First up in January, I read my book club book for the month: The Lilac People by Milo Todd. This historical novel was a chilling look how queer and trans people continued to be persecuted by Allies after the end of the war. I followed it with a nonfiction book on the same subject: The Intermediaries by Brandy Schillace, which is about Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and how he continued to lobby for trans and queer rights even as the Nazis rose to power.
I also managed to finish Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs, and I’m embarrassed to say I read it before picking up any of James Baldwin’s books, but I plan to rectify that soon. I can’t decide whether I should start with his fiction (probably Giovanni’s Room) or his nonfiction (probably The Fire Next Time).
I have a feeling that The Hollow Half by Sarah Aziza will be one of my top reads of the year. It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking queer memoir about the Palestinian diaspora, anorexia treatment, and how generational trauma shows up in the body. I’ve never read a book that incorporates quotations like this one does, and there were several times I had to stop and stare at a wall after a line hit particularly hard.
The nonfiction train continued with Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt, a history of a lesbian line in 80s and 90s London. It also is part memoir and part general lesbian history, connecting the issues callers were dealing with to how they affect queer people today.
In February, I plan to read Hermaphrodite Logic: A History of Intersex Liberation by Jules Joanne Gleeson and All the Parts We Exile by Roza Nozari, a memoir by a queer Muslim daughter of Iranian immigrants.
I’m planning to read the sapphic manga Throw Away the Suit Together by Keyyang in between.