Tag: lgbtq

They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe

- Callen Leave a comment

If you like feminist, multi-generational sagas of mothers and daughters struggling to love and trust each other across an abyss of misunderstandings and generational trauma — with a hint of ghost story mixed in for the bargain, you should try reading They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe.

It starts with Regina in 1881, a woman scorned, and a terrible accident in the dead of night. Then, in the present, we meet Meredith, a woman stinging from the split from her wife, and her young daughter Alice. With the end of her relationship Meredith has been drawn irresistibly back to her childhood home and to her troubled, distant mother Judith, who is now forgetful and more convinced than ever that evil is waiting in the ocean for them. As the little family struggles against what seems like their inevitable doom, the reader meets their ancestors: Grace, who can’t give up hope that her mother Regina will return; Beth, crushed by depression and grief, even in pregnancy; Diana, who wishes it would all just go away; and finally Judith as she was, a child desperate to understand all the heartbreak around her. And there’s another woman – a mysterious red-haired girl who appears around every corner as disaster after disaster rocks Meredith’s conviction that the curse isn’t real. Finally, at the end of her rope, Meredith has had enough and declares that one way or another, the curse ends with her – but so have all the women before her…

For the most part, this is a deeply unhappy book, and that can be very hard to read. But the determination of women is always inspiring, and the author is kind enough to give a ray of hope at the end. The book it most reminded me of is The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb (a superb retelling of The Little Mermaid story featuring the power of music) with its themes of mothers and daughters, a curse passed down the line, and the irresistible call of the ocean. In this case, however, it’s more of a ghost story with a hint of witches thrown in. The multiple time jumps add a sense of history and fate to the central conflict of Meredith vs. the curse, and honestly the chance to meet so many women that are all distinct and different and complicated, and deal with the curse in their own ways, is fascinating to read and shows the author’s skill.

That said, while the characters are vivid and realistic, they’re not necessarily your favorite people. Meredith for instance, with whom we spend the most time, is stubborn, close-minded, and hopelessly out of her depth in a supernatural conflict, not to mention a conflicted parent. Even Judith, who we root for as someone fighting the curse, is cold and distant to her daughter and generally does poorly in her personal relationships – which for me at least was not endearing to read. But again, this is partly the mark of a skilled writer showing that people are not always heroic or villainous but shades of gray; the inclusion of a lesbian main character in a nuanced and complicated family relationship is also refreshing to see.

Don’t miss They Drown Our Daughters for a complicated family saga, a slow-burning horror story, and a meditation on home and belonging.

The Jane Lawless Series: Vital Lies by Ellen Hart

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Published in 1993, Vital Lies is the return of Ellen Hart’s restaurateur and sleuth Jane Lawless, featuring a remote island setting, wolves (real and imaginary), an escalating pattern of pranks and sabotage, and a motley cast of suspects. Come for the Murder, She Wrote vibes, and stay for the thoughtful insights into homophobia and coexistence.

Jane’s old friend Leigh has opened up the inn of her dreams – or it would be a dream, if someone wasn’t intent on sabotaging it. There’s been broken glass in the parking lot, gruesome surprises in the guest rooms, and the kitchen has even been ransacked. Leigh is starting to show the strain, just as Jane and Cordelia arrive for a stay. Jane suspects these attacks are deeply serious, a feeling confirmed by a death in the hotel. Now it’s up to Jane to figure out the who, how, and why before anyone else dies. It’s not going to be easy, either, considering the hotel’s current head count includes Leigh’s money-strapped partner Stephen, her quirky aunts, one of whom may have a secret romance brewing, Leigh’s troubled cousin Ruthie, a father and son with skeletons in the closet and a desire to own the inn themselves, a Wiccan practitioner, and her lover Tess, a woman definitely keeping something back — not to mention the new waiter, the cook with his young son always underfoot, and the grouchy handyman. Oh, and her melodramatic best friend Cordelia, stricken with an apparently dreadful cold. Jane’s got her work cut out for her on multiple fronts, as a determined and methodical killer gets ever closer…

I’m biased in this case because Murder, She Wrote is one of my comfort TV shows, but I found this very enjoyable. It’s very plot-focused, so we don’t see a lot of Jane’s internal life (though we do get some, including more information about her late partner Christine) and it’s more like a classic Golden Era whodunit or a stage play murder mystery. At the same time, there’s also honest portrayals of life as an LGBTQ person including parental rejection AND, more importantly, queer joy. After the rampant homophobia Jane runs up against in Hallowed Murder, it’s refreshing in this case to see Jane, Cordelia, and Winifred and Tess just living their lives as lesbians unapologetically and mostly unchallenged. I’m especially glad to be reading this series because it reminds me that LGBTQ authors have always existed and have been working for positive representation for a long time.

For me it falls in the cozy genre (which I don’t like quite as much), but book 2 in the Jane Lawless series still gets my thumbs-up, and you may like it too if you’re a fan of: Murder She Wrote, country house murder mysteries, vintage LGBTQ reads, or determined amateur sleuths unearthing long-buried secrets.

The Jane Lawless Series: Hallowed Murder by Ellen Hart

- Callen Leave a comment

After loving Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler (you should read it!!) I was on the lookout for more LGBTQ mysteries, and discovered that Ellen Hart created a cult classic lesbian detective in Hallowed Murder, published 1989. Best of all, most of this series is still available through Rivershare at our local libraries.

In Hallowed Murder, we meet restaurateur Jane Lawless (and her theatrical friend Cordelia Thorne) and learn that she has started volunteering at her old college sorority, against the objections of Cordelia, who feels that Jane gives the sorority too much loyalty, considering it would have rejected her outright if it had known Jane’s sexuality. But then one of the senior students at the sorority dies suddenly, and while the police are dismissive (especially after the girl’s relationship with another woman comes out), Jane feels there’s more to the story and starts to investigate. Soon she finds herself drawn into a world of religious fanatics, blackmail, and fear, but remains determined to find out the truth.

As a longtime Agatha Christie reader I loved that this book paired a vintage tone and writing style with LGBTQ-inclusive characters. Like Christie’s work, it’s a product of its time, but in this case its time was the 1980s and 1990s, so it’s more aware of modern sensibilities and ethics. Unlike other modern cozy  mysteries, however, it doesn’t have that (apparently compulsory) formulaic storyline of the feisty heroine getting drawn into a turbulent relationship with a strong but sensitive local man or two — yawn! Instead there are slow hints of a relationship in Jane’s past that still haunts her, which is truer to Christie’s Poirot (as most recently shown in the recent Poirot films Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile by Kenneth Branagh) than to a modern cozy detective.

It’s definitely fascinating to read a work of 80s queer literature in 2022 and see how the language has changed around identity, not to mention social perception. The religious abuse and general scandal that the LGBTQ characters face in this book paints a stark picture of what it was like to be queer at that time, and remind us that some places still feature this kind of social and religious persecution toward LGBTQ people. At the same time, Hart also chooses to have one toxic character begin to realize how flawed religious ideas are, which lends the whole thing a hopeful air.

I’m excited to see where this series goes and how Jane Lawless develops as a character – if you’re looking for an inclusive cozy mystery series to try, come along with me on this journey!

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

- Callen Leave a comment

This book is not for everyone. At 800+ pages it’s definitely a marathon, Iditarod, Great Race, good-lord-this-is-taking-a-long-time read. Not to mention that as high fantasy it’s an intricately woven, intimidatingly comprehensive tapestry of a universe — different cultures, traditions, and a number of unique characters. HOWEVER, if you can make it through, you’ll not only have the pride of finishing, but you’ll be breathless, teary-eyed, thrilled, and yearning to read it all again (but maybe not right away).

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon is the story of three very different women who are vital to the survival of all their peoples. Queen Sabran the Ninth is one of a thousand-year-line of Berenthnets who have ruled her queendom, and as such bears a lot of weight on her shoulders — especially considering it’s her bloodline that’s supposed to keep the fearsome fire-based dragon known as The Nameless One from rising again and laying waste to the world. Too bad she’s not interested in getting married and continuing that line… Ead comes from a secret society deep in the South that trains up women to be powerful warrior mages, wielding magic to keep the world safe, mostly from The Nameless One. As part of her mission, Ead has been sent to guard Queen Sabran, without ever letting her know about the existence of magic. So why does she long to get closer to her? Meanwhile, far in the East, Tane is a former peasant girl about to be made a dragon rider in the sacred tradition of the water-based dragons native to the region – if an invader from the West doesn’t mess things up for her. Along for the ride are Doctor Niclays Roos, an alchemist in exile seeking the elixir of eternal life, and Lord Arteloth Beck, friend to Sabran and Ead, sent on a deeply perilous diplomatic mission into dragon-ruled lands — not to mention various plots and intrigues against Sabran, Ead, The Nameless One, or all of the above… All these disparate threads will gradually come together in a battle of good and evil that transcends all borders of region, religion, and reason — because if our hapless heroes don’t stand together, they’ll all burn.

Lush, detailed, beautifully written and sweetly hopeful, this is a fascinating and readable fantasy journey that captures your heart with its very human protagonists. Especially delightful is the way inclusivity is built into the universe, both in terms of LGBTQ relationships and various ethnicities. While the cultural parallels being drawn are fairly obvious, it works as an alternate universe / alternate history, especially because the cultural parallels are also very well done; the religions and traditions are familiar to readers, but with their own intriguing twists.

If you like chosen family, dragons, cosmic balance, a balance of humor and heartache, and books that double as dumbbells for your arm workout, this is the book for you. Seriously, don’t be afraid to put in the time on this one; it’s a masterful epic that leaves no one behind.

Dead Collections by Isaac Feldman

- Callen Leave a comment

Are you a dedicated user of our Special Collections department, or another archive? Do you love urban vampire stories or LGBTQIA literary fiction? If you said yes, or are intrigued, definitely try reading Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman. I checked it out because I had heard it was good transgender representation set in an archival setting and was delighted by the love story and identity exploration amidst an archival mystery. Here’s a quick summary:

When archivist Sol meets Elsie, the larger than life widow of a moderately famous television writer who’s come to donate her wife’s papers, there’s an instant spark. But Sol has a secret: he suffers from an illness called vampirism, and hides from the sun by living in his basement office. On their way to falling in love, the two traverse grief, delve into the Internet fandom they once unknowingly shared, and navigate the realities of transphobia and the stigmas of carrying the “vampire disease.” Then, when strange things start happening at the collection, Sol must embrace even more of the unknown to save himself and his job.

I loved reading both the experiences of trans man Sol and Elsie, who goes down a rabbit hole of gender exploration while falling in love with Sol. I also thought the way the story’s different threads wove together was clever and unique; this isn’t just a romance, or an urban fantasy, or a literary fiction, or a mystery, it’s a truly unusual blend of all of these, and reads like a prose poem. Sol’s narration is also reminiscent of the storytelling in Life of Pi by Yann Martel, incorporating glimpses of and insights from different times in Sol’s life. Different formats (email, scripts, etc.) were also woven into the narrative to echo the multimedia landscape of modern life.

As someone who reads more genre fiction than literary fiction, I did find the poetic writing style difficult in places, but the raw and real emotions, in all their complexity, that the characters lived through were really powerful and profound. I recommend this quirky and moving book to anyone looking for a one-of-a-kind reading experience full of queer representation, cool libraries, and mysterious goings-on.

Redoing Gender by Helana Darwin – Now on Overdrive

- Callen Leave a comment

Remember my previous posts on transgender and non-binary reads (Either Both Neither and Invisible In-betweens)? Well, buckle up, because I’ve got a new read to help you build compassion for non-binary folks, by reading their experiences in their own voices. The book is Redoing Gender: How Nonbinary Gender Contributes Toward Social Change, by Helena Darwin, and it’s an ebook available through Overdrive or the Libby app. Check out this description from the e-resource:

Redoing Gender demonstrates how difficult it is to be anything other than a man or a woman in a society that selectively acknowledges those two genders. Gender nonbinary people (who identify as other genders besides simply man or woman) have begun to disrupt this binary system, but the limited progress they have made has required significant everyday labor. Through interviews with 47 nonbinary people, this book offers rich description of these forms of labor, including rethinking sex and gender, resignifying gender, redoing relationships, and resisting erasure. The final chapter interrogates the lasting impact of this labor through follow-up interviews with participants four years later. Although nonbinary people are finally managing to achieve some recognition, it is clear that this change has not happened without a fight that continues to this day. The diverse experiences of nonbinary people in this book will help cisgender people relate to gender minorities with more compassion, and may also appeal to those questioning their own gender. 

It’s easy to understand diversity as a concept, to imagine that there are a wealth of experiences in the world, but it’s a different thing to hear directly about some of those different experiences. This book helps to bridge that gap between intellectual understanding and real insight, combining sociological practices and academic rigor with a deep care for inclusivity and respecting LGBTQIA experiences. Moreover, it begins to fill a glaring gap in research literature, which is mostly focused on divisions between “men” and “women” without any imagination of other genders.

A good read for sociology buffs and allies alike, this book is recommended for anyone who loves an ebook and likes picking apart harmful patriarchal structures.

Romance Reads: Witches of Thistle Grove series by Lana Harper

- Stephanie Leave a comment

‘That was the thing about growing up with magic. Until you left it behind for good, you had no idea how incredible it felt just to be around it.’ – Lana Harper, Payback’s a Witch

Over the last year, I have noticed an increase in paranormal witchy romances, so naturally I decided to read some! My latest adventure into this genre was the first in the Witches of Thistle Grove series by Lana Harper titled Payback’s a Witch. I found this title to be uniquely engaging and full of world-building, yet not overwhelming with the amount of information given.

Emmy Harlow is back in Thistle Grove. After leaving this magical town right after high school, she never though she’d be back. Harlow may be a witch, but she’s not a very powerful one. The time she has spent away from Thistle Grove, plus the physical distance separating her from the town, has depleted her magic. Her exile from her family has been self-imposed due to a complicated relationship with her family, her family history, and relationships with her peers. Emmy has always wanted to forge her own destiny that had nothing to do with being a Harlow witch in Thistle Grove. Add in a nasty breakup with Gareth Blackmoor when she was in high school and Emmy was drawn to leave quicker than she had planned. After all, Gareth is the heir to the most powerful magical family in town. He oh so casually shattered her dreams and broke her heart without a second thought. She had to leave.

Flash forward: Emmy is back in Thistle Grove to perform her family’s role as arbiter in a spellcasting tournament held every fifty years. A massive guilt trip from her family and the lure of tradition was enough to bring her back. Emmy’s plan is to do her duty as arbiter, spend time with her best friend Linden Thorn, and then immediately leave to head back to her life in Chicago. The universe has other plans.

On her first night back in town, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov at a local bar. Talia is another heir to a different magical family who practices darker magic. She is also fresh off a bad breakup of sorts with Gareth Blackmoor. It turns out that Gareth was also dating Emmy’s best friend Linden, at the same time he was messing around with Talia – with both women not realizing the either was in a relationship with him! Scandal! Linden and Talia want revenge on Gareth and believe that with Emmy they can finally get back at him for what he has done to all three. Emmy has to decide if she wants in and if so, what the plan should be. Add in friend drama and romantic drama between the three and Emmy’s short trip home becomes even more complicated than she originally hoped.

This book is also available in the following format:

Witches of Thistle Grove series

  1. Payback’s a Witch (2021)
  2. From Bad to Cursed (2022)
  3. Back in a Spell (2023)

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

- Callen Leave a comment

It’s proven that reading fiction about people different from us helps us build empathy and understanding – Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki was a powerful example of this for me. I feel I know so much more about trans women’s experiences and Asian culture in California after reading this book. It’s also a genre-bending, compassionate, hopeful look at Faustian bargains, intergalactic refugees, and family of all kinds.

Violinist Shizuka Satomi has a deal with Hell – she’ll win back her soul and her ability to play music if she delivers seven souls to Hell. After years of work she’s carefully selected, molded, and delivered six, with just enough time before her deadline for the last one. But her final student isn’t what she expected – Katrina Nguyen is an abused, terrified runaway, a trans girl with no confidence, no hope, and nowhere to go. But when she plays her violin, the music is indescribable. Shizuka takes Katrina into her home and starts to teach her, only to find her own world and heart irrevocably changed by this unexpected and gentle girl. At the same time, she finds herself growing closer to the enigmatic Lan Tran, owner of a donut shop, mother of four, and alien refugee in disguise. All three women have battles to fight, and will have to lean on each other and learn to let go of their pasts to find a new way forward.

There are so many reasons to love this book, from the descriptive prose to the vivid characters. It’s an unflinching portrait of a trans girl’s experiences, but hopeful at every turn, flouting tropes, conventions, and the expectations you might have for a book about trauma and deals with the devil. There’s all kinds of families on offer here, including found family helping each other heal from their old wounds, choosing kindness, connection, and tender care over fear and conflict. The blend of genres is innovative and mostly effective, as the supernatural melds with sci-fi and contemporary fiction, with a hint of sapphic romance. Aoki not only makes these elements stand together, but also uses the combination to hold up a mirror to our complex, diverse society that struggles to see, understand, and respect the myriad experiences being lived around us. Perhaps most powerful is the strong thread of feminism running through the story as multiple women grapple with generational trauma and patriarchy that has been harming them, and find their own way out and into a place of power and self-trust.

If you like stories of classical musicians finding their voice, urban sci-fi, Good Omens-style fantasy, pacifist themes, the young and old teaching each other valuable lessons, and/or queer romances and coming of age stories, this would be a great book for you.

Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen by Amrou Al-Kadhi

- Claire Leave a comment

As part of my Pride Month reading this year, I tried to pick up books that would help me learn about the diverse experiences of LGBTQ+ people beyond the margins of white, cisgender America. Amrou Al-Kadhi [they/them] expertly does just so in their memoir, Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen. This lavish and raw autobiography renders a refreshing peek into the life of a queer Iraqi-British Muslim drag queen- an intersectional identity that demands the careful and nuanced representation Al-Kadhi offers in their memoir. 

In their beautifully written story, Al-Kadhi, or Glamrou as they are known on stage, is a stunning example of the self-expression and self-exploration drag allows. Raised in a socially-conservative, religious household, Al-Kadhi was instilled early on with a torturously rigid sense of shame and self worth. Their journey outlines the beauty and freedom they experienced as a child, as well as the connection they felt to their mother and the world she created for them. “My mother’s middle east was one I felt safe in,” they lovingly recall. 

As they grew through their adolescence, though, they became painfully aware of the Middle East and Islam’s perspective on homosexuality and gender-noncomformity. It would take years of cultural healing and rediscovery for Al-Kadhi to feel connected to their family, heritage, and religion. While simultaneously mending the pain of the past and celebrating a mergence of femininity and faith, it was ultimately through drag that they finally felt at home in both their queerness and their culture. 

Unicorn is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. Beyond Al-Kadhi’s personal narrative of self-acceptance and perseverance, the story is heavy with complex understanding of how culture and faith belong to a people, not an individual. Al-Kadhi’s revelations of gender, sexuality, and belonging are inspiring and beautifully rendered. 

I would sincerely recommend this to anyone hoping to immerse themselves in a piece of nonfiction, at the heart of which is a story of the human search for acceptance and home.  

Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann

- Callen Leave a comment

I like YA books, but no other narrator has ever felt as authentically fifteen as Phoebe, the voice of Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann. Slang, text-speak, cringe, angst, and a heaping helping of dense obliviousness all combine for a laugh-out-loud, queer, teen, and generally updated retelling of Bridget Jones’ Diary.

Phoebe is living in London with her mum’s best friend Kate (a Persian cat mom who runs a charity shop), AGAIN, since her mum is a doctor with Medecins Internationale and has run off (AGAIN) to help disaster victims. Adding to Phoebe’s feelings of abandonment is a rift with her best friend Polly after Polly finally gets a boyfriend (Tristan, who’s so useless he can’t even ride a bike) and won’t talk about anything else (when she even remembers Phoebe at all). Phoebe has vowed to never get emotionally attached, since falling in love is such a degrading loss of sanity (and frankly gross to look at – who makes out in public?). And that could’ve been the end of it, until one of Kate’s designer Persians escapes while in heat, costing Kate a lot of money she could’ve charged for full pedigree Persian kittens. Determined to pay her back, Phoebe goes out to get a job, ending up working at Kate’s charity shop (humiliating) where she comes face-to-face with Emma, who’s got the bluest eyes Phoebe has ever seen, not to mention beauty and class…

Not only is this book funny, but it delves into a ton of tough topics including loss, grief, selfishness, community, how to be a good friend, emotions, heritage, and what makes a family. The short-form diary entry structure makes the book more addictive by being quick and immersive to read. Heartwarming, hopeful, and inclusive, this is a book for anyone who’s tried to shut away their feelings to keep from being hurt, AND a good readalike for Fredrik Backman’s many fans (A Man Called Ove is a similar vibe).