Questioning things is good, even when it means questioning yourself, especially when it involves questioning yourself.
Sexuality can be fluid. Yours changing doesn’t mean you were ever lying, to others or to yourself. You were you. You were the you of those moments. You are you.
Your queerness is not dependent on the gender of the person you are sleeping with. You are you.
Continue reading Notes on 33
Review copy of Paulina & Fran by Rachel B. Glaser from the publisher, Granta Books, included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Queer fiction is not a single genre. Queer characters can and should appear in everything from Sci-Fi and fantasy to crime fiction. Queerness is not some “other” that can be ignored. Nor should it be ignored.
I’ve spoken before about what queerness in literature, TV, film and music meant to my young gay self. And what they meant to my twenty-something self, when I realised I was bisexual. Representation matters.
Younger me was particularly drawn to female queer characters, so the majority of this list is compiled of lesbian and bisexual women.
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher, via Netgalley, included. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
A powerful collection of stories centred on the theme of the difficulties women face when they search for or assert their independence.
Continue reading Difficult Women by Roxane Gay | Book Review
Mercury by Margot Livesey. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher, Sceptre, via bookbridgr. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Mercury took me by surprise, when I read it back in April. It’s a slow moving, yet enthralling, exploration of love, marriage, obsession, and deceit. With a side of crime.
When the opportunity arose to ask Margot Livesey some questions, I jumped at the chance.
Lady Beth by Caroline E. Farrell. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Beth has never told her son who his father is. She wants nothing more than to protect him, so it’s best he doesn’t know. The memories are too painful for Beth and there is nothing to be gained by revisiting them. Then tragedy strikes and Beth is lefty with no option but to deal with the aspects of her past she would rather forget.
Jesse wants to live his life, his own way, without his mother watching his every move. Why must she be so clingy? Can’t she see how suffocating she is being?
Lady Beth is a fast-paced tale of Dublin’s underworld; a tale of the affects of crime and drugs not only on those involved, but on the people around them. Farrell’s writing is taut and grabs your attention immediately.
Nailing Jess by Triona Scully. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the author included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
How different would things be if Adam, not Eve, had taken the first bite? This is the premise of Triona Scully’s debut novel Nailing Jess; it’s a matriarchy where the gender roles are reversed.
DCI Jane Wayne has been reprimanded, again, for her inappropriate behaviour toward her colleagues. As result she has been replaced as the lead on a serial killer case by DI Ben Campbell. Wayne does not take this well. Demotion is one thing but taking orders from a man, and an ugly one at that, is an entirely different matter.
As a fan of crime fiction, I’ve given more than a little thought to how women are, more often than not, depicted within the genre. Nailing Jess shines a light on this by asking the reader to it view from a different perspective. If things are unsettling and jarring when they happen to men, why do we barely bat an eyelid when they happen to women? It’s an interesting experiment, well written and full of humour.
I’m in a funk, have been for a while. It’s annoying, but it’ll pass. Here’s the thing about living with a mental illness though, it makes being in a funk stressful. The second guessing, the over-thinking, the ever watchful eye checking to see if my mood has turned into something other than a run of the mill funk. When is a funk no longer a funk? At what point do I really get concerned that this is an episode of depression or the beginning of a hypomanic phase? I often lack motivation before I’m suddenly full of the stuff, in the worst possible way. It has taken work, but I’m pretty in tube with my mental health and this doesn’t feel like anything than a funk. Yet, the thought is still there. This is why having a mental illness is exhausting, even when you are well you’re on the lookout for signs that you might not be. This is just a funk, I know that, but I wish it would bugger off.
The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the author included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
The Summer that Melted Everything is an incredible piece of literary fiction. That it is a debut novel makes it even more so. Tiffany McDaniel’s writing is evocative, complex and full of confidence.
The summer of 1984 brings an intense heat wave to Breathed, Ohio. It also brings the devil. Things will never be the same again. Fielding Bliss has never forgotten that summer and it is through his eyes that we learn what happened. The novel alternates between 1984 and an unspecified year in the future.
The Summer that Melted Everything is a thought-provoking novel that deals with religion, racism, homophobia and mob mentality amongst other things. My words cannot do it justice, but it’s a novel I’ll be recommending for a long time to come. Seriously, you need to read it.
Thanks to Tiffany for taking the time to answer my questions.
Hi there! Want to receive musings in your inbox once a month about books, feminism and life? Yes! Well, you’ve come to the right place. Sign up below and on the last Monday of every month I’ll send you 800 words about what I’ve been up to or an issue that’s important to me and some book recommendations. We’re talking feminism, activism and figuring out who I am.
That’s a valid question. This is content that won’t appear on the blog. Why? Think of it as an experimental version of Cornflakegirl’s Musings. I’ll be exploring different writing styles, both fiction and non-fiction.
There’s something rather intimate about newsletters and it’s not just the lack of a have comment sections. This blog hasn’t had a comment section in years. It’s sharing moments via a medium we view as routine. It’s making the routine special. It’s looking at email in a new light. OK that sounded pretentious as hell, but hopefully you understand what I’m trying to say!
Me, in your inbox once a month! Seriously, though, you’ll receive a personal essay about feminism with some feminist non-fiction recommendations.
Here! You sign up here. Fill in the widget below.
Find me on: Bloglovin’ | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Newsletter | Pinterest | Twitter