This was a quietly beautiful book by the Malaysian writer Tash Aw. I had seen it shortlisted and was curious about the premise, and I’m glad I picked it up….
The South by Tash Aw (Book review)
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (Book review)
This is a beautiful, visceral love story between two boys (Mungo & James) that’s embedded in the intense world of a Glasgow housing estate in the 1990s. It’s heartbreaking, but…
Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh (Book review)
This debut novel by Chukwuebuka Ibeh is a rewarding read; I devoured it and enjoyed discussing it at book club. It’s a layered queer/family story about a boy, Obiefuna, who…
Queer Yearning in Books: Novels & Memoirs about Desire
If you’re looking for queer books that sit with yearning, identity, community, and the messiness of being human: here are some that have really stayed with me. Romance is present…
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
A sultry book about first love, desire, and growing up in a small Irish community. What happens in your bones and your heart when you’re with a person? If there’s…
Mrs. S by K.Patrick
This is a sultry summery novel, a weird one to read at the end of the year, but one that I found myself enjoying a lot! Good prose and premise…
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
Palestinian-Italian-American Zaina’s memoir about embracing her queer identity, going from US school years to summers in Palestine and Jordan with chaotic checkpoints and feelings of “otherness”, is a touching story…
The Hidden Room by Stella Duffy
This one was an easy read, a thriller set in the Fens where a couple running busy lives and three children must confront a dark secret from one of their…
Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir by Lamya H.
This was a really powerful and engaging read: an anonymous memoir rooted in a very specific moment in time, marked by rising Islamophobia and increasing global mobility. The narrator, a…
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
This is an incredible read. It packs a punch and leaves you bleeding, but I have so much time for the genius of James Baldwin! What happens when a young…
The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wounden
This was good, but it’s hard to say much about it as there’s some essential things that you find out during the story that change things! So I don’t want…
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
I was very curious to see where this book was going – and it was another book that’s been hyped up on social media recently. It’s honestly an engaging and…