I’ve been highlighting LGBTQ+ books over on my Instagram to celebrate Pride month. Here’s a roundup of my posts for June 1-5!
Pride Books Day 1 – Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
I read a lot of YA, but this book is really something special. It’s about a girl figuring out her sexuality based on the author’s own experiences. Unfortunately, Becky Albertalli was forced to out herself as bisexual before she was comfortable doing so, all because people criticized her for being a “straight woman writing queer books.” The thing is, you can’t tell someone’s sexuality by looking at them, and even if she was straight, there’s no reason she couldn’t write books about queer people. I’m not a faerie and I write books about faeries. It’s unacceptable that she was forced into disclosing something about herself. Yes, #ownvoices books are important, but this is crossing a line.
This is the first book she’s published since all of that happened, and you can really see her experiences reflected in the book. Imogen is a capital-A Ally to the queer community. She has queer friends and attends GSA meetings. For Reasons, she has to pretend to be bisexual for a week, and during that time she finds herself maybe-falling for a girl. And her process of doubting herself, and coming to terms with her feelings, so accurately reflects my own experiences discovering I was bisexual.
The thoughts going through my head were: Am I making this up? Do I just think she’s pretty? What if I’m just trying to fit in with my queer friends? I’ve never had a crush on a girl before, so am I making this up? Maybe it’s just this one girl? I’ve never kissed anyone, boy or girl, so what right do I have to say I’m bisexual? Am I just looking for attention?
It was a very loud place inside my head. And so is Imogen’s. I felt for her because I have been there, and I have asked all those questions. And I came to the same conclusion that she does: I am “queer enough.” I am “bi enough.” Imogen has a lot of internaliezd biphobia, and so do I. I am not pretending, or making it up, or confused.
It felt so important to see Imogen’s story, with all her messy thoughts, doubts, and fears. I am so grateful that Becky Albertalli wrote it.
Pride Books Day 2 – Sappho
I am having a lot of fatigue, stomach problems, and Long Covid PEM today, so I can’t write the long caption I wanted to and I am bummed. But today we have some Sappho poetry! Sappho was a poet and musician who lived in ancient Greece on the island of Lesbos. A common misconception about Sappho is that she was only into women, when in fact she wrote love songs about both men and women. I think that Sappho was bi- or pansexual. So this would be an example of bisexual erasure, which has been happening for a very long time in this case. This is just my opinion, though, because I’m not a historian, but from studying her writing this is the conclusion I’ve come to. The word “sapphic” (or women-loving-women) comes from Sappho’s name. I like both of these translations of her poetry. The thing about her poetry is that we only have fragments of it, so it’s hard to translate because bits of it are missing. But it’s totally worth checking out!
Pride Books Day 3 – Akwaeke Emezi (they/them)
I couldn’t pick just one book by Akwaeke (@akwaeke) because I have loved them all! Every one of their main characters is queer and they have some of the most original writing I’ve ever read. I think my personal favorite is You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty because it’s a super original romance with a unique main character, Feyi.
One of the cool things about this author is the spiritual angle they take in their writing. Freshwater is almost completely autobiographical and is about the author’s experience as an embodied spirit. Akwaeke identifies as an ogbanje, which is different than my own personal belief system, but I really identify with being a spirit in a human body. It can be super difficult feeling like you are out of place in your own skin. So I found Freshwater super interesting.
Pet and Bitter are YA novels, and Pet has a trans main character. Akwaeke has also written a poetry collection, which I loved, and a memoir. But again, Freshwater is autobiographical but just marketed as fiction, so technically they have written a few memoirs. I can’t wait to read whatever they write next!
Pride Books Day 4 – Deathwriter
Today I am delighted to feature a short story by yours truly. Last year I had a short story published in Folk Tales From the Hinterlands by Gurt Dog Press. The anthology is out of print now, but I republished the short story for 99 cents so you can still grab a copy. This is one of my favorite things I have ever written.
It’s about a girl named Ami who makes a deal with Death and is granted immortality…only to live to regret it.
Here is the link. Let me know what you think if you read it!
(I also did the cover myself!)
Pride Books Day 5 – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
I love my @owlcrate edition of this book. It’s got these cool hardcover case stamps on both the front and the back, it’s signed, and has a bookmark. I’m a sucker for special editions, and I got this one because I loved the book. It’s about a girl who has the gift/curse of eternal life, but nobody ever remembers her. (She’s also pansexual, but that’s such a small part of the plot; it’s just part of who Addie is.)
I tore through the entire 400-page book in one day, basically forgetting that the outside world existed. (My boyfriend, now husband, was neglected that day.) It has all the things that I like – beautiful writing, strong main character, great concept, and it was set in France. Woohoo!
The ending made me cry. Just warning you.
I would love to see this one get turned into a movie. Or have a sequel written. Although I’m pretty sure the sequel would never live up to the first one, as is often the case. Alas, you can’t always get what you want in this cruel world.