We’re a quarter of the way through the year, and spring is coming to New England (in fits and starts, like it does). Prize packs went out in the mail this week. And congrats to Gaelan, who won the March raffle!
If you’re just joining us, welcome! All the details about the challenge are here.
As always, feel free to chat in the thread about any and all queer lit. What great queer books did you read in March? What prompts are you still struggling with? Give a rec, get a rec, you know the deal!
I read a ton of trans books for the amazing Trans Rights Readathon in March, and April is National Poetry Month! So, with that in mind:
Did you read any great trans books in March? What trans books are on your TBR? Got recs for any of the trans-specific Queer Your Year prompts?
Who’s your favorite queer poet/what’s your favorite queer poetry collection? 90% of poetry collections will work for Prompt 24: A book under 150 pages. So go wild!
My favorite queer poets are: Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Andrea Gibson and myself. I have five poetry collections published and a sixth in the works. My publisher is Launch Point Press.
I’ve also been wanting to read Secret City. Last month I read The Guncle, and it was both delightful and insightful, I think, especially with regard to the kinds of losses that are less formally recognized -- how people react when they hear about the death of your best friend or boyfriend, as opposed to your spouse or a parent.
I loved that about The Guncle, too. And I think that's something that a lot of queer fiction deals with because not having words to describe certain kinds of loss is such a common queer experience (not to imply it's an exclusively queer experience, because of course it isn't).
Hi! I just found y’all this month and I started reading Paradise Rot. Thank you Laura for your labor putting all these reviews on-line with subheadings! I think that book was under the subheading “weird” or something similar.😂 Please keep this genre, I knew it was just for me!
And let me say OMG. It is not only wonderfully strange but it is SOOOOO steamy. 🥵 that was a *wonderful* surprise. This has been my fave book so far this year.
Yay! I'm so glad you found us, and that you're enjoying Paradise Rot! I liked it also, I found it very strange and kinda dreamlike. I have a bunch more recs for Weird Queer if that's your thing. (I really love it, too.)
Ohhhh yes. That is definitely one of my main genres of interest. I am also a geologist and biologist and so I just purchased both of Imbler’s books. They couldn’t be more perfect. I gifted HFTLR to a friend who really needed some queer deep sea therapy right now. And I’m waiting for Dyke(geology) to arrive. I cannot wait to read that. This is the first and only representation of queer geologist storytelling I have come across. Totally pumped.
Ohhhh, yay, that's so exciting! They are just so good and also your comment really drives home one thing I love about their books—like, we need queer nature writing and queer science writing! I think the expansiveness of science writing being inherently queer and how exciting that felt was one of the reasons I loved HFTLR so much. I bet you are going to love Dyke (geology)!
And for weird queer books, two of my favorites are: Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks and My Volcano by John Elizabeth Stintzi. Both absolutely bonkers and amazing.
Amazing! I just logged in here to write you and ask for your recs because I finished paradise rot. It was really fantastic. I was left with a feeling of “I have no idea what just happened” and wished I had just read it for book club so we could compare notes! I also listened to Jenny Hval’s music and it was *exactly* what I expected. If Paradise Rot had a soundtrack it would be her own music!
I read Before We Were Trans in March, highly recommend! The premise of treating historical instances of gender nonconformity as trans history is so simple but powerful. I forget if i found it via this newsletter or elsewhere, but thanks to whoever recommended it.
And just started Secret City, The Hidden History of Gay Washington.
I'm liking Secret City so far - it's a hefty book but the writing is compelling and the characters are larger than life. I'm also from the DC area and am looking forward to reaching the 1980s/90s section when it'll start intersecting with history I actually remember.
It's a real contrast / interesting follow up to Before We Were Trans, which was so hugely expansive and generous in its language, full of nuance and intentionally bringing historical figures under the big rainbow umbrella. The Secret City author intentionally uses the language of the time he's writing about, so no identities beyond gay/lesbian are considered and "queer" is a pejorative. Total library holds coincidence that two queer history books showed up for me at the same time, and it's fascinating how different they feel!
I think this is one reason why it feels so important to me to read broadly across queer history. There are so many ways to approach it and I think a lot of them have merit (unless they are purposely exclusionary) and I also find it fascinating to think about the how of the history being done. And I love when two related books come in at once and it makes for a richer experience of both!
My favorite queer poets are: Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Andrea Gibson and myself. I have five poetry collections published and a sixth in the works. My publisher is Launch Point Press.
I’ve also been wanting to read Secret City. Last month I read The Guncle, and it was both delightful and insightful, I think, especially with regard to the kinds of losses that are less formally recognized -- how people react when they hear about the death of your best friend or boyfriend, as opposed to your spouse or a parent.
I loved that about The Guncle, too. And I think that's something that a lot of queer fiction deals with because not having words to describe certain kinds of loss is such a common queer experience (not to imply it's an exclusively queer experience, because of course it isn't).
Hi! I just found y’all this month and I started reading Paradise Rot. Thank you Laura for your labor putting all these reviews on-line with subheadings! I think that book was under the subheading “weird” or something similar.😂 Please keep this genre, I knew it was just for me!
And let me say OMG. It is not only wonderfully strange but it is SOOOOO steamy. 🥵 that was a *wonderful* surprise. This has been my fave book so far this year.
Yay! I'm so glad you found us, and that you're enjoying Paradise Rot! I liked it also, I found it very strange and kinda dreamlike. I have a bunch more recs for Weird Queer if that's your thing. (I really love it, too.)
Ohhhh yes. That is definitely one of my main genres of interest. I am also a geologist and biologist and so I just purchased both of Imbler’s books. They couldn’t be more perfect. I gifted HFTLR to a friend who really needed some queer deep sea therapy right now. And I’m waiting for Dyke(geology) to arrive. I cannot wait to read that. This is the first and only representation of queer geologist storytelling I have come across. Totally pumped.
Ohhhh, yay, that's so exciting! They are just so good and also your comment really drives home one thing I love about their books—like, we need queer nature writing and queer science writing! I think the expansiveness of science writing being inherently queer and how exciting that felt was one of the reasons I loved HFTLR so much. I bet you are going to love Dyke (geology)!
And for weird queer books, two of my favorites are: Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks and My Volcano by John Elizabeth Stintzi. Both absolutely bonkers and amazing.
Amazing! I just logged in here to write you and ask for your recs because I finished paradise rot. It was really fantastic. I was left with a feeling of “I have no idea what just happened” and wished I had just read it for book club so we could compare notes! I also listened to Jenny Hval’s music and it was *exactly* what I expected. If Paradise Rot had a soundtrack it would be her own music!
I read Before We Were Trans in March, highly recommend! The premise of treating historical instances of gender nonconformity as trans history is so simple but powerful. I forget if i found it via this newsletter or elsewhere, but thanks to whoever recommended it.
And just started Secret City, The Hidden History of Gay Washington.
I am in the middle of Before We Were Trans and agree it's so good! I meant to finish it in March but I got distracted.
I've heard good things about Secret City, too.
I'm liking Secret City so far - it's a hefty book but the writing is compelling and the characters are larger than life. I'm also from the DC area and am looking forward to reaching the 1980s/90s section when it'll start intersecting with history I actually remember.
It's a real contrast / interesting follow up to Before We Were Trans, which was so hugely expansive and generous in its language, full of nuance and intentionally bringing historical figures under the big rainbow umbrella. The Secret City author intentionally uses the language of the time he's writing about, so no identities beyond gay/lesbian are considered and "queer" is a pejorative. Total library holds coincidence that two queer history books showed up for me at the same time, and it's fascinating how different they feel!
I think this is one reason why it feels so important to me to read broadly across queer history. There are so many ways to approach it and I think a lot of them have merit (unless they are purposely exclusionary) and I also find it fascinating to think about the how of the history being done. And I love when two related books come in at once and it makes for a richer experience of both!
I started A Lady for A Duke in March and am still working on it, but am really enjoying this historical romance novel with a trans main character.
As far as poetry goes, I absolutely love Danez Smith's Don't Call Us Dead
Don’t Call Us Dead is an all time favorite of mine, too.