Decided to join in on the Pride Reading challenge "Decided to join in on the Pride Reading challenge "Prideopoly", created by @BookasaurusBex - I also started early because I was just at a good transition point between books. My first role of the dice was 3 and so I landed on "Translated Work". This seemed like a perfect time to crack open "The Beauty's Blade" by Mei Ren Jian.
I'm hoping to get around the board at least once during the month of June... we shall see!
As I think I have mentioned in other posts one of my goals is to get back into poetry. I loved it in high school, but after I stopped studying it I stopped reading any poetry. So I really took my time reading this book, I didn't want to rush it, and I still have to get back into being used to reading poetry. I read a few poems a day when I was in the mood for it, I annotated it, I savoured it. I have yet to learn how to review and discuss poetry collections to be honest. I don't know where to start. The author's writing is absolutely stunning,the imagery is beatiful, and the phrasing is gorgeous. I feel like it would be worth it to read just for that. The themes are varied, but you can always feel how personal they are to the author. Some of my favorutie poems from this collection were: Beautiful Short Loser, The Last Dinosaur, Not Even, Reasons For Staying and Almost Human. These of course are just a few, but I really loved them. I am definitely looking forward to read more poetry, to read more stuff by Ocean Vuong, because it's an absolute pleasure to read his words, and to reread this poetry collection in a few years. I feel like once I get more into reading poetry it will feel differently, and maybe being in a different moment of my life will make me pick on different things. In general I can only say that if you are curious about his work, is surely worth it.
Also I had completly forgot that I added this on thestorygraph as my book for the studyblr w/knives pride reading challenge #own voices prompt. So I should have waited to post my last reading challenge update, but whatever.
you'll hear it everywhere in the next month and you'll hear it here too: Pride Month is every month and you're not less entitled to happiness outside of these random 30 days! So, we're kicking off our queer reading challenge with a bang in June and will be serving you hot and steaming queer recs for the next couple of months! we hope you enjoy it as much as our previous challenges; worry not, there will also be a Summer Reading Challenge 2.0, since so many people enjoyed it last year :)
RULES:
◆ please reblog this post if you’re participating
◆ for each of the prompts, read a book of your choice and cross the prompt out on the above template
◆ post your updates in the form of text posts, bookish photos, or anything else you come up with under the tag #studyblr w/knives reading challenge!
◆ the challenge will last from the 1st of june till the 31st of december, but feel free to finish it at your own pace
! be sure to hide any spoilers under the cut when posting updates/reviews, so people can avoid them if needed :)
if you want to make this a Pride Month only challenge or if you’re just starting to dip your toes into lgbtq+ literature, we have a template with fewer prompts for you as well (see below the cut). the storygraph challenge has the corresponding number of bonus prompts, so you can tailor it to your own preference
if you have any questions, feel free to send them to me or @bulletnotestudies
stay tuned for our recommendations for each prompt!
[transcript of the prompts and what each of them means under the cut]
This challenge consists of 16 rad prompts:
queer found family you might not like this but this is what the ideal atomic family looks *like points at 5 very close friends who mean the world to each other*
queer academia the nonfiction prompt; queer history/politics/etc. - this includes essays and articles!
fucked up queers horror, crime, thriller books featuring queer characters
abolish annihilate aspec characters on the aroace spectrum
coming out book a book where coming out is a (relatively) major plot point
Public Universal Friend and Sappho Are Dancing On Your Grave or, alternatively, queer characters in a historical setting
epic queers because being queer is better with dragons and life altering journeys through space (a larger than life story featuring queer epic heroes)
in sappho's footsteps queer poetry
yes homo a queer romance book
queer joy everyone is queer and nothing hurts - what's on the tin, no hurt only queer joy, angst? we don’t know her
sword wlw a book featuring any kinda badass wlw characters
old queers as in old(er) queer characters or old(er) books (published before 2000) with queer characters
yes, i'm queer, mind your business characters are queer but it's not a major plot point
down with cis aka books that transed your gender a book with trans character(s)
ownvoices books by queer authors - fiction, memoirs, etc.
not gay as in happy but queer as in fuck you books featuring characters with lesser known orientations/gender identities
ALTERNATIVE TEMPLATE IF YOU WANT TO MAKE THIS A MINI READING CHALLENGE:
Made a Tik Tok to suggest some less-popular & variously strange LGBTQ books for pride month 😌 I got tired of seeing the same limited sets of books and genres — and the dominance of white authors — on every "pride month reading list" post, so I decided to try something different.
Also if y'all use Tik Tok you should follow me ! I post about books — sometimes mine, sometimes others, usually queer genre fiction.
I've already written about Harrow the Ninth on my Summer Reading Challenge post so I won't repeat that here. I'm just glad the emotional pain gave me a double prompt fulfilment at the end of it :)
I finished the (published) series with this one, and I absolutely need to know how this amazing story will end. When I started the first volume a few days back I new the genral plot of these graphic novels, but I had no idea how many subjects they deal with. I didn't know that mental health was such a big part of the plot, and I am incredibly happy that it is. I feel like it was used very well, to create awareness and also maybe to have people dealing with simillar things realize it's way more common that expected to struggle with your mental health. What I loved about this particular series is that it does not follow the very common trope of person A has issues that disapper into the void once they enter a relationship with person B. Clearly the relationship helps the character but it does not solve all their problems, it's a support not the key to the perfect life. And seeing this in such a clear way without demeaning either the character's struggles nor their mental health was so refreshing. I am so tired of this common idea that romantic relationship are going to fix everything in your life, becuase humans are complicate and things are not that simple. What Heartstopper does amazingly as a whole is to deal with such subjects without losing its very sweet and lighthearted vibe. It's not an easy thing to do but Alice Oseman did a remarkable job. I also really liked how just like in the previous volume we get to see a bit more of the characters surrounding Nick and Charlie, and this is the reason why I picked this book for the queer found family prompt for the studyblr w/knives pride reading challenge. Heartstopper is a brilliant graphic novel series that will most certainly become part of my comfort book pile, I am really grateful I did decide to pick these books up, and I couldn't recommend them more.
reviews of the other Heartstopper books: volume 1, volume 2 and volume 3
I read the third book in this amazing graphic novel series for the studyblr w/knives pride reading challenge, for the prompt everyone is queer and nothing hurts.
I really liked this next chapter of the book, it deals with a lot. I like how it introduces the subject of mental health in such a way that it is not demeaned, but the general vibe of the series stays the same. We finally get to know a bit more the other characters surrounding Nick and Charlie, which was really fun, and I loved the idea of seeing them all on a trip in Paris. There's not much else to say, I feel like this series is really worth it, and I will very soon read the fouth volume.
Here's the reviews of the other two volumes: Hearstopper vol.1, Hearstopper vol.2
I will soon post a new update on the pride reading challenge.
