I wrote a full review of this book on Autostraddle: https://www.autostraddle.com/the-call-is-coming-from-inside-the-house-essay-coll....

A truly incredible essay collection, effortlessly weaving together personal narrative and (pop) cultural criticism. Themes include: motherhood, queerness, pregnancy, true crime, horror movies, bisexuality / labels, patriarchy and men's violence. For fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Melissa Febos.

Beautiful book about a kid's relationship with her grandpa, told through their mutual fascination with the moon.

This is such a great picture book about gender! Four kids, one trans, one cis, and two nonbinary, are introduced as a way to explain different gender identities. I love the bright and detailed illustrations with lots of fun kid life details. Not too pedantic, but also introduces new concepts. One page is a bit repetitive, but that's my only complaint.

This is a book I admired more than enjoyed. There is a lot of political maneuvering and military battles, almost all of the characters are decidedly morally grey, and there isn't a strong focus on personal relationships or character. The 14th century Chinese setting, with a touch of speculative edge, is majestically rendered. Overall, an excellent book, but not a book for me. It is very queer though, even if you have to wait a bit for some action!

In this collection of essays called DINNER ON MONSTER ISLAND, the table of contents is a "menu"!

I'm excited to start this, with themes of monsters in horror movies and growing up queer, brown, and fat in Singapore.

Apparently there is no age group Nina LaCour can't write for? This transitional chapter book for ages 7-10 was very cute and charming, with a realistic feisty little 9-year-old protagonist named Ella. Ella is the self-imposed expert on the apartment house in San Francisco (and its inhabitants) where she lives with her two moms. Lovely depiction of community and queer parents! Sweet illustrations as well. #QueerBooks

Trouble is my favourite Lex Croucher book so far and I reviewed it for Autostraddle!

"Their romance also encapsulates the protagonist figuring out she‘s a top, a journey I always love to see!

"For a delightfully queer historical romcom with equal parts humor and pathos and a delicate blend of romance and character growth, you really can‘t do any better than Lex Croucher‘s Trouble."

https://www.autostraddle.com/lex-croucher-trouble-review/

"She loves her next-door neighbour, Ruby Bickford, and doesn't know it, because such a love lies just outside the window of Florence's imagination...She works at the downtown lunch counter, where she gives free pie slices to all the single men, because she still has ambition."

Aaah I love Claire Oshetsky's writing!

I made this quiz for Autostraddle dot com! Take it if you want a queer mystery recommendation. If you do, let me know which book you got. I've read most of the options and they are all great! #QueerBooks #Mystery

https://www.autostraddle.com/quiz-which-queer-mystery-novel-should-you-read/

This is a beautiful, subtle story of queer teenage love set in small town Portugal, told alternately in graphic novel and prose poem format. The art is gorgeous, dynamic, and expressive. The words are poetic yet simple, and authentic in a way that brought me right back to being 16 and having a crush.I loved this! Definitely read this if you're a fan of Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki's graphic novels.

"Pardalita, I tried to sit as far away from you as possible. But since we were in a circle, the farthest away meant facing you directly. Not the best plan."

"How far can you be from someone without them noticing you don't want any distance at all?"

Ah, the idiosyncrasies of a queer teenage crush

#QueerBooks

A truly incredible essay collection, effortlessly weaving together personal narrative and (pop) cultural criticism. Themes include: motherhood, queerness, pregnancy, true crime, horror movies, bisexuality / labels, patriarchy and men's violence. If you like Carmen Maria Machado's non-fiction (particularly her essay on the cult film Jennifer's Body from the queer horror anthology It Came from the Closet) and Melissa Febo's Girlhood, read this!

This was one of those library holds that came in and I was like, what is this book and why did I request it? 😂 Then I remembered I read this glowing review https://www.autostraddle.com/in-city-of-laughter-a-story-doesnt-have-to-be-compl..., where Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya says it's a very queer novel that plays with story, language, and self-discovery. Guess this is my next read!

This feels mostly like historical fiction so far, with just a note of the speculative (the main character can see ghosts), so I'm not having any trouble at all figuring out the world reading the audiobook. Phew! I am finding the story quite propulsive and I'm interested to see how Zhu develops as a self-interested survivor kind of character. I'm also wondering how living as a boy might affect her gender... #Fantasy #QueerBooks

A great slice-of-life #GraphicNovel about a 30-year-old queer person from Berlin moving verrrrry sloooowly through gender feels and navigating a longterm relationship. There's no judgement on anything or anyone -- the tone is very much "this is what's happening, isn't it interesting" with no hints of morality. The art is bold black and white with pops of red. The spreads of queer dance parties are especially cool! #QueerBooks

Fantasy and science fiction are hit or miss for me on audio since I sometimes have trouble learning a new world in that format. Has anyone else read this already and have any insight? Would this book be hard to orient to as an #audiobook? I don't have much time for print books these days since I have a newborn and a toddler at home!

Just delightful! Tween detective Drew has another mystery to solve, this time a thief with an unusual M.O. Why is the thief stealing one item from kids' lockers but leaving other valuable items behind? One of the victims is her friend's new girlfriend and Drew gets to know her BFF Alex, a future investigative journalist and true crime nerd like Drew. What is that funny feeling Drew gets in her tummy when Alex is around? I love these kids so much!

My second time reading this masterpiece. Stunning art and story. This is one of the best books I've ever read. As Alison Bechdel says: "A baroque mystery whose plot pulls you forward as insistently as the images demand you linger." Presented as the graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, growing up poor in 60s Chicago, as she investigates her upstairs' neighbour's possible murder, connected to her youth in Nazi Germany. Vol 2 is out in May!!

This middle grade mystery was an utter delight from start to finish! Drew is a complex, lovable character. She is 12 and is a big true crime nerd, a cross between Harriet the Spy and Nancy Drew. The plot follows Drew as she chases down a cyberbully while trying to hide the fact that her mom has run off with her school‘s guidance counsellor. Ugh, her mom is the worst! Great integration of sexual/romantic orientation and disability representation!

I just want to give all these tweens fighting against a bully a big hug! This is really well done and so cute. I haven't read a middle grade book in a while and this is a great example of one!

"Girls need plenty of healthy opportunities to scream together in fun so that when we need to scream in outrage or fear, our voices are prepared."

This essay collection about horror, motherhood, and queerness is soo good! #QueerBooks

Prickly Emily is going in her sister's stead as a governess to Fairmont House. Her sister is very ill and they need the money. She expects to fake it, steal some rich people trinkets, and leave. Instead she finds herself bonding with the kids, becoming found family w/ the staff, and falling in love with the grumpy dad. Her journey is equal parts romance and self-discovery: funny, moving. Emily realizes she is worthy of love. Bi4bi! I loved this!!

Okay, WOW WOW WOW. This collection of letters -- which sometimes take the form of poems, prayers, spells, and prompts -- is going to become my new spiritual guide to life. It's generous, fierce, sad, hopeful, inspiring, angry, loving, and incredibly powerful. Addressees of the letters range from trans femmes of colour to TERFs. This is an instant new queer classic and the kind of book that makes you feel alive, and glad to be. Dynamic #audiobook!

A moving, romantic, & steamy romance between two women who believe they aren't good enough for the other. They meet on a plane: Stella is the co-pilot, Olive is a nurse afraid of flying who saves the life of a passenger in an emergency. Cue: a mutually beneficial fake relationship that is never actually fake! Some heavy issues: Olive's brother is on life support & her family has ostracized her, Stella's dad has advanced Parkinson's. I loved this!

Excited about starting this essay collection about queer womanhood and motherhood, told through the lenses of horror movies, tall tales, true crime, and more. Does anyone else remember the urban legend the title references? I thought it was so creepy as a kid! Doesn't really make sense in the 2020s though!

Well this was a delight. It felt like getting to sit around with Casey Plett at the kitchen table after dinner talking, except with the luxury of citations. Plett shares a lot of her own life, and the many communities she has been a part of. Smart, vulnerable, and thoughtful. It doesn't present any judgement on community being an ultimate force for "good or bad" --it explicitly doesn't want to-- but I left feeling hopeful about community anyway.

"Community can be fractured and slippery and seemingly ever at risk of dissolution at the same time that it can consistently regroup and resolder itself, mutate in ever-new fashions, form a balm to meet needs in ways it is difficult to predict or imagine."

This romance is a bit different from what I expected but I really like it! There is some really thoughtful inclusion of stuff like anxiety, an aging/disabled parent, death of a sibling, grief, and family estrangement. Despite this it doesn't feel heavy to read and is somehow also cute and funny? #Romantsy #QueerBooks

Rereading the first volume of this comic in anticipation of the second volume that I just got in the mail!

Bold! Unique! Funny! Nuanced! This novel-in-verse was everything I wanted. Composed entirely of sonnets, it's the story of a year in the lives of a group of queer trans women in NYC, complete with plenty of dyke drama. Don't think because this book is told in rhyming poetry that it doesn't engage in serious issues, because it does: consent, racism in queer/trans spaces, sex work, and financial insecurity. I have never read a book quite like this!

This incredible book is an honest and fascinating character study of a mid-20s struggling artist and bookbinder named Dawn. Dawn is a gender fluid bi Jewish person living in NYC in 2003 and she is, well, lost. When she discovers a queer love letter written on the back of 1950s lesbian pulp novel cover, she becomes obsessed with finding the woman who wrote it, thinking it will somehow help her self actualize. Beautiful character development!

So far I love this book! A novel in verse told in sonnets -- so old fashioned -- but about contemporary queer trans women and their relationships, drama, and community. So fun and funny!

"Ripeness is just the beginning of rot"
"Someone has to tell them what zines to read!"
#TransBooks #QueerBooks

"Sometimes, being lost is an opportunity."

I sure hope this ends up being the case for Dawn, the protagonist! She isn't sure how to get out of her artist's block and she isn't sure about how to embody her gender fluidity, and she isn't sure whether her current relationship fits her anymore.

There were some elements of this contemporary rom-com that I liked -- a bi breastfeeding new mom main character -- but overall it just didn't hold my interest very well and I found some of the writing pretty cliché. If you're looking for a solid genre romance, this isn't it; other plotlines take up just as much space as the romance. Speaking of the romance, these two didn't excite me much. I found River, the love interest, pretty bland. 🤷‍♀️

Are "G-ma" and "Big Daddy" genuine alternatives to Grandma and Grandpa that people in the American South actually say with a straight face?? I cannot. Like, the other adults in this book are calling them that??

This book opens with a new mom crawling on the floor in search of a pacifier as her baby cries and her boobs involuntarily squirt milk. So far, I am sold!! I can relate.

Although a bit opaque at times, I really liked this queer Ōiwi (Indigenous Hawaiian) poetry collection:

"what-should-haved-killed-you-but- / under-these-circumstances-keeps-you-wondering-anyway- / how-honorable-is-it-really-to-swim-upstream-with-your-mouth-open”

“tell me where it hurts, no one will say. / leave land. / leave sleep. / walk to the ocean”

“so sacred / so queer / so queer / my / afterbirth / planted / so sacred"

Genuinely bummed that at a couple chapters in this one is not doing it for me since I just finished this author's previous book, Perfect on Paper, which I loved! I don't think this plot / characters / set-up work or are believable as a YA novel. I'm curious why Gonzales didn't write this as an adult romance.

A delightful YA. Darcy runs an anonymous relationship advice service that is very successful until, of course, it blows up in her face. She is such a real, messy teenager, who makes mistakes and fails to see things clearly, but she's also smart and has a lot of heart. I loved the bi representation (I don't think I've seen internalized biphobia as a romance obstacle before?). Character growth! Romantic! Lovely side trans girl character! Funny!

I can tell this is a "love-or-hate-it" kind of book, with its unique, blunt style and quirky deadpan character. Unfortunately it is just not jiving with me. I can see this story really working for other readers, especially if you're looking for neurodiverse queer representation.

My mom bought me this book that she read in the 80s. It helped her overcome the damaging parenting that she went through, particularly as a kid of an alcoholic. Reading this book with that context in mind made me grateful she broke the cycle of not treating you children as human beings and the normalizing of abusive behaviour as 'good parenting.' I wouldn't recommend this book in any other circumstance other than the one I read it under, though!

This was gorgeously written but very sad, made all the more so when you realize Eliza Raine's story is true. Set in the early 1800s, it follows Eliza, an Anglo-Indian orphan, and the now-famous queer icon Anne Lister, as they meet at boarding school when they are 14 and fall in love. The book is meticulously researched, with fascinating and excruciating details about being a young woman of colour in England at the time. Heavy, but beautiful.

Just like the first in the series, this cozy sapphic science fiction mystery set a la Holmes and Watson was lovely. I love how Older manages to balance the cozy gaslamp mystery vibes with some serious questions about the nature of humanity and existence. Also: Pleiti and Mossa are tentatively rekindling their college romance and academics are squabbling. Reading this is like a warm cup of tea that the characters are constantly drinking.

There's nothing wrong with this, per se, but it is not grabbing me. Too bad, as the story of 4 out of 5 of the author's family coming out as queer or trans later in life sounded so interesting!

"sex fills me up & love reminds me / it's okay to be empty" - "dream boy" by Justin Ducharme

"You are utterly in love. What is the distinction between you and this swirling world?" - "a celebration of darkness" by Jaene F. Castrillon

"to my clients who tell me I look tired / i am / because your dick is the 8th one today ... because the bees are dying and i can't make my rent" - "to my clients..." by Stickie Stackedhouse

Well this was just beautiful, excellently narrated by Joel Leslie as usual. It‘s a friends to lovers queer romance set in the newspaper world of 1950s New York. Nick and Andy were just so easy to love and root for, as they sloooowly stumble into the cutest, sweetest domestic bliss. At the same time they gradually create a small circle of queer community and friends. The historical setting is wonderfully rendered, as are the secondary characters!

Well this debut (!) novel is quite simply full of some of the best prose I have ever read. Other writers would be lucky to come up with once or twice in their lives the turns of phrase that Leilani peppers this book with. The protagonist‘s devastating loneliness and lack of belonging are difficult to sit with, but at the end there is a glimmer of hope, of Edie stumbling into an art practice. I'd trust Leilani to take me anywhere w/ her next book.

ARE THEY FINALLY GOING TO KISS??? This is such a slow burn but good thing I love a slow burn!! 🐌 🔥

A delightful Arthurian story about queer friendship, queer siblings, and queer love! I love how Croucher balances wit/comedy with vulnerable characters and heartfelt takes on serious issues. This book is full of great relationships (Gwen the princess with her years long crush on the kingdom's only lady knight that finally comes to fruition!!) but my favourite was the friendship that blossoms between her and Arthur. From hate to queer friend love!

WOW WOW WOW the writing in this book 😮