Hello!

[M]

I’m M, and I live in Southeast Asia.
I am a “mostly female”, and bisexual.
Depends on the day and how I’m feeling.
I am also closeted. I live in a conservative society- that’s how I can best describe it. While there is a great tolerance for members of the LGBTQ+ community, my country is very religious, and though some people will accept me, I know my parents never will. They’ve made that quite apparent. It hurts a lot, but I’ll get over it someday.

I love books (obviously)! Fave genres are sci-fi, mystery/thrillers, and fantasy.

Romance is a “depends on” genre for me. In my view, for me to like the romance, it has to be pretty realistic- they like/love each other for their personalities, not just the physical aspects and stuff. They also need to have chemistry and respect each other deeply. Eh basta. It’s just a promise I made to myself.

I got into the mystery/thriller genre because of my mom. Seriously. I have a weird thing for true crime documentaries, detective mystery novels, and fast paced thrillers that leave your heart racing. When I was younger and Netflix wasn’t all popular yet, my mom usually bought DVDs from the local market. We watched them together. Several seasons of NCIS, CSI, Castle, etc. were my childhood.

I only got into queer literature quite recently. I guess if you discount fanfics, I started a year ago. First book was Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Luckily, my parents didn’t bat an eye. We even watched the movie together (although mama gave me an extensive lecture after. I blocked most of it out). I had a hard time learning to accept myself. If it wasn’t for online resources and knowing others like me, I wouldn’t be here.

I joined this group because I wanted to kinda feel like I belong, I guess. Swap book recommendations with more than two people. Make some friends too. Maybe. Who knows? I better end it here. I’m sorry I’m a bit chatty. That felt like I just poured my heart out. Sorry.

Thank you!
-M.

[Sleepless]

Hey M,

It's lovely to meet you! I'm Roni and I'm nonbinary. I live in Israel.

Being in the closet and especially within a conservative community is really hard. I'm entirely out of the closet in most circles but I'm not really out to my family so I understand how awful it is to experience a family that doesn't/ can't accept it. I'm sorry you go through this.

When it comes to reading, I do my best to read diversely! I read a mix of fiction and nonfiction and try to get as many different perspectives as possible. I end up reading more books on politics, fantasy and niche nonfiction than other things.

I definitely there with you on romance as a "depends on genre". Sometimes romance novels can just be terrible and set negative examples.

I don't read nearly enough mystery/thrillers! What are your favorites?

As a fellow chatty person, I enjoyed reading your message! Hope you'll enjoy this group :D

[M]

Hey Roni!
Sorry for the late reply.
Well, when I was younger, I used to hangout at the school library a lot and they had about 6-8 shelves of Nancy Drew novels. I guess I would say those were my favorites, as I had tried to read as much of them as possible. The Mystery of the 99 steps. That was my favorite of them all.

Now though, I’ve read a few of Sherlock Holmes’ mysteries (A Study in Pink & The Hounds of Baskerville) and they were pretty good.

Although if I had to recommend from the very bottom of my heart, I’d tell you to check out works by this guy named Stuart Turton.

When I read his debut novel, “The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle”, I was completely blown away. You know the feeling wherein you fall in love with a book at the first few chapters? Oh yeah, I was hooked. At that point, I really wanted to know the answers to the protagonist’s questions so badly.

With Mr. Turton, you’re in for a surprise, mainly because you don’t know what’s going to happen next. The plot lines aren’t overly predictable and the endings- oooh they’re NOT what you expect. (Maybe i’s just me, but I really wasn’t expecting the ending/s)

So- currently, he has 2 books published. The 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle & The Devil and Dark Water. While both have an element of mystery, they are vastly different books- both worth reading.

I’d like to warn you about them tho- If you are not a fan of really long books, you might find it a bit dragging. (Not that much actually, about 470 pages tops) I didn’t mind the length because I fell in love with the stories and the characters in it. I finished each book in at least 2 days.

How about you? What kind of nonfiction books do you enjoy? Aside from my encyclopaedias, set of science and history books, plus autobiographies of a couple of historical figures- I mostly live in the world of fiction. What would you recommend?

Yours Truly,
M 😄

[John]

Hi, M!

Hope you don't mind my intruding here, but you seem really interesting, so rant away! One of my favorite television (video) series was Unsolved Mysteries. Have you read anything by Gillian Flynn? While Gone Girl is her most famous work, I really liked Sharp Objects.

I read a lot of nonfiction - what topics particularly interest you?

John

[M]

Hello Mr. John-
I haven’t read Gone Girl yet, hehe. It’s on my book list but I haven’t gotten around to reading it. I heard it’s really nice though. And the premise seems intriguing:) I promise to check out Sharp Objects too:)

For nonfiction, like I mentioned, I particularly like things about history. Yep, I’m a history lover. But the history that I’m really into isn’t just about World Wars and Crusades- I genuinely enjoy learning about customs people had, their beliefs and their way of life. (Any history, be that the ancient Chinese, Neolithic periods, Mesoamerican civilizations, etc.) Because of that, while my relatives slept through that recent documentary titled “Secrets of the Saquarra Tomb”, I was wide awake, curious to know what comes next. I like historical rebellions and uprisings though. How could I not? I come from a region that has been colonized for hundreds of years.

I’ve come to learn that random history facts are really good ice breakers.

While others may scoff at history and dismiss it’s relevance as obsolete because it’s already come to pass, I do not share that belief. In history, we can see the mistakes of our ancestors and come to learn from them. History is something potent, dangerous when rewritten. When rewritten and narratives become twisted, there are countless of lessons forgotten. History has many faces, and I am determined to know them all. Or at least, try.