OH HEYYYYY! Leah On the Offbeat is finally here and that means it’s senior year for our faves and that also means…PROM AT CREEKWOOD HIGH!!!!! There is so much goodness in this book and we can’t wait to hear what you think of this awesome sequel to Simon. Thank you Becky Alberalli for this gem and for giving us ALL the senior year feels 😍💛😎
[image description: copies of Leah On the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli laid out in lines, in a repeating pattern]
I know exactly where this is. This is Gould’s. If you go to this article about its potential closure, the cat access window is at the end of the aisle to the left of the bottom of the staircase. You can see the black edge of the windowframe. The third photo down in the article shows the window up close (sans cat). I spent many happy hours (and parted with many dollars) in Gould’s. There was always at least one cat in residence – with over two million books, the services of a good mouser are invaluable. Something of the soul of the place went when the original owner died, but the family is trying to keep it going. I thought it had closed down, but the website is still active, so maybe not?
You should at least read about Bob Gould, to see why independent bookstores and free speech go hand in hand in society. (Gould’s always had a comprehensive LGBTQIA+ section.)
Funny, how one picture posted on this random website by a canadian blogger who probably didn’t even know the origin could be so instantly recogniseable to someone who’s actually been there, and knows it couldn’t be anywhere else on earth.
I love my library.
[Stack of library books including The Fictional Woman, Too Fat Too Slutty Too Loud, History Is All You Left Me, More Happy Than Not, Drag Teen, The Moonlight Dreamers, Tell It To The Moon, and When We Rise. In the background is another stack of Kerry Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman mysteries without library stickers.]
Since he passed away his wife owned everything, including the bookshop (once library) but somehow his children were left all the books. Locked in a fight over who should own it all, the shop was locked up and closed down. Years started to pass and still the doors remained locked. Until I learned to pick them. As a young teen I would sneak in with a large bag and carry what I could out at night. For two years I did this. I was never caught and no one went to the shop. (Part 2)
Okay, I’ma need you to write a book because this is beautiful! ❤
WAIT THERE WAS A 3RD PART
I donated all the books. Only keeping one for myself. I gave the books to homeless shelters and women’s shelters. I left them in donation boxes for children and random places in town or the coffee shop. One night the shop was burnt down by the owners son for insurance money – angry his dad left books and not money. Nothing survived the fire. I’m much older now and I know stealing is wrong but I’m glad I did because I know the books I stole got a chance to live on in other hands. (Part 3)
NOW I REALLY REAAAALLY NEED YOU TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT THIS. So sad that they burned it down, wow 😦 You’re a wonderful person, Nonnie, honestly. This is amazing!
MORE MORE
Sometimes when I see my kids reading their books I can’t help but smile and think back to the nights I would pick old locks to climb through old windows with a duffel bag much bigger than myself that weighed twice what I did. My kids think I’m lame and silly and only good at cooking spaghetti but they have no idea that the book I read to them at bedtime is my only souvenir of a much dangerous and exciting life I lived so long ago. (Part 4)
For clarification, I was 10 when the shopped closed, 13 when I first broke in and the two years that followed for twice a month every month I would carry out my weight in literature gold. Sometimes I miss being young. (Part 5)
PLEASE WRITE A BOOK
also, we should all carry our weight in literature at least once in our lives
YOU ARE GOALS, NONNIE
I WANT TO BE YOUR BEST FRIEND
What book did you keep though?
The Book Thief kept a leather bound collection of stories by Hans Christian Andersen 🙂
Reminder that this is one of the best stories I ever got here and it needs a million more notes.
Enchanting Bookworm Inspired Digital Illustrations by Simini Blocker
NYC based illustrator Simini Blocker understands the enchanting world bookworms revel in. From Hogwarts to Neverland or King’s Landing, Blocker captures the spellbinding imaginative realms literature has introduced to us with vibrant colours, gorgeous brushstrokes and fitting quotes from our favourite authors. You can find her gorgeous illustrations on Society6 and Etsy.
{Image Description: On a red background, a white speech box reads “Love, Simon”, and white letters read “What LGBTQIAP+ YA Book Do You Want To See Adapted Next?”. Two black hearts are in the left bottom corner.}
LOVE, SIMON is officially out in the world today! We’re so beyond excited to see many more LGBTQIAP+ YA books adapted for film and tv in the coming years. What book(s) do you want to see adapted next?
Autoboyography is very close to my heart as a queer ex-Mormon, but I fear it’s too close in content to Simon in some ways for a studio to consider it. Which sucks.
I think Juliet Takes a Breath is a really important book and has a lot to say, not just about queerness, but about feminism and race and how these things intersect. I think it’s got a lot to connect and relate to and think about, much like movies like Better Than Chocolate did for 90s kids like me. I know it’s probably more NA than YA, but that’s my pick. If kids can read about murder and drugs in het books without it being challenged, they can read about intersectional feminism in queer books.
Hey tumblr so I need your help! My school always had one of those “Read Across America” maps with young adult novels or romances or whatever (evidently, I’m American) but I’ve never seen anything comparable for wlw. I’ve tried to rely on my memory and on other people’s recs but I’m only (exactly) halfway through. Any suggestions to fill in these missing states? I’ve tried to avoid stories that take place across multiple locations. Or offer more options for the ones I already have, the more the merrier.
Alabama : Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag
Alaska :
Arizona : The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Arkansas :
California : Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour, Honey Girl by Lisa Freeman, Frog Music by Emma Donoghue, The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr, Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler, The Butch and the Beautiful by Kris Ripper, As La Vista Turns by Kris Ripper, Far From Home by Lorelie Brown, Take Me Home by Lorelie Brown, Valencia by Michelle Tea, Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi
Colorado : Marionette by T.B. Markinson, Sleight of Hand by Mark Henwick, Snow Falls by Gerri Hill
Connecticut : Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg, Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller
Delaware :
Florida : Breathing Underwater by Lu Vickers, Roller Girl by Vanessa North
Georgia : Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The Blue Place by Nicola Griffith
Hawaii : Razor Wire by Lauren Gallagher
Idaho : Ship It by Britta Lundin, Her Hometown Girl by Lorelie Brown
Illinois : Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair
Indiana : Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
Iowa : A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Moo by Jane Smiley
Kansas : Far From Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters, Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer
Kentucky : Run by Kody Keplinger
Louisiana : Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen
Maine : Style by Chelsea Cameron
Maryland : Every Day by David Levithan
Massachusetts : Mermaid in Chelsea Creek by Michelle Tea, Map of Ireland by Stephanie Grant, Heart of Brass by Morven Moeller
Michigan : The Liberators of Willow Run by Marianne K. Martin, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Minnesota : Sister Mischief by Laura Goode, My Year Zero by Rachel Gold, Bend by Nancy Hedin
Mississippi : Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy
Missouri : Deliver Us from Evie by M.E. Kerr, Heart of the Game by Rachel Spangler
Montana : The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth, Innocent Hearts by Radclyffe, Storms by Gerri Hill
Nebraska : Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz, Over You by Amy Reed
Nevada : Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee, Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
New Hampshire :
New Jersey : The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
New Mexico : Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters
New York : Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova, Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, Thaw by Elyse Springer, Heat Wave by Elyse Springer, Inferno (A Poet’s Novel) by Eileen Mills, The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey, Drag King Dreams by Leslie Feinberg
North Carolina : The Ada Decades by Paula Martinac
North Dakota : The Murdered Family by Vernon Keel
Ohio : Fat Angie by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo, Taking the Long Way by Lily R. Mason, The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka
Oklahoma : Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Tumbleweed Fever by L.J. Maas
Oregon : Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera, Forgive Me If I’ve Told You This Before by Karelia Stetz-Waters
Pennsylvania : Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Rhode Island : The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan
South Carolina : Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
South Dakota :
Tennessee :
Secret City by Julia Watts,
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, South of Sunshine by Dana Elmendorf
Texas : Forgetting the Alamo, Or, Blood Memory by Emma Pérez, Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen, Gulf Breeze by Gerri Hill
Utah : Saving Alex by Alex Cooper
Vermont :
Virginia : As I Descended by Robin Talley, Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley, Jericho by Ann McMan
Washington : The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George, Dreadnought by April Daniels, About A Girl by Sarah McCarry, Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear, Stuck Landing by Lauren Gallagher
Washington, D.C : Madam President by Blayne Cooper and T. Novan
West Virginia : The Winter Triangle by Nikki Woolfolk
Wisconsin :
Wyoming :
It’s been a while since I made a bunch of changes but we’ve almost got the entire East Coast now! Plus several additional new recommendations to states that were already filled in. And for the rest of the non-US world, I’ve got something coming 😉 Stay tuned!
Alaska: Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp
So my local used book store has blind date bundles
Tag yourself. I’m historical romance for people with questionable taste.
I’m mediocrity with a dash of gun play and the occasional plot twist.
I’m torn between historical romance for people with questionable taste or cowboys with trust issues.
Here as the cozy books where people die horribly in cozy ways.
I’ll take supernatural sexy shenanigans for 400.
i’m spooky times with sexy times included
got fangs? get banged!
I’m Vikings! They come for the booty.
Classics
I’m nonsense level 9.2
I’m classics yee-haw!
Diane Duane Is in some financial difficulties and is asking people to take a look at her ebook store, which has her and Peter Morwood’s catalogues (or at least the stuff to which they have the rights.) The prices are very good, so if you’ve wanted to get a Young Wizards box-set, you can get them now for ~$2 a book.
boost!!
Diane’s books were really formative to a lot of my early reading experiences, Young Wizards in particular, and while it looks like their immediate financial crisis has passed (looking at their blog post) I’d like to boost this to make you, my lovely followers, aware of Diane’s (And Peter’s!) work and how you can get your mitts on them in a way that directly impacts the author for the better.
Her and @petermorwood very kindly sent me a lovely message when Max the Beagle died, and I was incredibly touched, if too distraught at the time to manage a coherent reply. So if I could get a boost over this, family, I’d really appreciate it. They’re good kind people and deserve it.
Plus, y’know, the Young Wizard series is currently $19.99 instead of $39.99 and if I didn’t already own them, I’d be all over that like hot butter on toast.
I bought the whole young wizards series, because I’ve always meant to read them!
knitting in the dark 