November 2014 Book of the Month - VOTE thru Nov 3

[Kaje]

I'd also like any comments or suggestions on making the Book of the Month more interesting - comment on this thread : https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

This thread is for nominations for the YA LGBT book that you would like to see the group read in November 2014.

Anything we haven't already read is welcome - it need not be a new release. Check our book-of-the-month bookshelf if you are wondering whether a book has already been read by the group.

Please post a link to the book, copy the blurb, and give us a few words about why you think this would be a good choice. If it has edgy or potentially 16+ content please also note that - we'd be happy to have it on the list, but want members to be aware. Remember that books do have to be appropriate for an under-18 readership.

Books that lost a previous vote can to be nominated again. If you'd like to lead a discussion on a favorite book, please nominate it and mention that you'd be willing to facilitate discussion.

We are changing policy to ask authors not to nominate their own books - but someone else can definitely nominate member-authors' stories.

Nominations will close Midnight Oct 28th, or sooner if we get twelve books nominated. -


NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED - VOTE:


The poll is here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Voting is open through midnight Oct 3.

[Kaje]

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

I just saw this - the reviews are an interesting mix, from praise for the honesty of teens speaking out to complaints about lack of editing and polish, or of stereotyping. Still, it might be worth a look.

Blurb: Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

blurb:

[Sammy Goode]

Have we read by Johanna Parkhurst?

[Kaje]

Sammy Goode wrote: "Have we read Every Inferno by Johanna Parkhurst?"

Not yet - go for it.

blurb: Depressed. Defiant. Possible alcoholic. These are just a few of the terms used to describe fifteen-year-old Jacob Jasper Jones. Lately, though, JJ has a new one to add to the list: detective. He’s been having strange dreams about the fire that killed his parents ten years ago, and he thinks he finally has the clue to catching the arsonist who destroyed his family.

A murder investigation isn’t the only thing the dreams trigger for JJ. They also lead to secret meetings with his estranged sister, an unlikely connection with a doctor who lost his daughter in the fire, and a confusing friendship with McKinley, a classmate of JJ’s who seems determined to help him solve the mystery.

All JJ wants is to shake the problems that have followed him since that fire, and he’s convinced he must catch the arsonist to do it. But as JJ struggles to find the culprit, he sees there’s more than one mystery in his life he needs to solve.

[Jessica]

The Before Now and After Then by Peter Monn!

[Kaje]

Dionne wrote: "The Before Now and After Then by Peter Monn!"

Sure - The Before Now and After Then

blurb: Danny Goldstein has always lived in the shadow of his identical, twin brother Sam. But when a hurricane of events forces him into the spotlight, he starts to realize that the only thing he’s truly afraid of is himself. With the help of his costume changing friend Cher, a famous gay uncle with a mysterious past of his own, two aging punk rocker parents and Rusty, the boy who will become his something to live for, Danny begins to realize that the music of the heart is truly the soundtrack for living.

[Rez]

I'll second the nomination for Before Now and After Then(it crushed me emotionally in the first chapter and then just kept hammering, so I won't mind reading it again).

And will also nominate Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun
Blurb:
Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

[Jessica]

Thanks Rez! I'll give you the sun is on my too read list. You make it sound even better.

[Iuri]

Peter Monn's book is really nice. I'm over the first half of it now, and loving it!

[Kaje]

Thanks - it's good to have recommendations. I'll get the poll up soon.

NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

[Brent]

Rez wrote: "I'll second the nomination for Before Now and After Then(it crushed me emotionally in the first chapter and then just kept hammering, so I won't mind reading it again).

And will also nominate Jan..."Oh! I totally forgot that I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN has a gay character. A great book!

[Kaje]

The poll will be up soon - right now when I try to click "save" on it, it says "page not found" - hopefully just a temporary GR glitch.

-interestingly, even as it was saying that, it was apparently creating the poll. 4 times. Fun with Goodreads...

[Kaje]

The poll is here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Voting is open through midnight Oct 3.