Zev’s Comments (group member since Feb 26, 2019)

Zev’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

Yes! Thank you.

I checked it out from the library. I remember it was the first month the book came out.

This was required reading for me in my first year of college in an advanced English class. And the gay man's name wasn't Andrew. Andrew was the friend he didn't want to hate. I think the gay man's name was William.

I checked it out from the library. I remember the cover had a muted, solid color on it. I think dark blue? Dark something. I think Random House was the publisher.

"The Second Mango" by Shira Glassman is a YA novel that fits this.

CW: Masturbation, misogyny, homophobia, sexual references, HIV, death of a parent.

SPOILERS. In 2005 or 2006, I read a fiction book. It might have taken place in the 90s? It was third person, multiple POVs and spanned generations of a family. There was a lot of sex scenes in the book, and focus on relationships. The dad was a huge creep who "did get over her. He married the babysitter" late in the book. "Her" was his ex-wife, Mary. Early in the book, they were married. He described how much he masturbated when he was trying to decide whether or not to marry the babysitter. I don't think she was even given a name. He said to himself, "The babysitter is all woman. Mary, at forty-seven, was an aging girl." He hated his son, Andrew (?), for being gay.

Andrew, early on in the book, was a teenager who thought "When the time comes to hate them, he will be the last." He was referring to his friends who were insulting him over being gay, and the one friend who was quiet, would be the last one he hated. Andrew grew up and fell in love with Harry, a saxaphone player. He came out to Mary in his 30s, I think, and felt silly about it. Mary was homophobic but smiled and asked to hear more about Harry, in order to keep her relationship with her son on an even keel. Andrew met Harry in a bar while trying unsuccessfully to hit on a straight guy who was about to be married.

Andrew had a sister, Zoe. Her roommate is a trans woman named Cassandra, who was dead-named a few times. I think Cassandra had red hair, and I remember it was stated she looked great in black dresses. She kept her undergarments in the freezer on hot days. Mary called her asking for Zoe, and they chatted a bit, and Cassandra said, "Zoe will be out in two shakes of a pig's tail." Cassandra winds up being good friends with the family, who learn to call her by her proper name.

Zoe has a child with her boyfriend, and is infected with HIV but her son is not. Neither is her boyfriend, I think. Zoe dies of AIDS, which her son mishears as "eggs" and he thinks eggs were inside Zoe that killed her. Mary is concerned, and wants to start up a trust fund for Zoe's son. She didn't refer to him by name since he's mixed race (Zoe was white and her boyfriend is Black). A friend of the family had a son around the same age, and Zoe's son and him hang out at family events. They each wonder if the other is gay.

The book ends with the family gathering at a funeral. I think it was the father's. Zoe's had happened a little earlier in the book, if I'm not mistaken.

"A time for dancing" by Davida Wills Hurwin fits this.

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins mentions this in the first book when Katniss showers for the first time.

Thank you! I thought the header was sparse but couldn't really figure out what else to put in it.

TW: abuse, cheating, neglectful mother, childbirth complications, sexual references, murder.

I read this between 2007-2015. I can't remember the title or author. It was a hardback book and the cover was white or had white on it. The book spine was white. The book is dual-perspective, or maybe even multi-perspective, third person POV. I think it took place in California. Valerie (?) is a Catholic woman. She had a daughter early in life with her husband, Mick (?). She had a hysterectomy after having her daughter, due to complications. Her daughter gave birth as a teenager, and ran away from home afterward. I think there was some chapters dedicated to the daughter's POV early on in the book, and the conception of her child happened on a blanket on the beach.

Valerie winds up raising her grandson. The grandson might be biracial, white and Latinx? During the book, she repeatedly tries to re-establish contact with her daughter on her grandson's behalf, but her daughter is not interested in raising the child. She moves to another state and starts a new family, and tells Valerie passive-aggressively to stop trying to make her have contact with her son.

Mick hits Valerie and cheats on her regularly after her hysterectomy. One of his sex partners says she won't see him again since she "likes her sex more exciting than just a lick in one hole and a poke in the other." She is a flight attendant, and Mick was going to transfer his workplace to be near her until she said she wouldn't see him again. Mick is proud that he still looks good as he ages, and hopes only his gym trainer notices that it's taking him longer to lift the same amount of weights each time.

The book ends with Mick's funeral and Valerie realizing how many people loved and supported her. Valerie had bludgeoned Mick to death because he was attacking his grandson. She gets away with it and smiles about it.

By the time you read this, I'll be dead" by Jay Asher. Edited to note I deleted a duplicate comment.

"A Fortunate Blizzard" by LC Chase. I think both men are out of the closet to everyone.

"Strange Girl" by Christopher Pike

Mandy by Julie Andrews is one.

Yes! Thank you!

I read this in the very late 90s or early 2000s. I don't remember the protagonist's name. Her friend Rosie drops her to be friends with the popular girl at school, but this is really because Rosie has a crush on Jake, the popular girl's boyfriend. Heather is the new girl in town, and she becomes friends quickly with the protagonist. They go to an event on the weekend where fried food and soda are sold. Heather likes root beer floats and the protagonist says, "You can't get a root beer float!" "Why?" "I mean, you can, but the Brown Cow is better!" Heather orders one and likes it.

Heather, the protagonist, Rosie, and a guy named Glenn who is kind of a loser according to them, are all in the same science class together. There is a science experiment involving invisible ink (lemon juice) used to write messages on paper and held over Bunsen burners to reveal what was written. The protagonist writes "Welcome to Englewood, Heather," on her paper and Heather smiles. Glenn tries to read the message Rosie wrote to him but holds it too close to the burner and the paper lights on fire. Rosie puts it out quickly with a beaker of water and is described as cool-headed. Science is her favorite class.

The weird tension between Rosie, the protagonist and Heather increases as Rosie refuses to get to know Heather and challenges the protagonist to pick one of them to be friends with. Heather offers the protagonist gummy candy on another day and the protagonist describes "the boulder in my stomach shrinks and drops to my toes as Heather smiles."

I don't remember how the conflict is resolved, but all three girls wind up being friends at the end. The protagonist gets her period for the first time and the three girls celebrate. The edition I read was a paperback book and I remember it being physically glossy and smooth.

I'll comment if I remember anything else.

Physical book. I think the cover may have had black or purple on it, and shown the girl.

That's it! Fantastic! Thank you.

TW: Controlling parents, mention of homophobia
I read this in 2009 I think. The word 'genderqueer' was used in relation to this book, possibly in a review, and I remember not knowing what it meant. The main character is Jill. Jill shapeshifts into a boy named Jack regularly, and only her parents know. I don't remember what triggers it. Her parents disagree on how to handle the transformation as Jill and Jack become teenagers, especially in regards to sexuality. "Jack needs porn," Jill says one night at dinner. The dad hands over magazines. The mom locks Jack in his bedroom and sticks bars on the window so he can't get out. The dad lets him out and flips the pages of a bland magazine as a way to tell him the lock code so he can go out.

Jack has a crush on Jill's best friend, Rainey (or Riley. Something with an R that didn't seem gender-specific). Rainey has no idea about the shapeshifting, and no clue who Jack is. Rainey flirts and notices a scar on Jack's chin. I think they make out or even spend the night together. The next day, Jill is in her female body and Rainey asks how she got the scar on her chin. "A skating accident," she explains, somewhat worried. Jill likes a new boy at school, Sam. He comes out as bisexual, and Jill wonders if she's homophobic. There's some homophobic and biphobic dialogue.
Near the end of the book, Jack takes Rainey to prom and wears a tux. Jack shapeshifts back into Jill at the end of the night in front of Sam and Rainey accidentally. They talk about it, and Sam asks, perplexed, "What are we going to do, share her?"

This might have been the first book in a series. I think the author is a woman. I will comment if I remember anything else.

This sounds like the second book in the Saddle Club series by Bonnie Bryant. The book is called "Horse Shy" and the rich girl causes Cobalt, the horse, to break his leg.