Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Since we were talking about it I thought I'd post this early :-)

Who is planning to read something to read something special in June in honor of Pride Month?

June means that I'm once again planning to read The Price of Salt - hahaha maybe this year I'll FINALLY read it!!! I love Patricia Highsmith so I bought this book and ... naturally I read all my library books before I get to any book I own.

I see my library has the audiobook of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe read by Lin Manuel Miranda, if it's still available when I finish the audiobooks I have borrowed right now, I'll borrow that one. And I'll probably listen to a book by Sarah Waters for my audiobook, maybe Tipping the Velvet or The Paying Guests.

And I've got Plain Bad Heroines on hold at my library, I'm looking forward to that one.

Other books I'm considering:
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi (I liked Emezi's other two books, but I confess I'm a bit put off by this title)
The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz
What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo I both love and hate that cover

I've got some poetry collections on hold:
Say Uncle by Kay Ryan
Naming Our Destiny: New and Selected Poems by June Jordan
Meditations in an Emergency by Frank O'Hara
I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems by Eileen Myles


I'm not sure what else I'll read. I'm sure I'll get some good ideas here!

I'm starting The Red Tree, which will probably carry over into June at this rate because I'm travelling for the holiday. I loved The Drowning Girl, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Oh I just learned about a book!! They Never Learn ... female serial killer? yessssss. This will be the perfect companion read to Kepnes's "You Love Me," which I'm listening to right now. And it will work for "female villain" over in AtY.

I plan to read Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan,
The Black Tides of Heaven J.Y. Yang and
The Black Unicorn: Poems by Audrey Lorde.

I have a Summer Reading List of 50 books for a challenge in another group, and of the lot I've got a good number of books set for June specifically:

Queen of the Conquered
Tides
Armistice
Amnesty
The Unbroken
Girls of Paper and Fire
Marlene
Ace of Spades
The Girl with the Red Balloon
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices
Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution

Most of these are new-to-me authors, so I'm excited!!

Definitely reading Black Water Sister by Zen Cho.
Possibly The Atmospherians byAlex McElroy

I'm sure I will find others as well.

I've got Stonewall by Martin Duberman queued up at the library. I figure Pride month is motivation to read the LGBTQ+ history book for Read Harder.

I'm also reading Coronation Everest, which I discovered is by a trans woman from England who, before her transition, was the journalist along with Edmund Hillary when he summited Mount Everest for the first time.

Every year I say I'm going to read Proxy for Pride month. Every year I start it and every year something comes up and I don't finish it. So, I just put a hold on it at the library! Try, try again!

I also just put a hold on Annabel.

Nadine, I really loved Fingersmith, I haven't gotten around to reading any of her other books, but I would like to for sure.

I feel like I'm getting a case of grabby hands... These awareness months always do this to me!

Nadine wrote: "Other books I'm considering:
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi (I liked Emezi's other two books, but I confess I'm a bit put off by this title)
The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz"

I've read all of these! For what it's worth I really enjoyed Less, more and more as it went along. I found the writing very amusing. If you are thinking of the audio of Future of Another Timeline, listen to a clip first. The narrator... wasn't my cup of tea. She might not bug you though, totally a me thing.

The Death of Vivek Oji was one of my favorite books last year and my write-in for the Goodreads Choice Awards. I plan to read another book by Akwaeke Emezi this year.

Jen K wrote: "Definitely reading Black Water Sister by Zen Cho.
Possibly The Atmospherians byAlex McElroy

I'm sure I will find others as well."



I pre-ordered Black Water Sister last month because she's one of my favorite authors!! (Naturally I haven't read it yet.) I didn't realize that Zen Cho was a queer author.* That's another one for my list!!



*I feel so uncomfortable using the term "queer" because it was a nasty slur when I was a kid, but my kids assure me that it's the best term to use these days.

Jennifer W wrote: "Nadine, I really loved Fingersmith, I haven't gotten around to reading any of her other books, but I would like to for sure. ..."


SAME. I read Fingersmith a few years ago. It blew me away with twists I never saw coming. I decided I was going to read all of her books. And ... I haven't read anything else by her ... yet.

poshpenny wrote: "The Death of Vivek Oji was one of my favorite books last year and my write-in for the Goodreads Choice Awards. I plan to read another book by Akwaeke Emezi this year..."


There's just something about the title that I don't like! But I should read it. Freshwater was SUCH a good and trippy book, one of the bests books I've ever read! but I didn't love Pet as much. It's like the author wanted to write a kid's book but didn't know how to write for kids.



Less is another book that I keep giving side-eye to. I don't always like prize-winners. But the e-book AND audiobook are available at my library.

Nadine wrote: "Jen K wrote: "Definitely reading Black Water Sister by Zen Cho.
Possibly The Atmospherians byAlex McElroy

I'm sure I will find o..."

Ha! I have a similar experience and reaction to the word but trying to adopt it as well. I really like Zen Cho. I have this one on hold for its release next week and still need to read her The True Queen. Cho has a great approach to fantasy.

Nadine wrote: "There's just something about the title that I don't like!

Well, it does tell you how it ends. But oh, I just love Vivek.


Less is another book that I keep giving side-eye to. I don't always like prize-winners."

I have seen quite a few people confused about it's win. It's much lighter than your average award winner.


Queer has basically become the default umbrella term and I use it quite a bit now, though it took a while, for the same reason. Gay and lesbian are very gender binary, and since we are in the process of throwing gender out the window, queer is the only thing that really fits for a lot of people now.

PS my list is going to be huge again hahaha

Yay! I love when the posts are a bit before the month starts! Plans, people! I keep trying to find another place to make them, but it never really works.

I finally joined the 21st Century and am now getting audio/ebooks from the library. It's done great things for my AAPI reading and I already have a ton of books ready to go at the start of June!

Let's see how my giant List of Possibilities is coming along:

Hurricane Child - I think I have been reading this for years. Will I finish it this year?

Have or Borrowed:
Adult
Giovanni's Room
The Great Believers
Defekt
Memorial
Jonny Appleseed
Girl, Woman, Other
Slippery Creatures
One Last Stop
The Paying Guests
Amora: Stories
Crosshairs
Pizza Girl
Tin Man
Speak No Evil
The Best Bad Things
The Last Place You Look
What You Want To See
Milk Fed
The Thirty Names of Night
How Much of These Hills Is Gold
Blackfish City
The Story of Silence

YA
Only Mostly Devastated
The Extraordinaries
Camp
Solitaire
Middletown
Once & Future
Full Disclosure
An Unkindness of Ghosts
Pet
Dread Nation
As Far As You'll Take Me
Sasha Masha
The Sky Blues
Most Likely
Each of Us a Desert

Non-Fiction
Officer Clemmons
Ian McKellen: A Biography
A History of My Brief Body
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York
Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman
How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

Graphic Novels
Heartstopper: Volume Three
Gender Queer
Bingo Love #1
Queer: A Graphic History
The One Hundred Nights of Hero
Nimona
Goldie Vance Vol. 1
Spinning
Bloom
Like a Love Story
The Magic Fish
The Prince and the Dressmaker

Middle Grade
Goldie Vance: The Hotel Whodunit
Rick
The Magic Misfits
King and the Dragonflies
How to Become a Planet
The Only Black Girls in Town

Picture Books
Were I Not a Girl: The Inspiring and True Story of Dr. James Barry



Hold Should Come in June
From Archie to Zack
Pride Puppy!
Cantoras
Cemetery Boys
My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 and 2
The Boy in the Red Dress



Don't Have:
The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
How to Be Ace: A Memoir of Growing Up Asexual
The Mercies
Fortune Favors the Dead
Who Is Vera Kelly?
Let's Get Back to the Party
Butter Honey Pig Bread
The Seep
Flèche
Here for It; Or, How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays
Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow
All the Young Men
Female Husbands: A Trans History

So I don't have any plans to read something 'special' in June but that's because at least half of the things I read are super queer to begin with, haha.

Some things I'm reading currently that would qualify:
The Argonauts
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
Loveless
Gender Queer
Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady
How to Cure a Ghost
The Priory of the Orange Tree

Some things I'm hoping to read sometime this year that would qualify:
One Last Stop
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers
You Should See Me in a Crown
I Would Leave Me If I Could: A Collection of Poetry
Late to the Party
Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Elatsoe

I was going to add some books I've read this year and enjoyed that fit, but this list is ... already very long, whoops. I will say I didn't love Tipping the Velvet quite as much as Fingersmith, but it was still a very good read!

poshpenny wrote: "Yay! I love when the posts are a bit before the month starts! Plans, people! I keep trying to find another place to make them, but it never really works.

I finally joined the 21st Century and am ..."



PRIDE PUPPY???? Oh, I HAVE to read that book! I see it's about a family losing their dog, which sounds like my nightmare, but I trust it's fun and not scary. I just put it on hold.


I hope you enjoy Kristen Lepionka - she's one of my favorite mystery authors!! Apropos of last week's qotw: I own the third book in her series and I've been thinking I should buy the first and second books, just to have. She has got two new books in the works right now, but publication dates have been pushed back, so nothing this year.

Alex wrote: "So I don't have any plans to read something 'special' in June but that's because at least half of the things I read are super queer to begin with, haha.

Some things I'm reading currently that wou..."

ooooh, Elatsoe is on my list for November as part of Native Heritage Month!

Alex wrote: "So I don't have any plans to read something 'special' in June but that's because at least half of the things I read are super queer to begin with, haha.

Some things I'm reading currently that would qualify:
The Argonauts
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain ..."


Tor is giving away free e-copies of When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain!!! I can't pass up a free book (but I still haven't read the first book in the series). Is it good?

Nadine wrote: "Tor is giving away free e-copies of When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain!!! I can't pass up a free book (but I still haven't read the first book in the series). Is it good?"

(You weren't talking to me but it is fantastic and fun and you don't have to read the first book. I never say that about series but I'm saying it about this one. They are truly stand alone works with one connecting character, and nothing in either book spoils the other. I just read Tiger last week and I loved it.)

Nadine wrote: "Alex wrote: "So I don't have any plans to read something 'special' in June but that's because at least half of the things I read are super queer to begin with, haha.

Some things I'm reading curre..."

Yes!! They're both pretty short reads since they're novellas, and I enjoyed Empress of Salt and Fortune VERY much, but you don't technically need it to read Tiger - it's less of a linear narrative and more of individual adventures of a traveling storyteller.

I'm still figuring out my options for this month. There are a few reading women and read harder prompts I will probably check off.

Current Thoughts include some of these:

The Prophets
Girl, Woman, Other
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution
One Last Stop
A Ladder to the Sky
Blackfish City
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
The City We Became

I started the month by finishing Detransition, Baby, which was great!

I'd like to get to When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain if I have time, and I have the audio edition of The Stonewall Reader on my list for the month. I didn't realize The Mercies was queer, but that's my next audiobook!

In the course of searching (fruitlessly, as it turns out) for an audiobook of Stone Butch Blues, I stumbled upon this interesting article from NYPL that explains why it is so hard to find a copy of this book, and also a list of other recommended books. I thought others might be interested:

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/03/10/...

I haven't picked out anything special to read either, mostly because I read a lot of queer+ authors just randomly.

I'm reading possibly my *best* book of the year!!

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex

This book is blowing my mind in the best of all possible ways. Loving the writing, the interviewees, Angela Chen's own stories. Best of all, I'm in love with how she challenges assumptions humans have made and biases held for way too long.

And decades ago, I thought BDSM blew up mainstream thinking.... Highly recommend!

Nadine wrote: "In the course of searching (fruitlessly, as it turns out) for an audiobook of Stone Butch Blues, I stumbled upon this interesting article from NYPL that explains why it is so hard to ..."

Thanks for sharing this, Nadine! Stone Butch Blues has been on my radar for a few years and I too was having trouble finding a copy; there are only two in the entire statewide library system of Ohio. I had no idea a PDF copy was available via Leslie's website. Bookmarked!

And the further list of suggested readings is helpful as well :)

Lilith wrote: "I haven't picked out anything special to read either, mostly because I read a lot of queer+ authors just randomly.

I'm reading possibly my *best* book of the year!!

[book:Ace: What Asexuality Rev..."

I am thinking about reading that one as well. (Not sure if I'll get to it for Pride, but sometime this year.) Good to hear it's worthwhile.

I made sure to add a bunch of books to my library holds a few weeks ago for pride month, but now I'm not totally sure which are which... I think these are LGBTQ+ and I have them up next in my account:

Cemetery Boys
The Subtweet
Let's Talk About Love
Ace of Spades
The Chosen and the Beautiful
Here for It; Or, How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays
Queen of the Conquered

I also picked up hard copies of these recently that I'd love to read soon:
Let's Get Back to the Party
We Play Ourselves

Oh and I just started rereading Detransition, Baby for the Tournament of Books Summer Camp.

I started The Death of Vivek Oji and I see Emezi is again writing about one person inhabiting another person. In this case, Vivek has trances in which he seems to be someone else, and the scar on his foot is someone else's scar.

Since I've only started, I'm not sure where this is going, but I'm thinking this seems like magical realism? I still need to fill that category. But no one has shelved this book as magical realism, so I'm not sure yet.

I need recommendations for a LGBTG+history book.

Sherri wrote: "I need recommendations for a LGBTG+history book."



non-fiction, or historical fiction?

Without having read it, it sounds like it might be magical realism, Nadine.

Sherri wrote: "I need recommendations for a LGBTG+history book."

We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride In The History of Queer Liberation was phenomenal.

I would not call Vivek magical. It'll become clear later.

For some nonfiction history, I was scrolling through my read books and remembered that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian. It's not the main thrust of the book, but it does play a role, and the story of her murder and the myth that springs up from it is fascinating, too, if you're into that sort of thing.

Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America

I haven't yet read it, but it's rated highly, Branded by the Pink Triangle about gays in Nazi Germany.

poshpenny wrote: "I would not call Vivek magical. It'll become clear later."


darn it! I don't like magical realism so I was excited when it looked like I could check it off!!

I think it can be fiction or nonfiction.

Sherri wrote: "I think it can be fiction or nonfiction."


I haven't read any of these, so hopefully someone else with better reading experience will advise. Books I've considered:

The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton

Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America by Lillian Faderman

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

Sherri wrote: "I need recommendations for a LGBTG+history book."


The Stonewall Reader

Outlaw Marriages: The Hidden Histories of Fifteen Extraordinary Same-Sex Couples

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic

How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS

Female Husbands: A Trans History

Sherri wrote: "I need recommendations for a LGBTG+history book."

I think I've only read And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic; I thought it was amazing.

I'm reading Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution (for BRRH challenge, I'm guessing the prompt you're looking for too), but just started so can't say much yet. I was debating between that and Female Husbands: A Trans History mentioned by poshpenny, but that one wasn't at my library.

Thank You all for the wonderful suggestions. I may go with Shuggie Bain. According to Goodreads it is historical fiction.

Nadine wrote: "Less" Less was a great read the second time around. I adore that ending!!

Ashley Marie wrote: "Go Tell It on the Mountain"
I adore Baldwin's writing! I still want to read If Beale Street Could Talk which I now own... Doubt that I'll get to it in June but maybe July? 😁

Melissa wrote: "I've got Stonewall by Martin Duberman queued up at the library. I figure Pride month is motivation to read the LGBTQ+ history book for Read Harder."
I have yet to obtain a book for that prompt, but you're correct, June/Pride Month is the perfect time for it!

"I'm also reading Coronation Everest, which I discovered is by a trans woman from England who, before her transition, was the journalist along with Edmund Hillary when he summited Mount Everest for the first time."
That is absolutely fascinating!

I've started reading The Sound of Stars. I'm not far enough into yet to know whether I like it or not. We're getting a new Rainbow-friendly bookstore locally called Under the Umbrella and this was one of the books the owner recommended! It includes music, a secret library, and counts for the Afro-futurist prompt so it hits a lot of like buttons for me!

I generally don't tailor my reading to these specific theme months --- sort of a mini-rebellion on my part as I feel too many people ONLY read books concerning the queer community, for example, during Pride month, or Asian Pacific in May for AAPI, and I'm of the school that one should strive to read and incorporate this level of diversity into reading every day all year, and that by having these 'dedicated' months, one is continuing to marginalize. I know all the reasons why it's important etc. but I did say this is my personal rebellion!

No need for that discussion, but it's why I don't have some list of planned reading on the topic for Pride Month - or any of them.

That said, because I read pretty diversely, I actually am reading a book that I think fits Pride Month: the SciFi classic The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. Originally published in 1969, it is about a male human 'alien' visiting a planet where there is complete gender neutrality. LeGuin also incorporated ethnic diversity into her work at a time when this was so not the case - our human 'alien' protagonist is black.

I'm not that far into it yet, but already I'm a bit antagonistic towards it. You have to understand, I am not a SciFi reader at all (Murderbot and Earth Girl and Andy Weir books are the exception), and fantasy only in a very limited way (basically if they read like a heist or adventure or historical fiction of a reasonably recognizable to me place I love it -- i.e. works by GRRM, Guy Gavriel Kay, Naomi Novik's Temerairek, Six of Crows). If the characters and story grab me, I read them just like any other similar fiction. Massive world building - leaves me cold and often bored. And that's what is happening here. This is a planet that has its own calendar and time and of course language and names. I'm at this point almost completely confused. It also has its own mythology, some of which is being given to us in alternating chapters with the main plot. This is not interesting me in the least and in fact is making it boring in so many ways to read.

Also confusing. Plus the gender neutrality is so far quite confusing. That may at this point be deliberated because this is told from the POV of Ai the human 'alien' and he is struggling to comprehend it as well as determine how to handle his own fixed male gender within this world where fixed gender is considered a perversion. Plus it seems that those on the planet with fixed gender are also sterile. I'm still sorting it out.

This is considered LeGuin's masterpiece of her adult writing as opposed to YA of A Wizard of Earthsea which is probably her most read book(s). I am not going to dismiss it this early in my reading. I'm also not someone who DNF - especially a bookclub discussion book (this Sunday in my Feminerdy Book Club). Plus the premise is fascinating and revolutionary even today. But so far I'm confused and underwhelmed and heading into the dislike range rapidly.

Would love to know what others think who have read this.

I want to mention another book I happened to discover and read this past week which slightly fits this month -- and it's middle grade if anyone is looking for something to read with tweenie:

Summer of a Thousand Pies - about a 12 year old girl finding home and community after years of being homeless with her drug addict father. Touches on issues of DREAMERS but also she's taken in my her aunt Shelly and Shelly's partner, Suzanne who live in the family homestead in a small rural town in CA. The same sex couple relationship and assumption of parenting is incorporated very well and naturally into the story, and while not the main focus of the story, is one of many side plots affecting the main story. Book is a delight - even though there is a bit of 'Andy and Judy put on a show to save the farm' about it. And there are pies! Lots of pies!

Lynn wrote: "Ashley Marie wrote: "Go Tell It on the Mountain"
I adore Baldwin's writing! I still want to read If Beale Street Could Talk which I now own... Doubt that I'll get to it in June but may..."

Beale Street is on my list too, Lynn! I loved the recent film adaptation. So far the only Baldwin I've read was The Fire Next Time, earlier this year, and LOVED it.

Ashley Marie wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Ashley Marie wrote: "Go Tell It on the Mountain"
I adore Baldwin's writing! I still want to read If Beale Street Could Talk which I now own... Doubt that I'll get to it in..."

Beale Street is wonderful! I was actually living in NYC at the time of the story, living on the edge of Harlem and the tensions and happenings and feelings on the page were so true to life! Baldwin is a gifted writer who captures moments so well and pulls the reader in.

Reading The Guncle and loving it!