• All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Twitter’s Favourite Trans Books

    13 May, 2020

    The other day I asked people on Twitter to give me their 5 favourite trans books. Now, I’m using trans here as an umbrella term to include all non-cis identities, so you will find recs with nonbinary characters, genderqueer characters and more.

    And let me just say, the responses were great and I managed to compile a list of so many gems! And a lot of them seem to be rather overlooked, which is just another bonus & very good news to people starved for rep, who have already read all the popular titles.

    Of course, as always on this blog, books by LGBT authors are marked with a 🌈 emoji. Please let me know if I got something wrong, so I can correct it!

    See also: 100+ books by trans & nonbinary authors
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  • All Recommended,  Film & TV Recs,  Film & TV Shows

    Film & TV Recs: LGBT Period Dramas (II)

    18 April, 2020

    A long promised continuation to my first rec list of LGBT period dramas. Definitely check out that post for more recommendations!

    Like in that previous post, I’d like to say that I’m aware there are barely any movies with trans rep on the list. I did my best. All the other period dramas featuring trans characters that I know of, gave those roles to cis actors & I’m not about to recommend that here.

    I accidentally made about half of this rec list about titles based on real stories & people, it wasn’t a conscious choice. But it does mean that not all of the movies listed are exactly super happy & gracious to the LGBT characters.

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Scribd LGBT Starter Pack

    13 April, 2020

    It’s quarantine day 2839394, you already baked your sourdough bread, learned how to embroider, cleaned all the grout in your flat, and – in a ideal world – finished all the books on your bookshelves. What to do now, you ask? Read more, of course!

    Because we’re all tight on funds right about now, I would like to remind you that Scribd is offering a 30 days free trial on their whole library. If you’re not familiar with the website, this post would be a good place for you to get going. I tried to include a variety of genres in this list, but like it says in the title, it literally is just a starter pack.

    (And if you’ll use my invite link, you will actually get two months off and I will get one, too. It’s a win-win situation.)

    Final note: I very much encourage you to leave reviews of the books you’ll read on amazon and/or goodreads, and buying your own copies, if you can afford it. Or requesting them at your local library once it’s open again!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    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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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: January-June 2020 Books With Bi Protagonists

    12 March, 2020

    If you’re looking for books with bisexual and/or pansexual characters, you’re in luck. Here’s a list of all books coming out in January-June 2020 that fit that description. (The July-December list is available here.)

    Finding specific rep in upcoming books isn’t always easy, so I want to make some things clear before we start:

    1) I included only books that use the bi & pan labels or, in case of sff ones, that make it clear from context the characters are bi or pan. It’s not always clear-cut but I figured that if you’re looking for bi/pan rep, you’re looking for something concrete;

    2) I did not include books which I wasn’t sure about, because I didn’t want to falsely advertise. If there’s anything I missed that you know for a fact features a bi or pan protag, please let me know!

    I’ll be also marking YA books with a ✌️ emoji, if that’s something that you’re interested in. And, as always, a 🌈 emoji indicates a book is by an LGBT author.

    (You might also be interested in these posts about 2020 YA releases & 2020 releases with non-cis characters.)

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    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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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    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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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    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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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: 2020 Books With Non-Cis Protagonists

    16 January, 2020

    I told you about all the YA upcoming books of the first half of the year & today I’m here to tell you about all the 2020 books with non-cis protagonists. As the title implies, this list is compiled of books with main characters who are trans or non-binary, or both, or genderfluid… Everyone who is not cis.

    I want to make three things clear:

    1) this is a list of all the books I know of at the moment which is not to say it’s a list of all the books in existence;

    2) I decided to include love interests as well, since they usually play a pretty major role in the story, but not other side characters;

    3) I’m marking with a 🌈 emoji books written by LGBT authors – please correct me, if I got something wrong.

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  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: The Relic Spell

    8 January, 2020
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    Magic rolls through Orion Tamura’s history classroom like a tidal wave of golden light that only he can see. The spell is deadly, and Orion has no idea who cast it or what they want.

    Answers are scarce—all of Port Monica’s sorcerers vanished fourteen years before, including Orion’s father. Armed with his limited knowledge of magic, Orion is the only one left in the city who is strong enough to investigate the origins of the spell.

    But the city’s leaders will stop at nothing to censor and sabotage anyone who gets close to the truth. Invisible otherworlders watch every move Orion and his friends make, and a mysterious sorcerer who knows the answers haunts Orion’s dreams.

    The Relic Spell

    Jimena I. Novaro

    Published: 17th December 2019
    Goodreads
    Rep: Japanese Argentine American bi mc, nonbinary side character

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  • Book Club,  Literature

    Book Club: January Read

    28 December, 2019

    It’s approaching the end of December which means it’s time to announce our book club read for January! As ever, we got you to vote on twitter and you picked the genre of… (drum roll please) ROMANCE!

    Read on to find out which book we selected! And look out for our reviews* of December’s read sometime next month.

    *Disclaimer: we may not actually have read it by that point… oops.

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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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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    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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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    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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