Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I don’t know why I put off The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo for so long despite all of the good reviews. Maybe it was the short length, novellas sometimes being an awkward pace. Or maybe it was the fact that all tooRead More
An Ode to Burning it All Down: The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Have you ever been seized with the inexplicable urge to destroy an intricate and beautiful object? But you don’t; you just sit with that strange, uncomfortable urge twisting in your chest and gnawing away at your heart. That’s a bit like what reading The GenesisRead More
A Memoir of Medical Bias—Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir by Walela Nehanda
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Bless The Blood: A Cancer Memoir is a striking book that gets under your skin and stays there for days afterward. Though billed as a YA book, the writing and story hold a depth of feeling and insight that will engage far older readers, too.Read More
Creating Utopia in Love After the End edited by Joshua Whitehead
“Tomorrow will be kinder,” I whisper as I am swept into the rushing river of my dreams. —”The Ark of the Turtle’s Back” by jaye simpson Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, edited by Joshua Whitehead, is a follow up to the anthology Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time. TheseRead 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
A Cozy Queer Comic of Community: Matchmaker by Cam Marshall
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! This was a surprise, last-minute entry in my list of favourite reads of 2023! I stumbled on this while researching new releases for Our Queerest Shelves, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was by a local British Columbia author/artist! I requested itRead More
An Anxious Nonbinary Lesbian Sheep Solves a Murder: Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Bianca has overwhelming anxiety, especially social anxiety, to the point that trying to have an everyday conversation is a monumental struggle. They keep a numbered list of fears, like “Fear #6: Initiating Conversation,” “#13 Beautiful People,” and “#11 Parents Discovering They’re a Raging Lesbian.”Read More
A Kind Voice from the Unkind Days of Early 2020: Care of by Ivan Coyote
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Ivan Coyote is one of my all-time favourite authors; I love their short stories and their essay collections. I’ve gotten to see them perform several times, and it’s always an amazing experience. Which is why I was thrown when I listened to the audiobookRead More
A Queer Guide to Home Repair: Safe and Sound by Mercury Stardust
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I’ve been following Mercury Stardust, aka the “Trans Handy Ma’am” on Instagram for a while now to get my fix of approachable, around-the-house repair tips with an added bonus of corny dad jokes. Recently she released a complete guide for DIYers of all levels,Read More
A Sapphic Space Opera of Smoldering Obsession: These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! If you’re looking for a queer space opera chock full of complex politics, smoldering obsession, and ever escalating revenge, These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs is a worthy entry into the field. Renowned hacker Jun “Sunstep” Ironway has gotten her hands on a piece ofRead More