J.P. Brammer writes from a very specific background as a gay Mexican-American man raised in rural Oklahoma, but these are identities you don't need to personally claim in order to both love and benefit from this book. His writing style makes you forget you are reading and instead feel as if you're having a conversation with someone who is deeply invested in helping you seize the best from life. And he's hilarious, so that's a plus.
A timeless piece of writing, with reflections on battling cancer, lesbian motherhood, Black American womanhood, community organizing, and love. An important voice to familiarize yourself with now, as Audre Lord's wisdom and vision carry lessons that could help us traverse our most persisting social issues if only we would listen.
Pizza Girl, a pregnant pizza-delivering eighteen year old, is nonchalantly trying to blow up her life despite the support from her golden retriever boyfriend and her Korean mother living the American Dream (through her). With the ghost of her alcoholic father haunting her off her own cliff, she grabs on to the last branch of safety: a crush on a middle-aged housewife. Ugly & uncomfortable, unwinding & gripping, set against the backdrop of the lazy, hazy suburbs of Los Angeles. Takeaways: tender but sharp writing for a debut and, screw pineapples on pizza, let's talk about pickles on pizza.
Hard to put down! Very readable like chips are very eatable; you can't have just one. It tickled my behind-the-scenes of the Bachelor itch and hit me in my PNW heart. Allen really brought out the stops for this horror comedy with just the right amount of camp and believability. Come on, this lady sasquatch just wants to cuddle.
Part queer love story, part subtle horror story, both parts eerie and beautiful. Wives Leah and Miri try to manage when Leah comes back from a failed deep-sea mission that left her stuck on a submarine for five months. Armfield seamlessly creates the sensation of being underwater, that kind of silence that is quiet and loud at the same time. A slow burn until the last 50 pages or so then the quiet gets unbearably loud. If you like swimming, Florence + the Machine, Kristen Arnett, or loving someone or something, read this.
I read this in one sitting - they had to kick me out of the coffee shop. Despite the fact that this was written as Vuong was dealing with the loss of his mother, I saw so much joy and lightness in this collection. I can see he's enjoying himself; I can see he's dealing with himself. If you like his other work, you won't be disappointed in spending this time with him.
This is a novel in verse that tells the story of a young woman who decides to being back the singer Selena from the dead. But it's so much more than that. It's about loneliness, feminism, the culture behind fandom and queer/latinidad identity. TOP TEN BOOK 2021 OF FOR ME!
I love fairytale/mythology retellings, so from the beginning I expected to enjoy this reimagining of Homer's Iliad, as told from Patroclus' perspective. I didn't expect to fall in love with this quiet and gentle story about legacy and how we choose to honor the ones we love. If you're on the fence about it, jump off and pick it up!
