Read on Twitter
It's been a rough week (yes, it's Tuesday) so to cheer up I'm going to yell about books I've read by friends this year (including Twitter pals I barely know but admire). "How can we believe your biased praise?" you ask. I only pick ridiculously talented friends. Next question.
[Draft of] How to Be a Man by @WriterKirt. This book about a trans teen finding his way in Indiana moved me deeply. He thinks he has to fight constantly, but a teacher helps him see he's at his best when he's gentle. Kirt is currently querying. Agents: don't miss it.
I only know @alexmlwrites on here, but The Fact of a Body: A Murder & A Memoir is elegant, complicated, haunting. They treat a difficult story with such care and vulnerability, and though it's about trauma, it's also about becoming who you are. Available: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781250080554
In Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day by @jdsctt, you'll find gorgeous, strange stories, and one especially magic novella about people and spirits who live in an endless mall. I interviewed JD here https://therumpus.net/2020/06/the-rumpus-interview-with-jd-scott/
Buy it here: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781941423059
Buy it here: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781941423059
I was lucky to read a draft of It Lay Unmentioned by @lassiter_isla. We joke that she can never write a story without a body showing up somewhere but...isn't that more reason to read? The sapphic love story in this novel is layered and deeply romantic. Isla is querying: sign her!
. @JasHammonds is truly one of my favorite writers, and though her books are in the works, add her to your TBW[atched] list. Thirsty is about a girl pledging a sorority with her gf to find acceptance & love, but she has to first reckon with addiction. It's healing & hopeful.
. @JasHammonds wrote 2 (!) books. Crooked Letters (working title) is one of my favorite novels with one of my favorite f/f romances. When her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer, Avery's family moves to her southern town. She finds secrets and pain, but love and family too.
Just thinking about Down the River (working title) by @lin__thompson makes me wanna cry. Add them to your TBW list because this MG book about a young person searching for their friend and questioning their gender is bound to be a timeless classic. Mad you all haven't read it yet.
I hardly think I need to tell you about SDMC by sapphic queen @kellyquindlen but I will because I love it so. This enemies-to-lovers cheerleader/bball player rom-com is so special. It's the book we deserve.
Add: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52516406-she-drives-me-crazy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=VFhySPKDT4&rank=1
Buy LTTP: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781250209139
Add: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52516406-she-drives-me-crazy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=VFhySPKDT4&rank=1
Buy LTTP: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781250209139
My brother @AndrewBarretCox wrote a memoir about
queer nightlife and performing for NYC and LA club kids, and I was MAD because writing is supposed to be my thing (he's so talented wtf? https://www.andrewbarretcox.com/ ) but it is so rich with drama, scandal, heart, and found family.
queer nightlife and performing for NYC and LA club kids, and I was MAD because writing is supposed to be my thing (he's so talented wtf? https://www.andrewbarretcox.com/ ) but it is so rich with drama, scandal, heart, and found family.
Bold of me to include @esmewang since I only know her on here, but wow, I love her dark, complex, beautiful writing and thought The Border of Paradise was just dazzling. (Here: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781939419699). You also can't miss The Collected Schizophrenias: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781555978273
Let's talk about Wild Life by @roberts_keena, a memoir about growing up on a baboon camp in Botswana. Rich, honest, and, well, wild, this book tackles adolescence in the '90s/'00s, growing up as an athlete, sexuality, family, home and so much more. Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781538745151
I'm haunted by Redshift, Blueshift (working title) by @drspinach. A literary gem, it follows a prisoner who has no idea why he's imprisoned as he tries to piece together his memories. But are his memories even his? What does that mean for his future and self? Jordan is querying!
Add to your TBW NOW: Isle in the Flood by @helander_amanda. This book is a fantastic, transcendent delight. Agoraphobic seer Mona can see one's true love through just a touch, but when she's recruited to read the king, she's horrified when the name that appears is her own.
. @brownroundboi takes longing, pain, and isolation and spins them into beauty. Their poetry feels like found family, and anyone Filipinx, living with chronic pain, or queer will feel especially seen.
Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781943977741
And don't miss: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781627290159
Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781943977741
And don't miss: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781627290159
Funerals Are for the Living by @themoosef is deliciously smart, creepy, gory...and somehow fun, because I want to follow her characters everywhere. As Junie battles a white supremacist cult, she explores race, power, history, and what it means to show up for the people you love.
What Death Can Touch by @AnnaMRead is a stunning, satisfying YA about a girl who sees how people die if they touch her — including the kind, gentle boy she can't help but fall for. As someone obsessed with mortality, I LIVE for this. Anna is querying; agents, don't sleep on it!
(more to come later today!)
. @adriennetooley's writing seems effortless, which tells you she works HARD. Sofi and the Bone Song is a beautiful act of love —for Sofi, Lara, & their music—and teaches us art and suffering are not the same.
Add: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53194081-sofi-and-the-bone-song?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RpUeygSgQG&rank=1
Pre-order S&BM: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781534453852
Add: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53194081-sofi-and-the-bone-song?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RpUeygSgQG&rank=1
Pre-order S&BM: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781534453852
Desire Lines by @daffodilly was the perfect quarantine escape for me; it follows gregarious Ben & kind Alexei as they hike the PCT. This book feels like breathing, and watching these characters fall in love is an adventure all its own. Anita is a queer romance writer to watch.
TBW! Before After Eden by @BrianaMiano is a mesmerizing, dazzling exploration of grief, sisterhood, and the power we hold over our own stories. After her mother's death, Sophie slips into a fantasy world she created—and meets her heroes and foes. The problem? Her sister comes too
When I read All Eyes on Us by @kitfrick ( https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781534404403) I stayed up til 3 am 'cause I HAD to know what happened. I Killed Zoe Spanos is a sparkling mystery ft. summer in the Hamptons, a podcast, friendship, & closely kept secrets. Don't miss it! https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781534449701
I know you know about You Should See Me in a Crown @byleahjohnson but you have to FEEL this: it is a glittery, breathless novel that celebrates a young, Black, queer woman, her new love, and her dreams that keep expanding as she learns what she deserves. https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781338503265
I know you also know about @merylwilsner's Something To Talk About, but now you can hear it from me: This romance is filled with yearning, glamor, ambitious women, and a slow burn that pays off and THEN some. Fall for Emma and Jo here: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9780593102527
Bad Annie by @LCMilburn is a RIDE. I could feel these pages on my skin. Part mystery, part ghost story, I burned through this book and rooted so hard for Annie, the bad girl who likes fighting and fast cars. If you're looking for smart, twisty horror with a little love, it's here
I only know @CiaraNicG on here but The Falling in Love Montage is a new favorite, and if you're looking for a funny, thoughtful, absolutely swoony f/f romance you cannot skip it. Saoirse and Ruby feel so very real, and so do their aches and joys. Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9780062957115
I read @other_katie's The Companions at the start of quarantine, and WOOF. It's so (unfortunately) timely and so good. This spec fic novel looks at human consciousness, isolation, love, and what we owe each other. It hasn't left my mind since April. Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/318/9781982122157
