YA LGBT Books discussion
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What YA Friendly Book Are You Currently Reading?
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Kaje
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Apr 25, 2018 06:33AM
LOL. Hopefully it will amuse as well as warm someone. I liked History Is All You Left Me, although the flash-back style took out a little of the potential tension. Still a good very read
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I just finished Picture Us in the Light. It gets a 4.5-stars from me, but only because some editing errors and a few dated idioms held it back. The story follows Asian-American students in a magnet school in California. The narrative relies heavily on recollections made relative to the current situation in the story, which is where the editing errors made things drag... just a few missed commas and em-dashes really hurt because I had to stop and figure out where the past ended and current resumed. The story is timely, dealing with current political issues (view spoiler). Frustratingly for me, the characters never actually come out, and the romantic sub-plot is agonizing (in a very good way) in how it drags on throughout the whole book (view spoiler).
It's also short-listed for the Morris Award, and there's an interview with the author on School Library Journal.
Up next for me is Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World, which I picked up thanks to the Sales/Discounts Thread
HIGHLY recommend When We Rise: My Life in the Movement, which I just finished and I think is suitable for mid teen and up. I went into more detail in the YA nonfiction thread. Also finished Labyrinth Lost, and can't wait for Bruja Born. Still reading Let's Talk About Love, and waiting to click with it, but I'm not far in yet, so there's time. Also just borrowed The Abyss Surrounds Us and The Edge of the Abyss from my library, even though I've already read them, to give them the traffic! (Love my library so hard.)
Britany wrote: "Inkmistress! I'm loving it so far. :D"Interesting - I thought a 0.5 story would be short, but it lists 400 pages. Sounds cool though.
I just added a book to my TBRs - The Little Mermaid & the Dry Lands
- it's part of a fairytale retelling with LGBT characters. Has anyone read these?
I picked up some of Suki Fleet's books before she pulled them for re-release as self-pubs. Lima Oscar Victor Echo and The Truth About Everything was a sweet, simple, coming out story about two 19 years old guys and their small town situation in England. Nothing new plot-wise really, but good characters and well-written. I'm really enjoying "Foxes" but I'm not sure if it's going to go more NA than YA at some point so I won't link it - it's an angsty story about teens living and working on the street in London, with a scarred loner MC who fixes broken phones for trade.
I'm re-reading Of Fire and Stars! One of my favorites, and I wanted to read it again after Inkmistress. :D
I just started reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, and it's AMAZING so far. Gorgeous language, reminds me of the best of Seanan McGuire, Terry Pratchett and maybe a bit of Lemony Snicket all blended together but also brand new at the same time. I have no idea if it's got any queer content, but I know the author has won awards for queer content in her other work, so, it's possible.
Leah on the Offbeat - I just finished this yesterday and the only good thing I can say about it is I borrowed it from my library so it didn't cost me anything to read. :( I'm very disappointed in this one.
I'm currently reading "Because You Love To Hate Me"; so far it's fun!
Iamshadow wrote: "I just started reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, and it's AMAZING so far. Gorgeous language, reminds me of the best of ..."Please add it to our shelves if it turns out that it fits - sounds good. Although I'm not seeing any reviewers put it on their LGBTQ shelf.
Kaje wrote: "Iamshadow wrote: "I just started reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, and it's AMAZING so far. Gorgeous language, reminds me of the best of ......"Yeah, I'm only forty pages in, and there are five books in the series, so it may be a while before I know for sure. I used to follow the author on Livejournal way back when, but I expect she's moved on to other media long since, or I'd just ask. :)
Iamshadow wrote: "Kaje wrote: "Iamshadow wrote: "I just started reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, and it's AMAZING so far. Gorgeous language, reminds me of th..."Looking at the shelves for the other books in the series, none of them are tagged LGBT.
Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: Looking at the shelves for the other books in the series, none of them are tagged LGBT. Ah, well. Still awesome so far, and age appropriate, and written by an author who has also written a Lambda Literary Award for LGBT fiction winning book. :) For portal fantasy that's just as enchanting and also includes queer characters, read this month's book, Every Heart a Doorway. I'm reading Fairyland because I've already read Every Heart at least four times but wanted something equally magical and new. :)
I read Every Heart and didn't like it at all.
Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "I read Every Heart and didn't like it at all."Interesting. I'll look forward to hearing why on the book thread.
Kaje wrote: "Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "I read Every Heart and didn't like it at all."Interesting. I'll look forward to hearing why on the book thread."
I've been holding off waiting for others to read it so as not to start the discussion on a negative note. In the meantime, my review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just uploaded a video on my booktube channel about every book I own with lgbt+ characters. There are over 120 books and series, and the large majority are YA (I also created a spreadsheet to go with the video - linked in the description - with info such as whether it's own voices or not, trigger warnings and other diversity)So if you want to find a new book to read, check it out here - https://youtu.be/19nGTBRA0N8 :)
Finally reading If You Could Be Mine. So far I'm liking it a lot better than Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel.
(They updated the mobile app, but still didn't give me a way to put book/cover links! *rage*)It's been quite a month for me, with three new 5-star reads. [For the fresh faces that don't know me (Hi! *waves*), three 5-star ratings was my yearly average.] *grumbles* I'm either going soft, my volume of reading has increased, or books are just getting better.
The first two I was expecting to hit all the right buttons to get 4+stars: Cinderella Boy, and Sometime After Midnight. They're both modern queer takes on Cinderella, and involve music, so I was expecting to thoroughly enjoy them.
The third one stalked me like I'm a gazelle and pounced when I wasn't looking. Running With Lions. I bought it on a whim when the publisher was having a 50% off sale thinking I'd lose it in my TBR pile (after all, it's just another sports-guy coming out story, from an author I've never heard of, right?). And then I started hearing some buzz about it through my library channels. My crow tastes delicious, btw. The book was not a coming out story (well, maybe like two sentences were). I can't really tell y'all what it's about without spoiling it all… but it has, like, moral fibre and good feelz delivered in cheesecake-y goodness (but that perfect slice of cheesecake, you know the one big enough where you get to savor the flavor, but not enough to feel bloated afterwards). (view spoiler)
Rez wrote: "(They updated the mobile app, but still didn't give me a way to put book/cover links! *rage*)It's been quite a month for me, with three new 5-star reads.
Those are all on my to-read list, so it's great to hear that you liked them!
Right now I'm reading The Lightning Thief and I'm reading it while it's calm at my work. So far I really like it, haven't finished it yet, but I want to go through the whole series by the end of this summer. At least try and I must say that Riordan doesn't dissapoint. Also understand why he didn't the like movie...But I really recommend it for those that are as slow as I am and haven't read it yet.
Rez wrote: "(They updated the mobile app, but still didn't give me a way to put book/cover links! *rage*)It's been quite a month for me, with three new 5-star reads. [For the fresh faces that don't know me (..."
Switch to desktop. The app has always been next to useless and the feddback on the "improvements" aren’t promising. I always use the desktop version on my phone.
I just read Running With Lions - didn't like it that much at first, but it got better and ended up a 4-star read for me. There was some realistic-feeling YA-ness to the characters that made them feel genuinely young.
Kaje wrote: "I just read Running With Lions - didn't like it that much at first, but it got better and ended up a 4-star read for me. There was some realistic-feeling YA-ness to the characters t..."It was a slow starter for me too. I was forewarned about the first couple chapters being a bit of a learning curve to the narrative style, so I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did. I thought the third-person introspective/passive voice was an odd stylistic choice at first, but after getting to know the MC, found it actually fit really well.
Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "Switch to desktop. The app has always been next to useless and the feddback on the "improvements" aren’t promising. I always use the desktop version on my phone."
I've tried that, but it renders poorly on my phablet of a phone and just isn't worth the hassle of forcing it into desktop version with every visit. I will just suffer without links until I'm able to get to a PC at work and edit the posts.
I just started reading Empress of the World, the first of many books that I raided from my local libraries ^-^
Joshua {Wynegarde Magicfur} wrote: "I just started reading Empress of the World, the first of many books that I raided from my local libraries ^-^"Oh, I really enjoyed the Battle Hall Davies books!
I've just finished Leah on the Offbeat . Although I had a couple issues with it, overall I loved it, just as I did Creekwood #1. =) Now I'm excitedly getting into an e-ARC of Alex London's Black Wings Beating .
Joshua {Wynegarde Magicfur} wrote: "I just started reading Empress of the World, the first of many books that I raided from my local libraries ^-^"I enjoyed that one too.
Miriasha wrote: "I'm reading In Other Lands and it's wonderful so far, especially if you enjoy some sarcasm/parody."I didn't realize my library branch had this one, so I picked it up and started reading while at work and was instantly absorbed. I spent much of last night laughing and now my diaphragm hurts.
Rez wrote: "Miriasha wrote: "I'm reading In Other Lands and it's wonderful so far, especially if you enjoy some sarcasm/parody."I didn't realize my library branch had this one, so I picked it..."
Added to the TBRs :)
I just finished it about 10mins ago. The humor is primarily feminist, with jabs at machismo tropes in fantasy. The MC, Elliot, is painfully oblivious to the romance arc in the book, but because of the tone of the book and the character's backstory, I found it a little endeering.
Currently reading the ARC of 'Dear Evan Hansen'. It is ... absolutely wonderful.
Reading Matthew Metzger's Our Last Summer which has trans, mental health, and HIV issues in it. As always, well written. I don't always agree with all the viewpoints in his (and this one has a questionable small plot bit unless British medical law is different from ours) but I always enjoy his characters and he touches on important issues.
I needed a comfort read, so I dived back into my old friend, Tamora Pierce's Tortall series. Just finishing up the Immortals quartet, and then I'll be on to the Protector of the Small, which has an author-confirmed aro-ace MC!
I love the inclusivity of Tamora Pierce's books, particularly because they were written 15 years ago when there was less acceptance of that in YA.
Kaje wrote: "I love the inclusivity of Tamora Pierce's books, particularly because they were written 15 years ago when there was less acceptance of that in YA."I don't know that people discovering her now really realise how groundbreaking her characters were, starting with Alanna. They were THE rep for gender nonconforming girls, and they still hold up incredibly well. I read them first in my mid teens, starting with Wild Magic, and I'm rereading them at thirty six and they're still just as good.
Library book time! Just finished Last Seen Leaving, which was okay. (The writing was fine, but for me, who reads plenty of mysteries and crime stuff, I predicted pretty much the whole plot very easily, and I like to be surprised at least once.)Just starting on When Everything Feels Like the Movies. Only a chapter in, so no idea how I feel about it yet.
I've got Been Here All Along waiting in the wings.
Also, I just requested for purchase a bunch more queer books - All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages, Not Your Villain, Sovereign, Grrrls on the Side, Juliet Takes a Breath, We Are Okay, and Leah on the Offbeat! I'm hoping at the very least they get Leah, Villain and Sovereign, because they have the first books of all of those series and I pointed that out in the request form, but any of them would be wonderful and add to the collection's queer content. I love my library!
I really enjoyed Sovereign, although it goes a bit dark toward the end. And I love We Are Okay.
Kaje wrote: "I really enjoyed Sovereign, although it goes a bit dark toward the end. And I love We Are Okay."I ADORED both of those. That's why I think my library should have them. :)
I finished When Everything Feels Like the Movies, and I left a review HERE, but there are MAJOR spoilers for the ending, so don't read unless you want to know.
On to Been Here All Along!
Finished Been Here All Along! It was okay, kinda light and fluffy without much action, but that's all you need sometimes.I'm taking a brief detour from YA to read a mystery/crime series with a queer protagonist, and then, it's on to the new library books I borrowed today!
Vanilla
The Scorpion Rules
Wonder Woman: Warbringer
This Is Where It Ends
I've also got Queens of Geek still to read for this month's challenge!
Iamshadow wrote: "Finished Been Here All Along! It was okay, kinda light and fluffy without much action, but that's all you need sometimes.I'm taking a brief detour from YA to read a mystery/crime ..."
Ooh, is Wonder Woman: Warbringinger an explicitly queer book? I know Wonder Woman is a confirmed bisexual, but is that brought up in this book specifically? It’s been on my bookshelf since it came out, but I haven’t managed to read it yet.
Sarina wrote: "Ooh, is Wonder Woman: Warbringinger an explicitly queer book? I know Wonder Woman is a confirmed bisexual, but is that brought up in this book specifically? It’s been on my bookshelf since it came out, but I haven’t managed to read it yet. "I will let you know! I'm not sure, not having read it yet, but given Leigh Bardugo has written queer characters before and other readers have tagged it with lgbtq on this site, it's certainly possible.
Pleased to report that having reread the Protector of the Small series, knowing now that Keladry is ace/aro, it's really effing obvious that Tamora Pierce was telling the truth, and if I'd read for the first time after I knew about asexuality it might have been obvious even without the word of God. Kel gets the occasional cerebral crush, and goes as far as fumbling with one guy, but she forgets her crushes fast and her primary focus is being a knight. Compared to the Alanna books, where she had no fewer than THREE guys she was attracted to simultaneously, the difference is really obvious. So, finishing up Tortall, and then on to Emelan, which has five confirmed queer characters! Daja, Briar, Sandry, Rosethorn and Lark.
STOP PRESS, I only just signed up to Netgalley, and I saw a listing for What If It's Us, and I thought, what the heck, then I threw my name in the hat, AND I GOT IT. I'm broke as hell, I never get to read things when they're released, never mind BEFORE.*happy dance*
Iamshadow wrote: "STOP PRESS, I only just signed up to Netgalley, and I saw a listing for What If It's Us, and I thought, what the heck, then I threw my name in the hat, AND I GOT IT. I'm broke as he..."You're so lucky!! I wanted to read that book so bad!!! Hope you enjoy it :)
Bookworm wrote: "You're so lucky!! I wanted to read that book so bad!!! Hope you enjoy it :) "Thank you! I'm not a massive Silvera fan (I read two, and they weren't bad, just not really my thing?) but I love Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Upside of Unrequited, so I definitely count myself a Becky Albertalli fan, and I'm interested to see what they can make working together!
Kim wrote: "I'm in the midst of an e-ARC of The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy
. =D"
Lucky you - I'm very interested to see where that one goes.
Iamshadow wrote: "STOP PRESS, I only just signed up to Netgalley, and I saw a listing for What If It's Us, and I thought, what the heck, then I threw my name in the hat, AND I GOT IT. I'm broke as he..."And even luckier you - I love both those authors.
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