First up in January, I read my book club book for the month: The Lilac People by Milo Todd. This historical novel was a chilling look how queer and trans people continued to be persecuted by Allies after the end of the war. I followed it with a nonfiction book on the same subject: The Intermediaries by Brandy Schillace, which is about Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and how he continued to lobby for trans and queer rights even as the Nazis rose to power. I think it’s a great match for Task #5: Read a nonfiction book about resistance.
I also managed to finish Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs, and I’m embarrassed to say I read it before picking up any of James Baldwin’s books, but I plan to rectify that soon.
I have a feeling that The Hollow Half by Sarah Aziza will be one of my top reads of the year. It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking book about the Palestinian diaspora, anorexia treatment, and how generational trauma shows up in the body. I’ve never read a book that incorporates quotations like this one does, and there were several times I had to stop and stare at a wall after a line hit particularly hard.
The nonfiction train continued with Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt, a history of a lesbian line in 80s and 90s London—which I think is fair game for Task #1: Read a microhistory. It also is part memoir and part general lesbian history, connecting the issues callers were dealing with to how they affect queer people today.
I’ve been interspersing some fun fantasy manga reads between my serious nonfiction: Sheeta’s Little Big World by Yuki Kamba and Soara and the House of Monsters by Hidenori Yamaji. I’m fascinated with how the Soara series alternates between flashbacks to a gruesome war and cute cutaway illustrations of monster homes in the current timeline.
In February, I plan to read Hermaphrodite Logic: A History of Intersex Liberation by Jules Joanne Gleeson (Task #19: Read a book by an intersex author) and All the Parts We Exile by Roza Nozari, a memoir by a queer Muslim daughter of Iranian immigrants. I’m planning to read the sapphic manga Throw Away the Suit Together by Keyyang in between.
English (US) · 