the sense that i do not think elaine set out to write a film about a close homoerotic friendship between two men lol. i called husbands "a film that was so much about masculinity and misogyny that it kinda accidentally became very gay" and this is even more true of mikey and nicky imo. years ago i called it "a damning observation of the ways toxic masculinity and entitlement destroys men (and women)" and honestly i stand by that. there's a funny trend of these kinds of films being extremely homoerotic, and i don't know how much of that is because it was john and peter or what, and not to get into it a little bit but i also think films about these kind of toxic friendships are inherently a little romantic.... close friendships are intimate. even if they're not sexual, you know so much about this person, you spend so much time with them, you share a part of your soul with them and them with you, and when that falls apart, it feels like the end of a romance. ironically around this same time last year, a really close intimate friendship that i had fell disastrously apart, and i grieved it the same way i would have grieved a long term relationship. my heart broke. i felt like a relationship ended.... honestly, a relationship DID end, the one between me and her, and it devastated me so much that the film i gravitated towards..... again, ironically, was mikey and nicky. so no, it's not intentionally homoerotic, but i think elaine understands that there's an almost romance to close friendships and collaborations, and that's what comes across.

to answer your second question............. lol, honestly good luck, and i don't say this to be glib. elaine is notoriously very unwilling to sit down and discuss her life/work/career. she did (in a rare appearance) sit down to talk with tcm about her career, but she doesn't say much. here's a couple minutes of her talking about mikey and nicky. the full video can be found here. when i was writing my thesis on elaine's filmography like seven years ago, i found it notoriously difficult to find sources of her talking about her own work. a couple that may provide some insight (but no promises lol) would be rachel abramowitz's is that a gun in your pocket? and barbara quart's women directors: the emergence of a new cinema.

hopefully this helps!

[hubrisdescent]

Starter for @lastavenged @ Nadia

❝ If you're serious about learning criminal law I can give you a list of necessary reading material ❞