After my reading got kickstarted again last month from a bout of COVID, I've been back to my regular reading rhythm. Here's what I've finished in the past month!
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour: This was an excellent depiction of shock and grief following a trauma that's not revealed until later in the book. The alternating past and present timelines kept me reading, and the plot twist was well earned.
How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly: This was my Best of the Bunch for August. I adore Anita Kelly's writing, and this was no exception. This was a solid romance between two characters with realistic chemistry, a great depiction of an aroace spectrum character, and excellent side plots as well.
Ace Voices: What it Means to Be Asexual, Aromantic, Demi or Grey-Ace by Eris Young: Young could have compiled a book of full interviews, one for each chapter, but they decided to cut them up into quotations and organize them by theme. This could have been fine, but they didn't do nearly enough to narratively synthesize the interview parts with research and their own experience to do each theme justice. I liked some of what they had to say, but overall it was too stream-of-consciousness and the editing too sloppy for my taste.
Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw: This was a great deep dive on the topic of bisexuality, covering a broad range of areas. It's well researched and includes both reasons for despair and reasons for hope, the combination of which will hopefully spur readers to fighting for a more just world.
The Times I Knew I Was Gay by Eleanor Crewes: This was fine, a graphic memoir I read in under an hour. I think I went in expecting something different, like "Here are the experiences that solidified my gay identity for me," with some being serious and some being funny. Instead it was more like, "Here is a series of times that I came out as gay and then immediately went back to dating guys," with some unexpected mental health elements (eating disorder, panic attacks) interspersed.
The Little Book of Living Small by Laura Fenton: This was a practical guide to living in small spaces, with a collection of case studies (complete with photographs) followed by tips and tricks for every area of the house. It leans a little too hard on the assumption that you could live in a bigger place but are living in a smaller space and can use the extra money to have everything customized for your space, but the variety of options showcased in this book will likely give you at least a few ideas even if you don't have a lot to spare.
You Don't Have a Shot by Racquel Marie: This was a great enemies-to-lovers queer YA romance. What I especially loved was that it's our first-person narrator who's the self-centered, arrogant one when the book opens, and we get to see her transformation alongside getting a better understanding of why she is the way she is. Oh, and yes to alloromantic ace rep!
Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie: Christie's thrillers are never her best work; this is a middle-of-the-pack one, all things considered. The premise is pretty great and there were several satisfying twists, but the middle part of the book has the main character doing basically nothing but hanging around and occasionally having some conversations. So it was rather uneven and not something I'd particularly recommend.
Nimona by N.D. Stevenson: It's hard to put into words what made this book so good, but my kiddo and I both loved it. It's funny and devastating and action-packed and symbolic and queer and beautifully illustrated as well as being well paced. I would definitely read this again to dig into everything I missed the first time around.
Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Detransition, Baby and How the Word Is Passed
Five years ago I was reading: How to Be a Perfect Stranger, The Smart Girl's Guide to Polyamory, and The Book of Unknown Americans
Ten years ago I was reading: Totto-Chan, White Teeth, and Someone Knows My Name
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