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alexandriaslibrary's reviews
244 reviews
Down the Drain by Julia Fox
dark
reflective
fast-paced
What a memoir! Thank you Julia for sharing such vulnerable and intimate stories with us <3
Squelch: A memoir of food, love, and uncertainty by Nina Katz
relaxing
fast-paced
A tiny memoir about a queer crush & food 🍅 The author reflects on a past relationship using different meals they cooked/ate together (and also provides the recipes!) Really loved this voice & can't wait for more from this author!
Pageboy by Elliot Page
emotional
reflective
4.0
A celebrity memoir that seems genuinely not ghostwritten!
Page is a little all over the place here, but some of his essays are really insightful, powerful, and juicy! His coming out speech was a really pivotal moment for me in my journey with my sexuality (and my model for when I came out) so it was super interesting to read about the behind the scenes of that moment and his path towards coming out (first as a lesbian and then as a trans man)
You can tell reading this that Page took a lot of pride in this (and his other creative work) and that makes it worth it for me!
Page is a little all over the place here, but some of his essays are really insightful, powerful, and juicy! His coming out speech was a really pivotal moment for me in my journey with my sexuality (and my model for when I came out) so it was super interesting to read about the behind the scenes of that moment and his path towards coming out (first as a lesbian and then as a trans man)
You can tell reading this that Page took a lot of pride in this (and his other creative work) and that makes it worth it for me!
The Beginners by Anne Serre
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
A beautiful & solemn reflection in close third. Anna is the age her mother & sister were when they died, when she runs into a man on the street and falls in love at first
sight—but she’s been with her partner for 20 years.
A stunning novel where the only thing that happens is the churning over of leaving someone you love for someone you love.
Stunning prose, observations, and sentences
“She, who had no wish to be welcomed anywhere, just to carry on playing fast and loose with love!”
“How can you walk away from a man who puts himself in your hands? Who looks to you for the coming of spring? Who looks to you to release him from the woe that was his life? Who only half believes in his life, if that, but nevertheless, since meeting you, believes in it a wee bit more just the same?”
“Yet whenever she was overcome with desire like this at the sight of Thomas, she would lose the ability to compare, to see herself from the outside, and would live exclusively with her powerful emotions, pressed up against them, tucked up inside them, feeling their warmth and life like a cat ensconced in a basket with her litter of newborn kittens.”
sight—but she’s been with her partner for 20 years.
A stunning novel where the only thing that happens is the churning over of leaving someone you love for someone you love.
Stunning prose, observations, and sentences
“She, who had no wish to be welcomed anywhere, just to carry on playing fast and loose with love!”
“How can you walk away from a man who puts himself in your hands? Who looks to you for the coming of spring? Who looks to you to release him from the woe that was his life? Who only half believes in his life, if that, but nevertheless, since meeting you, believes in it a wee bit more just the same?”
“Yet whenever she was overcome with desire like this at the sight of Thomas, she would lose the ability to compare, to see herself from the outside, and would live exclusively with her powerful emotions, pressed up against them, tucked up inside them, feeling their warmth and life like a cat ensconced in a basket with her litter of newborn kittens.”
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
3.75
A real page turner—read it in under a day! A woman and her kids are the victims of a home invasion which rattles them deeply. However, afterwards, the realizes that the nightmare isn’t over
Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sapphic classics never miss! Lazi is a self-hating college student who falls in love with a woman but is also the most avoidant person who has ever lived. It follows her throughout her college & sexuality journey & her friends and lovers along the way. The book is broken into 8 notebooks (organized by her age/relationships/etc) and the chapters are short vignettes. There are also flash pieces about allegorical "crocodiles" who are the focus of a media frenzy (a reference to the gay movement in 1980s/1990s Taiwan)
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor
emotional
reflective
Stories that feel like they won the Story Prize (they did)
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A messy, sapphic romp! Greta is a 40-something yr old with some major mommy and abandonment issues). After a breakup she impulsively moves cross country to upstate New York where the people are more woo-woo hipsters than those in LA. She gets hired by the town's sex therapist to transcribe his sessions and becomes obsessed with the voice and sessions of Big Swiss (a local married Swedish woman who was brutally attacked a decade prior and has never felt a big O) who she then meets in town and begins an affair with.
I found the transcription writing super interesting. The dialogue is so sharp, witty, and insightful and it helps move the plot. There were some subplots that felt a little distracting/heightened for the sake of heightening. Also the sexual dynamic between Greta and Big Swiss was a bit peculiar and robotic, but I think the bright point of their relationship was more about the sneaking/trauma/reveals/and the chance to hear the uncensored inner thoughts of your partner.
I found the transcription writing super interesting. The dialogue is so sharp, witty, and insightful and it helps move the plot. There were some subplots that felt a little distracting/heightened for the sake of heightening. Also the sexual dynamic between Greta and Big Swiss was a bit peculiar and robotic, but I think the bright point of their relationship was more about the sneaking/trauma/reveals/and the chance to hear the uncensored inner thoughts of your partner.
Women: A Novella by Chloe Caldwell
emotional
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Heartbreakingly gay! A gut punch to anyone who has experienced a less-than-healthy sapphic relationship. The obsession, the shame, the lust. A young woman moves to a new town and starts an affair with a lesbian who is 19 years older (and in a relationship). The narrator didn't even realize she was queer prior to this relationship, so it's utterly devastating to see how much your identity can be wrapped up by someone else.