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    Book Recs: Twitter’s Favourite Sapphic Romances

    5 April, 2020

    The other day I asked people on book twitter to list 5* of their favourite books with best sapphic romance and this is what happened. I got so many great responses, I couldn’t just leave it as a tweet and let it disappear forever! Which is why I decided to turn all those recs into a post.

    *Yes, Charlotte was allowed ten books because she’s my co-blogger and gets special treatment.

    Some books appear multiple times on this list, yes, I know! But that only shows the bookish community loves them a lot. And I mean, a lot. And if they shower those books with love like that, then you definitely want to read them as well!

    (As always on this blog, ownvoices books are marked with a 🌈 emoji.)

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    Book Recs: Mysteries

    20 March, 2020

    I’m a simple reader: give me a good mystery and I will be satisfied. Make it gay and I will be over the freaking moon. And I’ve finally read enough excellent mysteries that I can make a rec list of them!

    I have fairly high standards for mysteries, I’ll admit. I mean, I want something where I could potentially guess the culprit myself for a start. But not too easily. Basically I have to be able to follow along but also have some element of actual mysteriousness. I told you it was high standards.

    But that, of course, means that all the books on this list are especially excellent (not that they wouldn’t be otherwise but. Stringent criteria and all).

    So, onwards.

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    Book Recs: Books By and About QPOC

    17 February, 2020

    Today, I have for you a massive rec list of books by and about QPOC (and Latinx authors/characters). There are fifty books on here – though that isn’t the sum total of those I know, so if your favourite isn’t here, it’s simply because I couldn’t fit it.

    It’s gonna go like this: I’ve split this post into contemporary, historical, science fiction or dystopia, and fantasy sections. In each section, half the books have been released, half are upcoming (barring sci fi, where I could only find 4 upcoming releases).

    So, enjoy!

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    Book Recs: Poetry Collections (II)

    13 February, 2020

    I said I want to make this a series of poetry recommendations, but the first and only post so far is from July last year… But I am here with ten more poetry collections and better late than never, right?

    Like last time, I changed our traditional “Why Should I Read It?” section into a place to share my favourite quotes from a book. Or at least one of many favourites…

    Let’s go then!

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    Book Recs: Tor Novellas

    21 January, 2020

    At the beginning of December, I decided (foolishly) to aim to have read 400 books in 2019 (being, at the time, only on about 325). I made it, exhaustedly sure, but I made it. And I did so by reading a lot of novellas on tor.com.

    So, obviously, armed with that knowledge, I had to make a rec list. There are only my favourite 10 on here, but I also made a longer thread on twitter, with every single one I read over that time.

    So enjoy!

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    Book Recs: Sapphic Mystery/Thrillers (II)

    10 January, 2020

    I’m back with another sapphic rec list and just in time for #FFFeb! (If you haven’t heard, I’m running a month of only reading sapphic books on twitter and you’re welcome to join! More info is here.) Since mystery is my favourite genre (and Mahana @ Sapphic Library told me to do thrillers), this rec list is, unsurprisingly, full of mystery and thrillers.

    To note first though, a fair few books on here are upcoming, so I have occasionally only been able to find limited information about them. So, apologies if I have made a mistake anywhere.

    As ever, all the previous posts are here.

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    Book Recs: Best of 2019

    30 December, 2019

    Last year we only allowed ourselves to choose 3 best books each. That was torture and so this year we expanded that number to 5. We were also very careful to choose only books that were published in 2019 and read by us in 2019 (barring one 2020 release from me, Charlotte, because I never listen to what Anna says and also I need everyone to mark it to read ASAP).

    I wonder if any of our choices are predictable to you, guys…

    In any case, here are ten best LGBT books we have read this year! (And our dear wish that we could have pick more books.)

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  • All Recommended,  Film & TV Recs,  Film & TV Shows

    Film & TV Recs: Gay Christmas Movies

    26 December, 2019

    This winter both Charlotte and I wanted to rec you some holiday stories. Charlotte went for novellas and you can find her post here. I decided to rec you Christmas movies. Only… I knew there aren’t many, but I didn’t realise there are actually three and two of them are unwatchable…

    If you’re looking for a list of those netflix-like movies of switched princesses and time-travelling knights and princes falling for regular people, but Make It Gay… If you’re hoping for that, this list isn’t for you, because movies like that still don’t exist for us.

    But if you’re looking for some pretty cool movies with a christmasy theme in one way or another, you may just find something for yourself here. At the very least, you’ll find canon rep.

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    Book Recs: Christmas (and Other Winter Holidays)

    13 December, 2019

    Because we promised (vaguely, maybe a while back on twitter), me and Anna have some wintery rec lists for you! We’ve trawled through all the Christmas (and other winter holiday) media, just to find something gay all for you (ask Anna about her travails with Christmas films I dare you).

    And here is the first of those rec lists! Ten books (mostly novellas in this one) for you set during Christmas (or another winter holiday, but mostly Christmas because it’s surprisingly difficult to find holiday novellas that are a) gay and b) not Christmas-specific. Obviously I wasn’t trying hard enough).

    But anyway. Onwards.

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    Reads Rainbow Awards 2019: The Results

    10 December, 2019

    It’s that time!!! The votes are in, and we’re about to announce the results of our Alternative Choice Awards (Goodreads who?). You’ve been voting for 5 weeks and now we have our winners*.

    *In the interests of promoting as much LGBT lit as we can, we were actually just going to put top 5, but then some categories had multiple books with the same number of votes, so, as you can see, five is somewhat of an… underestimate?

    Anyway. If you’re interested:

    See the breakdown of results here!

    Otherwise, happy scrolling!

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    Book Recs: Classics (I)

    15 November, 2019

    I have to put my hand up here and admit me and classics don’t tend to get along. There’s just something about them that seems so dry. But then again, how do we define what constitutes a “classic” and what kind of social forces influence that? (But that’s a discussion for another time.)

    Anyway to cut that long discussion short, classics tend to be white and straight and about men. Or the ones that have been long considered classics (isn’t it notable how a lot of the gay classics are more “modern” if you will – but that is also a discussion for a different time). Here you will obviously find only gay classics.

    Before we start, a confession. I haven’t read any of these, so I’ve dispensed with the “why you should read it” sections.

    (Also please rec me more, as ever!)

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    Book Recs: Sapphic YA Contemporary (I)

    8 November, 2019

    I’m back with another f/f rec list today! This time, I’m reccing YA contemporary novels. Contemporary, because that’s what you voted for. YA because I decided (or rather, Anna told me) to split the rec lists by age (adult/NA/YA). And because I always* do what Anna says, that’s what’s happening.

    (*this is not true.)

    Because there is (comparably) a lot of f/f YA contemporary, I’m starting off part one of this lot of rec lists focusing on that which is less well-known (and maybe one or two five upcoming releases I’m incredibly excited for, just to whet your appetite). I’m also including ones which, while they do not have an f/f relationship, do have a sapphic mc.

    As ever, all the previous posts are here.

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    Book Recs: AIDS Stories (Ownvoices)

    23 October, 2019

    I didn’t originally plan this as a post for LGBT History Month. I actually only wanted to make this list because I read a book about gay teens set during the AIDS crisis that was written by a straight woman & that rubbed me the wrong way. But hey, what better time to publish it, right?

    What this rec list won’t feature: books written by anyone but gay men.

    What else this rec list won’t feature: non-fiction books. No memoirs, no biographies, no essays. Not because I don’t value those, it’s the exact opposite. But because I had a clear goal in mind and that goal was to show you what it looks like when gay men tell the stories and write the world as they remember it.

    Also, I should come clean about a crucial fact… I’ve only read the first book on here, so really, this is a list for all of us. And it’s why I opted out of the “why should I read it?” section, given how my only argument would be the same for every book: it’s authentic.

    You’ll notice that the iconic Angels in America by Tony Kushner & The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer are not on the list – I figured y’all already know about them (and I was right if you noticed the lack of them).

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    Book Recs: Urban Fantasy (I)

    18 October, 2019

    High fantasy’s all well and good, but sometimes you just want to read something that happens in a world you recognise. So that’s what’s happening in this rec list! Ten great urban fantasy novels (featuring LGBT characters, of course).

    And just to make it that much better, I’ve tried to make this rec list as not-white as possible (though you’ll be able to tell where I failed in that), for whoever asked for this specifically (because I don’t remember, so I hope you see this!!).

    So, let’s go!

    See also: Urban LGBT Fantasy, part II.

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    Book Recs: LGBT Retellings (Classic Books)

    14 October, 2019

    Part three of my retellings rec lists, as promised (ages ago)! If you haven’t seen it before, take a look at part one (all about LGBT retellings of fairy tales) & part two (LGBT mythology retellings).

    Today we’re talking about new takes on classic books and when I say that, I mean books like Peter Pan or The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s interesting, actually, because there are a few books that seem extremely popular & have a lot of retellings (honestly, I could make a whole post just about Peter Pan…), but then there are some that hardly have any at all. I don’t know who decides which classics deserve to be retold in a gay way… (Whoever they are, they’re wrong, because clearly the answer is: all of them.)

    Let’s get into it, though.

    See also: LGBT retellings of folklore, fairy tales, classic books & books about historical figures
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