Really charming picture book illuminating the life of activist Clive Jensen and his plan for what would become the NAMES project and the AIDS Quilt. 5🌟(Also, he‘s still alive, living in San Francisco, and he contributed to this story!)
pickVerghese wrote two of my favorite works of fiction so I had to read his memoir about his time as an infectious disease specialist in Johnson City, TN during the early days of the AIDS crisis. His perspective as an immigrant was really unique I thought and the stories of his patients were very touching. This was another Verghese five star read for me.
Just realized the $3 copy of this paperback I got from Thrift Books is signed!
pickThis was another well done children's book about LGBTQ+ history. It details the life and activism of Cleve Jones, who worked with Harvey Milk and came up with the concept of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. There is a really moving poem comparing stitching a quilt to building a community and a movement, which was threaded throughout the book nicely
#LGBTQ2024 @Kenyazero
"My sister, Greta, and I were having our portrait painted by our uncle Finn that afternoon because he knew he was dying."
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
Started this #BlameItOnLitsy read last night
pickI really liked this one. I thought it was a really fun time. It's just super chatoic the whole time. I liked the game ascpet and the action just kept coming. This isn't like a hard-hitting crazy thriller. It's just a fun time. 4/5
pick“I think New York was the perfect place for Toby to live because it was maybe the only place he would never run out of new restaurants. With Finn you had places. Horn & Hardart, The Cloisters. Places we went back to so many times that they started to feel like home. Toby was loose. Attached to nothing. Except maybe to Finn. That's what I started to figure out. Without Finn, Toby was like a kite with nobody holding the string.“
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A horrifying telling of the how gay men and others with HIV/Aids were treated throughout the 80s and 90s. There is controversy around the exageration of how many men Coker supported and buried but even if she reached half the men she says she did, that is a feat that not many people can say they did. In her writing, I was fanscinated by the theme of power and contacts and how often these cropped up when trying to support dying people.
