Hello and welcome to Vlogmas day ten. This is my Queer Lit Readathon wrap up.
My original TBR had five, maybe seven books. I added to that, of course. It became 10 books. I read a total of 2,614 pages. I finished eight books and started a ninth.
First, the book that I didn’t even touch, This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story. I didn’t even touch this book because well, one, it’s my book so I can read it anytime I want. Two, I wanted to get through all of the library books I had first. So… That’s on hold, I will read it soon, hopefully.
Peter Darling: Trans MC, ???, #ownvoices, 5 Star Prediction
The book I started with for this readathon is Peter Darling. It has a few things that I’m ehh about, but overall, I loved this story. I really enjoyed the twist on Peter Pan. So, the story is basically: Peter’s old name is actually Wendy Darling, but he’s trans. So Wendy’s not his name anymore. He leaves Neverland to try to live with his family again. He can’t do it, so he goes back to Neverland and finds his Lost Boys again, reignites his rivalry with Captain Hook. There is a hate-to-love trope in this story, and I felt it was a little bit rushed? I don’t know. It felt really fast for how it happened. But I thought this was a really good reimagining of Peter Pan, so I would recommend this, yes. For ???: Choose Your Own Category, I decided that category would be a literary re-telling. I ended up giving this 4 stars, but when I added to my TBR, Check, Please! was another 5 star prediction which came true.
Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World: Middle Grade
Next book I read, Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World. This was…touching. Very touching. Ivy is a middle grade girl who loves to draw. Her family is hit by tornado that destroys their house. She loses her notebook… Which has a lot of drawings of girls holding hands with other girls. She freaks out about this, and that’s all I’m going to say about this. I thought this was a really good story, very touching. I think it’s clear from what Ivy draws that she’s into girls. There is a love interest in this, but the way they handled it, I thought was really great.
Queer – A Graphic History: See Yourself, Graphic Novel (kind of?)
Next, I read Queer: A Graphic History. This is not what I expected. When I got this book, I was expecting more of a general history on the queer community, and whatever. I should have paid attention to the back. I like to read books without really knowing the synopsis, what it’s about. But maybe I should have for this. It’s really more focused on queer theory, queer schools of thought, LGBTQ+ activism. I don’t know, I still haven’t really processed my thoughts about this book. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I thought that overall, yeah, it’s a good book. It covers a lot of details of queer thought, how it started, who started it. All of that. So…That part, sure. But would I recommend this to anybody? Probably not. I chose this book to cover the Graphic Novel square, but I don’t think this really covers it, because a lot of the pages do have drawings, but many of them have a title and a block of text at the top. So I’m not sure if I would really count it as a graphic novel, but no worries! Stay tuned.
Fire Song: Indigenous MC, #ownvoices, POC Author
Next, I read Fire Song. This is not perfect, but I thought it was fantastic. Now, this is from a white perspective. I thought it did a really good job of touching on really hard topics like grief, loss, people dying, suicide, etc. This story is about a boy who lives on a reservation, and he has lost his sister. He’s dealing with that grief from his sister being gone, his mom not herself anymore, trying to figure it out. And he’s supposed to be going to college the next year, so a lot of things going on, financial struggles. On top of all of that, he’s into men. In indigenous communities, that’s often looked down on. And it’s tough to be queer in indigenous communities. I know this book has mixed reviews. Some people say oh, this is fantastic and some people say ehh, it’s not. So… Take that with… Take that how you will. I, as a white perspective, I thought this was well-done.
Disoriental: Translated, Not Your Usual Genre
Next, I started Disoriental. I did not finish this, in the video you can see the bookmark still in the book. I didn’t finish it, because I was struggling to get through it, to be honest. It’s not what I was expecting, at all. It’s interesting, but not what I was looking for for this week. And so far, I’m, I think 60% maybe, through the book and I have yet… Going through it, until just now, it has a hint that there’s a queer storyline in this. So… I have a feeling now that by the time I get to the end of this book, I won’t consider this a queer novel. Even though I found it on several lists that said this is a queer translated novel. I don’t think so. I will finish it regardless, and give you my thoughts in my monthly wrap up. So I chose this for Translated novel, and that is the ONLY square I didn’t hit on the whole board. Grr.
Check, Please!: Graphic Novel, POC Author, 5 Star Prediction
When I paused Disoriental, I decided I wanted to read something good, happy, really good. So I decided to read Check, Please! And… Yes. This is everything I need in life. Hockey, pie-baking, gay boys, and just… Yes. So this is an adorable graphic novel. Just look at the cover! So cute. Check, Please! is everything I need in life, seriously. It’s about a Southern Georgia gay boy who joins the hockey team of a fictional Northeastern college. He loves to bake, he’s a vlogger, and he’s the smallest person on the whole team. He joins the team, and everyone doesn’t understand him, but they accept him anyway. Of course, there is gayness happening in this, but I will warn you, it doesn’t really happen until much later. And this is Volume 1, where it ends on a huge cliffhanger. So when the readathon was over, I immediately went online and found the rest of it. This is a webcomic, by the way! It started out online, became a book, and it’s continuing online. What’s online is even better. The continuation after this is just… YES! So while this wasn’t part of my original TBR, I decided to read this anyway and use this for the Graphic Novel square (to kind of make up for Queer: A Graphic History).
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue: Historical Fiction, Disabled MC
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy: Historical Fiction, Ace Spec MC
Next, I read the THICK book that is The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. Yes. I think I will talk about this one and the next book together, which is The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy. I love both of them. The first book focuses on Monty, who is now 18 years old. His father decides to send him on his Tour, which is an European thing in the 18th century, when wealthy Europeans (typically only the men) would go on a Tour of France, Spain, Italy… Get all of their partying, all of their wildness out. Then by the time their Tour was finished, and they got home, they would be expected to settle down, find a wife, start living a wealthy life. Monty disagrees with that, he does not like his father, and he does not want to settle down. And he may be a little bit in love with his best friend. So they (Monty and Percy, his best friend) go on the Tour, and things happen. Really chaotic, out of control. Monty steals something that maybe he shouldn’t have stolen. That causes a lot of consequences! It’s very interesting, I don’t want to say more about that book. The next book, The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, it focuses on Monty’s little sister, Felicity. This is set almost right after the first book happens. Felicity joined her brother on his Tour, then decides she doesn’t want to go back home. She decides she wants to be self-reliant, because she is into learning, academics. She wants to actually become a doctor, not just a nurse or midwife, oh no. She wants to be a doctor, a surgeon. The full thing, but this is the 18th century, so women aren’t allowed to be educated. At all. Felicity decides to rebel and say no. I’m doing that on my own. She moves away, tries to get into medical schools, struggles, gets frustrated. She goes back to London to be with her brother for a while. Then… She may have run off to Germany to try to get an apprenticeship with her favorite doctor. Then she gets involved with pirates, and adventure! Chaos happens. I know I’m being a little bit vague with both of them, but I don’t want to say too much because… I think these are books that you should read to really get the full experience. Gentleman’s Guide meets Historical Fiction and it could also technically cover Disabled Main Character, but I’m not sure about that. Two reasons: one doesn’t really happen to that person until the end of the book so they’re not disabled for most of the book. Then the second is actually a secondary main character, if that makes sense? But they do have a disability, so I would say this counts, but let me know if you disagree with that! Lady’s Guide meets the Ace Main Character challenge because Felicity is ace.
Girls of Paper and Fire: Group Read
Next and final book I read, Girls of Paper and Fire. This was fantastic! Eight girls are chosen every year to be concubines to the Demon King. These girls are human, from the lowest caste in society called the Paper caste. The other castes are Steel, which is a mix of human and demon, and Moon, which is full demon. These girls have to bow down to the Demon King, whatever he wants. Then this year, a ninth girl is chosen. She is resistant, rebellious, and won’t let the King have her. She also has a love interest, of another woman. It touches on a lot of really heavy stuff. It has physical violence, it has… A lot of really heavy things. So be warned if you read this. It talks about caste systems, how easy it is to go from pretty equal to oppression… It’s fantastic.
For the majority of these books, the authors are new to me, so I didn’t bother adding New Author in the titles.
That’s it for this wrap up. I’m out of time, I have to go do other things, and the light is gone. Let me know if you want me to talk a little bit more about some of these books. Let me know if you have any questions. Also, if you want ask me questions about other things for a Q&A in Vlogmas, later this week maybe, leave them in the comments below too. Make it clear it’s for the Q&A. Okay, that’s it!
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