Tag Archives: book rec

Book Review: The Default World by Naomi Kanakia

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The Default World by Naomi Kanakia

Publisher: The Feminist Press

Pub date: 5/28/24 – OUT NOW!

Thank you to the publisher for my gifted ARC!

Goodreads Synopsis:

“A trans woman sets out to exploit a group of wealthy roommates, only to fall under the spell of their glamorous, hedonistic lifestyle in tech-bubble San Francisco.

Years after fleeing San Francisco and getting sober, Jhanvi has made a life for herself working at a grocery co-op and saving for her surgeries. But when her friend (and sometimes more) Henry mentions that he and his techie festival-goer friends spent $100,000 to transform a warehouse basement into a sex dungeon, Jhanvi starts wondering if there’s a way to exploit these gullible idiots. She returns to San Francisco, hatching a plan to marry Henry for his company’s generous healthcare benefits.

Jhanvi enters a world of beautiful, decadent fire eaters and their lavish sex parties. But as her pretensions to cynicism and control start to fade, she develops a Gatsbyesque attraction to these happy young people and their bold claims of unconditional love. But do any of her privileged new friends really like or accept her? Her financial needs expose the limits of a community built on limitless self-expression, and soon she has to choose between doing what’s right, and doing what’s right for her.

This darkly funny novel skewers privileged leftist millennial tech culture, and asks whether “found family” is just another of the 21st-century’s broken promises.”

My thoughts:

What initially piqued my interest in THE DEFAULT WORLD (besides the gorgeous cover) was the transfeminine main character, Jhanvi. Although it sounds counterintuitive, I enjoyed Jhanvi’s POV, because she is terribly unlikeable. She is a major hypocrite, quite self-centered, and generally unkind to most people she encounters in life. Though this characterization choice doesn’t always pan out in literature, Kanakia definitely made it work for Jhanvi.

Sometimes, a flawed main character irks me to the point of not finishing a book, but this wasn’t the case for THE DEFAULT WORLD at all. I found it amusing to recognize Jhanvi’s hypocrisy throughout the story in the same way I do when reading Holden Caufield’s narration in THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Holden would certainly call Jhanvi a phony and a sycophant, and I would absolutely back him up.

Although I found Jhanvi’s unlike-ability quite amusing, I wish there had been at least one redeeming character in THE DEFAULT WORLD. Not every novel needs a character for readers to root for, but I think this title could have benefited from it.

I’m so glad I came across THE DEFAULT WORLD while perusing Goodreads. I am always, always on the lookout for trans-centered literary fiction and, I must say, the book gods have been blessing me/readers in general lately! Seeing new release lists with queer-normative titles brings my heart so much joy, as this was not the case a few years ago. Thank you to The Feminist Press for my gifted copy of THE DEFAULT WORLD; I enjoyed it very much!

Book Review: Just Pervs by Jess Taylor

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JUST PERVS by Jess Taylor

Publisher: Book*hug Press

Pub date: 1/1/2019

Goodreads synopsis:

“Two sex addicts meet and fall in love. A woman catches her husband cheating on her with their dog and escapes to her sister’s horse farm. Four friends—fellow pervs—grow up and drift apart, pining for each other in silence until one of them is murdered.

In Jess Taylor’s sophomore story collection, contemporary views of female sexuality are subverted, and women are given agency over their desires and bodies. Through these characters, sex is revealed to be many things at gross, shameful, exhilarating, hidden or open—and always complicated. Reminiscent of the works of Maggie Nelson, Mary Gaitskill and Chris Kraus, the stories in Just Pervs explore the strange oppression and illumination created by desire, the bewilderment of adolescence, and the barriers to intimacy both discovered within and imposed upon ourselves.”

My thoughts:

If you’re a fan of Weird Girl Books, JUST PERVS is the perfect read for you. Furthermore, if you’re a fan of carrying books with stare-worthy titles shown on the covers in public, JUST PERVS is the perfect read for you, too. Though, writing this review and spending too long on the head-turning cover art and title would be doing this book a major injustice, as the stories inside are equally subversive and thought-provoking. Music reviewers sometimes refer to an album as having “no skips” when every song is a jam; I believe JUST PERVS has “no skips” for a similar reason.

Each, individual story in JUST PERVS immediately grabbed my attention within their first page and kept that attention the entire way through. One of my favorite parts about this collection is the lengths each piece goes to queer sexuality (“queer” being a verb here), a description that I know may sound redundant. Truly, though, JUST PERVS takes subverting themes of sex & intimacy and pushes them all the way outside of the box. In fact, I’d say there’s actually no box when it comes to Jess Taylor’s mind. Yes, the results of this are shocking and sometimes disturbing, but I like sitting in that discomfort for a bit.  

I realize I’m not going into specifics about the pieces in JUST PERVS, but I think spoiling their storylines would take away from their fun. I loved starting a new story within the collection and having no idea (but desperately awaiting to learn) what strange, freaky, queer events would be described in the following pages. I gasped, I laughed, and I definitely had looks of concern on my face while reading JUST PERVS in a coffee shop. I loved jUST PERVS and I greatly look forward to reading more of Jess Taylor’s work in the future!

Mini Book Reviews- Featuring Poetry Collections from Independent Publishers

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I recently came across a wonderful, eclectic collection of poetry books and chapbooks published by indie presses. So far, I’ve worked my way through three of the titles and knew I HAD to share them with the world. Their themes include, but are not limited to, mental illness, sexual trauma, queerness, and intersectional feminism. The following reviews are listed in the order that I read them.

THE RAVENOUS AUDIENCE by Kate Durbin (Black Goat/Akashic Books, 2009)

This was Durbin’s debut collection and I fully believe it put them on the map of contemporary, talented poets to keep an eye out for. Many of the poems in THE RAVENOUS AUDIENCE incorporate themes of horror that kept me hungry for the next page. Motifs such as “cum, blood, vomit, and other bodily fluids” mix into Durbin’s work (quotation from back of the book). This collection is all things I love: queer, subversive, even perverted at times… absolutely enthralling.

HOARDERS by Kate Durbin (Wave Books, 2021)

I didn’t realize HOARDERS and THE RAVENOUS AUDIENCE had the same author, because their styles and content are so different. Of course, this only further illustrates Durbin’s talent. Her 2021 collection is broken up into different chapters, each depicting the lives and perspectives of different hoarders (or individuals who struggle with hoarding; I am unsure if person-first language is appropriate here). Getting into the minds of each protagonist was enlightening and emotional. I learned quite a lot while reading HOARDERS without realizing I was learning in the moment— this is an absolutely stimulating and thought-provoking collection of work!

MAYBE SHE’S BORN WITH IT, MAYBE IT’S TRAUMA by Cait Thomson (Beyond the Veil Press, 2023)

Of course, the title and cover art immediately drew me into this chapbook, but to let those be the main focus of my mini review would be doing it a major injustice. The current political climate and (albeit slow) destigmatization of mental illness has understandably led to a rise in poetry collections about therapy, medication, and mental health. MAYBE SHE’S BORN WITH IT, MAYBE IT’S TRAUMA stands out when compared to others I’ve read, though. Thomson isn’t afraid to dive into the ‘ugly’ parts of mental illness, like struggling to brush their teeth and passive suicidal ideation. Furthermore, Thomson’s formatting choices challenge me to look deeper into their words, as this collection is anything but surface-level. I greatly look forward to reading more of Thomson’s work!

Review: WOMEN! IN! PERIL! by Jessie Ren Marshall

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WOMEN! IN! PERIL! standing upright on a black bookshelf. A variety of book spines are in the background. A faux plant is next to the featured book.

Women! In! Peril! By Jessie Ren Marshall

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication Date: 4/2/24

Rating: 5/5 stars!

Goodreads synopsis:

“In this brash and unputdownable collection, award-winning playwright Jessie Ren Marshall invites us into the lives of twelve women who push against social norms and family expectations to reclaim their power, understand their mistakes, and find a better future. Hilarious, heartbreaking, and defiantly optimistic, the stories in Women! In! Peril! balance wry humor and gravitas to explore the complexities of queerness, toxic relationships, parenting and divorce, Asian and Asian American identity, and more.”

My thoughts:

Before the start of 2024, I thought short story collections weren’t for me, as I was under the (incorrect) assumption that there was no way fully-fledged plots and characters could develop over such few pages. It turns out I had just been reading the wrong collections, many of which were assigned in school and not very contemporary. Jessie Ren Marshall absolutely proved my assumption to be erroneous, as each story in WOMEN! IN! PERIL! is multi-dimensional, compelling, and fully-formed.

It is such a joy to find literature that is equally fun and reflective about serious topics. WOMEN! IN! PERIL! made me laugh out loud multiple times, but it also led to inquisitive conversations with my friends and family (and the short story format allowed for me to easily explain the premises). Each story is multi-faceted and complex while subverting themes of mortality, space, sex, trauma….and the list goes on.

I also must comment on the diversity of characters featured in WOMEN! IN! PERIL! The gaggle of queer characters living within the book are an absolute treat to meet and observe. All of them have their own flaws and biases, just like real people do. Overall, I am extremely impressed with Jessie Ren Marshall’s ability to fit so many wholly developed stories in less than 300 pages. I cannot wait to see what she does next!

Review: Bugsy & Other Stories by Rafael Frumkin

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Bugsy & Other Stories shown face up with a lilac/clear, floral bookmark on a wooden background

Bugsy & Other Stories by Rafael Frumkin

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication date: 2/13/24

Rating: 5/5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:

“A wildly imaginative story collection about sex, desire, queer identity, and the celebration of social taboos, by the author of Confidence.

Bugsy & Other Stories is a deliciously entertaining collection of six genre-defying stories. In the title story, “Bugsy,” a queer young adult battling depression finds community and transcendence through sex work.

In “Futago” a psychiatrist loses his mind after a voice—eerily similar to that of Alex Trebek—appears in his head.

In other stories, you will meet an e-girl and her fans, an elderly woman flashing through the pivotal scenes of her life, and a young boy on the spectrum trying to navigate life in a neurotypical world.

Together, these six stories explore tenderness and what it means to care for each other and for ourselves, especially in a time when technology threatens to tear us apart.”

My thoughts:

BUGSY & OTHER STORIES completely blew my mind in all the best ways. The title story, Bugsy, is an absolute stand-out in this literary gem. After she drops out of college due to mental health struggles, Bugsy’s life takes a turn when she befriends a group of sex workers and begins exploring her sexuality and interest in women. In my college days, I took a class about queering sex work; it still is one of my all-time favorite courses. If it was possible, I would go back in time, take Rafael Frumkin (along with BUGSY & OTHER STORIES) with me, and demand the collection be added as mandatory reading for the class. Seriously, though, this book is exemplary and I’m going to be recommending it to anyone who will listen.

In the final story, The Last Show, an old woman named Flora is in a state of half-consciousness as her health is declining. While she is existing in this limbo at the hospital, people from all corners of her past come to visit. Flora gets long-needed closure with friends and family members and gets to see her now-grown children as adolescents again. Reading The Last Show gave me goosebumps and brought me back to visiting my father in hospice care in 2021. As someone who still feels like she is freshly grieving a parent, I am so thankful this story exists. All this to say: Rafael Frumkin is a genius with words.

Anyone with an interest in queering or subverting topics such as sanity, gaming, streaming, and death will certainly find this mesmerizing collection of interest. There truly is something here for everyone. BUGSY & OTHER STORIES is one of the easiest five stars I’ve ever given.

Review- She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen

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Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Romance

Publication Date: 4/20/2021

Rating: 4.25/5

Summary blurb from Goodreads:

“After losing spectacularly to her ex-girlfriend in their first game since their break up, Scottie Zajac gets into a fender bender with the worst possible person: her nemesis, the incredibly beautiful and incredibly mean Irene Abraham. Things only get worse when their nosey, do-gooder moms get involved and the girls are forced to carpool together until Irene’s car gets out of the shop.

Their bumpy start only gets bumpier the more time they spend together. But when an opportunity presents itself for Scottie to get back at her toxic ex (and climb her school’s social ladder at the same time), she bribes Irene into playing along. Hijinks, heartbreak, and gay fake-dating scheme for the ages…a new laugh-out-loud romp through the ups and downs of teen romance.”

My thoughts:

Getting to know Scottie Zajac was a wonderful way to spend the second week of 2024. One thing I really enjoy about She Drives Me Crazy is how different it is from many other young adult LGBTQ titles. It’s about a teenage lesbian who is already completely out of the closet and past the Questioning and Fighting Her Feelings part of the coming out journey. Although there is a time and place for books about teenagers coming to terms with their identities, Scottie’s story as a sapphic who is past that stage is a welcome change. 

I also love Scottie’s character evolution in She Drives Me Crazy. Accompanying her through the healing process of heartbreak and grieving the end of a romantic relationship makes this a feel-good read, as Scottie’s growth is inspiring to witness. Lastly, I really appreciate the general campiness of the book. So much Young Adult LGBTQ fiction is filled with angst and difficult emotions, but She Drives Me Crazy is truly a fun, mood-boosting treat to read. I honestly had a lot of fun with this book!

Thank you to Kelly Quindlen for this lighthearted sapphic young adult romance; the lack of malaise and anxiety is very appreciated and refreshing!

Review- Gay Girl Prayers by Emily R. Austin

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Gay Girl Prayers by Emily R. Austin

Genre: Poetry

Release date: 3/1/24

Format: Digital ARC

5/5 stars!

Gay Girl Prayers is a collection of poetry that focuses on queer themes and religious references (specifically, Catholicism). Though the title focuses on sapphics, the poems within this work include mentions of queer people of all sexualities and genders. I think it’s impressive that Emily R Austin even includes demisexual and intersex folks, who often get left out of LGBTQ works. I love books that illustrate the way different identities intersect with one another (rather than focusing on one identity in a vacuum) and this is definitely one of those titles.  

One part that stood out to me in Gay Girl Prayers discusses an experience that I have personally dealt with as a sapphic woman. Emily R Austin writes about the confusion that hotel employees often show when two women check into a room and ask for one bed. This truly happens quite frequently to queer women, since we (in the US) live in a heterocentric society. Knowing the author and I have a shared experience made me smile when I got to this part in the book. While I was reading Gay Girl Prayers, it felt like Emily R Austin was speaking directly to me about life as a sapphic woman, which was really cool.

As many of you know, I am a huge advocate for diverse books and #OwnVoices in literature and non-fiction. I loved reading through Gay Girl Prayers and appreciate the intersectionality and different identities it mentions in each poem. Emily R Austin did an excellent job insuring queer people of a variety of sexualities and genders could see themselves in her poetry.

Thank you to Brick Books for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is my first 5 star read of the year!

Review- An Unkindness of Ghosts

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An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

51SaGVChQwL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_Genre: Science fiction
Format: Paperback (advanced copy)
Publication date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Akashic Books
Page count: 340
Star rating: 4.5/5

Aster lives in the lower-decks of a spaceship that is flying through the cosmos in search of a safe planet. Although she lives in this ‘underworld’, a place where inhabitants are considered almost sub-human, she is assistant to the Surgeon. The Surgeon is of the highest rank, the man who solves all the ship’s medical problems, and one of Aster’s best friends. Although the two make an odd pair, they are the perfect match. Aster is teased for not being feminine enough and Theo, the Surgeon, is called names like ‘sissy’ and much worse. Not only is she busy acting as a medical assistant, Aster is also on a mission to figure out what happened to her mom, who died the day she was born. She knows the secrets are hidden somewhere on the spaceship, she just has to piece all the clues together.

An Unkindness of Ghosts opens with a scene portraying Aster amputating a young child, Flick’s, leg. Gender identity is one of the first things mentioned in the book, which was very interesting and exciting. Flick comes from a low-deck where children are referred to with gender neutral pronouns. Even though, on Aster’s deck, children are assigned feminine pronouns, she does not consider Flick’s identity weird or strange in any way; it’s just the way Flick is. This automatic acceptance of someone’s identity, despite it being different than the one Aster grew up around, is amazing. Someday, I hope it’s the norm to respect other’s identities without second thought, just as Aster did. I already knew I was going to love An Unkindness of Ghosts from the first few pages.

If you’ve read any of my other reviews, you probably know that strong female characters are my FAVORITE. Reading about brave women who stand their ground in the face of evil that is bigger than them gives me hope that, in the future, well-known books won’t mostly feature male protagonists. I’ve found that science fiction, especially, is male dominated. For this reason, I am so thrilled about An Unkindness of Ghosts, because Aster is the powerful sci-fi lady that I’ve been waiting for. She was such a pleasure to get to know. I found this book comparable, in a strange way, to The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet, which is one of my all-time favorite books. Both of these novels highlight space women who don’t take any BS from their opponents. I absolutely love that.

An Unkindness of Ghosts is a science fiction book that deserves to be on ‘must read’ lists for feminism in sci-fi. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice science fiction novel with a bad-ass female protagonist and interesting commentary about sexuality and gender identity. Thank you to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of the book after I expressed my interest in it. I enjoyed it very much and I won’t forget Aster and her adventures.

Review- Elmina’s Fire

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Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay between reviews. I got really sick last weekend and it set me way, way behind. But, I’m back with a review request I got from Selby Ink a few months ago. I’m so excited to share my thoughts with you all!

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Elmina’s Fire by Linda Carleton

51mICVoYh3L._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_Genre: Fiction
Format: Paperback
Publication date: June 13, 2017
Publisher: She Writes Press
Page count: 330
Star rating: 3.5/5

Elmina’s mind, full of guilt, torments her daily. Her father raised her as a Catholic, but didn’t have the funds to set her up with a husband and sent her to live with the Cathars, who oppose Catholicism. Elmina respects the Cathars, since they treat her kindly, but feels like a traitor living in a house run by people who don’t agree with her views. The Catholics and the Cathars are in the midst of a war that’s only getting worse and Elmina feels like she’s in the middle of it. Elmina has urges to run away from the generous people who have become like her family, in hopes of finding refuge within the religion she’s always loved. Living in a house full of those who do not respect her faith is too much guilt for such a young girl to handle.

I like Elmina a lot—her character, her voice, her mind. Her faith and loyalty to Catholicism is very admirable. The internal hell that her mind resides in is one I’ve seen in many stories featuring strong females that are faced with big obstacles, like Elmina. She certainly tackles the war within her body and mind with determination not often found in women that young. Elmina’s depression is very evident in the tone and choice of words that she uses; it made me very sad to hear such hopelessness. The book reads as a letter to her God, whom she has tried so hard to devote her life to, but been faced with opposition to almost all her young life. I wanted so badly to hold Elmina’s hand and tell her that it is possible to calm the battles within your mind; it just takes practice and hard work. The entire book felt so raw, it really touched me.

Elmina’s Fire is the first book I’ve read that talks about the type of guilt that can be associated with religion and questioning one’s faith. On the other hand, this book also sheds light on how healing and uniting religion can be. Elmina experiences both of these extremities. The pain and shame she feels while living among Cathars is enormous, and yet, the sense of community she feels when surrounded by Catholics is also huge. This book definitely showed me some aspects of religion that I had never been exposed to before.

Even though I liked this book a lot, I have one critique. For me, Elmina’s Fire was a little slow in the beginning. I could tell that the pace was going to pick up closer to 1/3 the way in, but the first 50 pages or so were hard to get through. I’m very glad I stuck with the book, because I ended up enjoying it. I do wish the beginning of the book had been as interesting as the rest of it, though.

I want to give a big thank you to Selby Ink for the giving me a copy of this wonderful book they represent in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed getting to know Elmina and being exposed to aspects of Christianity that I hadn’t known before. Empowered, brave female characters are my favorite, and Elimina is certainly one of them.

Review- Blackmail, My Love

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Blackmail, My love by Katie Gilmartin

Processed with VSCO with t1 presetGenre: Mystery
Format: Paperback
Publication date: November 18, 2014
Publisher: Cleis Press
Page count: 290
Star rating: 3.5/5

Before I start this review, I want to give a shout out to Cleis Press. I discovered them at the New York City Pride Festival, where they had their own booth. We exchanged information and they have been very kind in every email. I was gifted a copy of Blackmail, My Love in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Cleis Press!

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“No one else can know what is right for you. What’s right for you might seem wrong to someone else, and that’s okay, because maybe it’s wrong for them. But if your heart wants it, God put that desire there, and it is the right desire for you.”

Josie is on the search for her brother, Jimmy, who recently disappeared. Jimmy is a gay man serving on the San Francisco police force, who frequented local queer bars until the community thought he was ratting them out. As the search goes on, Josie experiments with the way she presents herself to others and becomes closer to people in gay nightlife of San Fran. Josie is determined to clear her brother’s name and get to the bottom of his unsolved missing persons case that has been suspiciously swept under the rug.

My favorite parts of Blackmail, My Love were the queer history lessons it gave. I learned a lot about what it was like to be gay in the 1950’s and I, now, very clearly recognize how lucky we are to live as minorities in the present world. I usually feel satisfied with myself while reading a book that is both educational and interesting, so Blackmail, My Love was a great choice.

This book was raw, it really told the story of 1950 San Francisco in a blunt manner. There were scenes of police officers abusing queer people, suicides committed because of homophobia, and gay hate crimes. For most of the book, Josie presents herself as a man by the name of Joe. (I’m using female pronouns because the back of the book uses them.) In the beginning chapters, Josie is still learning how to shop for and wear men’s clothing. I want to highlight a couple paragraphs in which Josie is looking for a new men’s suit. The employees in this store pretty quickly realize that Josie is not biologically a male and begin harassing her. Actually, it gets to a point when the readers know that Josie will be sexually assaulted if she gets trapped in this situation. The men say,

“Is that your big prick? Come on girly, lay it down and take a look at a real one.”

This line really shook me. This is the moment when the verbal exchange goes from verbally to sexually harassing a transgender person. I remember sticky tabbing this quotation because the turning point in this speaking scene is so blatant and…horrifying. The sticky note was also to signify something in the book that made me extremely sad. This portion of the book, in general, made me sad because I know that there are people who still, today, would say these things to a transgender individual. These types of people are on the news; they’re marching on college campuses and holding rallies in big cities. It’s very depressing.

Blackmail, My Love truly educated me on parts of queer history that I’m not well versed in. For example, I was not very familiar with gay bars paying cops not to raid them. I mean, bar owners really had to hand over envelopes of cash so police officers wouldn’t arrest people for just occupying space in a gay bar. I’m lucky to live in a time and place where people aren’t actively thrown in jails for nothing more than which bars they like to attend. In the 1950’s, people weren’t that lucky.

The actual story of this book wasn’t as interesting as the history lessons it provided. I was really captivated by learning about what life was like as a queer person 60 years ago. The solving of the mystery didn’t stand out very much to me, maybe because I was too engrossed by the other aspects of the novel.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The lessons it gave were crucial to my understanding of the privilege it is to live in a post 2010 United States. I want to thank Cleis Press for my copy of Blackmail, My Love. I’m extremely glad that I stopped by their booth at NYC Pride. If you’re looking for a captivating book to educate you on gay history, this is the one for you!