Wrap-up: July 2019

Personally, I don’t know when this whole month went past. If you asked me what day it is and didn’t show me a calendar, I would say it’s like… maybe… July 17th?? But here we are, already in August.

Neither of us really read A Lot in July, which I will gladly blame on it being the summer holidays (even though I didn’t get time off from work at all). And yes, I am aware that Charlotte’s list is 23 books long, but believe me – for her? That’s nothing. On my part, I was doing pretty well, until I read struggled with this one Polish book that was so awful, it actually put me off reading for the rest of the month…

Hopefully, August will be amazing for both of us! And for all of you, too! And now, let’s dive into the past.

What we read

Anna

Crush by Richard Siken (poetry; gay author) – 5 🌈
 Cinderella Boy by Kristina Meister (genderfluid mc, bi li) – 4 🌈
Lie With Me by Philippe Besson (gay mc & li) – 4 🌈
IRL by Tommy Picco (poetry; gay Native American author) – 4 🌈
Tommy’s Tale by Alan Cumming (bi mc, gay li, gay side characters) – 4 🌈

Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence by Adrienne Rich (essay) – 5 🌈
Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron (gay mc, gay/lesbian/pan side characters) – 4 🌈
Niebo 1989 by Marcin Teodorczyk (gay mc) – 1 🌈

Charlotte

Patsy by Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn (wlw mc, nonbinary lesbian mc) – 2.5 🌈 [review]
 The Avant-Guards, Vol. 1 by Carly Usdin (author) & Noah Hayes (artist) (wlw mcs, nonbinary mc) – 4 🌈
The Pursuit Of… by Courtney Milan (gay mcs) – 4.5 🌈
The Monuments Men Murders by Josh Lanyon (gay mcs) – 4 🌈
Call Him Mine by Tim MacGabhann (gay mc) – 4 🌈 [review]

 The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (lesbian mcs) – 4 🌈
Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta & Cori McCarthy (wlw Arab mc, bi li, gay mc, black nonbinary side character, black gay side character) – 1 🌈
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (gay side character, bi side character, polyamory, trans woman side character) – 3 🌈
The Key by Mats Strandberg & Sara B. Elfgren (lesbian mc, bi mc) – 3 🌈
She Rises by Kate Worsley (unclear) – 1 🌈

Goalie Interference by Avon Gale & Piper Vaughn (gay mc, bi mc) – 3 🌈 [review]
The Impossible Contract by K. A. Doore (lesbian mcs) – 5 🌈
Empty Net by Avon Gale (gay mcs) – 3 🌈
The Matchmaker by Natasha West (lesbian mc, bi mc) – 3.5 🌈
Unspoken Vow by Eden Finley (gay mcs) – 2.5 🌈

A Little Light Mischief by Cat Sebastian (lesbian mcs) – 2 🌈 [review]
Jade War by Fonda Lee (gay mc) – 5 🌈 [review]
The Lie by William Dameron (memoir) – 4 🌈
Bad Company by K. A. Mitchell (gay mc, bi mc) – 1.5 🌈
The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich (poetry; lesbian poet) – 4 🌈

The Marriage Recital by Katharine Grant (wlw mcs) – DNF
When She Thaws by Lily Craig (lesbian mc, bi mc) – 3 🌈
Three Way Split by Elia Winters (bi mcs) – 3.5 🌈

What we watched

Anna

The Magicians cr. Sera Gamble & John McNamara (bi mc, lesbian characters) – 4 🌈
Euphoria cr. Sam Levinson (Black wlw mc with depression, wlw trans li) – 3.5 🌈
Someone Great (2019) dir. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Black lesbian character) – 2 🌈

On the blog

• Interviews with Adiba Jaigirdar and Christopher Barzak.
• A book review of This is How You Lose the Time War
• Rec lists for poetry collections, fairy tales retellings, neurodiverse characters, and f/f historical fiction.
  
• Book Club: official announcement & August book reveal
• And as ever, we gave you a round-up of all the LGBT releases to look forward to in August.

On other blogs

• Dahlia @ LGBTQReads made a rec list of books with nonbinary characters, in celebration of International Nonbinary Day (July 14th).
• Jaz @ Travels in Fiction spent last month watching and reviewing LGBT films.
• Ngọc @ Read with Ngọc reviewed seven films they watched for Pride Month.
• Kathy @ Pages Below Vaulted Sky interviewed Sam J. Miller. And wrote a great review of This is How You Lose the Time War.
• Lucy @ Lucy’s Novel Purpose reviewed one of our most anticipated books, Lord of Secrets.
• Mahana @ Sapphic Library wrote a great piece about hyping f/f books and gave you some recs to get you started. And shared even more recs.
• Elise @ The Bookish Actress reviewed one of Anna’s favourites, and wrote a great piece about including bigotry in worldbuilding.
• Michelle @ Magical Reads reviewed another of our most anticipated, Girls of Storm and Shadow.
• Matt @ Queerying Literature wrote an amazing review of Lie With Me.
• And Charlotte herself wrote an incredible post about all the reasons why people read what they read (by which she means why people don’t read f/f books).

So, what did you read/watch this month?

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