Tag: queer books

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Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune – Cerulean Chronicles Book 2

This sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea was good, but not as good for me as the first book. I loved being introduced to the world Klune created, meeting the magical children, and seeing things unfold between Linus and Arthur. In this book, the story focuses on the fight the inhabitants of the island wage against the Department in Charge of Magical Youth to be able to live in peace. It was clever and had some really touching moments, and I appreciated the social commentary. I just didn’t feel that it drew me in the way book one did.

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The House in the Cerulean Sea

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune – Cerulean Chronicles Book 1

Linus Baker is a solitary man who lives with his cat and enjoys old records. He works at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth and is sent to observe and report on one of the orphanages run by the department. This classified assignment is unique because this orphanage is home to six dangerous children and an enigmatic caretaker named Arthur Parnassus.What follows is a delightful tale of discovery and understanding.

This book is just the sort of thing I would have loved as a child, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as a 50-something adult. I especially identified with Linus and his longing for beauty and connection, but all of the characters were wonderfully drawn and the story is enchanting. The social commentary is on point but not overdone as well.

I highly recommend this book and am already reading the sequel.

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The Dandelion & The Thistle

The Dandelion & The Thistle by Pip Dolyn

Most of the time these days I read in short bursts, usually while I am having a meal, but I could not put this book down. I was so invested in the friendship and possible romance between Addison and Colin that I just had to keep reading until I got to the end.

Addison and Colin meet at Makers Market, a monthly market for local artists. Addison has been there forever and is the go-to person for anyone who needs anything, and Colin is a new vendor who is trying to make ceramics his full time job. Over time, they become friends and explore the potential for a romantic relationship.

This book has its share of lighthearted fun, but there are also a lot of serious topics raised as the two share their stories with each other and learn how to navigate around each other’s unique characteristics and past trauma. The author has a note at the beginning of the book listing the sensitive topics so you can decide whether you are comfortable reading it. It is also an open-door romance.

I felt like Addison was autistic-coded, but I don’t want to read anything into the story that wasn’t there, so I will just say I could relate to them in a lot of ways.

One neat thing about the ebook is the inclusion of several song playlists Colin makes for Addison. There are links to them for both Apple Music and Spotify so you can listen to them yourself, which is really cool.

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Queer & Christian

TL;DR

I really appreciated Brandan Robertson’s book Queer & Christian: Reclaiming the Bible, Our Faith, and Our Place at the Table. He does discuss the clobber passages that have been used by many in the church to condemn queer people, but he also goes well beyond these to talk about the place of queerness in our theology and practice of Christianity. 

He bookends the theological discussions with his personal testimony of becoming a Christian and experiencing a lot of harm from the church until he got to a place of peace regarding his identity and his faith and a Q&A where he answers commonly asked questions related to queerness and the church.

Further Thoughts

In chapter 1, Robertson shares a usage of the word queer that means “to disrupt arbitrary norms, making space for diverse and often marginalized existing and perspectives to flourish.”  He suggests that, based on that definition, the church needs queering in many ways. In addition to the full inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQ people, this idea also makes me think of how women are only tolerated at conservative churches if they toe the line of submission and how black and brown people are welcomed in those same spaces only to the extent that they make themselves fit in with the predominantly white culture.

Part 1 of the book continues with his personal story – from feeling different even as a child to becoming a Christian as a teenager and subsequently learning that the church that seemed to welcome him actually had a lot of conditions on their love, to going to Bible college and trying to pray the gay away, to deconstructing a lot of what he believed about religion and finding a faith community that embraced him. It is a powerful testimony about the harm that has been done to many queer individuals.

In Part 2, he posits that the Bible’s authority does not come from within its pages, but from “within the communities that hold it as sacred and interpret it.” After discussing the “clobber passages” that are traditionally thrown at LGBTQ people, he brings up an idea that was new to me related to Acts 10-11. These chapters share how Peter was called to open his mind to accept that Gentiles could become Christians just like the Jewish people who believed in Jesus. When he shared the experience with the leaders of the church, they all changed their minds as well and began accepting Gentiles into the faith. This inclusion of people who were formerly outsiders is a step towards fulfilling God’s desire that all people would be saved and serves as an example to all of us when unexpected people want to join our community and faith.

Part 3 of the book is essentially a look at several people and relationships from the Bible who exhibit some form of queerness. I had heard of some of these before, while others were new to me. I’m not completely sure I agree with his take on all of them, but I do find his explanation of how these differ from the norms of the day to be worthy of further exploration on my part.

In Part 4, Robertson answers several commonly asked questions, and I found this practical application of his ideas to be so interesting and useful. He encourages people to move beyond the idea that we can accept queer people but still maintain all of our other traditional beliefs and instead to examine every area of our theology and practice.

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Loveless

Loveless by Alice Oseman is a young adult novel about Georgia, who is struggling to understand and define her sexuality. She is headed to college and still hasn’t had any sexual or romantic feelings for anyone, not even a crush. Has she not met the right guy yet? Does she actually like girls? Should she just try kissing someone to see what happens? What is wrong with her?

During the course of her freshman year, Georgia learns about the A in LGBTQIA+ and discovers that there is nothing wrong with her–she is simply asexual/aromantic. Coming to understand this brings a lot of changes in how she sees herself and how she moves through a world that is so focused on coupling up.

I loved this book. It was so engaging, and I was totally invested in Georgia’s journey. I also appreciated the strong friendships and enjoyed the university setting. It’s not perfect, but it does a great job of showing one possible experience of being aro/ace. Well worth the read!

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Woodworking

Woodworking by Emily St. James

I had to wait a long time for my hold of Woodworking to come up, but it was well worth the wait. This is the story of Erica Skyberg, a trans woman who hasn’t told anyone yet. Erica is a recently divorced high school English teacher, and she befriends Abigail, who is one of her students and a trans girl.

There is a lot to like about this book. It is very well written with interesting characters and good pacing. I also learned a lot about the trans experience from characters at different points of their transition. It was a pleasure to read, and I look forward to more from this new author.

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This Is How You Lose the Time War

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

📚Summary

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.

✍️My Thoughts

My first impression of this novella was that it was very odd and possibly not for me. But I decided to keep reading and eventually fell in love with it. I loved how the relationship between Red and Blue developed through their correspondence and how it changed their understanding of the world they lived in. And I especially enjoyed the twists and turns the story took at the end.

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What I Read This Week – July 26th

This week I only finished 2 books. I try to read 1 nonfiction book every month, and this week I read my nonfiction selection for July. Even though I do want to read nonfiction, I still have a mental block that makes me resist picking it up and diving in, so having the objective goal of 1 per month helps me stay accountable.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry by Beth Allison Barr

This book gives an account of how we have seen women in ministry treated in the Bible to medieval times to the present. The present/recent history deals mainly with the SBC, a conservative denomination in the US.

I have to admit I skimmed some of it, but I did find it very interesting how women have been moved out of leadership roles into often unpaid, non-leader ministry, especially in terms of the role of the pastor’s wife.

If you are looking for a good discussion of women in ministry, this is a good choice. For more general info on how women are treated in conservative circles, check out her earlier book The Making of Biblical Womanhood, which I highly recommend.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory

I loved this one! The characters were so well done and the relationships (both friendly and romantic) were so realistic. I really enjoyed her writing style, and I appreciated that even when there were miscommunications, they weren’t cringe-inducing but instead opportunities for growth and honesty.

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What I Read This Week – June 28th

This was a slower week for reading – I spent more time with my jigsaw puzzles than with my books. I did end up finishing two books, one fiction and one nonfiction.

Fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree – Legends & Lattes #0

I loved this book! Viv is such a great main character, and I love how the supporting characters become like a family to her. This was a fantastic prequel to Legends & Lattes!

Nonfiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice by Jemar Tisby

I found this follow up book to The Color of Compromise to be both educational and challenging. I appreciated how Tisby expanded on the A.R.C. of Racial Justice that he had shared in the earlier book. A.R.C. stands for awareness, relationships, and commitment, and he explains what each of them means and why they are all needed. Highly recommended!

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What I Read This Week – June 21st

I finished three books this week, two fiction and one nonfiction.

⭐⭐⭐/5
Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev – The Rajes #2

I was really looking forward to this after reading the first book in the series, which is based on Pride & Prejudice. This one is based on Persuasion, which is my favorite Austen book, but I had trouble connecting it to that novel. Yes, there is the second-chance romance between Ashna and Rico, but there is also an equally prominent storyline of the troubled relationship between Ashna and her mother. There are a lot of good topics explored in this book, but some of them are quite heavy and I also would have enjoyed it a lot more if I wasn’t looking for the Austen connection while I was reading.

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Lindz McLeod – Austentatious #1

As you can tell from my first book this week, I am a sucker for an Austen spinoff, and this was an enjoyable entry in that category. I liked the colorful characters and found the queer romantic storyline a lot of fun!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships by Matthew Vines

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has questions about the American evangelical church’s views on same-sex relationships. It takes a lot of courage to examine beliefs that you have been fed all of your life, and Vines shows how he and his dad wrestled with this topic and found freedom on the other side.