Welcome to Litsy!

What a journey. This is Emezi's debut romance, so I went in with plenty of genre-related expectations. The book immediately thwarted them. Feyi begins the story coming back to life after the death of her husband. Not even 30 and already a widow. What follows is a gorgeous, sensual (the food!), and very queer (bi for bi!) romance. If you find the beginning chapters flat, persevere! I read them as intentionally mirroring Feyi's interior state.

Delicious. Beautiful. Three Nigerian women, a mother and twin daughters, have drifted apart as adults as a result of childhood sexual assault. Heartbreaking but not dark at all, full of life and hope. The characters are wonderful, fleshed out; the writing gorgeous. Taiye, a messy hedonistic lesbian, stunned me in her authenticity and heart. The mom Kambi is a spirit not meant to linger as a human but she falls in love with being alive. Plus, food!

First book finished in 2021! A novella about two older queer women friends Hou Yi and Rosa (one trans, one cis) who embark on a quest to end attacks by destructive sunbirds being sent by Hou Yi's son. Both have dark pasts and need redemption. The narrative skips back and forth in time telling mostly Rosa's story. Fairy tales are woven in and retold, including Little Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood. Interesting, but didn't grab me emotionally.

A gorgeous collection of narrative, lyrical poems about Kama La Mackerel's queer, trans, femme coming of age on the island of Mauritius. I loved how it explored looking for and imagining trans ancestry. I loved how it integrated Mauritian Kreol. I loved how La Mackerel skillfully used repetition to create an intuitive rhythm. I loved how joyful and celebratory it was about trans identity. I loved the evocative images. Truly wonderful!

Predictably, I absolutely loved this. Talia Hibbert goes straight for my heart (and sexy parts). A Black bisexual academic heroine? A South Asian ex-rugby player who reads romance novels? I adore these two. Loved the careful representation of Zaf's anxiety, his trauma from his dad and brother's deaths, Dani's witchiness, and her issues with intimacy. Great use of the fake dating trope as well as the friends with benefits oops we caught feelings.

Ahhh so excited! #Romantsy #BlackVoices #QTPOC

A deceptively complex high middle grade / low YA about Jam, a sometimes mute Black trans girl who lives in a future utopia where all "monsters" have been eradicated. But when she accidentally helps a creature from her mom's painting come alive, it tells her there is a monster in her friend's house. It's heartbreaking how the adults dismiss signs of abuse and children when they try to tell them. Warning for childhood physical/sexual abuse.

Exciting #BookMail! David Ly's first collection of poetry!!

"Tenderness, toxic masculinity, nuances of queer love, and questions of race and identity mix in Ly's poetry, casting a spell that enters like 'a warm tongue on a first date.'" ??

Blurbed by two of my favourite authors, Kai Cheng Thom and Vivek Shraya!

#QueerBooks #LGBTQBooks #LGBTQ #Poetry #QTPOC #AsianBooks #CanLit

This book eventually won me over, hard. It's an #OwnVoices story about Nadia, a queer Palestinian-Canadian woman who travels to Egypt to track down her father whom she has not seen in years. She finds and gets to know him anew, but she also falls in love with an Egyptian woman artist, Manal. The story is set in Cairo, a character unto itself. Beautiful, thoughtful, nuanced writing about art, family, Palestinian and Egyptian cultures and politics.

From the Read shelf and the TBR shelf of the Resistance Bookclub. Both are #penguin #modernclassics but with two very different covers. I normally prefer illustrated, but the Confessions of a Mask cover is so striking maybe I'm changing my mind... do you prefer illustrated or photograph?

#lgbt #lgbtq #qpoc #qtpoc #queerbooks #queerlit