Queer

Marriage of a Thousand Lies

2018, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Queer, Women /

We listened to Marriage of a Thousand Lies on audio. The first few minutes of the book were pretty darn depressing. Turns out the whole thing is pretty darn depressing but it’s also pretty darn good.

We don’t get a lot of decent lesbian literary fiction. We get lesbian chick lit, or lesbian erotica, or lesbian poetry, or token lesbian characters in mainstream fiction, and a ton of GAY fiction of all types, and we’re event seeing more trans fiction of all types. But literary lesbian fiction? GOOD literary lesbian fiction? Sooooo rare. Marriage of a Thousand Lies is worth reading for that reason alone. But prepare yourself for the depressing, frustrating, and not at all happy ending.

I very much hope SJ Sindu writes more books. I’ll read them.

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Noir

2 Comments / 2018, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Queer, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Woot! A new Christopher Moore book! (Sure was a long time coming, wasn’t it?) Noir was a lot of fun but not so much funny. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, because it was. I liked it a lot, more than Sacre Bleu and Serpent of Venice. He did a good job with the genre and didn’t let the humor overshadow the genre or the story. I’m not sure I loved the Moonman story line but it worked well enough that it didn’t annoy me.

I’m definitely a fan and wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Sammy and Stilton again, someday. (Or Lone, or Jimmy, or Moo Shoes, either.)

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Three from the Cybils Shortlist

2018, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Queer /

I reserved I’m Just No Good at Rhyming because I thought it might be fun to play with while the boys were here. hahaha. As with many of our big ideas around kids and poetry, this didn’t happen. I, however, enjoyed it a good bit once the boys went home. I’m not a huge fan of extra-silly poetry so I was worried — but, it wasn’t too silly, just clever. (Mostly.)

I reserved the only two books that I was really interested in, from this year’s non-fiction shortlist, Motor Girls: How Women Took the Wheel and Drove Boldly Into the Twentieth Century and Queer, There, and Everywhere. As expected, I really enjoyed Motor Girls and have a love/hate/disappointed/frustrated thing going with Queer, There, and Everywhere.

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The Edge of the Abyss

2018, Books in Bed, Favorites, Queer, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Lesbian pirates and huge sea monsters made their return in The Edge of the Abyss.

I thought this was a series but it looks like it isn’t. Probably? I went through most of the book thinking this is just a typical book two, existing only to set up book three and then WHAM … the last 50ish pages tied everything up quickly and neatly and there’s a sad little “The End” when it’s all done.

Hmph.

I enjoyed this one, almost as much as the first one. I’d like it to be a series but if it’s not, I’ll be (mostly) ok with it. I guess.

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Run

2017, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Queer, Young Adult /

Woot! A Cybil I loved, loved, LOVED. Run was excellent. Both Agnes and Bo felt like real people. I especially liked the ending — Agnes’s parents behaved true to character rather than tying things up in the perfect happily ever after. (And, I admit I might have shed a tear or two there towards the end.)

PS. Four books in the first four days of the month. How long has it been since I could say that?

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The Lotterys Plus One

2017, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Queer /

I’m not sure what I expected from a children’s book written by Emma Donoghue but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t The Lotterys Plus One. Oh sure, I expected an LGBTQ family but this family? Not so much, lol.

There are FOUR parents, a lesbian couple and a gay couple. They have quirky names like PopCorn and CardaMom. The kids are all named after trees, except for Briar… she changed her name to Brian, and while she is adamant about NOT being a GIRl, she’s also not saying she’s a BOY. Gender is hard, or really simple — take your pick, both are true.

Besides the fact that there are eight zillion people in this book, all with quirky names, and you have to try to keep track of who is who you also have to deal with the fact that the family has weird names for EVERYTHING. Family meetings are called “fleetings,” the back porch of the house is called the “derriere,” the extra bedroom is called “spare oom,” something isn’t excellent, it’s egg salad… this is all a little overwheling. It’s fun, but on top of the all of the weird family names, it’s messy.

In fact everything about this book is messy, which is why you should absolutely read it.

The family is super messy and quirky and I kind of love them, even if I could do without the weird/cutesy names. The children came to the family in a variety of ways and have a variety of ethnicity, personalities, (and some issues.) Some were biological to some of the parents. One has what’s probably ADHD, one is a shaken baby.

And then there’s the grandfather… the one who has messy problems of his own, the least of which is that he’s an old white conservative dude from a small town in Canada and he things families should be made up of one man, one woman, and hopefully the same race/ethnicity. He also thinks people should behave in more traditional ways. And, there’s more… he is the plus one in this story, and he is what drives the plot line.

Donoghue throws a lot into this one tiny book and in the end, I loved it. I could do with fewer odd names/language choices but I get it. The family is quirky. I’ll take them as they are (and TW says there are or will be more books, so I’ll read them.)

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Everfair

2017, Books in Bed, Queer, Steampunk /

Well, that took forever and now that I’ve finished I can’t figure out why I didn’t quit Everfair (like TW did.)

It’s an alternate history afro-steampunk story (with a few lesbian/bi characters) which sounds like something I should really enjoy, right? That’s what I kept telling myself. And I did enjoy a line here and there or a page or two every now and then. I wanted to like it. I should have liked it but I really just didn’t.

Great idea. Great topic. Poorly executed.

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