Pride: The LGBTQ+ Rights Movement: A Photographic Journey by Christopher Measom

Pride 2019 read the 2nd.

This was on the Pride table at work and was only available until the ones there sold and it is so beautiful I had to get it. 

This book really is beautifully done. The pictures and historic details of the movement and the laying of the challenge to keep going, to keep pushing forward make this a must have book. It is commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and ties in other important events and people who have made the Pride movement what it is. 

(Finished May 31, 2019)

50 Queers Who Changed the World: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Icons by Dan Jones, Michele Rosenthal

Pride 2019 read the 1st,
My annual PRIDE reading has begun. I aim to become the best possible ally possible so for Pride Month I read nonfiction and fiction by and about LGBTQ people and events important to the movement. I started 2 days early this year because of the timing of finishing a book and not wanting to go a couple of days without reading anything and not wanting to start something and pause for a month.

My plan was to start with this one and it is a quick read, less than an hour if I had been able to sit and read it before I had work and some other stuff to do today.

The portraits are wonderful!!!

The list of 50 is a great list, I learned about some people I didn't know about at all or didn't know they had a connection to the LGBTQ community or activism.


I couldn't decide if I should give you a few of the names or the list and I started both ways but realized when I tried to only name a few I was having a hard time choosing so here is the list:

1. Freddie Mercury
2. Alison Bechdel
3. Christopher Isherwood
4. Radclyffe Hall
5. Gladys Bentley
6. kd lang
7. Camille Paglia
8. Keith Haring
9. Barbara Gittings
10. RuPaul
11. Chavela Vargas
12. Rock Hudson
13. James Baldwin
14. Lili Elbe
15. Quentin Crisp
16. Gertrude Stein
17. Harvey Milk 
18. Patricia Highsmith
19. Peter Tatchell
20. Sylvia Rivera
21. Justin Vivian Bond
22. Virginia Wolf
23. George Takei
24. Jake Miller
25. Sally Ride
26. Andy Warhol
27. Billie Holiday
28. Dan Savage
29. Audre Lorde
30. Sandra Bernhard
31. Essex Hemphill
32. Candy Darling
33. Oscar Wilde
34. Lily Tomlin
35. Alan Turing
36. Michael Dillon
37. Madonna
38. Rachel Maddow
39. Larry Kramer
40. Laverne Cox
41. Divine 
42. Stephen Tennant
43. Allen Ginsberg
44. Ellen DeGeneres
45. Marlene Dietrich
46. Armistead Maupin
47. Eleanor Roosevelt 
48. Leigh Bowery
49. Ron Woodroof
50. Frida Kahlo

There was a list at the end of More Queer Heroes with a little blurb. The one I will share with you was my favorite: American lesbian entertainer, activist and French secret agent Josephine Baker. Might as well have said all around badass!!!

A great start to my Pride reads!

(Finished May 30, 2019) 

There's Something About Sweetie (Dimple and Rishi #2) by Sandhya Menon

I was so happy to get back to and finish this book!!! I was drawn to it right away from the blurb inside the cover, as I mentioned in my post about When Dimple Met Rishi and Sandhya nailed it again!!!


While the spine of this story is a romance the ribs and heart are so much more (did I push that too far?). Rishi's brother Ashish (who made his debut in book 1) is the boy part of this pairing. He is trying to revoker from a shattered heart and when a friend suggests he let his parents help pick his next girlfriend since it worked so well for his brother he figures why not, after all at the very least maybe he will get his "mojo" back.

However, the real star of this story is Sweetie. She is so amazing. I know her mother will make you sad and angry but try and hold on, after all Sweetie does it, it is her mother after all. Sweetie is fat. Her words. She has been told her whole life in word and deed and in the media around her, that she isn't good enough. She is smart and pretty and athletic and healthy and a kick-ass runner and a great friend and so very kind and generous, which means she is exactly who she should be proud to be and so should those around her. But it doesn't seem like that is is the case between her and her mother and that is a huge part of Sweetie's coming of age story.


When Ashish's mother picks Sweetie as the one to set him up with, Ashish the super fit and rich and star of the basketball team guy, Sweetie's mom says no way, she is too fat for him and won't allow it. But Sweetie is heartsick and goes behind her mother's back to let Ashish see for himself and decide and they decide to try it out, this dating thing, and what follows is a story of love and healing and family and culture and learning to love the skin you're in no matter what the world wants to tell you that you should be.

I wish I had a book like this back when I was younger. I was always the fat girl. I still feel like a fat girl and struggle with my body. I wish I had an ounce of Sweetie's sass and determination when I was 17.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! I LOVE SWEETIE!!!

I want more of Sandhya!!!

(Finished May 30, 2019)

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

Because Emily asked me to switch months with her I am leading the discussion for June's book club at work I paused my read of There's Something About Sweetie. June's book is this one and it is my first Sarah Blake read. And I am hooked on her writing and will now seek to read anything else she has written.


The first thing that struck me and is sticking with me is how beautiful the use of language is from the first page to the last, even when the ideas, sentiments, emotions, even when they are ugly and painful, the way it is written is beautiful. I guess that's intentional (or me reading too much into it) since life is often if not always both beautiful and ugly and painful at the same time.

The Guest Book is the story of the Milton family told from the past with matriarch Kitty as our point of contact and the present with Kitty's granddaughter Evie as our point of contact. The past begins in the 1930's and begins moving forward heading into the present where it intersects and sheds light on Evie's story even as Evie's story unfolds moving backwards and heading to a point where it intersects with Kitty's and Joan's.

As the story of Kitty and her children and their social circle unfold we met outsiders Len (a Jewish man) and Reg (a black man) who form a bond with Kitty's son Moss and daughter Joanie. In the present Evie is faced with a colleague and friend calling her on her white privilege while in the past the divide between white and black people is looked next to the divide placed between white people and Jews and the differences in how it was talked about and treated. And it is far from pleasant and was quite painful to read. But it was handled with what felt like such a naked realness that I think we the readers are supposed to be uncomfortable and angry and saddened. Intertwined in this drama is the story of a family, what family means, what place history and memory plays in our lives. If you don't squirm and feel the pain and disconnect on behalf of Len and Reg then that says something more about you than it does about the story Blake has weaved in the pages of her book.


This is going to be an incredible book club night!!!

(Finished May 29, 2019)

When Dimple Met Rishi (Dimple and Rishi #1) by Sandhya Menon

This book had come across my radar back when it came out but I hadn't got around to reading it. But then a few days ago I saw the next book, There's Something About Sweetie, at work and I fell in love with the inside cover blurb, well, Sweetie really. It says on the cover it is a companion to this one but I didn't know if anything in it would be spoiler for this story so I got both and read this one first. And I loved it. I loved it in the way I loved Jenny Hann's To All The Boys series, in that while yes it is a romance, it is more.

The story of Rishi and Dimple is about falling in love when you least expect it and it is the last thing you want or the only thing you want. It is about being who you are, who you feel deep in your bones, the person you really are even when it is hard and scary. It is about the dynamics of family and how to handle what they want for you when you want something else and the cultural nuances of Indian American families. It was lovely, sweet, honest, and just really good. It felt like the best kind of rom-com, where you know what is going to happen in the end and you don't care that it could be called predictable because the road is so enjoyable.

Now I am looking forward to meeting Sweetie!!

(Finished May 17, 2019)

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Back in 2012 I read The Book Thief and loved it. When Zusak's newest book Bridge of Clay came out I bought it but haven't read it yet and I found and grabbed this one because it was on the infamous Buy 2 Get 1 table at Barnes & Noble. I finally got around to reading it and well it was nothing like Thief. But that's ok. It had something in common, the heart.

When Ed and his friends are in a bank when it is being robbed and he thwarts the robber, in the clumsiest way possible, since Ed isn't brave and isn't a go get em' kind of guy. Ed is a 19 year old pretending to be 20 so he can drive a cab. He has a smelly dog named Doorman and three best friends, Ritchie, Marv, and Audrey. And he happens to be hopelessly in love with Audrey. And until he becomes a "hero" the most interesting thing about him is his blunt honest and his smelly dog. Then he meets an old lady, a couple of rowdy boys, a brute of a man, a priest, a single mom, a young runner with no shoes, and his life changes....

After the robbery he gets a card in the mail, a playing card, the Ace of Diamonds, with addresses written on it. And so begins a life altering road he is set upon. He has to do something, what depends on what is happening where the cards send him. There is a lot of heart, some really good laughs, a goodly dose of snark, and even some tears in Ed's story.


In the end, while it was a totally different beast than Book Thief I really enjoyed I Am The Messenger.

(Finished May 15, 2019)

If You Come Softly (If You Come Softly #1) by Jacqueline Woodson

I was putting my TBR piles into neater piles so I could take pictures for my friend who challenged people to post their pictures. And it took 4 pictures to get mine, not counting the stacks I have tucked away in my closet. And I found this in the pile so I started it this morning...and I finished it after work this evening. And I am completely gutted!!!

It was a sweet love story between Ellie and Miah. They are two students at a private high school in NYC who meet when they bump into each other, literally, and can't stop thinking about each other. There's a catch though, Ellie is white and Miah is black.

This book is from 1998 and while walking around together and spending time together they notice the looks they get and the comments people make. And Miah thinks about how his dad taught him to never run in a white neighborhood (I wish things were better 20 years later but we all know that not only hasn't it gotten better but has actually gotten worse). Yet they fall in love. And it is sweet. And it is innocent. And you get the feeling it is the real deal.

Ellie meets and really likes Miah's mom. Ellie has real fear about bringing Miah home to meet her family after she mentioned meeting him to her sister and her sister had a really unfortunate reaction. She loves him and wants to protect their love from any harsh words or actions her parents might have.

But then she is ready to tell them. And she is so happy, and so is Miah...

Read this. I can't say more. Just trust me.

(Finished May 10, 2019)

Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1) by Roshani Chokshi

After the emotional load of must read that was Internment I needed a good story (as I always hope to be reading with each book I start) that would allow my brain and heart a little respite. While at work I was helping a customer who was shopping for her granddaughter. The granddaughter had requested this book. Rachel my friend and the children's department lead told us that this book was sooooo good. She had read it and loved it and told us some stuff about it. I bought a copy that day for the very purpose of the above mentioned respite. I am so glad I did!!!


Aru lies. Aru is sad. Aru is lonely. And Aru is a heroine.

When Aru tries to impress her schoolmates when they show up at the museum she lives in she starts the end of time. After this colossal mistake Aru has to fix it or else..well or else who knows, but it is apocalyptic, and so off she goes on a quest to save the world with just a pigeon and another 12 year old girl who has a ways she doesn't want to die list that includes death by halitosis on it to help her. Along the way Aru learns about her family history, her inner strength, and the value of friendship and it is a great ride.

Don't let the fact that this is a book from the children's young reader section stop you. It is smart, filled with amazing Indian mythology, fun, adventurous, and worth your time. I would have finished this in a day had I not had parental and work commitments but I was anxious to spend time with Aru and Mini and Boo when I had to put the book down and do other things.

I will visit them again as their series progresses and space them between other reads when I need respite again. I am so glad to have discovered this book and to tell you about it!

(Finished May 10, 2019)

Internment by Samira Ahmed

Internment is the second book by the author of the incredible Love, Hate & Other Filters.

This is quite possibly the scariest book I have ever read. It is also without a doubt one of the most important.

What makes it so scary? The fact that it is all too real and possible.

Imagine a world with a President of the United States that supports Nazis, praises white supremacy, makes it ok to hate people who are black and brown and Muslim and Jewish and LGBTQ and incites violence when speaking to crowds.....Oh wait, we live in that world.

But now take it a step further. Imagine that all of his threats and promises are followed through with, Muslims are banned and laws of exclusion are put into place (think Jewish Exclusion Laws in Germany in the 1930's). Imagine that "in the interest of national security" Muslims are forced from their homes into "camps" (sound familiar?).


Would you have the courage to speak out from your place of privilege if you are not part of a marginalized group? Would you have the courage to fight back from within?

Layla is what we should all aspire to be. Strong and brave even as she is terrified.


I have to be honest, I cried a lot reading this but never as hard as I did when reading the Author's Note.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!! THEN PLEASE TELL OTHERS TO READ IT!!!

(Finished May 5, 2019)

Lost Roses (Lilac Girls #2) by Martha Hall Kelly

This is the May Barnes & Noble Bookclub selection and I am leading the discussion next week.


This story is part of a trilogy of books, book 3 being in the works now. In Lilac Girls readers meet Caroline Ferriday during WWII. In Lost Roses readers get the story of her mother Eliza during WWI.


Eliza, her friend Sofya (a wealthy Russian), Sofya's sister Luba, a young poor woman named Varinka, they are our main points of view of what is happening in Russia, Paris, and the US during the Russian revolution that saw the over throwing of Tzar Nicolas (and birthed the fairytale stories about Anastasia).

It was brutal and heart wrenching. In the beginning it is striking at how willing the wealthy are to wear blinders to the suffering of those around them and to hold on to the image of Nicolas as beneficent and loving. So it isn't really all that surprising when the peasant class rises up and tries to take what they have been kept from having, food, medicine, shelter....but as happens in chaos and with no clear guidance or plan, in many places it becomes a bloodbath and doesn't better anyone. In small villages the villagers rise up and overtake the estates and often kill the estate holders, wreck the home and belongings and are left without food again before long. It is a brutal cycle. And in this background is the story of our main characters. Strong women all in their own ways.

Eliza was a real women who really opened her homes in NYC and Southampton to women who fled Russia and made it to the US. She also founded a relief society and tried to make life better for the women and children harmed by the war and revolution.

Lost Roses was an interesting and at times brutal and tense story. It brought the war and the choices people make in unusual times and the consequences of those choices into vivid pictures.

(Finished April 30, 2019)