I read this because t's the July bookclub book at work and while it isn't my month to lead the discussion I told the regular ladies I would come because they want to celebrate my birthday which happens to fall 2 days later. Funny aside, another lady who attends, we have the same birthday right down to the year...
I am so glad I read this book!! I had read Good in Bed and have seen the movie In Her Shoes so I'm not totally unfamiliar with Weiner's writing. But I was not prepared for this, for how much I would love this book, for how much it would infuriate me and bring me joy and make me so very sad....
This is the story of Jo and Bethie, Jewish sisters who grow up in Detroit and follows them from childhood in the 1950's through 2022....Along the way they live through a difficult mother, religion, love, loss, marriage, divorce, women's lib, drugs, war, sex, same sex relationships, the birth of children, illness, and it is so powerful....
I want to go on and on about this book...about how brave and strong Bethie is even when she doesn't think she is, how Jo who seems brave and strong has moments where she is anything but and it changes her life and the lives of others so much, how all of their flaws come back to them in the form of Jo's daughters, how real love sometimes takes a REALLY long time to be noticed, how far women have come but how far there is still left to go....
Even if you aren't near a B&N or you're not sure you want to go to a booklcub, read this book!!!
(Finished July 3, 2019)
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard by Alex Bertie
I tried to read more about the experiences of the "T" in LGBTQ because it isn't an area I am super informed about and I wanted to learn more about what it was like for people willing to educate and share their journey. The best way to learn is to hear from first voice story tellers.
By the end of this book I felt a kind of love for Alex. He was so open and willing to tell his story with the hopes of being helpful to both the parents and loved ones of Transgender folks and to young people beginning the coming out process and who might be wondering what is ahead for them in the transition process. Alex doesn't just give facts, he is open about what he knows and doesn't and how to best deal with what ever "it" is for the reader, how much to share and with who when is just one example.
Alex writes as if he is having a conversation with the reader, and it makes it easy to empathize with him, the only thing missing is a steaming cup of amazing coffee and a plate of cookies.
I learned a lot and found this a great way to end pride month.
(Finished June 29, 2019)
By the end of this book I felt a kind of love for Alex. He was so open and willing to tell his story with the hopes of being helpful to both the parents and loved ones of Transgender folks and to young people beginning the coming out process and who might be wondering what is ahead for them in the transition process. Alex doesn't just give facts, he is open about what he knows and doesn't and how to best deal with what ever "it" is for the reader, how much to share and with who when is just one example.
Alex writes as if he is having a conversation with the reader, and it makes it easy to empathize with him, the only thing missing is a steaming cup of amazing coffee and a plate of cookies.
I learned a lot and found this a great way to end pride month.
(Finished June 29, 2019)
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Ship It by Britta Lundin
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!
If you have been part of a fandom, if you have ever read and/or written fanfic, if you have ever shipped, if you have ever longed to see someone who looked like and/or was like you as a character in the the thing you love, if you know what it is to love a thing even when others don't get it or think you are nuts (midnight Harry Potter book release parties anyone?), this book is for and about you!!!!
Claire is an amazing young person. She is so many people I know from my own fandom experience and it was lovely on the page. She is a fanfic writer and her fandom of choice is a show called Demon Heart. She ships the two main characters Smokey (Forest) and Heart (Rico). She, like many fans of the show, ship the guys and that's what she writes in her stories. She lives in a small town in Idaho and is lonely. It's a very small town and she is the only one who is obsessed with this show and writes about. She has no friends other than one girl she talks to on the bus to and from school. She had a very bad experience with a young man from her school the year before our story (she wasn't raped but he was very disrespectful of her body and touched her in unwelcome ways). Oh, and Claire isn't sure if she is Queer, she is trying to figure it out because she meets a girl names Tess who she starts have all kinds of feels for.
When Claire goes to a local Comic-Con and overcomes her fear and asks a question about the upcoming Demon Heart finale and if the fans hope that their shipping of Smokey and Heart will become cannon Forest handles it in what becomes a PR nightmare. To fix the problem the shows fixer type person sets it up so Claire comes on the rest of their Con tour (Portland and Seattle) with them.
She gets to spend time with Tess, Forest, and Rico. She learns about herself and how to see past herself. She also gets an inside view of some of the nastiness of show business.
This book is a love letter to fans, fandoms, and those who even in these close knit groups still feel marginalized, it says you are seen, you have a voice and you should use it because you are worth seeing and hearing.
There is also a lesson/reminder about respecting others and apologizing, making amends, when you screw up and hurt someone, and making sure you are looking beyond your own nose. Oh and a very strong message that if you are a fangirl or boy, if you ship characters, write/read stories about them, plaster your room with posters, go to Cons, do Cosplay, don't do Cosplay, YOU ARE NOT A FREAK!! Well maybe you are but you are, we all are a little bit, but IT IS OK TO BE A FREAK!!! "Normal" is overrated and boring!! Imagine how drab and awful a world with out Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Bilbo, Gandalf, Frodo, Samwise, Luke, Leia, Han, Jon, Arya, Sam, Dean, Castiel, (fill in your favorite) would be....
(Finished June 26, 2019)
Claire is an amazing young person. She is so many people I know from my own fandom experience and it was lovely on the page. She is a fanfic writer and her fandom of choice is a show called Demon Heart. She ships the two main characters Smokey (Forest) and Heart (Rico). She, like many fans of the show, ship the guys and that's what she writes in her stories. She lives in a small town in Idaho and is lonely. It's a very small town and she is the only one who is obsessed with this show and writes about. She has no friends other than one girl she talks to on the bus to and from school. She had a very bad experience with a young man from her school the year before our story (she wasn't raped but he was very disrespectful of her body and touched her in unwelcome ways). Oh, and Claire isn't sure if she is Queer, she is trying to figure it out because she meets a girl names Tess who she starts have all kinds of feels for.
When Claire goes to a local Comic-Con and overcomes her fear and asks a question about the upcoming Demon Heart finale and if the fans hope that their shipping of Smokey and Heart will become cannon Forest handles it in what becomes a PR nightmare. To fix the problem the shows fixer type person sets it up so Claire comes on the rest of their Con tour (Portland and Seattle) with them.
She gets to spend time with Tess, Forest, and Rico. She learns about herself and how to see past herself. She also gets an inside view of some of the nastiness of show business.
This book is a love letter to fans, fandoms, and those who even in these close knit groups still feel marginalized, it says you are seen, you have a voice and you should use it because you are worth seeing and hearing.
There is also a lesson/reminder about respecting others and apologizing, making amends, when you screw up and hurt someone, and making sure you are looking beyond your own nose. Oh and a very strong message that if you are a fangirl or boy, if you ship characters, write/read stories about them, plaster your room with posters, go to Cons, do Cosplay, don't do Cosplay, YOU ARE NOT A FREAK!! Well maybe you are but you are, we all are a little bit, but IT IS OK TO BE A FREAK!!! "Normal" is overrated and boring!! Imagine how drab and awful a world with out Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Bilbo, Gandalf, Frodo, Samwise, Luke, Leia, Han, Jon, Arya, Sam, Dean, Castiel, (fill in your favorite) would be....
(Finished June 26, 2019)
Monday, June 24, 2019
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater
This is a true story and let me start by saying I remember when this happened. I also have some vague memory of reading a followup story about how the person who was burned had shown or sent a message of forgiveness to the person who did the burning. Then I saw this book on a table at work and knew it had to go in my Pride reading bag.
Oakland
Sasha
Richard
The 57 Bus
A lighter
A skirt
Mothers
A father
Bystanders
Many lives changed
When this happened both Sasha and Richard were teenagers
Sasha identifies as agender but upon looking at them to Richard saw "a boy in a skirt" and he made a poor choice. He was with friends and they were laughing at Sasha who was asleep on the bus on their way home from school. Acting recklessly Richard set Sasha's skirt on fire. He said he didn't think it would burn so fully so instantly and that it would smolder and wake Sasha up. But what happened was that Sash'a legs were horribly burned. It would have been so much worse had a quick thinking passenger acted and got the fire out.
In the aftermath of the fire is a story of recovery, criminal justice, compassion, forgiveness, and the capacity of humans to change.
Slater does a brilliant job of telling the story in such a way that you can feel for both teenagers and see the trouble with punitive justice without any restorative piece, especially when it comes to juvenile offenders.
Nothing makes what Richard did ok, and he has owned that and even tried to tell Sasha and their family, though it took 14 months for the message to reach Sasha and their parents because Richard's lawyer held on to letters he wrote. But being 16 and having no history of being a violent kid should he have been tried as an adult? Some stupid statements he made to the police when he was arrested, using words he didn't fully grasp the meaning of, because he didn't have an adult with him during questioning, means the DA was able to try him under CA law as an adult and there wasn't much that could be done to stop it. The discussion I feel like Slater was trying to open was about not if a kid should get off because they are a kid but how they should be treated in the criminal justice system.
But the most powerful part of this whole story is the graceful forgiveness Sasha and their parents were able to show to Richard and his mom and how that helped Richard on the road to being truly rehabilitated and avoiding recidivism.
(Finished June 24, 2019)
Oakland
Sasha
Richard
The 57 Bus
A lighter
A skirt
Mothers
A father
Bystanders
Many lives changed
When this happened both Sasha and Richard were teenagers
Sasha identifies as agender but upon looking at them to Richard saw "a boy in a skirt" and he made a poor choice. He was with friends and they were laughing at Sasha who was asleep on the bus on their way home from school. Acting recklessly Richard set Sasha's skirt on fire. He said he didn't think it would burn so fully so instantly and that it would smolder and wake Sasha up. But what happened was that Sash'a legs were horribly burned. It would have been so much worse had a quick thinking passenger acted and got the fire out.
In the aftermath of the fire is a story of recovery, criminal justice, compassion, forgiveness, and the capacity of humans to change.
Slater does a brilliant job of telling the story in such a way that you can feel for both teenagers and see the trouble with punitive justice without any restorative piece, especially when it comes to juvenile offenders.
Nothing makes what Richard did ok, and he has owned that and even tried to tell Sasha and their family, though it took 14 months for the message to reach Sasha and their parents because Richard's lawyer held on to letters he wrote. But being 16 and having no history of being a violent kid should he have been tried as an adult? Some stupid statements he made to the police when he was arrested, using words he didn't fully grasp the meaning of, because he didn't have an adult with him during questioning, means the DA was able to try him under CA law as an adult and there wasn't much that could be done to stop it. The discussion I feel like Slater was trying to open was about not if a kid should get off because they are a kid but how they should be treated in the criminal justice system.
But the most powerful part of this whole story is the graceful forgiveness Sasha and their parents were able to show to Richard and his mom and how that helped Richard on the road to being truly rehabilitated and avoiding recidivism.
(Finished June 24, 2019)
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E. Pitman
This is book is technically a kids book and it is a great introduction into the history of the Stonewall Riots and the movement for LGBTQ+ rights for kids. There is no explicit information that might make caregivers worry about age appropriate content but it still gives really important information.
The history given is done by taking the reader on a journey of 50 objects. Each object (a photograph, a button, a patch, a newspaper article etc) has historical significance and the story of the object and the people involved is taught.
But this isn't just for kids at all. It is a valuable and interestingly done primer for anyone interested in learning more about the people and events surrounding the 1969 Stonewall riots.
It is a super quick read, I read it in a little over an hour.
(Finished June 23, 2019)
The history given is done by taking the reader on a journey of 50 objects. Each object (a photograph, a button, a patch, a newspaper article etc) has historical significance and the story of the object and the people involved is taught.
But this isn't just for kids at all. It is a valuable and interestingly done primer for anyone interested in learning more about the people and events surrounding the 1969 Stonewall riots.
It is a super quick read, I read it in a little over an hour.
(Finished June 23, 2019)
Saturday, June 22, 2019
My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen by David Clawson
As with all fairytales, and make no mistake about it, I think this is a modern fairytale, it requires some belief in the unbelievable, in the happily ever after, in the power of love, that the good guys win, the boy gets his hearts desire.
My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen is a twist on the Cinderella story. There's a person, in this case a teenage boy named Chris, who lives with his Step-Mother and two step siblings, a boy and a girl in this telling, who does the cooking and cleaning and care taking in the household. The story even starts with a ball Chris wants to go to but can't even as the others get ready to go and hope that his Step-Sister Kimberly gets the "prince" J.J. to fall in love with her and solve all the money problems they have. There is an awesome Drag Queen-Fairy Godmother, Coco, who gets Chris to the ball...and there is a shoe left behind....
But there are some modern twists. Chris is gay, his step-mother has a drinking problem, he loves his family, in his way, and they him in their own way, and he likes to cook and stuff and they don't make him. And the run in with the prince and the left behind shoe? J.J. and Chris.
What follows is a story about learning to love the skin your in, what it means to have pride in who you are, the power of friendship and love, being fabulous, the ways we love each other and how it doesn't always look like we think it should, and sacrifice for others and when to put self first. There is also some uncomfortable moments, hiding oneself from others and how that can hurt people even if that isn't what we want to do, the Kimberly/J.J. pieces were a bit uncomfortable but sad too.
Overall this was a great twist on an old classic and I loved reading it. I felt for Chris so much. And I even felt for Iris, if she could stop drinking to hide her pain I think she would find her step-son and her kids are pretty neat people. I found the way Buck acted towards Chris and Duane a little "icky" at first but when it became clear he loved Chris and liked Duane quite a lot and was trying to in his own awkward way show his support I felt better. It may not have been the most "appropriate" way to show his love and support but it was his way. And you get the feeling both Chris and Duane are ok with Buck.
A solid 4.5 out of 5 but Goodreads doesn't do half stars. A very good read tho!!!
(Finished June 22, 2019)
My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen is a twist on the Cinderella story. There's a person, in this case a teenage boy named Chris, who lives with his Step-Mother and two step siblings, a boy and a girl in this telling, who does the cooking and cleaning and care taking in the household. The story even starts with a ball Chris wants to go to but can't even as the others get ready to go and hope that his Step-Sister Kimberly gets the "prince" J.J. to fall in love with her and solve all the money problems they have. There is an awesome Drag Queen-Fairy Godmother, Coco, who gets Chris to the ball...and there is a shoe left behind....
But there are some modern twists. Chris is gay, his step-mother has a drinking problem, he loves his family, in his way, and they him in their own way, and he likes to cook and stuff and they don't make him. And the run in with the prince and the left behind shoe? J.J. and Chris.
What follows is a story about learning to love the skin your in, what it means to have pride in who you are, the power of friendship and love, being fabulous, the ways we love each other and how it doesn't always look like we think it should, and sacrifice for others and when to put self first. There is also some uncomfortable moments, hiding oneself from others and how that can hurt people even if that isn't what we want to do, the Kimberly/J.J. pieces were a bit uncomfortable but sad too.
Overall this was a great twist on an old classic and I loved reading it. I felt for Chris so much. And I even felt for Iris, if she could stop drinking to hide her pain I think she would find her step-son and her kids are pretty neat people. I found the way Buck acted towards Chris and Duane a little "icky" at first but when it became clear he loved Chris and liked Duane quite a lot and was trying to in his own awkward way show his support I felt better. It may not have been the most "appropriate" way to show his love and support but it was his way. And you get the feeling both Chris and Duane are ok with Buck.
A solid 4.5 out of 5 but Goodreads doesn't do half stars. A very good read tho!!!
(Finished June 22, 2019)
Thursday, June 20, 2019
When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan
This was a fascinating read. Being from Brooklyn I was extra interested in this not just as a Pride month read.
It is the history of Brooklyn and its rise as a city and then part of NYC, how the Brooklyn Bridge and the subway lines being being built and the activity at the Navy Yard played major roles in the development of the borough and the growth of the Queer community in Brooklyn. It is also ties in the history of the growth of the arts (theater, museums, drag shows, artist communes) in the area.
It is one of not many books documenting the growth and tearing down and driving into the shadows of the Queer community in the decades of the lead up to the Stonewall Riot. The reason that there are not as many books documenting this history and the stories of the people of the time is that there wasn't much preservation of information in the early years because people didn't think to save or document things and also because of the way the Queer community was treated and dismissed. Often times the stories are lost in the mix, for example at one point being Queer was considered criminal and the tracking of the arrests weren't always properly coded and so the statistics of how many people were arrested for crimes that weren't crimes but discrimination isn't fully known.
There is mention of literary greats/legends Walt Whitman, Truman Capote and other artists and performers too, and how their ties to both Brooklyn and being Queer played a part in the history of research and life in Brooklyn in its heyday and as things changed and crumbled.
It really was an interesting read. I learned so much about my hometown, those who helped build it, the awful way members of the Queer community were treated (and sadly still are), and the huge part both celebrity and average, everyday people were treated for being who they were born to be. Yes a lot of the history is ugly and sad but it is so important to know.
I learned about February House, the role Coney Island played in the life and development of Queer life, the creation of MoMA, how Brooklyn was born, the Navy Yard and sailors in the area during WWII, the differences in how gay men and women were treated or looked upon and judged (hint-almost always unfairly), the part the mafia played in the clubs and restaurants that catered to the Queer community and just so much. I highly suggest you read this.
(Finished June 19, 2019)
It is the history of Brooklyn and its rise as a city and then part of NYC, how the Brooklyn Bridge and the subway lines being being built and the activity at the Navy Yard played major roles in the development of the borough and the growth of the Queer community in Brooklyn. It is also ties in the history of the growth of the arts (theater, museums, drag shows, artist communes) in the area.
It is one of not many books documenting the growth and tearing down and driving into the shadows of the Queer community in the decades of the lead up to the Stonewall Riot. The reason that there are not as many books documenting this history and the stories of the people of the time is that there wasn't much preservation of information in the early years because people didn't think to save or document things and also because of the way the Queer community was treated and dismissed. Often times the stories are lost in the mix, for example at one point being Queer was considered criminal and the tracking of the arrests weren't always properly coded and so the statistics of how many people were arrested for crimes that weren't crimes but discrimination isn't fully known.
There is mention of literary greats/legends Walt Whitman, Truman Capote and other artists and performers too, and how their ties to both Brooklyn and being Queer played a part in the history of research and life in Brooklyn in its heyday and as things changed and crumbled.
It really was an interesting read. I learned so much about my hometown, those who helped build it, the awful way members of the Queer community were treated (and sadly still are), and the huge part both celebrity and average, everyday people were treated for being who they were born to be. Yes a lot of the history is ugly and sad but it is so important to know.
I learned about February House, the role Coney Island played in the life and development of Queer life, the creation of MoMA, how Brooklyn was born, the Navy Yard and sailors in the area during WWII, the differences in how gay men and women were treated or looked upon and judged (hint-almost always unfairly), the part the mafia played in the clubs and restaurants that catered to the Queer community and just so much. I highly suggest you read this.
(Finished June 19, 2019)
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