Cannon by Lee Lai (she/her) is a thought-provoking and propulsive graphic novel that explores how one can get taken advantage of in all different types of relationships—family, friend, romantic, and professional—and the importance of making yourself and your mental health a priority. Lucy, also known as Cannon, a nickname lovingly coined by her best friend, Trish,Read More
A Collection Beyond My Grasp: Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang Review
Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang (she/her) won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction and was hailed as one of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Described as “[v]isceral stories that center the bodies, memories, myth, and relationships of Asian American women” (back cover) and “unapologetically queer” (The Guardian), I wasRead More
Family Matters: Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q Sutanto
Next Time Will Be Our Turn was the perfect book to read on an airplane, because so much of it involves characters travelling from one country to another, reflecting on what makes a home a home and what it means to live somewhere that doesn’t have room for their whole self. Fair warning, though: itRead More
5 Sapphic Books to Read for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month
May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so I wanted to highlight some of my favorite books that feature AAPI sapphic characters! As a Korean-American lesbian, this representation is very important to me and I can’t wait to share it with the Lesbrary community. Damned If You Do by Alex Brown Alex Brown’s debutRead More
Queer Bandits Fight Back: The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang Review
The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang is an action-packed, genderbent homage to a work of classic Chinese literature, but you don’t have to have prior knowledge of the source material to have a good time with these bandits. In Liangshan, a large group of bandits, mostly women, are forced to live outside the bounds ofRead More
A Dazzling Debut: How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I first learned about Sabrina Imbler (they/them) last year when my girlfriend and I traveled to Seattle to watch the UConn Women’s Basketball team compete in the Sweet 16. Whenever I travel, I like to visit a local bookstore, which is how we endedRead More
Censorship, Expression, and Signaling in Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Malinda Lo’s novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club (2021) has won multiple awards and has been reviewed multiple times at the Lesbrary already, so let’s start this review somewhere different: Last Night at the Telegraph Club has been banned and/or challenged at least 34 times in 14 states. HavingRead More
Ungovernable Gender Chinese Fantasy: The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link When a book is described as being about ruthless bandits with unseemly femininity and ungovernable gender, let’s just say that I had little to no choice in devouring every single page of The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang. It’s a queer martial arts political epic fantasy retelling of a Chinese classic called Water Margin. ButRead More
A Brutal and Beautiful Chinese Epic: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link If you have even a passing interest in sapphic fantasy, you have almost certainly heard about She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. A reimagining of the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty’s rise to power, it begins with a young boy who is destined for greatness and a young girlRead More
Larkie reviews Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Trigger warning for suicidal ideation A compact novella with a haunted house story, strained friendships, and a hungry ghost, I had high expectations for Nothing But Blackened Teeth. Were they met? Kind of, but overall the book fell a little flat for me. First off, there are fiveRead More